ARC 2025 - Frank Todisco

Actuaries Serving Congress: Research at the U.S. Government Accountability Office

Moderator: Wei Wei, Associate Professor, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an audit, investigative, and research agency (among other functions) within the legislative branch of the U.S. federal government. In this presentation, GAO’s Chief Actuary will discuss GAO’s mission, structure, and role in the federal government; explain how GAO conducts its investigations and research, including its quality assurance framework; draw comparisons between research at GAO and in academia; and present examples of GAO’s work that have involved actuarial issues of national interest.

Frank's Bio

Frank Todisco (MAAA, FSA, FCA, EA) is Chief Actuary of the U.S. Government Accountability Office. He oversees all aspects of GAO’s research, reports, audits, and investigations that require actuarial expertise or the application of actuarial science—serving as an expert adviser to GAO mission teams and the Congress on actuarial issues of national interest, including those related to retirement security, health care, property and casualty insurance, and major federal programs and policies in these areas. Mr. Todisco has served as GAO’s Chief Actuary since 2011.

Mr. Todisco is a member of the American Academy of Actuaries’ Research Committee. He has served as an Academy Board member, as Vice Chair of the Actuarial Standards Board, and as the Academy’s Senior Pension Fellow – and in 2023 received the Academy’s Robert J. Myers Public Service Award for “his outstanding leadership and vision in public service.” Mr. Todisco also was recently nominated to become the President-elect of the Academy beginning this November.