Consultants and Actuaries

James Sparks is a Consultant in GRS’ Southfield, Michigan office.  He has more than 10 years of experience in providing services for statewide and local government programs.  James specializes in providing actuarial services for public sector pension/OPEB retirement systems and §529 pre-paid tuition programs. 

James has served clients in Arkansas, California, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New York, and Ohio.  His experience with local and statewide retirement systems includes clients that range in size from $10 million to $100 billion.

James’s primary responsibilities for public sector retirement systems are the preparation and presentation of actuarial pension and OPEB valuations, assistance with GASB reporting, actuarial audits, experience studies, plan design change cost analysis, cash flow projections and sensitivity analysis.  He also has experience in providing services for routine benefit calculations, Domestic Relations Order (DRO) calculations, §415(b) limit calculations and annual benefit statements.  

James’s primary responsibilities for §529 pre-paid tuition programs are the preparation and presentation of actuarial valuations, development of plan pricing, experience studies, cash flow projections and sensitivity analysis.  James currently provides services to three statewide programs that are still open to new enrollment.  

Professional Designations

• Associate, Society of Actuaries
• Fellow, Conference of Consulting Actuaries
• Member, American Academy of Actuaries

Presentations and Publications

James has previously served as a speaker at various national and local conferences, such as, the National Public Pension Financial Forum (P2F2) and the Pennsylvania Association of Public Employee Retirement Systems (PAPERS).  His presentations have covered topics such as: understanding differences between funding (actuarial) reporting and accounting (GASB) reporting, aging populations and its impact on pension systems, pension plan design, funding policy considerations and risk management techniques.

Education

Bachelor of Science, Actuarial Mathematics and Economics (Dual Major), University of Michigan