Academy of Life Underwriting

“Part vi, section b, line 15: the organization has no paid staff; therefore, a compensation policy is not in place.”

“All management duties are retained by alu officers. Administration duties are performed by association management strategies, inc. Otr publishing servces are performed by entities under contract and under the supervision of alu officers.”

“The full 990 was provided to the alu board electronically for review prior to its filing.”

“The conflict of interest statement is requested annually from each director and is reviewed for conflicts.”

“The organization makes its governing documents, conflict of interest policy, and financial statements available to the public upon request. In addition, information is available on our website.”

“Certification exam preparation and administration: the examination group of alu prepares and administers six examinations to assess the knowledge and experience of life insurance underwriters and other interested professionals compared to the established alu curriculum. The alu101, alu201, alu202, alu301, mrap1 and mrap2 exams are created by a team of more than thirty volunteers, all practicing life underwriters or company medical directors, in a well-established process that takes more than six months to complete. Each team member writes questions based upon assigned textbook chapters. The questions are reviewed and improved in small groups discussion, and then assembled into the six exams. Alu volunteers who write questions are schooled in the art of writing valid exam questions by an educational consultant. New alu examinations are created each year. Examinations are administered annually. Most students take the examinations at exam locations offered (without charge) by life insurance companies. The examinations are supervised in each exam location by volunteer exam proctors. Once the examinations are completed and returned to the alu administration office for scoring, students are informed of their exam results in writing. The most recent exams were scheduled for april 21, 2020 and then rescheduled for october 20, 2020 but utimately cancelled in may 2020 due to covid-19. Fees to sit for the exams range from 225-325 per exam. Fees for the cancelled exams are being refunded to the payers. These activites occupy approximately 35% of the activities of the academy of life underwriting. Curriculum development and textbook publication: the alu and mrap curriculum that serves as the basis for the certification program for the life underwriting profession was developed and is maintained by the alu curriculum group. Members of the curriculum group are all volunteers and practicing life insurance underwriters or insurance company medical directors. As life insurance underwriting is a dynamic profession, the alu curriculum group must continually review the legal environment for the life insurance industry, the information available to a life underwriter to facilitate the underwriting process, and the changing nature of the life insurance underwriter's professional responsibilities and accountabilities. As key factors in the life underwriter's profession change, the alu curriculum group updates the alu life underwriting curriculum accordingly. Based upon the alu and mrap curriculums, the curriculum group updates and publishes six textbooks (4 alu and 2 mrap) covering basic, intermediate medical, intermediate non-medical and advanced topics in life insurance underwriting. Textbook chapters are written by practicing life underwriters, company medical directors, and medical professionals. To keep pace with an evolving industry, the textbooks are updated at least every two years. Together with a commercial anatomy and physiology textbook, these six textbooks cover the alu and mrap curriculum in detail and serve as the study materials used by students to prepare for the examinations. Alu and mrap textbooks are sold through the alu office at a cost of 20. In october 2019, alu and mrap textbooks became available digitally from amazon for 9.99. In february 2020, alu and mrap textbooks became available in print form from amazon for 20.00 to 25.00. Other textbooks are available from the distrubtor and multiple retail outlets at a cost of approximately 45 per book. These activities occupy approximately 20% of the activities of the academy of life underwriting. Credentialing and recognition of student accomplishment: alu recognizes students who meet the alu certification requirements by conferrring several diplomas and professional designations. Alu believes that successful and proficient life insurance underwriters must work closely with actuaries, attorneys, administrative and sales professionals, and company management. To that end, requirement”

“One the risk: the journal of the academy of life underwriting: on the risk: the journal of the academy of life underwriting (otr) is a professional journal published quarterly by alu. The on the risk editorial team, together with a group of editors and managers, secures timely, in-depth articles written by practitioners in the underwriting community. Otr is distributed to members of the association of home office underwriters (ahou) and canadian institute of underwriters (ciu) as a benefit of membership, and direct subscriptions may be purchased. On the risk reaches approximately 1,750 subscribers with each issue. This journal contributes to the professional and continuing education needs of the ahou, the ciu, and the worldwide professional underwriting readership. On the risk supports the mission of the academy of life underwriting by providing continuing education and public recognition for life insurance underwriters and the members of ahou and ciu by encouraging underwriters to obtain the associate, academy of life underwriting (aalu), fellow, academy of life underwriting (falu), and medical risk assessment professional (mrap) designations, and by promoting academy of life underwriting programs. These activities occupy approximately 25% of the activities of the academy of life underwriting.”

“Contining education: each year, the underwriting development and continuing education group of the academy of life underwriting creates and offers several opportunities for life insurance underwriters and other interested parties to study and discuss specific emerging and established topics important to their professions. This group is comprised of practicing life underwriters or underwriting managers. The underwriting development group creates and administers online webinars several times each year. These one-hour seminars include presentations on timely underwriting topics by industry experts, where participants can question the experts in moderated sessions over the internet. During the year ending june 30, 2020 the group presented six online webinars on specific medical and underwriting topics, continued offering a series for self-study for individuals to learn ekg interpretation. Webinars are offered to underwriting companies by annual subscription and to individuals by individual registration. Subscription fees range from 100-750 per year based on the size of the subscribing company. Multi-part series are available for 100 per attendee. The forum group organizes and annual academy of life underwriting forum. This is a two-day meeting attended by the chief life underwriters from a number of life insurance companies, where current challenges and future trends in the life underwriting profession are discussed. The registration fee for this forum is 350 per person, to help cover costs. The 2020 forum meeting was cancelled due to covid-19. Attendees and sponsors were given refunds. These activities occupy approximatley 10% of the activities of the academy of life underwriting.”

“Computer support 8,937 0 0 executive team 1,545 0 0 educational consulting 2,500 0 0 photographers 2,500 0 0 proofreading/indexing 4,207 0 0 curriculum editing 6,500 0 0 advertising commission 9,023 0 0 otr editors 8,750 0 0 publishing & circulation 62,268 0 0 consulting 1,250 0 0 content management 400 0 0 reporter 1,000 0 0 total 108,880 0 0”