Orin Linden

Orin Linden is a Director in the Risk, Consulting and Software practice of Towers Watson and is the lead Property & Casualty Actuarial Consultant in their New York office. Orin has 33 years’ experience in the insurance industry. He has worked extensively in most areas of property and casualty insurance and reinsurance, mergers and acquisitions, self-insurance and captive insurance companies. He has advised extensively with many of the major insurance and reinsurance companies as well as larg self-insured entities throughout North America in the areas of loss reserving, pricing and risk management. He has conducted several insurance company valuations/appraisal studies for primary and reinsurance companies. His background also includes giving expert testimony in depositions and courts on insurance, reinsurance, loss reserving, valuation and underwriting issues. Orin has also been extremely active in M&A work and has performed due diligence for many large acquisitions.

Prior to joining Towers Watson, Orin had been a partner running actuarial practices at both Ernst & Young, where he ran the national P&C actuarial group and Coopers & Lybrand, where he ran the Northeast P&C actuarial practice. He also has varied experience in actuarial functions at two major property & casualty insurance companies, running both personal lines (auto and homeowners) and commercial lines rate making and reserving units.

Orin has been an instructor of mathematics on a college level as well. His experience includes part-time responsibilities at Queens College (1972-73, 1976) and Landers College for Men (Touro) where he taught Calculus and Yeshiva University where he taught Ordinary Differential Equations.

Orin holds a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics (with honors) from Queens College and both Masters and PhD degrees in Mathematics from Yeshiva University. In addition, he had done research at the University of Strasbourg, France.

Orin is a Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society, a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries, and an Associate in Risk Management.

Orin is past President of the Casualty Actuaries of Greater New York. He is currently a member of the Casualty Actuarial Society’s Disciplinary committee and its committee on volunteers. He has been a Member of the Casualty Actuarial Society’s Committee on Valuation, a Member of the Society’s Examination Committee dealing with loss reserving and insurance accounting, a Member of its Public Relations Committee and its Financial Analysis Committee and a member of the Task Force on ACAS voting rights. He also served as Chairman for the Casualty Actuarial Society examination review program administered jointly by CAGNY/CANE. In addition, he has served on two Insurance Services Office actuarial subcommittees and was involved in monitoring the activities of several others. Orin has also been a Member of the Planning Committee of the Casualty Loss Reserve Seminar.

Orin has authored articles for the Proceedings of the Casualty Actuarial Society on valuing insurance companies for tax purposes after an acquisition and on aggregate loss modeling. He has also written other articles on such diverse subjects as tobacco liability, M&A, pollution liability and premium auditing. He was co-author of the 2000 CLRS prize for the best paper (Estimating Satellite Liabilities). His article, “Asbestos and the Laws of Newton” was a featured cover article for Contingencies, the number one actuarial periodical in the country. He speaks frequently at actuarial seminars on such diverse topics as uncovering risk, risk transfer, valuation methodologies and environmental liabilities.

Representative Articles:

Transformed Beta and Gamma Distributions and Aggregate Losses [Discussion], With Fred Klinker, Proceedings of the Casualty Actuarial Society, Vol. LXXI, 1984

The Valuation Of An Insurance Company For An Acquisition Involving A Section 338 Tax Election, With James A. Hall. 111, Stephen Gerard. Michael Heitz, Proceedings of the Casualty Actuarial Society, LXXII, 1985

Who’s afraid of Environmental Liability, Cover Story, Cross Currents, Ernst & Young

Asbestos, the Never Ending Nightmare: Cross Currents, Summer 2001, Ernst & Young

Asbestos and the Laws of Newton: Cover Story, Contingencies Magazine, March/April 2005, American Academy of Actuaries

Also Cross Currents, Fall 2004, Ernst & Young

The Pitfalls of Data Mining: With Jim King, Cross Currents, Spring 2002, Ernst & Young

Estimating Satellite Insurance Liabilities, With Alan Jay Gould, Recipient of the Ronald Bornhuetter Loss Reserve Prize 2000, Casualty Actuarial Society Forum, Fall 2000, Casualty Actuarial Society

Estimating the Ultimate Liability for a Non-Insurance Company’s Revised Warranty Product, With James B. Kahn, Brian Y. Ko, Casualty Actuarial Society Forum, Fall 2008, Casualty Actuarial Society

Due Diligence Uncovers Hidden Liabilities, National Underwriter

Ghost Written:

Parley Vous Asbestos – Asbestos in Western Europe, Credited to Chris Diamontoukos, Cross Currents, Fall 2006, Ernst & Young

Articles written as part of committees:

A Study of the Effects of Asset/Liability Mismatch on Property/Casualty Insurance Companies By The Financial Analysis Committee, (Committee Member),

The “C Risk” System Of Categorizing Risks And Its Possible Applicability To The Property And Casualty Industry, By The Cas Committee on Financial Analysis (Committee Member)

Speaking Engagements:

American Academy of Actuaries Webinar: October 5, 2010, The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act

“The Actuarial Role in Liquidity Risk Assessment” CLRS 2006 (and 2005)

“How to do a Valuation”: 2000 CAS Valuation Seminar, April 10-11, 2000, St. Lois, MO

The ABCD’s of the CAS Counseling and Discipline Process, With Michael Toothman, Casualty Loss Reserve Seminar, Casualty Actuarial Society, September,2010

Federal vs. State Insurance Regulation; Dodd-Frank: With James Donelon, Commissioner of Insurance, Louisiana, Edward Collins, Assistant Vice President and Assistant General Counsel, Allstate Insurance Company, CAS Ratemaking and Product Management Seminar, 2011, New Orleans, LA

The Pitfalls of Data Mining: With James King, Joint GIRO/CAS, October 3-6, 2001, Glasgow, Scotland

Space and Aviation Insurance, Casualty Actuarial Society, May, 2001

Dodd-Frank and the Property Casualty Insurance Industry, October 5, 2010, AAA Webinar on Dodd Frank

Many other speeches and presentations on Valuation, Large Loss Modeling, Satellites, Underwriting and other subjects

Orin Linden, PhD, FCAS, MAAA, ARM