2026 CCA Annual Meeting

Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing the way consulting actuaries work, and the way clients expect advice and analysis to be delivered. During this session, our panelists explore both the opportunities and the risks AI presents to our work as consultants, including practical challenges in incorporating AI into day-to-day work, responding to clients who rely on AI-generated analyses, and competing in a marketplace where others may be leveraging AI in different ways. Speakers discuss how AI can enhance efficiency, research, and decision-making while highlighting its limitations and potential pitfalls. We’ll conclude with a look at where AI is headed, along with the ethical and professionalism considerations actuaries must address to ensure that the use of AI remains consistent with sound actuarial judgment and professional standards.

Session Category

Cross Discipline

Credits

EA Non-Core: 1.50

CPD: 2.00

Speakers

The CCA’s Business Session begins with the welcoming of attendees, announcement of new directors and officers, Treasurer’s Report and presentation of the CCA’s annual awards. Our keynote presentation immediately follows.

Session Category

Cross Discipline

Credits

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

This session delivers a timely overview of the most important late-breaking development affecting pension actuaries and retirement plan consultants. Speakers will look at regulatory updates, market trends, and emerging issues with direct implications for client advice.

Session Category

Retirement

Credits

EA Core: 0.75

EA Non-Core: 0.75

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

The implementation of SECURE 2.0 continues to present important administrative and compliance challenges for sponsors of small retirement plans and their advisors. Panelists provide a practical update on the latest plan administration requirements, including operational changes, required and optional provisions, and key implementation deadlines. Speakers also address plan amendment requirements, common compliance pitfalls, and strategies for coordinating with plan sponsors, third-party administrators, and legal counsel to ensure plans remain compliant while taking advantage of the flexibility offered by SECURE 2.0.

Session Category

Retirement

Credits

EA Core: 0.75

EA Non-Core: 0.75

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

The church pension world is sometimes referred to as the wild west of the pension world. And without ERISA requirements there is a lot of flexibility, but not everything goes. There is a whole world of information to be aware of. Come learn some of the basics (and not as basic) of the church plan landscape that any actuary needs to know when consulting with religious organizations.

Session Category

Retirement

Credits

EA Non-Core: 1.50

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

As costs rise, employers are taking a closer look at whether the status quo still works for their active employees in the commercial healthcare market. Speakers explore the evolution of employer-sponsored benefits, key challenges facing the group model, and emerging alternatives. Drawing on perspectives from industry experts, the discussion addresses a range of emerging alternatives and highlights the opportunities, risks, and real-world considerations for organizations considering a transition.

Session Category

Health and Welfare

Credits

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

In a rapidly evolving healthcare landscape, understanding how we arrived here is essential to navigating what comes next. Panelists provide a streamlined look at how the US healthcare system evolved into today’s high-cost environment and where it is heading, highlighting key historical drivers – such as market consolidation, rising specialty drug costs, and regulatory shifts – and outline emerging trends that will shape future cost pressures and system reforms.

Session Category

Health and Welfare

Credits

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

Fiduciary oversight standards long associated with ERISA-covered retirement plans are increasingly being applied to health and welfare plans, both through regulatory enforcement and litigation. This session explores how fiduciary expectations are converging across benefit types, compares governance structures for ERISA and non-ERISA plans, and highlights practical lessons that fiduciaries can draw from each regime. Participants will gain insight into how established retirement plan practices can inform stronger, more defensible fiduciary governance across the full spectrum of employee benefit plans.

Session Category

Cross Discipline

Credits

EA Non-Core: 1.50

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

Public pension consultants face increasing digital governance complexity: client AI policies, communications accessibility requirements, cyber hygiene expectations, and related operational technology risks. This session highlights common pitfalls and gray areas offering a practical, consultant-focused discussion on reducing risk and actively managing these consulting dynamics.

Session Category

Public Plans

Credits

EA Non-Core: 1.50

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

PBGC speakers will discuss current issues the Corporation is tracking – SFA, withdrawal liability regulations, agency funding, etc.

Session Category

Multiemployer Plans

Credits

EA Core: 1.50

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

The EU pay transparency directive is commonly viewed as a compliance requirement. Yet its most lasting effects will be felt in retirement adequacy and lifetime benefit outcomes. This session examines how greater transparency in pay structures, a job architecture, and career progression directly influences pension accrual, employer contributions, and insured benefit over time. This session connects day-to-day pay decisions with long-term realities, highlighting how small differences compound into significant pension and benefit gaps. Panelists will explore how transparency requirements interact with different pension designs and expose structural inequalities embedded in legacy rewards programs.

Session Category

International

Credits

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

The CCA Leadership Development Community meets to discuss current issues, outlooks, and news. Neither CCA nor community membership is required to attend.

Session Category

Cross Discipline

Speakers

Speakers

This session explores the practical and professional considerations of working with the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) on single employer plans. The discussion will cover standard terminations, PBGC initiated terminations, early warning program, 4062(e ) liability, and recent developments. Speakers will discuss their own experiences navigating PBGC-related issues.

Session Category

Retirement

Credits

EA Core: 1.50

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

This session moves beyond the fundamentals of ASC715 and IAS19 to address advanced pension accounting topics. The discussion will cover complex and less frequent scenarios. Potential topics include cash balance plans and recent EITF information, plan transactions such as mergers and spinoffs, first-time US GAAP or IFRS adoption, plan termination, and plan accounting under ASC960. This session intends to help attendees manage and address these accounting situations.

Session Category

Retirement

Credits

EA Non-Core: 1.50

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

Each of us are expecting to receive a Social Security benefit, but the trust fund/taxes are expected to cover only ¾ of promised benefits fewer than 10 years from now. This session is intended to help each of us understand the current benefit design and evaluate thought-provoking elements that can restore financial soundness.

Session Category

Retirement

Credits

EA Non-Core: 1.50

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

Speakers highlight current topics in Medicare Advantage, Part D, and changes to the programs due to the Inflation Reduction Act. Topics will include Medicare Advantage, Part D, employer-sponsored Medicare plans and OPEB valuation issues.

Session Category

Health and Welfare

Credits

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

Employer healthcare cost increases have accelerated in recent years, approaching or exceeding 10%. Join today’s panel as we look at the drivers of this increase, consider what is controllable from an employer’s perspective, and debate their relevance and impact going forward. Topics to consider include insurer/provider negotiation, federal legislation and regulation, AI, population health, and workforce dynamics.

Session Category

Health and Welfare

Credits

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

Organizations that prioritize continuous learning don’t just keep up, they pull ahead. Companies with strong learning cultures consistently outperform their peers, drive higher profitability, and retain top talent longer. Join a dynamic panel of clients and consultants as they share their experiences and learnings from their organizations. Expect an interactive session where your questions and perspectives are part of the conversation.

Session Category

Cross Discipline

Credits

EA Non-Core: 1.50

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

DROPs have been used as a public plan retention tool almost since inception. However, they have seen a resurgence in interest, and a divergence of provisions, in recent years. Speakers contrast two case studies of recent implementations: one strictly required to be cost neutral and the other with no such considerations. Join the conversation to discuss actuarial and administrative considerations of two DROPs that may barely recognize each other.

Session Category

Public Plans

Credits

EA Non-Core: 1.50

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

Many withdrawal liability issues have been wending their way through the courts with two reaching SCOTUS. Come hear an employer and plan side attorney discuss the current status of cases involving withdrawal liability issues.

Session Category

Multiemployer Plans

Credits

EA Core: 1.50

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

Speakers discuss how alternative assets can be used to potentially improve the risk and return characteristics of a portfolio. Topics include hedge funds, portable alpha, and private markets.

Session Category

Investment

Credits

EA Non-Core: 1.50

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

Think you can navigate the depths of ERISA better than a trail guide at the Grand Canyon? Scale the Red Rocks of regulations and see if you have what it takes to reach the summit. If you are feeling a bit lost in the desert heat, don’t sweat it – you’re guaranteed to trek home with some fresh knowledge.

Session Category

Retirement

Credits

EA Core: 1.50

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

This session provides an overview of retiree medical plan design. The discussion explores how various design features are being utilized, such as Medicare Advantage and EGWPs, the effect of prescription drug rebates, and the use of healthcare reimbursement accounts. There will be a focus on how these plan designs influence the selection of actuarial assumptions and the relationship between plan design and its actuarial impact.

Session Category

Retirement

Credits

EA Non-Core: 1.50

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

Discover how shifts in the shape and direction of the yield curve can influence key investment strategy decisions for defined benefit (DB) plans. Explore the impact on asset allocation, liability matching, and risk management across a range of interest rate environments. Gain insights into expected return on asset bond models and how these tools support funding strategies, valuation decisions, and long-term plan objectives.

Session Category

Retirement

Credits

EA Core: 0.75

EA Non-Core: 0.75

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

In recent years, we have seen the introduction of alternative PBM vendors. Speakers will highlight differences with the new PBM models relative to traditional PBMs. Additional topics driving costs in pharmacy benefits will be discussed such as most favored nations pricing, specialty drugs, and GLP-1s.

Session Category

Health and Welfare

Credits

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

Value-Based Care ties provider reimbursements to the quality and outcomes of care rather than the volume of services provided. An evidence-based approach that addresses access, quality, service, and costs encourages healthcare hospitals and providers to deliver better care by rewarding them for achieving specific metrics tied to outcomes and improved patient experiences. Our panel of actuaries and clinicians (who have experience in transitioning employer-sponsored health plans from traditional pricing strategies to value-based approaches) provide their insights into the models used in these programs and the factors that drive success for patients and health systems to reduce total costs, improve care, and yet make health sustainable for all.

Session Category

Health and Welfare

Credits

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

The US Supreme Court has ruled on many ERISA and ACA cases over the years that had been incredibly impactful in the employee benefits world. This session will describe how such cases wind up at SCOTUS in the first place, and dives into several of the more impactful cases relevant to actuaries and consultants working in the employee benefits space.

Session Category

Cross Discipline

Credits

EA Non-Core: 1.50

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

As public pension plans face shifting economic climates, many of the states’ largest systems have moved beyond traditional designs to embrace sophisticated risk sharing mechanisms. But does shifting the “heat” actually keep the plan cool? Join us for a deep dive into the inner workings of major public plans as we hear directly from in-house actuaries who have navigated these waters. This session moves past the rhetorical to examine the real-world “lessons learned” from implementing and managing Variable COLAs and cash balance designs.

Session Category

Public Plans

Credits

EA Non-Core: 1.50

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

A look at alternative plan designs which share plan risks between participants and plan sponsors.

Session Category

Multiemployer Plans

Credits

EA Non-Core: 1.50

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

Retirement systems reflect cultural attitudes toward risk, family responsibility, and the role of the state as much as they do financial design. This session examines how different societies have developed retirement frameworks – from conservative capital focused systems to models that rely on family structures or public welfare – and what choices mean for participant outcomes. This session offers a balanced perspective on aligning retirement design with both financial efficiency and social reality.

Session Category

International

Credits

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

This session will revisit Actuarial Standards of Practice (ASOPs) 51 and 56, exploring why each Standard exists and what purpose they serve in a desert of assumptions, modeling and risk. These ASOPs require additional accompanying disclosures to actuarial results that need to be reviewed regularly. The session will guide you to the oasis.

Session Category

Retirement

Credits

EA Core: 1.50

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

Terminating a plan is easy, right? What can possibly go wrong? In this session, speakers examine pitfalls related to regulatory requirements, data integrity, missing participants, lump sum elections, and annuity purchases. Attendees gain practical insights into how to spot and address these costly surprises before they strike.

Session Category

Retirement

Credits

EA Core: 1.50

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

As Defined Contribution plans continue to dominate the retirement landscape, the challenge of converting savings into sustainable income has come sharply into focus. This session explores how lifetime income products and solutions can transform 401(k) balances into dependable retirement paychecks. Speakers will examine various market offerings alongside fiduciary considerations and regulatory developments.

Session Category

Retirement

Credits

EA Non-Core: 1.50

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

Stop treating your budget as an enemy and start leveraging it as a competitive weapon. This session reveals how to break down the silos between HR and finance, transforming compensation, benefits, and development into a high ROI integrated strategy that fuels retention without breaking the bank. Learn to bridge the gap between people goals and profit margins.

Session Category

Health and Welfare

Credits

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

This is a practical session on where AI can add value in health actuarial work today – automating data prep, accelerating analysis and reporting, and supporting forecasting and insights. We’ll highlight real-use cases, common pitfalls, and the governance actuaries need to get right (privacy/PHI, bias, and documentation). Attendees will leave with a simple framework for adopting AI responsibly and identifying the near-term opportunities in their workflow.

Session Category

Health and Welfare

Credits

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

Emotional intelligence is crucial for actuaries communicating complex, technical data to non-actuarial stakeholders. Our speakers will address stakeholder management, understanding your audience, and using EI to foster trust and clarity.

Session Category

Cross Discipline

Credits

EA Non-Core: 1.50

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

Learn how to navigate the many changes surrounding OPEB. Topics we'll cover include healthcare trends and the Getzen model, the Inflation Reduction Act, low premium Medicare Advantage plans, setting short-term assumptions, GASB, changes to ASOP 6, and the Academy's Practice Note on Funding for Public OPEB Plans that's expected to be published later this year. More technical topics related to OPEB plan design will be covered in session 302 “Retiree Medical Strategy: From Plan Design to Actuarial Impact.”

Session Category

Public Plans

Credits

EA Non-Core: 1.50

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

This session will explore the ins and outs of multiemployer plan mergers, with focuses on common pitfalls, plan, union and employer considerations, withdrawal liability, etc.

Session Category

Multiemployer Plans

Credits

EA Core: 1.50

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

There have been important governance changes in Canada in the fall of 2024 with regard to pension plan governance. The changes provide revised guidance to employers and require careful attention to how plan administrators carry out their oversight responsibilities. Speakers include a practicing pension consultant who consults with defined contribution clients on this important subject. Expect to hear very practical advice not only for Canadian plans but also general governance ideas that have global applicability.

Session Category

International

Credits

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

When familiar landmarks fade, how do you stay oriented? Panelists explore the ethical challenges facing retirement actuaries. Through engaging case studies and interactive discussion, we’ll examine situations where the right path isn’t always clear. Join us to test your instincts, sharpen your ethical compass, and strengthen the principles that guide your professional decisions.

Session Category

Retirement

Credits

EA Ethics: 2.00

CPD: 2.00

Speakers

Adhering to Actuarial Standards of Practice, applying sound judgement and analytical rigor, prioritizing ethical decision-making and communicating complex results clearly and responsibly for healthcare actuaries is what you can expect to learn in this session through interactive case studies written by the panelists. There will be prizes!

Session Category

Health and Welfare

Credits

CPD: 2.00

Speakers

Speakers

The CCA Women in Consulting Community meets to discuss current issues, outlooks, and news. Neither CCA nor community membership is required to attend.

Session Category

Cross Discipline

Speakers

The Retirement Security Innovation Initiative’s (RSII), sponsored by CCA, brought together a broad group of industry experts to develop a retirement plan featuring fixed costs and cost-effective lifetime benefits. Attendees will learn about key stakeholder feedback from employers, actuaries, recordkeepers, and investment firms that has shaped the plan.

Session Category

Retirement

Credits

EA Non-Core: 1.50

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

Retirement plans have been the topic of thousands of pages of law, tax code, regulation, and informal guidance. But somehow there are still things we don’t know – both new and old topics. Panelists discuss some of the items we wish we knew or had guidance on, as well as approaches to take when you find yourself in one of these situations.

Session Category

Retirement

Credits

EA Core: 1.50

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

Since the 2012 era of GM and Verizon, the Pension Risk Transfer (PRT) market has evolved from the landmark megadeals into a diverse ecosystem where “one size” no longer fits all. This session features a unique panel of representatives from small, medium, and large insurers to discuss the perspectives of the PRT market.

Session Category

Retirement

Credits

EA Non-Core: 1.50

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

AI is already being used across hospitals and provider organizations to improve operations, clinical support, patient flow, documentation, and cost management. Many discussions, however, focus on the technology itself rather than how these tools are being applied in everyday care delivery. This session provides practical examples of how health systems are using AI today and translates those use cases into implementations for cost, utilization, risk, and operations. Attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of what is happening inside health systems and how to apply this knowledge in client conversations and advisory work.

Session Category

Health and Welfare

Credits

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

This session builds upon last year’s ICHRA introduction by focusing on the numbers consulting actuaries are asked to produce. After a brief refresher on ICHRA fundamentals, we’ll walk through the core financial considerations employers and their advisors need to evaluate – cost trajectory and budget control, risk transfer and volatility, affordability guardrails, administrative compliance costs, and employee impact tradeoffs. Attendees will leave with a practical framework to help HR and Finance respond to C Suite questions like, “Why aren’t we doing ICHRA?”

Session Category

Health and Welfare

Credits

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

As birthrates have fallen, migration has become an increasingly important determinant of U.S. population growth and age structure. As a consequence, it has also become an increasingly important determinant of economic performance, fiscal capacity, and the sustainability of government spending commitments. Yet the migration assumptions that actuaries and demographers use in making population projections remain largely ad hoc. The prevailing belief seems to be that migration flows, because they are subject to the vagaries of unexpected crises and policy shifts, are simply too volatile and unpredictable to model. This session seeks to challenge that belief. While it is true that in the near-term migration flows are indeed volatile and unpredictable, in the long term they are closely correlated with broader demographic, economic, and social trends that can be modeled with reasonable confidence. Speakers at this session discuss the push and pull factors that drive migration internationally, and explain how modeling those same factors can improve long-term domestic population projections.

Session Category

Cross Discipline

Credits

EA Non-Core: 1.50

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

Come join our session to hear the latest updates on the prickly pair of legislation and litigation affecting public plans, from both statewide and federal perspectives.

Session Category

Public Plans

Credits

EA Non-Core: 1.50

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

With the SFA application process winding down, attention now turns to post-SFA compliance and strategies. Speakers will review the rules that apply to plans that receive SFA and discuss investment and other strategies. The panel will also reflect on the program and offer views on the successes and failures.

Session Category

Multiemployer Plans

Credits

EA Non-Core: 1.50

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

Speakers provide an update on capital markets, including historically high equity valuations. Panelists identify factors influencing capital markets going forward, and highlight the downside risks.

Session Category

Investment

Credits

EA Non-Core: 1.50

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

Members of the Retirement Security Innovation Initiative provide an update on their activities.

Session Category

Retirement

Speakers

The CCA Healthcare Community meets to discuss current issues, outlooks, and news. Neither CCA nor community membership is required to attend.

Session Category

Health and Welfare

Speakers

The CCA Multiemployer Plans Community meets to discuss current issues, outlooks, and news. Neither CCA nor community membership is required to attend.

Session Category

Multiemployer Plans

Speakers

The CCA Public Plans Community meets to discuss current issues, outlooks, and news. Neither CCA nor community membership is required to attend.

Session Category

Public Plans

Speakers

Pension administration comes with many hazards, including complex calculations, administration, HRIS systems, and data quality. This session will provide some tools and approaches to deal with these hazards to improve valuation quality data and reduce administrative errors.

Session Category

Retirement

Credits

EA Core: 1.50

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

The speakers review recent court decisions, ongoing litigation and complaints filed that could affect defined benefit plans or pension actuaries. This year's cases may involve actuarial malpractice, actuarial equivalence, actuarial assumptions, erroneous benefit determinations, recent Supreme Court decisions, and others.

Session Category

Retirement

Credits

EA Non-Core: 1.50

CPD: 1.50

Speakers

This session will explore practical, real-world use cases where AI can improve efficiency and consistency. Case studies will include enhancing communications, supporting data analysis, and assisting with research efforts.

Session Category

Retirement

Credits

EA Non-Core: 1.50

CPD: 1.50

Speakers