University Park, Pa. – Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has appointed Ron Gebhardtsbauer, faculty-in-charge of the Actuarial Science Program at the Penn State Smeal College of Business, to the U.S. Department of Defense Board of Actuaries.
Created by Congress, the three-member board advises the defense department's chief actuary and the secretary of defense on actuarial matters. It is charged with reporting to the secretary of defense on the status of the Military Retirement Fund and the GI Bill's Education Benefits Fund. At least every four years, the board must report to the president and Congress on the status of these funds and make recommendations on maintaining their actuarial soundness.
Gebhardtsbauer was selected by Gates for the board for his exceptional experience in actuarial science as well as his commitment to public service.
Gebhardtsbauer has more than 30 years of experience in actuarial science. Before joining Smeal in 2008 to direct the Actuarial Science Program, he was senior benefits adviser to the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance. Prior to his service with Congress, Gebhardtsbauer spent nearly 12 years as senior pension fellow with the American Academy of Actuaries. He also spent eight years as the chief actuary for the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.
He is a board member of the American Academy of Actuaries, the leading professional organization of U.S. actuaries. He has previously served on the boards of the Society of Actuaries and the Conference of Consulting Actuaries, and is currently on the board of the United Methodist Church's pension system. He also is a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance.
He has testified before Congress many times on actuarial issues, including most recently in October before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) regarding pension funding. Internationally, Gebhardtsbauer has advised the governments of Bulgaria, Canada, Poland, Romania, the United Kingdom and Vietnam.