In other action at the meeting, CAS released the name of its new research journal, which will be called Variance and have as its tagline “Advancing the Science of Risk.”

CAS said the new journal will disseminate works of interest to casualty actuaries and general insurance, and other risk professionals worldwide.

Variance peer-reviewed articles focus on original practical and theoretical research in non-life actuarial science and related areas in the science of risk. The first issue is expected to be published in June 2007, CAS announced.

“Our target audience will span the spectrum from practicing actuaries engaged in daily applications of actuarial techniques, to academic researchers exploring the frontiers,” said Gary Dean, editor-in-chief of Variance and vice president and actuary for Travelers Insurance.

Mr. Dean said the hope is that the journal will “maintain a good balance between practical and theoretical articles so that every casualty actuary will be able to find something of interest.”

He promised articles of interest to a wider audience than actuaries. For example, Mr. Dean said, topics such as enterprise risk management straddles actuarial, risk management, and investment areas.

“Variance articles should be of interest to actuaries and risk professionals around the globe, because even though local traditions and regulations often drive actuarial techniques, actuarial science is a discipline without boundaries,” said Mr. Dean.

Variance, it was announced, will make high quality, original work in casualty actuarial science available more quickly. The Proceedings of the Casualty Actuarial Society, which was published annually, had previously served as the CAS outlet for peer-reviewed research papers. The CAS will continue to publish its Proceedings, but without peer-reviewed research papers.

“We expect that this new journal will accomplish what the Proceedings did, plus more,” commented Mr. Dean. “The average time from submission of a paper until its distribution in print will be shorter because Variance will be published more frequently and our editorial team is committed to reducing the time that it takes a paper to be reviewed and edited,” he explained.

Papers are now being accepted for consideration that fit into one or more of the following categories:

Research–contains original ideas and new material.

Educational–instructs actuaries and others involved in analyzing, modeling, and managing risk.

Practical Application–applies new theories to solve practical problems, exhibits actuarial practices, or compiles current techniques.

“We are actively soliciting papers from authors who may not have been traditionally published in CAS publications. This should bring a wider range of ideas into the journal and, hopefully, more non-CAS members will become regular readers and contributors,” said Mr. Dean.

Additional information on submission of papers and other details on Variance can be found on the CAS Web Site at www.casact.org.

CAS is an organization dedicated to the advancement of the body of knowledge of actuarial science applied to property, casualty and similar risk exposures.