Coaching Actuaries

Head Coaches: Leading the team
	Abraham S. Weishaus, Ph.D., F.S.A., CFA, M.A.A.A. Video Instructor, ASM Manual author & Quality Control lead for ADAPT MLC & 3L Instructor of actuarial review courses for St. Johns University, and formerly for Actuarial Society of Greater New York. Adjunct professor at Columbia University. Taught exam seminars for CAMAR for 7 years. Formerly financial reporting actuary at Guardian Life. Served on the Society of Actuary's Education and Examination Committee, Individual Life and Annuity Section, from 1987 to 1997.
	Dave Kester, F.S.A., M.A.A.A. Video Instructor, ADAPT question author & Coaching Actuaries overseer Dave Kester has over 20 years of experience using technology to solve actuarial problems. Dave graduated from the University of Northern Iowa in 1986. He co-founded SALT Solutions in 1995. The first solution that SALT created was a Windows based program designed to help students pass the FSA level exams. Since then, Dave has been active assisting actuaries in their exam preparation. Dave co-taught actuarial exam seminars at Drake University, Mutual of Omaha, and other locations. Recently, Dave taught interest theory at Drake University. He enjoys working with students and educating actuaries on how to use technology to implement their ideas. Dave authors some of the ADAPT questions and is responsible for the smooth operation of ADAPT. Dave resides in Des Moines where he is blessed by his wife and four children.
	Harold Cherry, F.S.A., M.A.A.A. ASM Manual author & eCourse quality control Instructor of courses for Actuarial Society of Greater New York for over 25 years. CEO of ASM Was consultant for AXA Equitable for 19 years. Formerly vice president & actuary at New York Life.
	Dr. Tim Huffman, Ph.D. Video Instructor, ADAPT question author & ADAPT databank quality control Dr. Huffman is the Professor of Mathematics at Northwestern College where he teaches many of the upper-level math classes. Dr. Huffman holds a doctorate in mathematics from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His research specialty is Fourier-Feynman Transforms, and his work has been published in the International Journal of Mathematics and Mathematics Science, Transactions of the AMS, Rocky Mountain Journal of Mathematics, Michigan Mathematics Journal, and Journal of the Korean Mathematical Society. He is a member of the Mathematical Association of America, the American Mathematical Society, the Association of Christians in the Mathematical Sciences, and is an Academic Correspondent of the Casualty Actuarial Society. Dr. Huffman is responsible for the content of the material on ADAPT.

Assistant Coaches: Key brain trust of the team
	Rick Gorvett, F.C.A.S., M.A.A.A., CERA, A.S.A., ARM, FRM, Ph.D. ASM Manual author Director of the actuarial science program, and the State Farm Foundation Scholar in Actuarial Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Teaches and does research in the areas of actuarial science, financial risk management and enterprise risk management, and has a Ph.D. in finance. Prior to entering academia, worked in these areas for several insurers and consulting firms.
	Dr. Andrea Marcovici, F.S.A., Ph.D. ADAPT question author Andrea Marcovici has merged the ideas of actuarial science and education. She graduated from Brandeis University with a degree in mathematics and physics. Then, she received a Ph.D. in applied mathematics and statistics from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Dr. Marcovici practiced as an actuary at AXA before being part of the Coaching Actuaries team. She has taught actuarial and mathematical courses to all age groups. Currently, Dr. Marcovici has devoted time to preparing the inmates at Bristol County Jail for real world math applications. Her hobbies include classical piano, long distance swimming, and teaching math to her four boys. She has contributed significantly to ADAPT’s P/1 questions and is currently authoring new C/4 questions.
	Bill Gerhardt, F.C.A.S., M.A.A.A. ADAPT question author Bill Gerhardt is a pricing manager at Nationwide Insurance in Des Moines, Iowa. He works in Nationwide’s commercial lines department and leads a team of actuaries responsible for ratemaking activities in the Great Plains and Southeast regions of the U.S. Bill joined Nationwide in 2003 and holds 15 years of actuarial experience. He received his FCAS in 2005 and holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Iowa State University.
	Brooke Fultz, F.S.A., C.F.A., M.A.A.A. ADAPT question author Brooke Fultz is an Actuary at the Principal Financial Group. She works in Principal’s corporate investment department and performs asset liability management and hedging of Principal’s insurance portfolios. Brooke joined Principal in 2002 after receiving her bachelor's degree in actuarial science and mathematics from the University of Iowa. Since 2008, she has been teaching interest theory as an adjunct instructor at Drake University. Brooke has contributed to ADAPT’s FM/2 questions.
	Dr. Graham Lemke, Ph.D. ADAPT question author Graham Lemke is an Associate Professor of Economics and Finance at Northwestern College (IA). His research interests include financial risk, consumer theory and game theory. He holds a Ph.D. in economics (Binghamton University), M.S. (Cornell University) and a B.Sc. in electrical engineering (University of Alberta).
	Natalia A. Humphreys, Ph.D., F.S.A. ADAPT question author Natalia Humphreys is a Clinical Associate Professor and an Associate Head of the Actuarial Program at the University of Texas at Dallas. She teaches the CAS/SOA Exam 2/FM, 3L/MLC, 3F/MFE and 4/C preparation courses within the Program and serves as a Faculty Advisor to the Actuarial Student Organization at UTD. Prior to returning to academia, Natalia Humphreys served as an Associate Actuary and as a Qualified Actuary in the financial reporting area of HealthMarkets, a health insurance company. She obtained her F.S.A. within the retirement practice of Watson Wyatt Worldwide, a benefits consulting firm. Dr. Humphreys holds a Ph.D. in mathematics (the Ohio State University) and a M.S. in mathematics (St. Petersburg State University, Russia).
	Warren R. Luckner, F.S.A., M.A.A.A., C.F.A. ADAPT question author Warren R. Luckner is the David P. Hayes Memorial Chair in Actuarial Science, and Director of the Actuarial Science Program at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln (UNL). He began his actuarial career as an individual life insurance pricing actuary at Aid Association for Lutherans (now Thrivent). After attaining his fellowship, Warren served on the faculty of UNL’s Actuarial Science program for 9 years. He left Nebraska for the opportunity to serve on the staff of the Society of Actuaries. As a member of the SOA staff, he served in various education and research capacities for 14 years. He is a former member and Vice-President of the SOA Board and is currently serving on the Board of Trustees of the Actuarial Foundation. In an effort to repair the damage done to the image of Nebraska actuaries named Warren by Jack Nicholson’s portrayal of retired actuary Warren Schmidt in the 2002 movie “About Schmidt”, Warren returned as Director of the Actuarial Science program at Nebraska in the fall of 2003. He’s still working on the image task, which suffered a bit of a setback when Warren appeared in UNL’s Actuarial Science Club’s YouTube Video “UNL’s CAE”, a song and dance parody of "YMCA" by the Village People commemorating the honor of UNL’s Actuarial Science Program being in the first group of academic actuarial science programs to receive the Society of Actuaries designation "Center of Actuarial Excellence".

Player Coaches: Providing dialog to student discussions and making improvements in the game plan

Tong Khon Teh Actuarial Assistant Tong Khon graduated with Magna Cum Laude honor and received his degree in Actuarial Science from Drake University. He has completed the preliminary actuarial professional exams within 1.5 years from May 2009 to August 2010, and is currently working towards becoming an Associate of the Society of Actuaries by taking FAP modules. He has been leading the actuarial professional exam review classes for Exam MFE/3F at Drake University since 2010.

Tong Khon is currently a full time actuarial consultant at SALT Solutions. He works on the consulting projects and also contributes to ADAPT's question bank. He is currently living in Des Moines, IA and he always enjoy a cup of freshly brewed coffee at the local Starbucks.

Terence Chow Actuarial Assistant Terence Chow graduated summa cum laude from Drake University in May 2012 with a bachelor’s degree in Actuarial Science/Finance. Prior to graduation, Terence completed all five preliminary actuarial examinations. Terence is currently working on attaining his A.S.A. designation from the Society of Actuaries.

Terence joined SALT Solutions part-time in January 2011 and has worked full-time from July 2012. Terence has contributed to ADAPT questions for FM/2, MFE, MLC and C/4.

The Technology group: Creating the ADAPT system, equipping the coaches, and managing the data
	Bob Sorensen Director of Business Development Ganesh Kumar Senior IT Consultant Jon Goode IT Systems Administrator Tim Crane Coaching Actuaries Site Manager Sheila Watson Customer Support

Coaching Actuaries Pioneers
	Coaching Actuaries was founded by Salt Solutions to help students gain the experience needed to properly prepare for exams using current technology and tools. Salt Solutions, an Iowa based actuarial consulting firm, started developing windows based educational tools in the mid 1990's. The educational offering has now matured from CD based testing tools into online products like Adaptive Dynamic Actuarial Practice Tests (ADAPT). Currently Salt is working to enhance its educational offering by partnering with ASM, the leading provider of actuarial education material.
	ASM has been helping students prepare for the actuarial exams since 1983. ASM offers study manuals for Exam P/1, Exam FM/2, SOA Exam MLC, Exam MFE/3F, CAS Exam 3L, Exam C/4, and EA-1, EA-2A and EA-2B, written by an outstanding team of authors. Together, ASM & Coaching Actuaries have been providing students online study manuals & eCourses since 2010.
Northwestern College	ADAPT was invented by the Northwestern College actuarial science program, led by Dr. Timothy Huffman and assisted by Dr. Graham Lemke. In addition, they are pioneering using the eCourses as part of the classroom curriculum. It is off to a good start as all of the P/1 students passed the exam after using the eCourse.