Business Analyst Health Insurance

ALI A. ZAKER-SHAHRAK, Ph.D.(Econ.), FSA, MAAA, CFA

***** ******** ****, *** ****, CA 91406

Tel.: (Home) 818-***-****; (Cell) 516-***-****

Email: *******@*****.***

EDUCATION:

Ph.D. (Economics), The London School of Economics, London, England

M.Sc. (Econometrics and Mathematical Economics), The London School of Economics, London, England

B.Sc. (Economics, Special Subject: Statistics and Computing), First Class Honors, The London School of Economics, London, England

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS & DESIGNATIONS:

MAAA - Member of American Academy of Actuaries

FSA - Fellow of Society of Actuaries

CFA - Chartered Financial Analyst

AREAS OF EXPERTISE:

Health Insurance – Pricing, Experience Analysis, Forecasting; Long Term Care; Medicare; Medicare Supplement; Specified Disease; Credibility of Experience Data, Adequacy and Reasonableness of Premium Rates

Risk-Based Capital; Analysis, Quantification and Management of Risk in general, and Financial Risk in particular

Economic and Statistical Analysis and Forecasting

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY:

ACTUARIAL

Senior Life Actuary, California Department of Insurance (June 2005 – November 2024)

I reviewed filings for premium rate changes filed by Life and Health Insurance companies licensed to write health insurance policies in California. The filings included premium rates for Medicare supplement policies, Individual and Small Group Major Medical Expense policies, Individual Special Disease policies, Disability Income, and Long-Term Care Insurance policies. Since the passage of Affordable Care Act, I reviewed Major Medical Individual and Small Group premium rate filings that were filed in accordance with the provisions of Affordable Care Act.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, NJ – (August 2003 – May 2004)

Manager:

I was in charge of Individual and Senior Medicare and Medigap Markets, and performed all the actuarial functions, including:

Rate Action – Statistical analysis of experience data leading to recommendation of specific quarterly rate revision,

IBNR – Development of monthly estimate of IBNR

MLR – Production of monthly estimate of Medical Cost/Loss Ratios

Forecasting – Production of periodic forecasts of trends in PMPM Claims, total revenue and membership

Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, New York, NY – (November 1996 – June 2002)

(August 2000 – June 2002) Asset/Liability Management, Individual Annuity

Conducted statistical analysis and ran in-house software to estimate fair/market value of in-force annuity portfolios, their duration, and the cost of embedded guarantees like GMIB and GMDB.

Analyzed the effect crediting strategy employed for fixed income products and the resulting spread realized.

Estimated inflation-indexed annuity premium and derived a procedure for managing inflation risk inherent in such products.

Estimated stock return volatilities and real interest rate mean values using “Regime-Switching” Methodology.

(August 1999 – July 2000) – Individual Disability Financial Reporting

Prepared monthly, quarterly and annual Actuarial Reserves and Liability estimates for Individual Disability Income block of business

(November 1996 – June 1999) – Group Dental Insurance

Prepared mainframe group dental databases and conducted statistical analyses using such databases.

Determined manual rating factors through statistical analysis of experience data

Trained actuarial associates in statistical and modeling techniques and the use of SAS/STAT software.

INVESTMENT BANKING

Morgan Guaranty Trust Company of New York, NY – (June 1995 – April 2006)

Estimated equity (use-of-capital) risk charges for the major lines of businesses of JP Morgan.

Conducted a data intensive study to estimate volatility and correlation coefficients among various JP Morgan lines of businesses and risk units – granule - within those lines.

ACADEMIC

I have taught the following courses at the following universities:

University of California, Los Angeles, CA – (September 2015 – June 2017) – Financial Mathematics; Derivatives and Option Pricing New York Institute of Finance, New York, NY – (September 1996 – June 2001) – Quantitative Analysis, Investment Theory, Statistics, and Multiple Regression Analysis

Pace University, New York, NY - (September – December 1996) – An MBA course in Money and Capital Markets

Stanford University – Stanford, CA – (September – December 1992 and January – March 1994) – Macroeconomics Theory, Applied Macroeconomics

University of California, Santa Cruz, CA - (September – December 1996) – Principles of Macroeconomics, Cost-Benefit Analysis

Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA – (June 1998 – August 1992) – Principles of Micro and Macroeconomics, Econometric Theory, International Trade at Undergraduate and graduate – MBA – level

The London School of Economics, University of London, London, England – Mathematical Analysis for Economists

AWARDS:

California Department of Insurance

oCommissioner’s Superior Accomplishment Award (2007)

oCommissioner’s Award for Excellence (2010 and 2012)

The London School of Economics – Farr Medal and Prize

The London School of Economics: Raynes Undergraduate Prize. Raynes Undergraduate Prize is awarded annually to the student with the best performance in Part II of the B.Sc.(Econ.) final examination.

The London School of Economics: C S Mactaggart Scholarship, VOLUNTARY WORK:

For more than a decade I have been serving as a volunteer in Society of Actuaries’ Education and Examination Committee – preparing questions for various Fellowship exams, and acting as grader for a number of Fellowship exams.

For a number of years I was a member of the American Academy of Actuaries’ “Social Security Committee”

Served on the Finance/Enterprise Risk Management Examination Committee of Society of Actuaries – 2000 to 2002.

Served on the Risk Management Research Team - July 2004 - February 2005.

Served on the Pricing, Reserving and Forecasting Module Team - 2006 and 2007.

Served on the “Economic Capital Subgroup” of the Society of Actuaries Risk Management Task Force that developed and released “Specialty Guide on Economic Capital”, Version 1.5 on March 2004.

Served on American Academy of Actuaries Life Valuation Subcommittee that developed and released “Credibility Practice Note” on July 2008.

I have moderated a number of sessions at Society of Actuaries’ Annual and Health Meetings. I have also made presentations in such gatherings.

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