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No. 21-4 For Immediate Release

March 2021

RRB Appoints Keith T. Sartain as Chief Actuary

The U.S. Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) has appointed Keith T. Sartain as its Chief 

Actuary, effective February 15, 2021.

Mr. Sartain will direct the RRB’s Bureau of the Actuary and Research (BAR), which supports 

the agency’s mission by providing both long-term and short-term projections of the financial 

status of the railroad retirement trust funds and unemployment/sickness accounts. This includes 

oversight of the administration and calculations related to the financial interchange between the 

RRB, the Social Security Administration, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

In addition, Mr. Sartain will participate in and oversee efforts related to preparing cost 

estimates of proposed legislation, recommending funding for vested dual benefit appropriations, 

and suggesting appropriate tier-II payroll tax rates that fund certain railroad retirement benefits.

BAR also produces various publications throughout the year providing information on the 

activities of the agency and its benefit programs, including preparation of the Statistical Tables, 

Quarterly Benefit Statistics, and supplying material and figures for inclusion in the RRB’s Annual 

Report.

The Chief Actuary also serves as a member of the RRB’s Executive Committee, comprised of 

senior agency management officials, which is responsible for day-to-day operations of the agency 

and for making policy recommendations to the three-member Board.

At the time of his appointment, Mr. Sartain was a partner and consulting actuary for Aon in 

Washington, D.C. Aon is a global professional services firm that provides a broad range of risk, 

reinsurance, retirement and health solutions. In this capacity, Mr. Sartain served as the lead 

actuary for a variety of clients, including CSX Corporation, and project manager for the Pension 

Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

He served as Aon’s national expert on railroad retirement benefits, and worked closely with 

both CSX and Norfolk Southern on their joint acquisition of Conrail. Mr. Sartain has also served 

as a member of the RRB’s Actuarial Advisory Committee since September 2011.

U.S. Railroad Retirement Board

RRB News

844 North Rush Street Chicago, Illinois 60611-1275

www.rrb.gov

877-772-5772 general information

Public Affairs

312-751-4777 

opa@rrb.gov media inquiries
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A native of Dallas, he graduated from Rice University in Houston in 1986, earning a Bachelor 

of Arts degree in mathematical sciences. Upon graduating, Mr. Sartain went to work for Hewitt 

Associates in its Woodland, Texas, office in 1986, and transferred to the Dallas office when it 

opened in 1990. He moved to Washington, D.C. in 1995, receiving a promotion to partner in 

1997. Aon acquired Hewitt Associates in October 2010.

Mr. Sartain is an Enrolled Actuary, a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries, and a 

Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, for which he is also a member of the organization’s sections 

on pensions and social insurance.

Mr. Sartain currently lives in Bethesda, Maryland, with his wife Alice, a Doctor of Veterinary 

Medicine. They are the parents of three daughters and one son.

Mr. Sartain replaces Frank J. Buzzi, who retired in August 2020 after more than 29 years of 

RRB service. Mr. Buzzi had been the agency’s Chief Actuary since 1993.

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An independent federal agency headquartered in Chicago, the RRB administers about 

$13.3 billion a year in benefits under the federal Railroad Retirement and Railroad 

Unemployment Insurance Acts covering the nation’s railroad workers and their families.