Welcome
to the fall edition of GUAA’s award-winning on-line newsletter,
Risk
Review! We’re very glad you’re here. We’re especially
proud of this issue, and we hope you stick around to long enough ot check out
the entire newsletter. You’ll see that this issue is jam-packed with all
sorts of useful information. Best of all, you’ll find a super-easy
GUAA
Trivia Contest at the very end of the newsletter. The lucky winner walks
away with a $50 gift certificate to
Borders Books and Tapes, so be
sure to give it your best shot. After all, it’s a known fact that only
those who actually
swing the bat ever get a base hit.
I just experienced the absolute worst sports week of my life, so I’m trying
to carry on without maiming anyone who has the audacity to look cheery this
week. All my teams went down in flames last weekend. The worst part of all,
though, was the brutally painful fact that Georgia Tech, the Falcons and the
Braves all waited until the
very last minute to pull the rug out from
all their fans hopes and dreams. The Braves even had the nerve to hang around
for 18 painful innings—that’s right 18! —before deciding not
to play any more baseball in 2005. Following the Braves debacle, I tried my
best to end it all by sticking my entire head into the microwave, but I couldn’t
get the door closed. This means I have no choice but to live on in an emotionally
wounded capacity. (Since Trisha Yearwood is an Atlanta native and probably feels
my same pain, maybe she can write a sad sack country song about the frightening
weekend. That way, I can drink beer, cry and listen to the song at the very
same time!) Anyway, it’s too late for me—you folks need to save
yourselves!
There are many people to thank for this edition of
Risk Review, so
let’s get to it. My thanks to the GUAA Committees (well, 4/5th of them!)
for sharing important and interesting information in the
Committee
Reports section of the newsletter. A special thanks goes to
Rich
Clement of The Smith Group for his timely report on how certaqin insurerers
are managing in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Rich and
Tom Kirner
(now with The Hartford) also did a nice job of compiling recent industry survey
data for your viewing pleasure in their article,
Survey
Sez.
Karen Gritton, GUAA’s incredibly talented professional
meeting planner, gives a terrific overview of our fast-approaching November
meeting in
Spotlight on Orlando. You’ll also
find very informative articles on
Predictive Modeling
by
Ruth Ann Woodley, FSA and
Marilyn Schlein Kramer,
and a terrific update on Critical Illness by
Don Pisetsky,
PhD. Thanks also to
Dr. Gina Guzman with Munich American Re
for her article on the importance of colon screening in our
Medical
Wellness section. (I do have a word of advice for all – if you elect
to undergo a colonoscopy, be sure to get it done
professionally, folks!)
Hold it! There’s more!
Mark Walker, GUAA’s President,
kindly humored me by participating in a brief
Q &
A session. Not only will you learn about the direction Mark would like to
see GUAA take in the next year or so, but you’ll also discover that Mark
is a huge Red Sox fan who was born in Iowa and now lives in Minnesota. Go figure.
Like me, Mark is singing the Baseball Blues these days.
Go Cards! Go White Sox!
We sincerely hope you enjoy our latest edition of
Risk Review!
