Agenda

Hon. Benjamin A. Kahn is a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Middle District of North Carolina in Greensboro, sworn in on Feb. 3, 2014. He also is the chair of the Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Judge Education for the Federal Judicial Center, for which he serves as one of the instructors for Phase I and Phase II Orientation for Newly Appointed Bankruptcy Judges. Judge Kahn is a member of the U.S. Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on the Bankruptcy Rules, and is chair of its Forms Subcommittee. In addition, he is a conferee of the National Bankruptcy Conference, for which he previously served on the Executive Committee and currently serves as chair of the Committee on the Court System and Bankruptcy Administration and on the Nominating Committee. Judge Kahn is a contributing author and member of the board of editors for Collier on Bankruptcy and served as the judicial chair of ABI’s Southeast Bankruptcy Workshop from 2019-23. Prior to his appointment, he was a member of Nexsen Pruet PLLC and clerked for Bankruptcy Judge Jerry G. Tart of the Middle District of North Carolina. Judge Kahn is Board Certified in Business and Consumer Bankruptcy Law by the American Board of Certification, for which he served as a member of its board of directors until his appointment to the bench. Prior to joining the bench, Judge Kahn was a certified mediator in North Carolina and was recognized as among the Top 10 North Carolina Super Lawyers across all practice areas for the two years immediately preceding his appointment, elected to the Legal Elite Hall of Fame by Business North Carolina Magazine in 2014 as the category winner in North Carolina for Bankruptcy, and was included among Band 1 bankruptcy practitioners in North Carolina in Chambers and Partners USA. A Fellow in the American College of Bankruptcy, he received his B.A. in political science and history in 1990, and his J.D. with honors in 1993, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Samuel J. Gerdano was the executive director of the American Bankruptcy Institute from 1991 to 2019. In 2007, on the occasion of ABI's silver anniversary, he was awarded ABI's first Lifetime Achievement Award. From 1985-91, he was the chief legal counsel to Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) and staff director for the Subcommittee on Courts and Administrative Practice of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The subcommittee had jurisdiction over the U.S. Bankruptcy Code; Mr. Gerdano has thus been involved in all major bankruptcy policy changes since 1985. Immediately prior to his service on the Senate Judiciary Committee, he was assistant chief counsel for advocacy for the U.S. Small Business Administration in Washington, D.C. Prior to that, he was with a major law firm in the District of Columbia. He is admitted to practice in the federal and local courts of the District of Columbia and the U.S. Supreme Court, and was named a Fellow in the American College of Bankruptcy in 2001. Mr. Gerdano is the author of numerous articles on bankruptcy and other legal topics, regularly appears as a presenter at continuing legal education programs and is a frequently cited authority on bankruptcy in the national news media. He is a 1983 honors graduate of Syracuse University College of Law and received his B.A. from Syracuse.

Matthew Bordwin is a principal and co-president of Keen-Summit Capital Partners LLC in Melville, N.Y., where he is responsible for all aspects of business development and execution. He focuses primarily on the development of new business, marketing and implementing strategic real estate plans for his clients, which involve real estate analysis, real estate acquisitions and dispositions, lease modifications and terminations, and corporate finance and capital market services. Mr. Bordwin has nearly 25 years of real estate advisory and transactional experience, which particular expertise in workouts and restructurings, specializing in strategic planning, the sale of real estate assets and lease negotiations. He has represented financial, corporate and retail clients, and in his more-than-21-year career he has worked with well-known clients such as Arthur Andersen, Blockbuster, SunEdison, Fruit of the Loom and Montgomery Ward. As a recognized expert on real estate restructuring issues, Mr. Bordwin is a frequent speaker on industry topics and has been quoted in national and industry publications. He is a former member of the National Board of Trustees of the Turnaround Management Association and a former ABI Board member. Mr. Bordwin is a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers and the New York State Bar, and he is a licensed real estate broker, general securities representative (Series 7), registered principal (Series 24), securities agent (Series 63) and investment banking representative (Series 79). He previously was with GA Keen Realty Advisors, KPMG Corporate Financer and Keen Consultants. Mr. Bordwin won the Turnaround Management Association’s 2016 Transaction of the Year Award. He received his B.A. in 1991 from Tufts University and his J.D. in 1994 from Fordham University School of Law.

Hon. Thomas M. Horan is U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the District of Delware in Wilmington, appointed in 2023. He previously practiced law in Wilmington for 18 years, focusing on financial restructuring and bankruptcy litigation. Most recently, Judge Horan had been a member of the Bankruptcy, Insolvency and Restructuring group at Cozen O’Connor, a national firm headquartered in Philadelphia with a Wilmington office. His national practice included representing debtors and official unsecured creditor committees in complex chapter 11 proceedings, and he represented secured creditors and other parties in litigation. He also frequently provided opinion letters on commercial transactions and represented parties before the state’s Court of Chancery and Superior Court. Last year, Judge Horan was named to Lawdragon’s list of the Top 500 U.S. bankruptcy and restructuring lawyers. He also serves on ABI’s Board of Directors. Judge Horan received his B.A. in 1989 and his M.A. in 1992 from Fordham University, and his J.D. cum laude from St. John’s University School of Law in 2002, where he was executive notes and comments editor for the ABI Law Review.

Hon. Christopher M. Lopez is a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Southern District of Texas in Houston, appointed on Aug. 14, 2019. He previously was a member of the Business, Finance & Restructuring Group of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP and focused on representations ranging from top global corporations in mega-restructurings to middle-market debtor and creditor representations. Judge Lopez lectures across the country on bankruptcy issues. He also serves as an adjunct professor at Thurgood Marshall School of Law. Judge Lopez currently serves as a council member of the State Bar of Texas’s Bankruptcy Law Section, an advisor to the State Bar of Texas Young Lawyers Committee, a member of the Nominations Committee for the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, and a member of the National Bankruptcy Conference. He received his B.A. in psychology in 1996 from the University of Houston, his M.A. in religion in 1999 from Yale Divinity School and his J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law in 2003.

Isley M. Gostin is a counsel at WilmerHale in Washington, D.C., where she represents clients in all stages of complex litigation and bankruptcy proceedings, including discovery, motions, mediation, trial and appeals. She has also represented clients in a wide range of pro bono matters, including representing a criminal defendant sentenced to life without the possibility of parole in a multi-day trial seeking post-conviction relief, representing judgment creditors in bankruptcy proceedings, advising the board of directors of a nonprofit organization in financial distress on governance issues, and representing amici in the U.S. Supreme Court and courts of appeals on constitutional and bankruptcy law issues. Ms. Gostin was honored in 2020 as one of ABI’s “40 Under 40.” Before joining WilmerHale in 2011, she clerked for Hon. Robert E. Gerber of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. Ms. Gostin received her B.A. cum laude from Harvard College and her J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School.

Melissa M. Root is a managing partner with Jenner & Block in Chicago. She focuses on representing creditors, committees, debtors, examiners and trustees in complex financial restructuring matters and high-stakes bankruptcy litigation. Ms. Root represented USA Gymnastics in its chapter 11 case, and a significant part of her practice includes representing committees of retired employees. She also counseled the official committee of government retirees in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico’s Title III case, and she previously represented retiree committees in the Budd Co., American Airlines and Walter Energy cases. Ms. Root also frequently represents parties in bankruptcy-related appellate matters. She served as counsel for the prevailing petitioners before the U.S. Supreme Court in Wellness International Network, Limited v. Sharif, and also served as counsel for the American Bar Association in connection with its amicus curiae brief in Executive Benefits Insurance Agency v. Arkinson, and as counsel for the National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees in connection with its amicus curiae brief filed in the U.S. Supreme Court in Baker Botts L.L.P. and Jordan, Hyden, Womble, Culbreth & Hozer, P.C. v. Asarco LLC. Ms. Root devotes significant time to pro bono work and currently represents a class of former students in the ITT Technical Institute bankruptcy case. She is active in ABI, for which she serves on the advisory committee for several conferences, and she was honored as one of ABI’s “40 Under 40” in its 2017 inaugural class. Ms. Root is a Fellow in the American College of Bankruptcy. She received her B.A. magna cum laude in 2000 from Bowling Green State University and her J.D. cum laude in 2003 from the University of Michigan Law School.

Prof. Dalié Jiménez is a professor of law at the University of California, Irvine School of Law in Irvine, Calif., where she teaches bankruptcy, secured credit, contracts and consumer protection courses. Her research focuses on how law and regulation affect individuals in their financial lives. More concretely, she studies consumer financial distress and bankruptcy, the regulation of financial products, and their intersection with consumer protection and access to civil justice. Prof. Jiménez is one of three principal investigators in the Financial Distress Research Project, a large-scale, longitudinal, randomized control trial evaluating the effectiveness of legal and counseling interventions to help individuals in financial distress. She spent a year as part of the founding staff of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau working on debt collection, debt relief, credit reporting and student loan issues. Prior to her academic career, she clerked for Hon. Juan R. Torruella of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, was a litigation associate at Ropes & Gray in Boston, and worked on consumer-protection issues for a Massachusetts state senator. Prof. Jiménez is a 2018 ABI “40 Under 40” honoree. She received her dual B.S. degrees in electrical engineering/computer science and political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and her J.D. cum laude from Harvard law School.

Peter J. Barrett is a partner in Kutak Rock LLP’s Richmond, Va., office, where he concentrates his practice on financial restructuring matters. He represents unsecured and secured creditors, trustees, equityholders, distressed investors and corporate debtors in insolvency matters, including chapter 11 reorganizations, business liquidations and out-of-court restructurings. Mr. Barrett has experience representing interested parties in asset sales and has been involved in a number of complex chapter 11 bankruptcy cases throughout the country involving industries such as manufacturing, hospitality, construction, retail, entertainment and real estate. He also works with other firm attorneys to analyze the effects of insolvency and bankruptcy on corporate and financial transactions. Mr. Barrett is a member of the panel of chapter 7 bankruptcy trustees for the Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division, and is licensed to practice in Virginia and California. He received his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law.

Ciara L. Rogers is a partner with Waldrep Wall Babcock & Bailey PLLC in Winston-Salem, N.C., where her practice focuses on bankruptcy and business insolvency. She is certified as a Business Bankruptcy Law Specialist by the North Carolina State Bar and is licensed to practice in all federal and state courts in North Carolina and Virginia, as well as the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. Before joining Waldrep Wall Babcock & Bailey PLLC, Ms. Rogers was an attorney with Oliver & Cheek. Prior to that, she clerked for Hon. J. Rich Leonard and Hon. Randy D. Doub of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. In 2018, Ms. Rogers became the director of Campbell University School of Law’s Stubbs Bankruptcy Clinic, where she supervises second- and third-year law students in providing pro bono bankruptcy representation to low-wealth individuals in the Eastern District of North Carolina. She is a member of the North Carolina and Virginia Bar Associations. In 2023, Ms. Rogers was honored as one of ABI’s 40 Under 40. She received dual B.S degrees in history and political science from Averett University and her J.D. from North Carolina Central University School of Law.

Annmarie Chiarello is a Restructuring & Insolvency shareholder at Winstead PC in Dallas, where she represents and counsels secured lenders, debtors, lessors, landlords, trade creditors and financial institutions in a wide variety of liquidation and reorganization proceedings. She briefed, argued and won an appeal to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and has been involved in some of Texas’s most contentious bankruptcy cases, including the cases of Highland Capital Management, Acis Capital Management and Tuesday Morning. She also has drafted, negotiated and confirmed plans in multiple industries, and has represented secured lenders in numerous bankruptcy cases, including successfully moving for the appointment of chapter 11 trustees and contested confirmations. In addition, she has successfully defended lender-liability claims. Annmarie is a member of the International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation’s National Membership Committee, serves as Communication Director of ABI’s Mediation Committee, is a former board member of the Turnaround Management Association, and is a member of the Junior League of Dallas, the Dallas Bar Association’s Bankruptcy Section and the Dallas Association of Young Bankruptcy Lawyers. She has been listed as a Super Lawyers Texas “Rising Star,” as one of D Magazine’s 2024 “Best Lawyers Under 40,” and as one of The Best Lawyers in America’s “Ones to Watch.” In 2023, she received The M&A Advisor’s “Out of Court Restructuring of the Year” award.

Prof. Melissa B. Jacoby is a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Law in Chapel Hill, N.C., where she studies and teaches bankruptcy and commercial law and participates in law reform activities in those areas. She is an elected member of the American Law Institute, the National Bankruptcy Conference and the American College of Bankruptcy, and has won UNC Law's Byrd Award for Excellence and Creativity in Teaching and the Pro Bono Publico Faculty Member of the Year Award. Prof. Jacoby is a monthly contributor to the blog Credit Slips and closely followed the public portions of Detroit's chapter 9 in real time: listened to all the court hearings, monitored the docket, and discussed the legal issues with the local and national press and via social media. She received both her B.A. and J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, after which she clerked for Hon. Robert. E. Ginsberg and Hon. Marjorie O. Rendell.

Paul Caminiti is a founding partner of Reevemark in New York. For more than 25 years, he has advised boards, management teams and high-profile individuals on strategic communications around value-determinative issues. Mr. Caminiti works closely with clients to develop strategies and messaging to enhance profiles and help leadership navigate complex situations. He provides media and investor-relations counsel on shareholder activism, transactions, litigation and regulatory matters, reputational issues and restructurings across industries, including energy, retail, media, real estate, financials, pharmaceutical, consumer products and investment firms. Mr. Caminiti has been ranked by Chambers and Partners as both a top Litigation and Crisis Communications professional (2021-24), as one of Lawdragon’s Global 100 Leaders in Legal Strategy & Consulting (2021-24), and by Business Insider as a Top 15 Financial Communications Advisor. His recent litigation and restructuring work includes Main Street Sports/FanDuel Sports Networks in a $10B+ restructuring, NexPoint Advisors L.P. with respect to the complex Highland Capital Management bankruptcy proceedings, and Gold Corp (a/k/a The Perth Mint) around U.S. state compliance issues. Mr. Caminiti has advised on civil and criminal cases and regulatory matters involving the SEC, DOJ, Federal Reserve, FDA, FTC, state AGs and foreign governments, as well as on labor and operational issues. His clients have included H.I.G. Capital, Chickasaw Nation, The Children’s Place, J.R. Simplot, Archer Aviation (DOJ investigation and IP litigation with Wisk), P.I. Financial, parties to the 1MDB forfeiture proceedings (U.S., Malaysia, Singapore and Switzerland), Intesa SanPaolo, 3M, Marsh/Mercer, and major law firms, private equity and hedge funds on sensitive disclosures and other issues. Mr. Caminiti worked with Liggett Group over a 20-year period in which it became the first to settle smoking-related lawsuits and acknowledged that smoking is addictive, as well as through DOJ and multiple state AG lawsuits and class actions. Prior to co-founding Reevemark, he spent 22 years at Sard Verbinnen as a managing director, and he practiced law and represented clients from the securities, sports and art industries in federal criminal and civil cases. Mr. Caminiti received his undergraduate degree in 1989 from Princeton University and his J.D. in 1992 from Fordham University School of Law.

Nicholas R. Troszak, CPA, CFF, CIRA is a managing director with Development Specialists, Inc. in Los Angeles, and has more than 20 years of experience providing services in bankruptcy, forensic/investigative accounting, and litigation support. He has served in numerous bankruptcy and insolvency matters, including court appointments as accountant to the trustee, accountant to the liquidating estate manager, accountant to the debtor, and financial advisor to the official committee of unsecured creditors. Mr. Troszak has advised trustees in operating chapter 11 companies, developing cash-flow projections, budgeting, and managing other day-to-day accounting activities. His experience includes the investigation of alleged insider dealings, investigation and pursuit of preferences, fraudulent transfers and other causes of action, tracing of funds, financial data reconstruction, liquidation analyses, plan preparation, solvency analyses, claims resolution, and liquidation of assets. Mr. Troszak testified before a federal grand jury regarding a debtor conducting and operating an alleged Ponzi scheme, and he testified in federal bankruptcy court as to the accuracy of a debtor’s financial records and accounting procedures. Prior to joining DSI in 2018, he was an associate director at Berkeley Research Group, LLC, and prior to that, he was a managing consultant at LECG, LLC and a staff accountant with Neilson Elggren LLP. Mr. Troszak is a member of ABI and the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA), the Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Advisors (AIRA) and the Los Angeles Bankruptcy Forum (LABF). He received his B.A. in accounting from Michigan State University.

Brittany B. Falabella is a partner in Hirschler Fleischer, P.C.’s Litigation group in Richmond, Va., where her practice focuses on representing debtors, creditors and chapter 7 trustees throughout the bankruptcy process. She also advises clients regarding financial restructuring. Ms. Falabella’s practice also includes corporate litigation, contracts, licensing agreements and creditors’ rights. In her role as a legal advisor, she assists clients in resolving conflicts that have the potential to jeopardize their strong financial position. Previously, she served as a judicial intern for the Magistrate Judge in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District, commonly known as the Rocket Docket. Ms. Falabella is a 2024 ABI “40 Under 40” honoree and has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America as one of its “Ones to Watch” for Bankruptcy and Creditor/Debtor Rights/Insolvency and Reorganization Law since 2022. She also was named to Virginia Business’s “Legal Elite” for Bankruptcy Creditors Rights from 2020- 22 and in 2024, and in Virginia Super Lawyers for Bankruptcy: Business from 2023-24. Ms. Falabella received her B.A. from the College of Charleston and her J.D. from the University of Richmond School of Law, where she was admitted to the Order of the Coif, served as an articles editor of the University of Richmond Law Review, and received the Nina R. Kestin Service Award. While in law school, she volunteered at the Carrico Center for Pro Bono Service, where she argued a case before a writ panel of the Virginia Supreme Court.

Stephen S. Relyea is a co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Financial Freedom Legal in Richmond, Va. Since 2009, he has devoted a significant portion of his practice to bankruptcy law, and he has extensive knowledge of the subject matter. Additionally, Steve has years of experience representing and protecting the rights of consumers, particularly with credit reporting inaccuracies and mortgage servicing issues. Steve frequently publishes and speaks about bankruptcy topics. He is also a member of the Richmond Bar Association, the Old Dominion Bar Association, and the American Bankruptcy Institute. He is also a member of the National Association of Consumer Advocates, the Richmond Bar Association, and the Henrico County Bar Association. Mr. Relyea received his B.A. from George Mason University and his J.D. from Wake Forest University.

Hon. Bruce A. Harwood is a retired U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the District of New Hampshire in Concord, appointed to the bench in March 2013, and currently resides in San Francisco. He also served a Chief Bankruptcy Judge prior to his retirement from the bench, and he served on the First Circuit’s Bankruptcy Appellate Panel. Prior to his appointment to the bench, Judge Harwood chaired the Bankruptcy, Insolvency and Creditors’ Rights Group at Sheehan Phinney Bass + Green in Manchester, N.H., representing business debtors, asset-purchasers, secured and unsecured creditors, creditors’ committees, trustees in bankruptcy, and insurance and banking regulators in connection with the rehabilitation and liquidation of insolvent insurers and trust companies. He was a chapter 7 panel trustee in the District of New Hampshire and mediated insolvency-related disputes. Judge Harwood is ABI’s President-Elect. He previously served as ABI’s Secretary and Vice President-Communication, Information & Technology, as co-chair of ABI’s Commercial Fraud Committee, as program co-chair and judicial chair of ABI’s Northeast Bankruptcy Conference, and as Northeast Regional Chair of the ABI Endowment Fund’s Development Committee. He also served on ABI’s Civility Task Force. Judge Harwood is a Fellow in the American College of Bankruptcy and was consistently recognized in the bankruptcy law section of The Best Lawyers in America, in New England SuperLawyers and by Chambers USA. He received his B.A. from Northwestern University and his J.D. from Washington University School of Law.

January M. Bailey is a shareholder at Prelle Eron & Bailey in Wichita, Kan., where she focuses primarily on bankruptcy matters. Ms. Bailey currently serves on the District of Kansas Bankruptcy Bench Bar Committee and as chair for the local (Wichita) bankruptcy practice committee, both of which she has done for the last several years. She was named a “Rising Star” in bankruptcy by Super Lawyers in 2019 and was selected to participate in NCBJ’s NextGen program in 2018. Ms. Bailey is the editor of ABI’s Best of ABI 2021: The Year in Consumer Bankruptcy, and she is Board Certified in Consumer Bankruptcy Law by the American Board of Certification. She received her B.S. in business administration and B.A. in French from the University of Kansas, and her M.B.A. and J.D. from the University of Cincinnati.

Rafael Klotz, an expert in bankruptcy and insolvency, restructuring, and intellectual property matters, is a Principal with The Brattle Group. He has almost three decades of experience evaluating and executing major transactions around the world. Throughout his career, Mr. Klotz has specialized in structuring and leading distressed asset investments, divestments, financings, and restructurings. He has orchestrated both U.S.-based and cross-border transactions in various industries, including in the retail, commercial, industrial, and intellectual property sectors. Over the last 15 years, Mr. Klotz’s core focus has been on assuming principal risk as an investor and lender across more than 40 countries, spanning North America, Europe, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand, the Middle East, and Africa. During this time, he also gained substantial expertise in the valuation of assets under the net orderly and force liquidation value methodologies. Mr. Klotz is a native Spanish speaker and is fluent in Portuguese. He received a B.M. from the Berklee College of Music and a J.D. from Boston College Law School.

Edward T. Gavin, CTP is a managing director and founding partner of Gavin/Solmonese LLC in Wilmington, Del., where he leads the firm’s Corporate Recovery Practice and specializes in complex bankruptcy matters, representing debtors and creditors as financial advisor, asset sale advisor, CRO or in other responsible party roles. He is frequently appointed liquidating trustee, litigation trustee or plan administrator for post-confirmation liquidating trusts. Mr. Gavin provides expert testimony on asset sale processes under § 363, ordinary-course-of-business defenses in preference litigation, and fiduciary du- ties of management. His engagements have included responsibilities as CRO, bankruptcy and nonbank- ruptcy financial advisor to debtors and creditors committees, interim-management appointments, business viability assessments, mergers and acquisitions, business integrations and strategic sales, corporate strategy and policy development and implementation, e-commerce and marketing strategy development, process re-engineering, and enterprise resource planning (ERP) system implementation and assessment. Mr. Gavin is a Past President of ABI, and during his term he created ABI’s Task Force on Veterans & Servicemembers’ Affairs. He served as ABI’s Vice President-Development, co-chair of ABI’s Financial Advisors & Investment Banking Committee (2010-12), and co-chair and Education Director of ABI’s Ethics Committee (2008-10). He also co-chaired ABI’s Mid-Atlantic Bankruptcy Workshop from 2009- 14. Mr. Gavin writes the “Turnaround Tactics” blog for Forbes and has written for the ABI Journal, among others. He also served on ABI’s Civility Task Force and National Ethics Standards Task Force, leading that group’s Solicitation Protocols Subcommittee. Mr. Gavin hosts Business/Disrupted, a more-or-less weekly radio show and podcast discussing the unappreciated business aspects of everyday things. He also co-authored ABI’s Chief Restructuring Officer’s Guide to Bankruptcy. Mr. Gavin attended the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, studying music theory and education.

Eric E. Walker is a partner with Cooley LLP in its Business Restructuring Group in Chicago, where he focuses his practice on all aspects of financial restructuring, bankruptcy and litigation. He has represented virtually every major stakeholder in bankruptcy proceedings throughout the country. Mr. Walker has particular experience in restructuring hospital systems, senior-living facilities, continuing-care retirement communities (CCRCs), skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), behavioral health centers and diagnostic medical laboratories. His successful representation of the asset-purchaser in the Health Diagnostic Laboratories (HDL) bankruptcy case was awarded the 2016 Restructuring Deal of the Year (Under $100M) by The M&A Advisor, and he received an individual Band 5 ranking from Chambers USA in 2023. Mr. Walker also has experience in the hotel and hospitality industry and regularly represents hotel owners, developers, operators, lenders and major hotel brands in transactions, state and federal litigation, and bankruptcy. He represented the petitioners before the U.S. Supreme Court in RadLAX Gateway Hotel LLC, et al. v. Amalgamated Bank (Case No. 11-166), a landmark chapter 11 bankruptcy case involving secured creditor cramdown. Mr. Walker has been recognized as a leading bankruptcy practitioner by Chambers USA, Lawdragon and the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges. He is a member of ABI’s inaugural class of 40 Under 40 (2017), and he currently serves on ABI’s Board of Directors. He also is an executive editor of the ABI Journal, and serves on the advisory board of ABI’s Health Care Program. He frequently writes and speaks on issues of bankruptcy and health care law. Mr Walker received his B.S.B.A. in finance in 2000 from Miami University and his J.D. in 2006 from the University of Connecticut School of Law, where he served on the Connecticut Law Review.

Hon. Paul R. Hage is a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Eastern District of Michigan in Detroit, sworn in on Sept. 30, 2024. Prior to his appointment to the bench, he was co-chair of the bankruptcy group at Taft, Stettinius & Hollister, LLP. Judge Hage is a member of ABI’s Executive Committee and serves as Executive Editor of the ABI Journal. He is a Fellow in the American College of Bankruptcy and serves as co-director of the Conrad B. Duberstein National Bankruptcy Moot Court Competition. In 2017, Judge. Hage was selected as a member of ABI’s inaugural “40 Under 40” class. He received his bachelor’s degree from James Madison College at Michigan State University, his J.D. from Loyola University Chicago School of Law and his LL.M. in bankruptcy from St. John’s University School of Law.

Christopher K.S. Wong is an associate in the Bankruptcy & Financial Restructuring group of ArentFox Schiff LLP in Los Angeles. He specializes in business and financial restructuring matters, and advises companies in navigating the chapter 11 process, out-of-court workouts, and corporate and debt financing transactions. For clients looking for opportunities in the distressed market, a sizable portion of his practice is dedicated to representing sellers, stalking-horse bidders and over-bidders in court-supervised § 363 asset sales. Mr. Wong’s recent cases involve sales of the going-concern assets of an automotive driving experience company in Las Vegas, an open-air shopping mall in Southern California, and the intellectual property assets of a pharmaceutical company based in Northern California. He works with creditors’ committees, trustees and institutional clients, conducting corporate governance and financial mismanagement-related investigations of companies in various industries, including sports, nonprofit, retail, entertainment, health and fitness, and technology. In this capacity, he regularly serves as outside counsel to the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee in conducting investigations of national governing bodies on their compliance with the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act and the USOPC Bylaws. Previously, Mr. Wong clerked for Hon. Maureen Tighe of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California and as a legal intern in the corporate in-house department for SunPower Corp., a publicly traded renewable energy company. He also worked as a legal intern at the fifth-largest law firm in China, All- Bright Law Offices, in Shanghai in the firm’s general commercial, corporate and M&A department. Mr. Wong is a member of ABI and the California Bankruptcy Forum, Sports Lawyers Association and Southern California Chinese Lawyers Association. He also is a member of the Small Business Reorganization Task Force of the Central District of California Bankruptcy Court, with particular emphasis on outreach to Los Angeles-based businesses in minority communities. Mr. Wong is a 2022 ABI “40 Under 40” honoree and has been listed in Legal 500 as a “Key Lawyer” (2024) and in Super Lawyers as one of the “Ones to Watch” for Bankruptcy and Creditor/Debtor Rights/Insolvency and Reorganization Law (2022-24). He received his B.A. in political science and international relations from the University of California, Los Angeles and his J.D. from the University of California, San Francisco College of the Law, where he served as editor-in-chief of the Hastings International and Comparative Law Review and as vice president of the Asian Pacific American Law Student Association.

Theresa M. Weisenberger is a partner with BakerHostetler in Atlanta and co-leads the firm’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) practice. She also co-leads BakerHostetler’s Technology and IP Transactions and Outsourcing team. Ms. Weisenberger focuses her intellectual property (IP) and technology law counseling on emerging technologies and the interplay of changing legal landscapes and evolving business goals. She has more than a decade of experience in the fields of patent law, copyright law, data usage rights, technology agreements and open source software (OSS) compliance. Ms. Weisenberger represents both established technology companies and those companies undergoing a digital transformation at every stage of the IP life cycle. She offers AI training programs that delve into these issues and are tailored to the particular needs of a business, their overall industry and relevant trends. In addition, Ms. Weisenberger works with utilities and technology, gaming, health care, construction and other companies to develop IP protection and enforcement programs, including conducting IP and AI audits, creating IP and AI policies, capturing inventions, shaping global IP strategy, providing infringement risk analysis, advising on OSS compliance and leading employee education programs on these topics. She also manages development deals and structures technology acquisitions, data-licensing agreements and SaaS and XaaS contracts. Central to these technology agreements is working with clients to understand the risks between providers and tech clients, including how licensing third-party technology can impact their IP rights and obligations to their clients. Ms. Weisenberger serves as the secretary and vice president of Governance of the Copyright Society, and she is a member of the American Bar Association and State Bar of Georgia. She is listed in IAM Patent 1000 as one of “The World’s Leading Patent Practitioners,” in The Legal 500 United States and in The Best Lawyers in America. Ms. Weisenberger received her B.S. magna cum laude in electrical engineering in 2008 from Mississippi State University, and her J.D. in 2011 from Vanderbilt University Law School, where she served as articles editor for the Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law.

Dr. Bruce Wu is counsel with Frost Brown Todd LLP in San Francisco and an engineer. He counsels clients from a broad range of technology sectors, particularly bio-tech and high-tech, many of which are startup companies. Dr. Wu’s experience encompasses life sciences such as pharmaceuticals, oncology, drug delivery, medical devices, genetics, therapeutics and synthetic biology, along with high-tech such as clean tech, materials science, consumer electronics hardware and software, microfluidics, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and genAI. With respect to IP, he assists clients with all aspects of patent-drafting and prosecution, trademark registration and clearance, and copyright and trade secret protection. Dr. Wu’s experience includes providing clients with patentability, validity and infringement opinions. Additionally, he also helps clients navigate protecting their IP assets from different legal frameworks, such as regulatory (e.g., FDA). Dr. Wu has been recognized internationally for building and developing IP and legal teams in both private and public companies. He has served as chief legal officer and corporate secretary for a number of life sciences and AI companies, and he has advised C-suite executives as well as boards of directors. He also routinely helps scientific founders and in-house legal counsels navigate legal issues. Beyond his legal roles, Dr. Wu has been head of Business Development and chief people officer, and he is a frequent speaker on navigating a range of legal issues within technology companies. He taught a course in intellectual property law at George Mason University’s School of Management, and he has an interest in alternative dispute resolution, including negotiation and mediation. Dr. Wu is admitted to practice law in Washington, D.C., Massachusetts and Virginia. He received his B.A.Sc. in materials science and engineering from the University of Toronto, his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, and his M.S. and Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Richard J. Corbi is the founder of the Corbi Law in New York. He previously clerked for Hon. Laura Taylor Swain of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in the Title III proceedings of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. He also served as a term law clerk to Hon. Alan S. Trust in the Eastern District of New York, and previously clerked for Hon. Louis A. Scarcella. Prior to his clerkships, Mr. Corbi was an associate in Proskauer Rose LLP’s and Lowenstein Sandler LLP’s bankruptcy groups in New York, where he represented such debtors such as Philadelphia Newspapers, TLC Vision and Gas City, as well as Ares Management in its capacity as rights-offering backstopper in the Lyondell Chemical Co. chapter 11 case, defendants in the Madoff litigation, Major League Baseball in the Los Angeles Dodgers chapter 11 cases, DIP lenders, private-equity funds and other investors in U.S. and cross-border insolvencies and out-of-court restructurings. He is admitted to the New York Bar, as well as the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Mr. Corbi received his B.A. in 2001 from Ithaca College, his J.D. from Hofstra University School of Law and his LL.M. from St. John’s University School of Law.

Sarah Beth Wilson is a partner with Phelps Dunbar LLP in Jackson, Miss., where she focuses her practice on bankruptcy and reorganization, business and litigation, and leads the firm’s Bankruptcy and Creditor’s Rights group. She assists clients with complex transactions, financings and restructuring projects both in and out of court. Ms. Wilson is Board Certified in Business Bankruptcy Law by the American Board of Certification and specializes in the representation of direct and institutional lenders, private equity and other key stakeholders in large commercial transactions, unique and distressed asset acquisitions and dispositions, real estate development projects involving special situations financings, intercreditor and interlender issues, collateral rights and priorities enforcement, and secured creditor and bankruptcy rights. She regularly advises committees, boards, lending institutions and entities on issues impacting the structuring of real estate and business transactions involving secured and unsecured financing facilities. Handling a wide range of real estate, business and asset sales transactions, Ms. Wilson’s practice involves structuring and negotiating agreements involving real estate acquisition, development and operation. She also has experience negotiating and litigating lien perfection and priority disputes in the context of commercial real property, and she is a licensed issuer of real property title insurance policies. Ms. Wilson recently completed a term as chairman of the Board of Banking Review for the State of Mississippi, a position to which she was elected after being appointed by Gov. Phil Bryant and unanimously confirmed by the senate. She continues to serve in legislative and policy advising roles, including in her role on the Bank Attorneys Committee of the Mississippi Bankers Association, a position to which she has been appointed every year since 2018 by each incoming president of the state’s banking association. She also played a leading role on the official transition team for Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch from her prior office as Treasurer for the State of Mississippi. Ms. Wilson’s practice spans all industries and has led her to represent clients in such sectors as banking, aviation, health, oil and gas, agricultural, telecommunications and information technologies, construction, real estate and retail. She also serves as a member of the firm’s Operations Committee. Ms. Wilson received ABI’s Asset Sale of the Year Award for 2023, is rated AV-Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell, and has been listed in Chambers USA, The Best Lawyers in America and Super Lawyers. She received her B.B.A. in accounting and ecnomics cum laude in 2007 from Millsaps College, and her J.D. magna cum laude in 2010 from Mississippi College School of Law.

Peter R. Morrison is a partner with Squire Patton Boggs in Cleveland and has a broad and versatile corporate, litigation and finance practice built on extensive experience representing and counseling clients in the corporate insolvency, distressed lending and investing, restructuring and bankruptcy contexts, including in complex chapter 11 cases nationwide. His clients include debtors, creditors’ committees, and secured and unsecured creditors in reorganizations and liquidations. He also represents receivers and secured creditors in receiverships and foreclosure proceedings. Ms. Morrison has significant bankruptcy litigation experience focused on dischargeability contests, declaratory judgment actions, director and officer liability suits, and the prosecution and defense of avoidance actions. His insolvency and restructuring practice is bolstered by his banking and debt-finance experience, which has included the negotiation, documentation and management of secured and unsecured loan transactions, including securitizations, syndicated credit facilities, unitranche facilities, split collateral pool transactions and bridge financings. Mr. Morrison received his B.A. in 2004 from the University of Wisconsin - Madison and his J.D. cum laude in 2009 from Case Western Reserve University, where he was a member of the Order of the Barristers and executive notes editor of the Health Matrix - Journal of Law-Medicine.

Hon. John T. Gregg is a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Western District of Michigan in Grand Rapids, appointed on July 17, 2014. He currently serves on the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the Sixth Circuit. Previously, Judge Gregg was a partner with the law firm of Barnes & Thornburg LLP, where he focused on corporate restructuring, bankruptcy and other insolvency matters. Judge Gregg served as chair of the education committee of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges for 2022, serves on ABI’s Board of Directors, and is a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy, and he is a member of the American Law Institute. He is a frequent writer and speaker on bankruptcy and other commercial issues, and he has written and co-edited numerous secondary sources, including Collier Guide to Chapter 11, published by LexisNexis; Strategies for Secured Creditors in Workouts and Foreclosures, published by ALI-ABA; Issues for Suppliers and Customers of Financially Troubled Auto Suppliers, published by ABI; Michigan Security Interests in Personal Property, published by the Institute of Continuing Legal Education; Handling Consumer and Small Business Bankruptcies in Michigan, published by the Institute of Continuing Legal Education; Interrupted! Understanding Bankruptcy’s Effects on Manufacturing Supply Chains, published by ABI; and Receiverships in Michigan, published by the Institute of Continuing Legal Education. Judge Gregg received his B.A. in 1996 from the University of Michigan and his J.D. in 2002 from DePaul University College of Law.

Jeremy R. Fischer is Drummond Woodsum’s Bankruptcy & Restructuring Practice Group Leader in the firm’s Portland, Maine, and Manchester, N.H. offices. He specializes in litigation and transactions involving distressed commercial matters, where he helps clients from the first sign of trouble through the most complex financial restructuring or chapter 11 case. Mr. Fischer advises major constituencies in high-stakes chapter 11 cases, including financial institutions, bondholders, official and ad hoc creditors’ committees, asset-purchasers, trustees, DIP lenders, directors/officers and debtors. He also represents parties in out-of-court debt restructurings, receiverships, and asset and loan sale transactions, with particular expertise in the health care and long-term-care sectors. Mr. Fischer has been recognized as one of the top practitioners in the region by Chambers USA and The Best Lawyers in America. He regularly represents indigent individuals in bankruptcy cases on a pro bono basis, and he has taught at the University of Maine School of Law. He also serves on ABI’s Board of Directors and previously chaired ABI’s Northeast Bankruptcy Conference & Consumer Forum, as well as ABI’s Bankruptcy Litigation Committee. Mr. Fischer is a member of ABI’s inaugural 2017 class of “40 Under 40,” and in 2018 he co-authored and co-edited the second edition of ABI’s Quick Evidence Handbook. Before entering the practice of law, he served three terms in the Maine Legislature, where he was House Chairman of the Appropriations Committee. Mr. Fischer received his B.A. summa cum laude from the University of Michigan and his J.D. summa cum laude from the University of Maine School of Law.

John Bringardner is executive editor of Leveraged Capital Markets at ION Analytics in New York, where he oversees a global team of nearly 200 journalists and analysts across Debtwire, Xtract and Creditflux. He previously served as Debtwire’s managing editor for Emerging Markets, global legal editor and courts editor, for which he provided breaking news and analysis on everything fixed income, from primary issuance to distressed debt, restructuring and bankruptcy. Over the past two decades, Mr. Bringardner’s reporting on a wide range of legal and financial news has appeared in many outlets, including Forbes, The New Yorker, The New York Times, WIRED, LCD News, Law.com and The American Lawyer. He received his B.A. in history and philosophy in 2002 from the University of Texas at Austin and his M.A. in French studies from New York University in 2003.

Rachel Chesley is Senior Managing Director at FTI Consulting in New York. Ms. Chesley frequently leads complex mandates involving international operations, workforce reductions, litigation, and transactions executed through a 363 sale process. Notable engagements include LATAM Airlines, GNC, McClatchy, and TPC Group. She regularly serves as an on-the-record media spokesperson for her clients. Outside of restructuring, Ms. Chesley has led strategic transactions, merger integration processes, planned and unplanned executive transitions, significant workforce reductions and issues management for a wide array of companies across sectors. Ms. Chesley serves as the Co-Chair of the International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation New York Chapter. She was the 2018 recipient of PR Week’s Outstanding Young Professional Award, was named a 2020 Rising Star of the Profession by Consulting Magazine and was honored as an “Emerging Leader” by The M&A Advisor in 2021. Business Insider named Ms. Chesley to its list of 15 Top Financial Public Relations Experts. Ms. Chesley received her B.A. from Dickinson College.

Professor Susan Franck is on the faculty of American University Washington College of Law, and is an expert in the fields of international economic law, dispute settlement, and the empirical analysis of international law. Professor Franck's legal experience includes serving at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and practicing in international dispute settlement with Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering [now Wilmer Hale] in Washington, DC and Allen & Overy in London, England. She has been qualified to practice law in England and Wales, Minnesota and the District of Columbia. She is on the Executive Council of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration and the immediate past Chair of the Academic Council, an active member of the American Society of International Law and a former member of the Executive Council, a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, and an elected member of the American Law Institute. She received her B.A. summa cum laude from Macalester College, her J.D. magna cum laude from the University of Minnesota Law School and her LL.M. from the University of London.

Mette H. Kurth is a Partner with Pierson Ferdinand LLP in Wilmington, Del., and chairs its Bankruptcy Practice. She focuses her practice on bankruptcy litigation, distressed debt and restructuring, corporate governance, ethics and board advising, creditor and investor representations, debtor/company representations, distressed mergers and acquisitions, and financial sponsor transactions. Named one of the leading bankruptcy and restructuring attorneys in California and Delaware by Chambers USA, Ms. Kurth specializes in confrontational negotiations and challenging situations in her client representations involving sophisticated workouts, restructurings, distressed M&A transactions and bankruptcy matters. She completed the ABI/St. John’s University School of Law Bankruptcy Mediation Training Program in 2018 and now also serves as a mediator. Ms. Kurth previously practiced at various preeminent bankruptcy boutiques and national law firms. Before practicing law, she was a bank liquidation specialist with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Ms. Kurth regularly speaks for industry groups and client programs. She has been deeply involved with the national Turnaround Management Association, having served on its national board of directors and executive committee, as vice president of both Conferences and Communications, and in numerous other national and local leadership positions. She also has served in leadership roles with ABI, the Financial Lawyers Conference, the California Bankruptcy Forum and Los Angeles Bankruptcy Forum, and the International Women’s Insolvency and Restructuring Conference (IWIRC). Ms. Kurth received her B.A. cum laude from Trinity University in 1990 and her J.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1996.

Hon. Brian T. Fenimore is a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Western District of Missouri in Kansas City, appointed on Aug. 31, 2017. Previously, he was a partner in the Kansas City, Mo., office of Lathrop & Gage LLP for more than 25 years and co-chaired its Banking & Creditors’ Rights practice area, representing debtors, creditors and many other parties in interest. He also represented borrowers and lenders in problem loan matters, including loan enforcement, guarantor liability, workouts, reorganizations and bankruptcies throughout the U.S. Judge Fenimore is admitted to practice in Kansas and Missouri, and before the U.S. Bankruptcy Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Missouri and the District of Kansas, as well as the U.S. District Courts for the District of Kansas and the Eastern and Western Districts of Missouri. He is AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell and has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America every year since 2003, among other listings. He is also a frequent speaker and ABI member. Judge Fenimore received his B.S. magna cum laude in 1988 in agricultural economics from the University of Missouri-Columbia and his J.D. in 1990 from the University of Michigan Law School, after which he clerked for Hon. Arthur B. Federman.

Natasha Atkinson is a Restructuring and Insolvency partner in the Banking & Finance Team with DWF in London, where she specializing in a variety of distressed insolvency transactions and restructurings, as well as insolvency litigation. She has significant experience in domestic and international work. Ms. Atkinson advises a range of funds, investment and clearing banks, corporates, management teams, property advisors and restructuring professionals. She has a particular niche in acting for offshore banks in Jersey, Guernsey and the BVI, and she has experience as a specialist insolvency litigator advising on all aspects of insolvency and securities disputes, particularly advising insolvency practitioners on both contentious and transactional matters. Ms. Atkinson is a member of R3 and the Insolvency Lawyers Association (ILA), International Insolvency Network (RAIIDAR), INSOL and Commercial Lawyers Association Network (CLAN). She received her LL.B. in Law from the University of Birmingham.

Frances A. Smith is a managing shareholder with Ross & Smith, PC in Dallas and has represented clients in a wide range of local, national and international businesses both in and out of bankruptcy courts throughout the U.S. She has been practicing law for more than 20 years, first as a judicial law clerk, then as an associate at Haynes and Boone, LLP, having worked on some of the largest bankruptcies in the country. She then became a partner at Shackelford, Bowen, McKinley, & Norton, LLP, where she led the firm’s bankruptcy practice until joining forces with Judi Ross in 2019. Ms. Smith represents debtors, creditors, landlords and purchasers of assets in bankruptcy proceedings across the nation. She has extensive restructuring experience in the energy, hospitality and retail sectors. She also has experience in franchise and agriculture restructuring and bankruptcy appellate practice. Ms. Smith is the immediate past chair of the Bankruptcy Section for the State Bar of Texas and sits on the Executive Committee of the John C. Ford Bankruptcy Inn of Court. She is a frequent speaker on restructuring, bankruptcy and lending topics. Ms. Smith has been listed in Lawdragon 500, The Best Lawyers in America for Bankruptcy and Creditor/Debtor Rights/Insolvency and Reorganization Law, and in D Magazine as one of the “Best Lawyers in Dallas.” She received her B.A. in history in 1998 from the University of Texas at Arlington, and her J.D. cum laude in 2001 from SMU Dedman School of Law.

Gabriel Esteban Lopetegui is an economic consultant in Washington, D.C., and a member of the board of directors of Escuela Argentina de Washington DC. His areas of expertise include macroeconomics, applied econometrics and political economy, and he has more than 30 years of experience advising key players in international finance and economics, banks, lawmakers and politicians. Mr. Lopetegui previously served as executive director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). During his time there, he represented six countries across Latin America, including Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay, at the Executive Board. Mr. Lopetegui also advised and represented the negotiations for the 2018 Stand-By Arrangement for Argentina, designed and successfully negotiated an IMF financial arrangement with Guatemala, and led the design and negotiation of a macroeconomic adjustment program and an IMF financial arrangement with the Dominican Republic. He also has delivered trainings to public sector officials on macroeconomic diagnostics, financial programming and inclusive growth, having designed and delivered the first training course on Inclusive Growth by the IMF. Prior to joining the IMF, Mr. Lopetegui served as an advisor to the president of the Central Bank of Argentina, leading the design of a banking supervision strategy, review of rating systems, frequency and scope of evaluation of financial institutions. He also advised the Secretary of Argentina’s Secretary of Treasury on fiscal policy issues, including taxation and macro-fiscal projections and coordinated the design of the 1998 Tax Reform Bill. Mr. Lopetegui received his B.A. in erconomics from Universidad Nacional de La Plata and his M.A. in economics from the Center of Macroeconomics Studies of Argentina.

Emily F. Shanks is an associate in the Bankruptcy section at Gray Reed in Dallas, and she has represented debtors, secured creditors and unsecured creditors in a wide range of corporate restructurings in various industries. She has also frequently represented secured lenders through in- and out-of-court workouts, and she has worked on a variety of bankruptcy-related litigation. Ms. Shanks has experience in general commercial litigation, representing clients in both federal and state court matters. Previously, she clerked for Justice Paul Green at the Supreme Court of Texas and served as Judge Scott Everett’s first term law clerk at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas. Ms. Shanks was selected for and participated in the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges’ 2023 NextGen class, and in 2020, she participated in the John C. Ford Inn of Court Dallas area chapter 11 restructuring course, where she tied as “Runner Up” for the “Rookie of the Year” Award. She also has served as the vice chair of the State Bar of Texas Bankruptcy Section’s Young Lawyers Committee (YLC), for which she assisted with its “Starting Out Right Program.” Additionally, she is co-chair of Events for the Dallas-Fort Worth Chapter of the International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation (IWIRC), and she serves as a member of the Pipeline Programs Subcommittee for the State Bar of Texas Bankruptcy Law Section’s DEI Committee. She also is member of the John C. Ford Bankruptcy Inn of Court. Ms. Shanks is a 2024 ABI “40 Under 40” honoree. She received her B.A. cum laude in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin and her J.D. summa cum laude from Texas Tech University School of Law.

Sarah Primrose is a senior associate with King & Spalding LLP in Atlanta and represents debtors, lenders, investors, secured and unsecured creditors, and other parties in interest in a broad range of restructuring and special-situations matters, including high-profile chapter 11 cases, out-of-court restructurings and bankruptcy-related acquisitions. In addition, she represents litigants in contested matters, adversary proceedings, federal court appeals, and other complex bankruptcy and insolvency litigation. Ms. Primrose’s practice spans a number of industries, including energy, health care, technology, manufacturing, retail, real estate, restaurant and hospitality. Prior to joining King & Spalding, she clerked for Hon. James E. Graves, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and Chief Judge Paul G. Hyman, Jr. of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida. Ms. Primrose is a longtime member of the International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation’s Georgia Network (for which serves as a director at large), the Turnaround Management Association’s Atlanta Chapter and ABI, for which she co-chairs its Ethics and Professional Compensation Committee. A regular speaker and prolific author, her work has been published in numerous industry journals, law reviews and other publications, and she is the edited of Best of ABI 2022: The Year in Business Bankruptcy. Ms. Primrose is an ABI 2022 “40 Under 40” honoree, and in 2020, 2021 and 2022, she was named as one of Yahoo! Finance’s HERoes — 100 Future Leaders. She was also named a Rising Star by Private Debt Investor in 2022 and was named to Georgia Trend Magazine’s “40 Under 40” list in 2020. Ms. Primrose received her B.A. with honors and Phi Beta Kappa from Pennsylvania State University, and her J.D. summa cum laude from Michigan State University.

Bill Rochelle is ABI’s editor-at-large, based in New York. He joined ABI in 2015 and writes every day on developments in consumer and reorganization law. For the prior nine years, Mr. Rochelle was the bankruptcy columnist for Bloomberg News. Before turning to journalism, he practiced bankruptcy law for 35 years, including 17 years as a partner in the New York office of Fulbright & Jaworski LLP. In addition to writing, Mr. Rochelle travels the country for ABI, speaking to bar groups and professional organizations on hot topics in the turnaround community and trends in consumer bankruptcies. He earned his undergraduate and law degrees from Columbia University, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar.

Hon. Lisa G. Beckerman is a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Southern District of New York in New York, sworn in on Feb. 26, 2021. From May 1999 until she was appointed to the bench, she was a partner in the financial restructuring group at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP. From September 1989 until May 1999, she was an associate and then a partner in the bankruptcy group at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP. Prior to her appointment, Judge Beckerman served as a co-chair of the Executive Committee of UJA-Federation of New York’s Bankruptcy and Reorganization Group, as co-chair and as a member of the Advisory Board of ABI’s New York City Bankruptcy Conference, and as a member of ABI’s Board of Directors of from 2013-19. She is a Fellow and a member of the board of directors of the American College of Bankruptcy, as well as a member of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges (NCBJ) and the 2021 NCBJ Education Committee. She also is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Board for Boston University School of Law. Judge Beckerman received her A.B. from University of Chicago in 1984, her M.B.A. from the University of Texas in 1986 and her J.D. from Boston University in 1989.

Roben Farzad is an acclaimed journalist, broadcaster and author known for his sharp insights into the intersection of business and culture. As the host of the popular public radio program "Full Disclosure," he dives into the forces shaping industries, innovation and society. A frequent commentator on MSNBC, Farzad is also a regular presence on "PBS NewsHour" and midday public radio program "Here & Now." His expertise has been featured across major media outlets, with bylines in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Boston Globe. Beyond his reporting, Farzad is the bestselling author of Hotel Scarface, a gripping true story about the infamous hotel that served as the epicenter of Miami’s cocaine trade in the 1970s and ’80s. His career includes serving as a senior writer for Bloomberg Businessweek, a summer reporting fellow for The New York Times and a staff writer for Dow Jones. Farzad remains a passionate advocate for journalism’s role in uncovering the stories that shape our world and in driving meaningful conversations. His unique perspective, creative analysis, and ability to connect business with broader cultural trends make him a must-hear voice in today’s media landscape.

Charvi Gupta is a senior director at Getzler Henrich & Associates in New York and has more than 10 years of experience in turnaround, restructuring, M&A and bankruptcy situations. Her expertise includes business plan analysis, performance improvement, cash and vendor management, operations restructuring, workouts, bankruptcy consulting and interim-management engagements. She also works with law firms on forensic and litigation support assignments in bankruptcy cases. Ms. Gupta’s experience spans multiple industries, including health care, food and beverage, retail, commercial real estate and hospitality, security alarm, automotive, consumer products and restaurants. She is a board member of the New York Institute of Credit as well as Legal Aid Society’s New Leadership Program. In 2023, Ms. Gupta was honored as one of ABI’s 40 Under 40 Emerging Leaders in Insolvency Practice. She is a member of the Turnaround Management Association and serves on the NOW committee (NY chapter), and she is a member of IWIRC and serves on its Finance committee. Ms. Gupta received her B.A. in economics and statistics from St. Xavier’s College in Mumbai, her M.S. in finance from the University of Rochester and her M.B.A. from Columbia Business School.

Phoebe Lo is a partner with Clifford Chance in Hong Kong, where she specializes in noncontentious corporate insolvency and restructuring work. She has advised creditors, debtors and insolvency officeholders in corporate restructuring and formal insolvency processes, including issues on enforcement of security, creditors’ schemes of arrangement, and loan and security assignments. Ms. Lo has advised various stakeholders providing strategic advice on their exposures to distressed Chinese real estate developers, various stakeholders on their exposures in relation to PRC private tutoring businesses that have been adversely impacted by onshore regulatory directives, the liquidators of certain entities in the Pacific Andes group (including with respect to ongoing U.S. bankruptcy proceedings with other entities within the group — named Finance Deal of the Year: Restructuring & Insolvency Asia Legal Awards 2017), the ABS Group with respect to a restructuring of its US$230 million senior facilities and US$160 million senior secured PIK guaranteed notes, an ad-hoc committee of lenders in connection with the restructuring of Noble Group, China Development Bank in the Brazilian judicial reorganization of Oi S.A. and its subsidiaries, and a major international bank with respect to its exposure against a distressed textiles and garment business based in the PRC and listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. She is a member of IWIRC and INSOL. Ms. Lo received her LL.B. from the University of Hong Kong.

Rebecca Rockey is Deputy Chief Economist, Global Head of Forecasting at Cushman and Wakefield. She manages the production of national/metro-level commercial real estate forecasts for various property types across the Americas, develops predictive econometric and statistical models to enhance the firms’ analytical capabilities and contributes to numerous white papers, webinars, media requests and industry/client presentations. In her global role, she extends this expertise to other regions. More recently, she has become a strategic internal and external advisor across service lines and regions, connecting research themes to actionable and tactical views on the market. Ms. Rockey is frequently cited in the media, guest lectures at New York University and is an advisor to the NYC Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the DC Policy Center. Ms. Rockey received a B.S. magna cum laude in international studies, a B.S. magna cum laude in economics, and a B.A. magna cum laude in French and Francophone Studies from Pennsylvania State University. She also received a Masters in Applied Economics, magna cum laude, from Johns Hopkins University.

Prof. Nancy B. Rapoport is a University of Nevada, Las Vegas Distinguished Professor, the Garman Turner Gordon Professor of Law at the William S. Boyd School of Law, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and an Affiliate Professor of Business Law and Ethics in the Lee Business School at UNLV. Her specialties are bankruptcy ethics, ethics in governance, law firm behavior, and the depiction of lawyers in popular culture. Previously, she clerked for Hon. Joseph T. Sneed III on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit following law school, then practiced primarily bankruptcy law with Morrison & Foerster in San Francisco from 1986-91. Prof. Rapoport started her academic career at The Ohio State University College of Law in 1991, and she moved from assistant professor to associate professor with tenure in 1995 to associate dean for Student Affairs (1996) and professor (1998), just as she left Ohio State to become dean and professor of law at the University of Nebraska College of Law from 1998- 2000. She then served as dean and professor of law at the University of Houston Law Center from July 2000-May 2006 and as professor of law from June 2006-June 2007, when she left to join the faculty at Boyd. She served as interim dean of Boyd from 2012-13, as senior advisor to the president of UNLV from 2014-15, as acting executive vice president and provost from 2015-16, as acting senior vice president for Finance and Business (for July and August 2017), and as special counsel to the president from May 2016-June 2018. Prof. Rapoport is admitted to the bars of the states of California, Ohio, Nebraska, Texas and Nevada and of the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2001, she was elected to membership in the American Law Institute, and in 2002, she received a Distinguished Alumna Award from Rice University. In 2017, she was inducted into Phi Kappa Phi (Chapter 100). She is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and of the American College of Bankruptcy. In 2009, the Association of Media and Entertainment Counsel presented her with the Public Service Counsel Award at the 4th Annual Counsel of the Year Awards. In 2017, she received the Commercial Law League of America’s Lawrence P. King Award for Excellence in Bankruptcy, and in 2018, she was one of the recipients of the NAACP Legacy Builder Awards (Las Vegas Branch #1111). She has served as the fee examiner or as chair of the fee review committee in such large bankruptcy cases as Zetta Jet, Toys ’R Us, Caesars, Station Casinos, Pilgrim’s Pride and Mirant. Prof. Rapoport appeared in the Academy Award®-nominated movie Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (Magnolia Pictures 2005) as herself. She received her B.A. summa cum laude from Rice University in 1982 and her J.D. from Stanford Law School in 1985.

Elizabeth B. Vandesteeg, CIPP is a partner in the Financial Services & Restructuring Group at Levenfeld Pearlstein, LLC in Chicago, where she focuses on identifying risk exposure and mitigating liability for clients, with a concentration in the areas of bankruptcy, creditors’ rights, commercial litigation, and data security and privacy. She represents secured creditors, debtors, unsecured creditors, creditors’ committees, landlords and shareholders in bankruptcy courts throughout U.S., as well as clients in civil litigation in federal and state courts. She also advises clients on data security and data privacy compliance and regulatory issues. Ms. Vandesteeg is a Certified Information Privacy Professional for the U.S. Private Sector by the International Association of Privacy Professionals, and she advises clients on cybersecurity and privacy compliance and regulatory issues. She also guides clients in developing and implementing information security programs that are reasonable and appropriate for their specific business needs and risks, as well as advising them in responding to data breaches, and was instrumental in launching the ABI Journal’s Cyber U column. Previously, Ms. Vandesteeg was with Sugar Felsenthal Grais & Helsinger LLP, where she was a partner and member of the firm’s Executive Committee. She also is a member of ABI’s 2017 inaugural class of “40 Under 40,” and sits on ABI’s Board of Directors. Ms. Vandesteeg received her B.A. from Columbia University and her J.D. from Boston College.

Stacey A. Bell is a Partner with BakerHostetler. For the last decade, Stacey has served as senior counsel and legal strategist to Irving Picard as Trustee, and his Chief Counsel, David Sheehan, in the liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC. This liquidation involved a global effort to recover funds for the victims of the largest Ponzi scheme in history totaling more than $65 billion. As part of that representation, Ms. Bell litigates against hedge funds, funds of funds, investment banks, financial institutions, investment managers and others. Ms. Bell is a member of the Association of Black Women Attorneys and, as part of her pro bono work, has successfully represented immigrants seeking asylum protection in the United States on the basis of sexual orientation/gender identity and religious persecution. She has also advised the American Civil Liberties Union and the New York City Law Department on federal immigration laws. Ms. Bell received her B.A. from The City University of New York, Hunter College, summa cum laude, and her J.D. from Columbia University School of Law.

Hon. Sage M. Sigler is a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Northern District of Georgia in Atlanta, appointed in March 2018. She succeeded Hon. Mary Grace Diehl, for whom she clerked after graduating from law school. Prior to her appointment to the bench, Judge Sigler was a partner in Alston & Bird LLP’s Bankruptcy Group. She is an active member of ABI’s Board of Directors, NCBJ, IWIRC, TMA and the Bankruptcy Section of the Atlanta Bar Association, and she has been a volunteer presenter for the Credit Abuse Resistance Education (CARE) program. Judge Sigler was an honoree in ABI’s inaugural class of “40 Under 40” in 2017. She received her B.A. in political science from the University of Florida in 2001 and her J.D. in 2006 from Emory University School of Law, where she was the executive symposium editor of the Emory Bankruptcy Developments Journal.

Andrew M. Simon is a managing director with Oxford Restructuring Advisors in Cincinnati and is an experienced restructuring advisor who has been consulting troubled companies and their stakeholders for more than 20 years. He has practiced both as an attorney and as a certified public accountant in bankruptcy cases and other insolvency proceedings for debtors and creditors. Mr. Simon has particular experience representing buyers and sellers of distressed assets, as well as troubled companies, lenders, indenture trustees and creditor groups in both § 363 transactions and out-of-court asset sales. He recently represented a secured lender group in the successful appointment of a receiver for the repayment of a health care group’s $75 million loan. Additional recent engagements include advisory work to companies in the mining (three separate gold mining companies, including two publicly traded), oil and gas (E&P company with more than $2 billion in debt), environmental services (privately held remediation company), food (multi-billion dollar cooperatively held beef and pork producer) and hospitality (privately held restaurant group) industries, among others. Mr. Simon received his B.B.A. in accountancy from the University of Notre Dame in 1998 and his J.D. in 2008 from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law.

Christopher A. Jones is a managing partner with Whiteford Taylor & Preston, LLP in its Falls Church, Va., office and focuses his practice in the insolvency area, regularly dealing with financial restructuring, distressed-asset transactions, business turnarounds and bankruptcy law, including related litigation. His experience includes representing all major constituencies in the distressed-business arena, including companies and their owners, directors and officers, ad hoc and official committees, trade creditors and vendors, and court-appointed fiduciaries. During his nearly 25 years in practice, Mr. Jones has worked with clients in a variety of industries, including commercial real estate, retail, automotive, government contracting, mortgage lending, consumer electronics, hospitality, convenience store, construction and electrical contracting. He has been involved in many of the “mega” chapter 11 cases filed in Virginia, including Paper Source Inc., Intelsat, SA, Le Tote Inc. (Lord & Taylor), Pier 1 Imports Inc., Guitar Center, Chinos Inc. (J Crew), Toys “R” Us, Gymboree, LandAmerica Financial Group, Circuit City Stores, RoomStore Inc. and Heilig-Meyers Corp. He has been recognized by Chambers and Partners as a leading bankruptcy attorney in Virginia, and is listed in Virginia Business Magazine’s “Legal Elite – Virginia’s Best Lawyers” and in The Best Lawyers in America. He has also been selected as a Super Lawyer in Virginia. Mr. Jones is AV Peer Review-Rated by Martindale-Hubbell. He received his undergraduate degree in 1992 from Duke University and his J.D. in 1996 from the University of Richmond School of Law.

Kyle F. Arendsen is a senior associate with Squire Patton Boggs and a member of its Restructuring & Insolvency Practice Group in Cincinnati. He is involved in all aspects of corporate in- and out-of-court restructuring, bankruptcy and insolvency proceedings. Mr. Arendsen has experience representing debtors and creditors throughout the restructuring process. His restructuring matters encompass a wide variety of industries, including coal mining, commercial real estate, oil and natural gas, and franchises. Mr. Arendsen is a member of ABI and the Turnaround Management Association. He received his B.S. in 2013 from Cornell University and his J.D. in 2016 from the University of Virginia School of Law.

Kathleen L. DiSanto is a shareholder with Bush Ross, P.A. in Tampa, Fla., where she focuses her practice on bankruptcy and insolvency matters. She also is an experienced litigator in state and federal courts throughout Florida. Ms. DiSanto began her career as the first law clerk to Chief Judge Caryl E. Delano of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida. Prior to joining Bush Ross, she practiced at boutique bankruptcy firm in Tampa. Ms. DiSanto regularly represents debtors and assists them in navigating the complexity of business bankruptcies. She has helped more than 30 chapter 11 debtors successfully reorganize, including many closely held family businesses and individuals. She also is experienced in representing creditors and trustees in the bankruptcy process and has specialized expertise in defending trustees on Barton doctrine issues. Ms. DiSanto has been Board Certified in Business Bankruptcy Law by the American Board of Certification since 2014 and has held an AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell since 2015. She also was the youngest president of the Tampa Bay Bankruptcy Bar Association. Ms. DiSanto received her B.S. in 2005 from the University of Virginia and her J.D. in 2008 from Stetson University College of Law. During law school, she interned with Hon. Alexander L. Paskay.

Luis E. Rivera, II is the deputy chair of the Bankruptcy and Creditors’ Rights practice group at Gray- Robinson, P.A. in Fort Myers, Fla. He is experienced in counseling clients in business litigation, bankruptcy, creditors’ rights and insolvency. A 2017 ABI “40 Under 40” honoree, Mr. Rivera serves as a trustee of Florida Gulf Coast University and a director of numerous community organizations, including the Middle District of Florida Pro Se Legal Assistance Clinic, Inc. and the Bankruptcy Law Education Series Foundation, Inc. Since 2010, he has served as a panel trustee for the Middle District of Florida. Mr. Rivera received his B.A. magna cum laude from Loyola University New Orleans, where he was an Ignatian Scholar, and his J.D. from Washington and Lee University School of Law, where he was editor-in-chief of the Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice.

Hon. Deborah L. Thorne is a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago, appointed on Oct. 22, 2015. Prior to joining the bench, she was a partner in the Chicago office of Barnes & Thornburg LLP, where she was a member of its Financial Insolvency and Restructuring Department. Her practice included the representation of creditors and other parties in insolvency proceedings, and she frequently served as a federal equity receiver in commodity fraud cases brought by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. In addition, she co-chaired the Women’s Initiative for the firm. Judge Thorne is past chair of the Chicago Bar Association Bankruptcy and Restructuring Committee and past chair of the Bankruptcy Committee for the Seventh Circuit Bar Association. She previously served as ABI’s Vice President-Communications and Information Technology and is the author of ABI’s The Preference Defense Handbook: The Circuits Divided and a co-author of its Interrupted! Understanding Bankruptcy’s Effects on Manufacturing Supply Chains. Judge Thorne is a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy. She served as Education Committee chair for the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges from 2019-20 and as its president from 2021-22. Judge Thorne is included in The Best Lawyers in America in the area of bankruptcy and creditor/debtor rights law, is recognized as a Leading Lawyer in Illinois, and has been recognized by Illinois Super Lawyers every year since 2003. For seven years, she chaired Women Employed, a Chicago nonprofit policy organization focused on improving the lives of low-wage women through enhancing access to post-secondary education and improving job quality. Judge Thorne received her B.A. from Macalester College, her M.A.T. from Duke University and her J.D. with honors from Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago-Kent College of Law.

Soneet R. Kapila, CPA, CFF, CFE, CIRA is a founding partner of KapilaMukamal, LLP in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and ABI’s Immediate Past President and Acting Chair. For more than 30 years, he has concentrated his efforts in the areas of consulting in insolvency, fiduciary and creditors’ rights matters. Mr. Kapila is a federal bankruptcy trustee and serves as an examiner, CRO, chapter 7 and 11 trustee, subchapter V trustee, liquidating trustee, corporate monitor (SEC appointments), and as a state and federal court-appointed receiver. He has been appointed in numerous matters in the Southern and Middle Districts of Florida. As a trustee plaintiff, Mr. Kapila has managed complex litigation in significant cases. He advises and represents debtors, secured creditors and creditors’ committees in formulating, analyzing and negotiating plans of reorganization. As a recognized expert in fraudulent conveyance, Ponzi schemes and insolvency issues, Mr. Kapila has provided expert testimony and litigation-support services to law firms involving complex insolvency issues and commercial damages. He has worked in conjunction with the SEC, FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office, and he has served both as a consultant and expert witness for litigation matters in state and federal courts. Mr. Kapila has spoken to various groups, including ABI, New York Law School, St. Thomas University Law School, and the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, Southeastern Bankruptcy Law Institute, National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees (NABT), Receiver’s Forum, Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Advisors, Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Turnaround Management Association, University of Miami School of Law, Florida International University School of Law, American Bar Association and the National Business Institute on topics related to insolvency, underperforming businesses and insolvency taxation. He is a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy and a past-president and past-chairman of the Association of Insolvency & Restructuring Advisors, for which he serves on its board of directors. Mr. Kapila has served on the advisory boards of ABI’s Southeast Bankruptcy Workshop and Caribbean Insolvency Symposium. He also co-authored ABI’s Fraud and Forensics: Piercing Through the Deception in a Commercial Fraud Case (2015). Mr. Kapila received his M.B.A. in 1978 from Cranfield School of Management.

Joseph R. Tiano, Jr. is the founder of Legal Decoder in Falls Church, Va. After practicing law for nearly 20 years, he founded the company because he saw that clients lacked the analytic tools and data to effectively price and manage the cost of legal services delivered by outside counsel. Previously, Mr. Tiano was a partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP and Thelen LLP, where he grew and managed all aspects of a multimillion-dollar cross-border finance practice. He previously was a venture capital lawyer representing transformative technology companies, like Blackboard Inc., and many of the outgrowths of Blackboard (WeddingWire, Presidium, Starfish Retention Solutions and others). Mr. Tiano has published numerous articles on substantive legal issues and the legal industry in general. He received his B.S. in business administration from Georgetown University in 1992 and his J.D. in 1995 from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.

Christina M. Sanfelippo is an attorney with Cozen O’Connor in Chicago, where she focuses her practice on financial restructuring and bankruptcy law. She represents debtors, trustees and creditors in a range of chapter 7 proceedings, including preference and fraudulent-transfer actions, as well as complex bankruptcy litigation. Ms. Sanfelippo also assists debtors and official committees of unsecured creditors in chapter 11 proceedings, and she handles commercial disputes, including contract claims and business torts. She is actively involved in the International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation (IWIRC) and currently serves on IWIRC’s international board of directors as U.S. Programs Committee co-director. Ms. Sanfelippo was elected as the chair of the board of directors for its Chicago Network for 2023 and 2024. In 2018, she received the prestigious Rising Star Award for her exceptional leadership and contributions to IWIRC’s mission of enhancing the professional status of women in the insolvency and restructuring profession. An active member of ABI, Ms. Sanfelippo is a coordinating editor of the ABI Journal’s Benchnotes column and serves on the advisory board for its Central States Bankruptcy Workshop. She also co-chairs ABI’s Young and New Members Committee. Ms. Sanfelippo is a 2024 ABI “40 Under 40” honoree, and she has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America as one of its “Ones to Watch” since 2021. She also was named a Super Lawyers “Rising Star” for 2025. Ms. Sanfelippo received her B.S. in 2012 from the University of Minnesota and her J.D. cum laude in 2015 from Loyola University Chicago School of Law.

Hon. Hannah L. Blumenstiel is a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Northern District of California in San Francisco. Prior to her appointment on Feb. 11, 2013, Judge Blumenstiel was an associate (2003-08) and then a partner (2008-12) with Winston & Strawn LLP, where she focused her practice on creditors’ rights litigation in state and federal court, including bankruptcy court. From 2001 to 2003, Judge Blumenstiel was an associate with Murphy Sheneman Julian & Rogers LLP, where she represented debtors, creditors and trustees in bankruptcy cases and adversary proceedings. She served as a law clerk to Hon. Charles M. Caldwell of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Ohio (Eastern Division) from 1998 to 2001, and from 1997-98, she represented the State of Ohio’s interests in bankruptcy cases as an assistant attorney general with the Revenue Recovery Section of the Ohio Attorney General’s Office. Judge Blumenstiel is ABI’s Vice President-Research Grants and serves as an Executive Editor of the ABI Journal. She received her J.D. from Capital University Law School in 1997 while working full-time for the Columbus Bar Association as director of its pro bono initiative, “Lawyers for Justice,” and her B.A. from Ohio State University in 1992.

David H. Botter is a partner in the New York office of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, where his practice focuses on large, complex restructuring cases, both out of court and in chapter 11, across a variety of industries. He frequently handles multijurisdictional and cross-border matters for both distressed companies and major creditors, with an emphasis on creditors’ committees and bondholder committees. Mr. Botter also represents bondholders as part of his creditor-side practice, and he has experience representing institutional investors, hedge funds, debtors-in-possession, post-petition lenders, and acquirors of distressed assets in the health care, transportation and energy sectors, among others. Previously, he was a partner at another major international law firm. Mr. Botter was listed in Chambers USA as a Leading Practitioner, Bankruptcy/Restructuring from 2010-24, and he has been listed in The Legal 500 U.S. as a Leading Lawyer for Finance: Restructuring (Including Bankruptcy): Corporate. He received his B.A. in 1986 from Syracuse University and his J.D. cum laude in 1989 from Boston University School of Law.

Caryn Wang is an associate in the Bankruptcy and Restructuring group at Polsinelli in Atlanta, where she focuses on corporate restructuring, distressed-asset sales, bankruptcy litigation and other insolvency matters. She represents debtors, trustees, lenders and other parties-in-interest in chapter11 reorganizations. She also represents various parties-in-interest in chapter 7 liquidations, chapter 9 debt-adjustments and state court receiverships. Prior to joining Polsinelli, Ms. Wang served as a legal extern to Hon. Mary Grace Diehl in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Georgia. She received her B.S. magna cum laude in 2009 from Vanderbilt University and her J.D. with high honors from Emory University School of Law in 2017, where she was admitted to the Order of the Coif and served as executive notes and comments editor for the Emory Law Journal.

Morris Alhale, CIRA is a senior director with Portage Point Partners in New York and has more than a decade of experience in guiding senior management teams, lending institutions and business owners through complex restructurings. He works with companies and creditors in periods of extremely tight liquidity to help them develop and implement strategic imperatives, recapitalize balance sheets and manage cash flow. Mr. Alhale has extensive advisory experience specializing in liquidity management, business planning, creditor recovery analysis, contingency planning and evaluating strategic alternatives. He has industry experience in health care, retail, media and entertainment, and consumer goods and services. Mr. Alhale co-authored an article in the Journal of Corporate Renewal titled, “Maximizing Value Amid Uncertainty in the Healthcare Industry.” He is a member of both the Turnaround Management Association and the Association of Insolvency & Restructuring Advisors. Mr. Alhale is 2022 honoree of ABI’s “40 Under 40.” He received his B.S.B.A. in finance and accounting cum laude from Boston University’s School of Management.

Megan M. Preusker is an attorney with Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. in New York, where her practice focuses on complex restructuring and insolvency matters and enforcement of creditor rights and remedies. She routinely represents institutional investors and indenture trustees in distressed municipal debt matters, including corporate and municipal bankruptcies and out-of-court restructurings. Ms. Preusker’s work spans a variety of industries, with an emphasis on health care, senior living, retail, charter schools and higher education. From 2021-24, The Best Lawyers in America featured her on its “Ones to Watch” list for Bankruptcy and Creditor/ Debtor Rights/Insolvency and Reorganization Law, Corporate Law. Prior to joining Mintz, Ms. Preusker was a partner in the Chicago office of a large, international law firm. Prior to that, she clerked for Hon. Jeff Bohm of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas in Houston. She also served as a judicial extern for Hon. Bruce W. Black of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois and as a legal extern for the U.S. Trustee Program. Ms. Preusker has served as a volunteer judge for the Chicago Urban Debate League and as a team coach for John Marshall Law School in the ABI/St. John’s University School of Law Duberstein Bankruptcy Moot Court Competition, and she is a member of NFMA’s New Member Advancement Committee. She received her B.A. magna cum laude from the University of Illinois and her J.D. summa cum laude from the John Marshall Law School, where she served as executive student publications editor of the John Marshall Law Review.

Michael Carey is co-CEO of Tranzon Auction Properties in Portland, Maine, and has nearly two decades of experience in the auction industry. He has played a key role in the company’s growth, overseeing real estate auctions across multiple states and managing transactions totaling over $700 million. Mr. Carey specializes in auctioning commercial, residential and specialty properties, helping sellers maximize their return while ensuring a seamless transaction process. His credentials include Certified Auctioneer Institute (CAI) graduate, the highest designation awarded by the National Auctioneers Association; licensed auctioneer and real estate broker, holding multiple state licenses including Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Vermont and New York; and turnaround and bankruptcy auction specialist, working with lenders, attorneys and financial institutions to liquidate distressed assets efficiently. He also has served as an expert witness and receiver. Mr. Carey is co-chair of the Maine Chapter of the Turnaround Management Association, supervisory board member of the Town & Country Credit Union, a founding member and former chair of PROPEL (Young Professionals Network), and a member of ABI and the National Auctioneers Association, National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees, Turnaround Management Association and National Association of Realtors. He received his undergraduate degree from Wheaton College.

Scott B. Lepene is a Partner with ArentFox Schiff LLP. His clients include secured and unsecured creditors and debtors both in and out of court workouts and litigation as well as those in chapter 11 proceedings, and he is an industry leader in assignments for the benefit of creditors (ABC) transactions. His expertise in this area has produced groundbreaking results benefitting various stakeholders of assignment estates and enabled companies to implement an efficient bankruptcy alternative. He is a frequent contributor to bankruptcy publications, including The New York Law Journal and ABI Journal, and presenter at bankruptcy seminars and conferences. He was selected for inclusion in Chambers USA (2022-2024), the Ohio Super Lawyers list (2018-2020) and Best Lawyers (2015-2024). Mr. Lepene received his B.S. summa cum laude from Ohio University and his J.D. from Vanderbilt University School of Law.

Nancy A. Peterman is a shareholder at Greenberg Traurig and chairs its Chicago Restructuring & Bankruptcy Practice. She focuses her practice on complex corporate restructurings and M&A transactions involving distressed companies. Ms. Peterman represents private-equity funds, debtors, sellers, purchasers, investor groups and creditors in these matters. She also has deep experience in health care restructuring. Ms. Peterman assisted in drafting the health care bankruptcy provisions of Public Law No. 109-8 (the 2005 amendments to the Bankruptcy Code). She is a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy and is Board Certified in Business Bankruptcy Law by the American Board of Certification. Ms. Peterman has been heavily involved with ABI throughout the years, including serving as a member of its Board of Directors and the Executive Committee, and serving a co-chair for multiple committees. She also was co-editor-in-chief of the Wiley Bankruptcy Law Update, assistant editor for West’s Norton Bankruptcy Law and Practice treatise, and an assistant editor and a contributing author for ABI’s Health Care Insolvency Manual. Ms. Peterman is listed in Chambers USA and The Best Lawyers in America. She received her B.A. in 1988 from the University of Michigan and her J.D. in 1991 from the University of Michigan Law School.

Teri L. Stratton, CIRA, is a Senior Managing Director and Head of Special Situations at Hilco Corporate Finance. Prior to joining Hilco Corporate Finance in 2022, she spent 12 years at Piper Sandler and 10 years at Macquarie Capital Advisors (and predecessor firms) in the restructuring group. Prior to her investment banking career, Ms. Stratton had 8 years of experience in corporate banking, serving in both credit administration and special assets. She is a member of the Turnaround Management Association, and a member of the Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Association and ABI. Ms. Stratton received her bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of California at Los Angeles and her M.B.A. in finance with honors from the Anderson School at UCLA.

Teresa C. Kohl is a managing director for SSG Capital Advisors, LLC in West Conshohocken, Pa., and is responsible for originating and leading investment banking transactions, as well as managing SSG’s litigation advisory practice. She has completed more than 200 restructuring matters, including refinancing and sale transactions for middle-market companies in bankruptcy proceedings and out-of-court workouts. Prior to her transition to investment banking, Ms. Kohl led financial and operational restructuring engagements for boutique advisory firms. Her past clients include publicly traded, privately held, private-equity sponsored and family-owned companies in the health care, retail, manufacturing, building products and financial services industries. Ms. Kohl is a frequent speaker on financial and operational restructuring issues, bankruptcy, and special-situation transactions, as well as a contributing author to the Norton Journal of Bankruptcy Law and Practice. She is a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy, and she has served on ABI’s Board of Directors and in leadership positions of the Turnaround Management Association (TMA Global), for which she was the first woman to lead TMA’s largest global chapter (New York City) as president and co-founded TMA Global’s Network of Women. She also is the immediate past board chair of Living Beyond Breast Cancer, a national nonprofit that connects people with trusted breast cancer information and a community of support. Ms. Kohl is a member of the Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Advisors, INSOL International, the International Women’s Insolvency and Restructuring Confederation and The Forum of Executive Women. She serves on the steering committee of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Bankruptcy Conference, and as a mentor for ABI’s Diversity and Inclusion Working Group Mentoring Program. Ms. Kohl has received numerous awards, including the Global M&A Network’s SHE for SHE Leader Award, the Top Restructuring Investment Banker (2022), The M&A Advisor’s Distressed M&A Dealmaker of the Year Award (2021 and 2019) and TMA Global’s Outstanding Individual Contribution Award (2017). In addition, she was named a U.S.A. Top Women Dealmaker by the Global M&A Network (2019). Ms. Kohl received her B.S. from Villanova University School of Business.
 

Jon J. Lieberman is a partner at Sottile & Barile LLC in Cincinnati, where he primarily represents mortgage lenders and servicers as head of the firm’s national bankruptcy litigation and appellate practice. Nationally, he is very active with ABI, the Federal Bar Association and the Turnaround Management Association. Mr. Lieberman serves as both an associate editor and a coordinating editor of the ABI Journal and co-authored ABI’s Thorny Issues in Consumer Bankruptcy Cases, Second Edition. He is former co-chair of ABI’s Consumer Bankruptcy Committee, for which he was designated Committee Person of the Year; a former co-chair of ABI’s Legislation Committee; and a former Education Director of ABI’s Commercial and Regulatory Law Committee. He currently serves as Special Projects Leader of ABI’s Bankruptcy Litigation Committee. A former Air Force Officer, Mr. Lieberman is co-chair of Outreach for ABI’s Veterans and Servicemembers Task Force, and he served a term on ABI’s 40 Under 40 Selection Committee. He currently serves on the editorial board of The Federal Lawyer, the journal of the Federal Bar Association, and is secretary of the FBA’s national Bankruptcy Law Section. Mr. Lieberman is a former member of the Board of Trustees of the Cincinnati Bar Association and a former chair of the CBA’s Real Property Law Committee. He is a Louise Taft Semple Classics Scholar, Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude, distinguished military graduate of the University of Cincinnati and received his J.D. from the University of Cincinnati College of Law in 1990.

Cynthia Romano, CTP is a senior managing director at FTI Consulting, Inc. in New York, and she has specialized in transformations, turnarounds and transactions that enhance liquidity, profitability and enterprise value for more than 25 years. Her industry experience spans health care, manufacturing, technology, energy and oil and gas, distribution, restaurants, professional services and nonprofit engagements. Partnering with CEO-level management, Ms. Romano helps companies transform their bottom line to maximize value for owners, investors and other stakeholders. Her expertise includes liquidity management, profit improvement through operational restructuring, organizational and process redesign, capital-sourcing, and business and creditor workout and management. Ms. Romano has been recognized with multiple prestigious industry awards, including the 2021 Turnaround of the Year by Global M&A Network, the 2020 Turnaround and Transaction of the Year by the Turnaround Management Association, and the 2020 Out-of-Court Restructuring of the Year by Global M&A Network. In 2021, she was named one of the top women in asset-based lending by the ABF Journal. Ms. Romano is a frequent speaker for various industry associations on a wide range of topics and is regularly quoted in major news and business outlets, including Bloomberg, Debtwire, CFO.com, Accounting Today and Modern Healthcare. She received her B.A. in educational policy in 1993 and her M.B.A. in international management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management in 2002.

Rachel P. Stoian is a Partner with Dorsey & Whitney LLP. Ms. Stoian has substantial experience representing parties in all aspects of the bankruptcy and financial restructuring process, including fiduciaries, debtors, and creditors. Prior to joining Dorsey & Whitney, Ms. Stoian clerked for Hon. Hannah L. Blumenstiel, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Calif. Ms. Stoian received her B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley with honors, and her LL.M. and J.D. from St John’s University of Law.

Alan R. Lepene is senior counsel with Thompson Hine LLP in Cleveland. He is a former leader of the firm’s Business Restructuring, Creditors’ Rights & Bankruptcy practice group and a former member of the firm’s Executive Committee. Mr. Lepene focuses his bankruptcy practice primarily on chapter 11 reorganizations, workouts and commercial litigation. He has represented senior lenders in major bankruptcy cases and workouts, and is experienced in representing creditors’ committees and debtors in numerous chapter 11 cases. Mr. Lepene is a Fellow in the American College of Bankruptcy and a former chair of the Banking, Commercial and Bankruptcy Law Committee of the Ohio State Bar Association. He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America and in Chambers USA. Mr. Lepene is admitted to practice before the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the First, Third, Sixth and Ninth Circuits, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, and the U.S. Supreme Court. He received his A.B. summa cum laude in 1968 from Ohio University and his J.D. magna cum laude in 1971 from the University of Michigan, where he was admitted to the Order of the Coif.

Michael Ott is a partner with Ice Miller LLP’s Bankruptcy and Restructuring Practice in Chicago. He counsels banks, financial institutions and other creditors in distressed situations. Mr. Ott is experienced in all aspects of the workout, restructuring and bankruptcy process. He is a founding member of Ice Miller’s Distressed Investment Group (DIG), which focuses on distressed investment strategies and transactions, including bankruptcy and in-court restructurings, out-of-court restructurings, and other insolvency-related transactions. Mr. Ott has more than a decade of experience in advising clients on complex strategic investing in the distressed market, including advising on loan-to-own strategies, debt restructurings, debtor-in-possession and exit financings, claims trading, distressed real estate acquisitions, § 363 sales, rescue capital deployment and other investment situations. He received his B.A. in mathematics in 2003 from the College of William and Mary, and his J.D. in 2007 from Indiana University Maurer School of Law.

Ian M. Rubenstrunk is Of Counsel with Spencer Fane in Minneapolis, where he represents a wide array of clients including banks, credit unions, nontraditional lenders, private equity, equipment financers, receivers, landlords and asset-buyers in financial services matters. His experience in financial services is focused on all sides of distressed transactions and turnaround matters, with specific experience in commercial foreclosures, receiverships, bankruptcies, out-of-court workouts, and litigation involving financial transactions. Early in his career, Mr. Rubenstrunk represented debtors in chapter 11 bankruptcy filings and clients facing foreclosure and debt collection, and served with the U.S. Trustee’s Office in the Northern District of Illinois and a stint clerking at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Minnesota for Chief Judge Gregory F. Kishel and Hon. William J. Fisher. During his clerkship, he worked on cases covering myriad issues, including on the fallout from a multi-billion-dollar Ponzi scheme. Following his clerkship, Mr. Rubenstrunk spent several years in private practice at a firm in Minneapolis in its Creditors’ Remedies and Financial Litigation departments. Most recently, he worked at a consulting firm, where he served as a court-appointed receiver of companies in a variety of industries in cases across the country. He currently serves as the state director for the Minnesota Chapter of the Commercial Receivers Association. Mr. Rubenstrunk received his B.A. in English and political science from the University of Colorado at Boulder and his J.D. from The University of Illinois Chicago School of Law, where he served as staff and articles editor of the Review of Intellectual Property Law.

Michelle H. Bass is a partner at Wolfson Bolton Kochis PLLC, where she manages the consumer bankruptcy practice group. As an American Board Certified Consumer Bankruptcy attorney, Ms. Bass represents both debtors and creditors in consumer bankruptcy proceedings. She primarily represents individual consumer debtors in chapter 7 liquidations and chapter 13, chapter 11, and chapter 11 Sub V reorganizations. She also represents both debtors and creditors in divorce-related bankruptcy proceedings, and is a frequent speaker on the intersection of bankruptcy and family law disputes. She has successfully defended appeals in the Federal Eastern District for the State of Michigan and the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. Ms. Bass received her B.A. from the University of Michigan and her J.D. from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law.

Hon. Janet S. Baer is a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago, appointed on March 5, 2012. Previously, she was a restructuring lawyer for more than 25 years and was involved in some of the most significant chapter 11 bankruptcy cases in the country. The majority of her practice focused on the representation of large, publicly held debtors in both restructuring and chapter 11 matters, and she also represented companies in commercial litigation matters, including lender liability, fraud, breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty. Prior to forming her own firm in 2009, Judge Baer was a partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP, Winston & Strawn and Schwartz, Cooper, Greenberger & Krauss. She is the current President-Elect of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges and a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy. Judge Baer is a member of the ABI Board of Directors and its Education Committee, and a member of both the National and Chicago CARE Advisory Boards and the Chicago IWIRC Network Board. She also is a frequent speaker for the ABI, TMA, the Chicago Bar Association, IWIRC , CLLA and NCBJ. Judge Baer regularly acts as the presiding judge for the Northern District of Illinois in Naturalization ceremonies both in Chicago and at Great Lakes Naval Station. She received her B.A. from the University of Wisconsin - Madison and her J.D. from DePaul College of Law.

David P. Leibowitz is founder and managing member of the Law Offices of David P. Leibowitz, LLC in Chicago. He also has been a chapter 7 trustee in the Northern District of Illinois for over 30 years. Mr. Leibowitz represents debtors in consumer and business bankruptcy cases under all chapters of the Bankruptcy Code. He is responsible for precedential decisions in the bankruptcy courts, the Northern District of Illinois and the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, as well as the Illinois Supreme Court. Mr. Leibowitz served on the boards of directors of ABI and the National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees, and as co-chair of the ABI task force studying individual chapter 11 cases. He also has co-chaired of ABI’s Consumer Bankruptcy Committee and Commercial Fraud Committee. Mr. Leibowitz is an author and editor of the ABI’s Commercial Fraud Manual and many articles in the ABI Journal. He is a frequent speaker at national, regional and local conferences. Mr. Leibowitz is Board Certified in both Consumer Bankruptcy Law and Business Bankruptcy Law by the American Board of Certification. He received ABI’s Annual Service Award for having originated and organized the first two years of its annual virtual conference for consumer practitioners, the Consumer Practice Extravaganza (CPEX). Mr. Leibowitz received the Liberty Bell Award in 2010 from the Judges of the 19th Judicial Circuit, Lake County, Ill., for “Outstanding Commitment and Service” for his work in organizing that court’s mortgage foreclosure help desk and producing mortgage foreclosure information videos. He also received the Excellence in Pro Bono Service Award in 2006 from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and the Chicago Chapter of the Federal Bar Association. Mr. Leibowitz received his B.A. in economics from Northwestern University and his J.D. cum laude from Loyola University of Chicago School of Law, where he was note editor of its law review.

Bradley D. Jones is a partner with Stinson LLP in Washington, D.C., where his bankruptcy litigation practice focuses on advising debtors, creditors and trustees of their rights and remedies. His cases span a variety of industries and business sizes. Mr. Jones is an experienced trial attorney and an appointed chapter 11 trustee. He litigates fraudulent-transfer, preference and other recovery disputes in hearings before U.S. bankruptcy courts and defends appeals to district and appellate courts. He also represents parties in commercial disputes outside of bankruptcy. Prior to entering private practice, Mr. Jones was a trial attorney for the U.S. Trustee Program, serving as counsel of record in more than 650 bankruptcy cases representing the U.S. Trustee in cases involving health care, commercial real estate and internet technology matters. He also served as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, assisting with white collar criminal prosecutions involving bankruptcy. Mr. Jones is involved in the bankruptcy bars of the Eastern District of Virginia and District of Columbia, and he has served on the local rules committees in both districts. He is regularly sought out as local counsel for landlords, liquidating professionals and convertible noteholders in nationally prominent bankruptcy cases. Mr. Jones serves on the amicus committee of the National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees, advising and filing briefs in support of trustees on nationally important bankruptcy issues. He also maintains an active pro bono practice. Mr. Jones is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and Virginia, before the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and the Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel, the U.S. District and Bankruptcy Courts for the Eastern District of Virginia, Central District of California and District of Columbia, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Virginia, and the Virginia and U.S. Supreme Courts. He received his B.S.B. in 2008 from Indiana University and his J.D. in 2011 from the University of Virginia.

Maurice B. VerStandig is the managing partner of The Belmont Firm in Washington, D.C., and focuses his practice on counseling individuals and companies in all manner of bankruptcy cases. The majority of his practice is focused on representing individuals and companies in the federal bankruptcy courts. Mr. VerStandig has recovered tens of millions of dollars for clients through the formation of consensual plans of reorganization, through contested stay-relief and conversion proceedings, and through adversary claims brought against third parties. He serves as outside bankruptcy counsel to some of the largest and most respected private lenders in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, while also maintaining a smaller creditor-focused practice in Florida and Nevada. When not advising secured creditors, Mr. VerStandig has counseled multiple law firms in connection with their own insolvency proceedings, helped a mid-size manufacturing company efficiently liquidate through the chapter 11 process, guided the owner of a historic apartment complex through bankruptcy, and represented trustees in complex adversary proceedings. He also takes on pro bono clients and regularly advises charities at no cost. Mr. VerStandig is AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell, is listed as a “Rising Star” by Super Lawyers and sits on the local rules committee for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Columbia. He regularly appears in courts throughout the U.S. Mr. VerStandig received his B.A. with honors in 2006 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his J.D. cum laude from the University of Miami School of Law in 2009.

Robert E. Richards is chair of Dentons' Global Restructuring, Insolvency and Bankruptcy practice group and practices in the areas of bankruptcy and insolvency-related transactions and litigation. His practice includes chapter 11 representations, distressed asset acquisitions, distressed loan purchases and foreclosure sales, and out of court transactions and transaction structuring. Bob is recommended by Chambers USA, where he is praised as “a superb attorney with great legal skills and a creative mind, someone who gets things done and overcomes hurdles.” He is also recommended in Best Lawyers Illinois. BTI Consulting Group surveyed in-house counsel and named Bob as a BTI Client Service All-Star (2015) in recognition of his superior client service. Mr. Richards received his B.A. from Johns Hopkins University and his J.D. cum laude from University of Michigan Law School.

Thomas R. Califano is a Partner with Sidley Austin LLP and represents large private and public companies in distress in and out of court, buyers of distressed companies and significant creditor constituencies. His practice has a particular emphasis on company and buy side representations, working in a variety of industries including healthcare, energy, and financial services. Mr. Califano has been recommended by The Legal 500 US for his “excellent reputation across all aspects of in and out of court restructurings.” He has also been repeatedly recognized for his work in Bankruptcy/Restructuring by Chambers USA (2012–2024). Tom is listed in The Best Lawyers in America and has been named a New York Super Lawyer. In 2010, Financial Times also commended him for his restructuring work in its U.S. Innovative Lawyers report. Prior to joining Sidley, Mr. Califano was the global co-chair and U.S. chair of the restructuring group at another global law firm. He received his B.A. from St. John’s University and his J.D. from St. John’s University School of Law.

Donald L. Swanson is a shareholder with Koley Jessen P.C., L.L.O. in Omaha, Neb., and has been practicing bankruptcy law since 1980. He grew up on a livestock farm in Nebraska’s Sandhills, became Nebraska State FFA President (1973-74), and achieved FFA’s “American Farmer Degree.” During the 1980s farm crisis, Mr. Swanson represented debtors in more than 40 chapter 12 cases, achieving a confirmed plan and discharge in all but one. In Delaware’s $1.5 billion ethanol bankruptcy (In re VeraSun), he held an ex officio seat on the creditors’ committee as counsel for the ad hoc committee of grain suppliers. Mr. Swanson is a subchapter V trustee in the District of Nebraska and serves on ABI’s Subchapter V Task Force, and he is a court-approved mediator for both the U.S. District and the U.S. Bankruptcy courts of Nebraska He also is a member of the Nebraska Delegation to the Uniform Law Commission and serves on its Drafting Committee for a uniform law on assignments for benefit of creditors, is a court-approved mediator in both the U.S. District and Bankruptcy Courts of Nebraska, and is Board Certified in Business Bankruptcy Law by the American Board of Certification. Mr. Swanson publishes a blog on bankruptcy and mediation topics at https://mediatbankry.com, and he is rated AV-Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell. In addition, he is a Fellow of the Nebraska State Bar Foundation, and he has served on the board for Legal Aid of Nebraska, providing free legal services to low-income Nebraskans, and on the board for Global Partners in Hope, which provides clean drinking water and medical centers in West Africa. In 2022, as a commissioner on the Uniform Law Commission (ULC), Mr. Swanson proposed that ULC study the need for a uniform law on assignments for benefit of creditors. That proposal was accepted, and he now serves on the ULC’s Drafting Committee on Assignments for Benefit of Creditors. Mr. Swanson has been recognized in The Best Lawyers in America and Super Lawyers. He received his A.A. from Grace University in 1976, his B.S. in political science from the University of Nebraska - Omaha in 1977, and his J.D. from the University of Nebraska - Lincoln in 1980, where he was an associate editor of the Nebraska Law Review.

Hon. Michelle M. Harner is a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the District of Maryland in Baltimore, appointed in 2017. Prior to her appointment to the bench, she was the Francis King Carey Professor of Law and the Director of the Business Law Program at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, where she taught courses in bankruptcy and creditors’ rights, business associations, business planning, corporate finance and the legal profession. Judge Harner lectured frequently during her academic career on various topics involving corporate governance, financially distressed entities, risk management and related legal issues. Her academic scholarship is widely published, with her publications appearing in, among others, the Vanderbilt Law Review, Notre Dame Law Review, Washington University Law Review, Minnesota Law Review, Indiana Law Journal, Fordham Law Review (reprinted in Corporate Practice Commentator), Washington & Lee Law Review, William & Mary Law Review, University of Illinois Law Review, Arizona Law Review (reprinted in Corporate Practice Commentator) and Florida Law Review. Judge Harner has served as the Associate Reporter to the Advisory Committee on the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure, the Reporter to the ABI Commission to Study the Reform of Chapter 11, and most recently chaired the Dodd-Frank Study Working Group for the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. She also served as the Robert M. Zinman ABI Resident Scholar for the fall of 2015. She most recently served as the chair of the Dodd-Frank Study Working Group for the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, and she is currently serving as a member of the Advisory Committee on the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure and an associate editor of the American Bankruptcy Law Journal. Judge Harner is an elected conferee of the National Bankruptcy Conference, an elected Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy, and an elected member of the American Law Institute. She previously was in private practice in the business restructuring, insolvency, bankruptcy and related transactional fields, most recently as a partner at the Chicago office of the international law firm Jones Day. Judge Harner received her B.A. cum laude from Boston College in 1992 and her J.D. summa cum laude from The Ohio State University College of Law in 1995.

Michael T. Papandrea is counsel in the Bankruptcy & Restructuring Department of Lowenstein Sandler LLP in New York, where he provides counsel to debtors, creditors’ committees, individual creditors, liquidating trustees, and other interested parties with respect to corporate bankruptcy and creditors’ rights matters, including bankruptcy- related litigation. Mr. Papandrea focuses on bankruptcy, insolvency and creditors’ rights issues, and regularly writes articles for and speaks to professionals in the credit and risk-management space. He also provides pro bono representation to individuals and nonprofit organizations regarding bankruptcy and foreclosure-related matters. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Papandrea clerked for Hon. Jerrold N. Poslusny, Jr. of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey, Hon. Ashely M. Chan of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and Hon. Gloria M. Burns, Chief Judge of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey. He has been named one of the “Ones to Watch” by The Best Lawyers in America since 2021 for Bankruptcy and Creditor/Debtor Rights/Insolvency and Reorganization Law, has been listed as a “New Jersey Rising Star” in Super Lawyers since 2023 for Creditor/Debtor Rights, and is an ABI Medal of Excellence recipient. Mr. Papandrea received his B.S. in criminology in 2010 from the College of New Jersey and his J.D. in 2014 from Rutgers Law School, where he served on the Rutgers Journal of Law & Public Policy.

Mark L. Radtke is a partner in the Bankruptcy & Restructuring Practice Group of Foley & Lardner LLP in Chicago, where he focuses his practice on corporate reorganization, creditors’ rights and bankruptcy. He advises debtors, boards of directors, indenture trustees and bondholders, chapter 7 and liquidation trustees, state and federal receivers, assignees for the benefit of creditors, committees, financial institutions, secured and unsecured creditors, and interest-holders on all aspects of in and out-of-court restructurings, including chapter 7, 11 and 15 cases. He has litigated contested matters in state, federal and appellate courts. Mr. Radtke specializes in the areas of automotive, manufacturing, smart manufacturing and supply chains. He served as chair and vice chair of the Chicago Bar Association’s Bankruptcy and Reorganization Committee, and he is a past co-chair of ABI’s Central States Bankruptcy Workshop and of ABI’s Young and New Members Committee. Mr. Radtke was listed from 2022-24 in Chambers & Partners USA for Bankruptcy/Restructuring and as an “Up and Coming Lawyer” in 2021, was listed as an “Illinois Leading Lawyer” for 2018 and from 2021-23 and as an “Illinois Emerging Lawyer from 2015-16 by the Law Bulletin Publishing Co., and he was named an “Illinois Rising Star” from 2008-11 and 2013-15 by Law & Politics magazine. He received his B.B.A. in 1997 from the University of Iowa and his J.D. in 2001 with high honors from Chicago-Kent College of Law, where he served as executive articles editor of the Chicago-Kent Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif.

Stacy A. Lutkus is a partner in the Business Restructuring group of McDermott Will & Emery LLP in New York, where she focuses her practice on all aspects of complex domestic and cross-border reorganization matters. She advises companies and foreign representatives preparing chapter 11 and chapter 15 cases for filing, as well as debtors, creditors, purchasers (including stalking-horse bidders) and lenders in connection with out-of-court restructuring transactions, distressed-asset sales, DIP financing and exit financing. She also advises official committees of unsecured creditors, as well as individual secured and unsecured creditors, equityholders and post-confirmation trusts in bankruptcy and litigation matters. Ms. Lutkus maintains an active pro bono practice, with a focus on representing the interests of children. Prior to her legal career, she spent several years working as a special agent for the U.S. Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation Division, where she gained experience conducting witness interviews, participating in enforcement operations, preparing special agent reports and testifying in court proceedings. Ms. Lutkus has been listed in Lawdragon as a 2020 Leading U.S. Bankruptcy and Restructuring Lawyer, and she was selected for the International Insolvency Institute’s NextGen Leadership Program, She is a member of ABI, the Federal Bar Council’s Bankruptcy Litigation Committee, INSOL and the International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation (IWIRC). Ms. Lutkus received her B.S. magna cum laude in 1997 from Drexel University and her J.D. in 2002 from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

James R. Irving is the managing partner of the Louisville, Ky., office of Dentons US and co-chairs its Restructuring, Insolvency and Bankruptcy practice group, where he focuses on bankruptcy and restructuring matters, purchasing distressed businesses and their assets, as well as commercial litigation. He has experience representing debtors, creditors’ committees, foreign representatives in chapter 15 bankruptcy cases, liquidating trustees, and parties acquiring assets in distressed situations. Mr. Irving is an ABI director and is a member of ABI’s inaugural 2017 class of 40 Under 40. He also was named one of Louisville Business First’s Forty Under 40 in 2019 and was selected for the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges Next Generation Program in 2018. In addition, Mr. Irving received the Chicago Bar Association’s Exceptional Young Lawyer Award in 2013. His experience with matters of juvenile justice through his pro bono work has led to opportunities to teach CLEs and edit publications on the subject for the American Bar Association. He received his B.A. in 2005 in history and political science from Williams College and his J.D. in 2008 from Vanderbilt University Law School.

Ryan J. Richmond is a partner at the New Orleans-based law firm of Sternberg, Naccari & White, LLC, where his practice focuses on small business clients, both in and out of bankruptcy. Since 2020, he has served as a subchapter V trustee throughout Louisiana. Mr. Richmond clerked for Hon. Douglas D. Dodd from 2006-07. He received his J.D. in 2006 and his M.B.A. in 2015 from Louisiana State University.

Craig T. Lutterbein is a senior vice president and associate general counsel with M&T Bank in Buffalo, N.Y. He previously was a special credits unit officer with HSBC and a senior associate with Hodgson Russ LLP. Mr. Lutterbein received his B.A. in political science and economics in 2006 from Vassar College, and his J.D. in 2010 and LL.M. in bankruptcy in 2013 from St. John’s University School of Law, where he served as associate managing editor of the ABI Law Review and on the Problem Drafting Committee for the Duberstein Moot Court Competition.

Bradford J. Sandler is a member of Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones LLP’s Management Committee and co-chair of the firm’s Creditors’ Committee Practice Group in Wilmington, Del. He has experience representing debtors, committees, acquirers and fiduciaries, including receivers and trustees and other significant parties in interest in complex reorganizations and financially distressed situations, both in and out of court. Mr. Sandler’s recent committee representations include Promise Healthcare, The Weinstein Co., Bon-Ton Department Stores, Woodbridge Group of Companies, Payless ShoeSource, BCBG Max Azria, Aeropostale, The Sports Authority and The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. (A&P). He also was lead counsel in the LifeCare Hospital case, which led to a substantial recovery to unsecured creditors after making a new “class skipping” law in the Third Circuit. Mr. Sandler has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America every year since 2013, and he is ranked among Bankruptcy/Restructuring attorneys by Chambers USA. He regularly speaks on insolvency topics around the U.S. Mr. Sandler received his B.S. and M.B.A. at Drexel University and his J.D. at Temple University, where he served as executive editor of the Temple Environmental and Technological Law Journal.

Tara J. Schellhorn is a partner with Riker Danzig LLP in Morristown, N.J., in the firm’s Bankruptcy & Corporate Restructuring Group. Her practice focuses on all aspects of bankruptcy and restructuring, including the representation of debtors, creditors’ committees, trustees, financial institutions, secured lenders, unsecured creditors and other parties in interest in complex chapter 11 cases. Ms. Schellhorn also has experience in bankruptcy litigation, including prosecuting and defending nondischargeability, preference and other avoidance actions. In addition, she has significant experience representing clients on complex corporate lending issues, including the representation of indenture trustees in default and bankruptcy situations. Her practice also includes civil litigation in both federal and state courts. Ms. Schellhorn is a member of the International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation (IWIRC) and is an immediate past co-chair of its New Jersey Network. She currently serves as the U.S. Networks Director for IWIRC’s international board of directors, and in 2021, IWIRC honored her with the prestigious Melnick Award for exceptional contributions by an IWIRC member. Ms. Schellhorn also is an active ABI member and served as co-chair of ABI’s Young and New Members Committee, which received the Committee of the Year Award at ABI’s 2022 Annual Spring Meeting. She now serves as Communications Manager for ABI’s Emerging Industries and Technology Committee. She also serves as a contributing editor of the ABI Journal, overseeing the “Building Blocks” column, and she has authored numerous articles. Ms. Schellhorn is vice chair of the Lawyers Advisory Committee to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey. In January 2020, Ms. Schellhorn was appointed to a two-year term as a member of the Chester Township Environmental Commission. Prior to joining Riker Danzig, she clerked for Hon. Raymond T. Lyons in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey. Ms. Schellhorn is an editorial board member for Thomson Reuters’ 2024 book Strategic Alternaives For and Against Distressed Businesses. She received her undergraduate degree magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Gettysburg College in 2004, and her J.D. magna cum laude from Widener University School of Law in 2007, where she served as editor-in-chief of the Widener Law Journal and received the Widener Law Journal Award for Distinguished Legal Scholarship. In addition, she received a 2007 ABI Medal of Excellence for outstanding performance in her bankruptcy coursework.