Agenda

Hon. Laurel Myerson Isicoff is a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Southern District of Florida in Miami, initially appointed on Feb. 13, 2006. She served as Chief Judge from October 2016 until October 2023. Judge Isicoff serves on the Judicial Conference Committee on the Administration of the Bankruptcy System. Judge Isicoff serves on the Judicial Conference Committee on the Administration of the Bankruptcy System and on its subcommittee on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. She serves as vice president of the American College of Bankruptcy, is a member of its Pro Bono Committee and is a past chair of its Judicial Outreach Committee, and from 2021-22 she co-chaired the College’s Commission on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. In recognition of that service, as well as her longstanding commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, she received the inaugural DEI Excellence Award from the College. In further recognition of her contributions to DEI, she was awarded the 2023 NCBJ DEI Leadership Award from the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges. Judge Isicoff currently serves as judicial chair of the Pro Bono Committee of the Business Law Section of the Florida Bar and is a member of the Florida Bar Standing Committee on Pro Bono. Prior to becoming a judge, she specialized in commercial bankruptcy, foreclosure and workout matters, both as a transactional attorney and litigator for 14 years with the law firm of Kozyak Tropin & Throckmorton, after practicing for eight years with Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, now known as Squire Patton Boggs. After graduating from law school, Judge Isicoff clerked for Hon. Daniel S. Pearson at the Florida Third District Court of Appeal before entering private practice. She is a past president of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges and of the Bankruptcy Bar Association (BBA) of the Southern District of Florida, and, until she took the bench, she served as the chair of the Pro Bono Task Force for the BBA. Judge Isicoff speaks extensively on bankruptcy around the country, and is committed to increasing pro bono service, diversity, equity and inclusion, and financial literacy for all. She received her J.D. from the University of Miami School of Law in 1982.

Gunnar Branson is the CEO of the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate (AFIRE), an essential forum providing high-value thought leadership for real estate leaders from around the world. AFIRE’s members includes nearly 180 leading global institutional investors, investment managers, and supporting partners from 23 countries representing approximately US$3 trillion in real estate assets under management (AUM) in the US.

As CEO Mr. Branson brings over three decades of experience across commercial real estate, professional services, education, and association leadership. Prior to joining AFIRE in 2018, he served as CEO of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Managers (NAREIM), and before that, led strategy, innovation, and marketing for Fortune 500 and mid-market companies.

As a recognized thought leader, Gunnar is a regular speaker, writer, panelist, and spokesperson for the global real estate and investing community, focused on institutional investing, urbanism, sustainability, and future trends. He has appeared on a TEDx stage, on television news such as CIBC, and interviews real estate thought leaders on The AFIRE Podcast.

Jordana L. Renert is a partner in the Bankruptcy and Financial Restructuring Group of Arent FoxLLP in New York and has experience in all aspects of financial restructurings, distressed situations and bankruptcy reorganization, municipality and liquidation proceedings. Her practice involves representing creditors’ committees, indenture trustees, agents and bondholders in bankruptcy proceedings, as well as acquirors of and investors in troubled, distressed and bankrupt companies. Ms. Renert has a broad range of restructuring experience across a number of industries, including oil and gas, energy, mining and exploration, publishing, manufacturing, retail and health care. Over the last several years, she has played a lead role in several significant corporate reorganizations, including the chapter 11 cases of PG&E Corp.,R.E. Gas Development, LLC, Sabine Oil and Gas Corp., SandRidge Energy, Inc., Magnum Hunter Re-sources Corp., SquareTwo Financial Services Corp. and Cengage Learning Inc. Prior to joining ArentFox, Ms. Renert was an associate at Willkie, Farr & Gallagher LLP. She is involved in organizations such as ABI, for which she currently serves as co-chair of education for its Business Reorganization Committee, and the New York Institute of Credit and International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation. Additionally, she participates in the Family Court Clinic Project, providing free legal consultations in Manhattan and Brooklyn Family Court relating to matters of child support, paternity, custody, visitation, guardianship and family offense. Ms. Renert received her B.S. in 2003 in industrial and labor relations from Cornell University and her J.D. magna cum laude in 2007 from Brooklyn LawSchool, where she received the Professor Barry L. Zaretsky Bankruptcy Fellowship.

Russell A. Perry, CFA, CIRA is a senior managing director at Ankura Consulting Group, LLC in Southlake, Texas, and has more than a decade of experience across complex financial situations involving distressed companies, with an emphasis on the U.S. health care market. His financial advisory experience spans interim management, financial statement analysis, financial projection development, liquidity and cash management, M&A support, stakeholder negotiations, balance-sheet recapitalization/restructuring, DIP financing/sourcing and bankruptcy preparation. His current and former clients include private and public companies, nonprofit institutions, equity sponsors, secured and unsecured creditors, bond insurance companies, bondholders and other related parties. Mr. Perry received TheM&A Advisor’s 2016 40 Under 40 Emerging Leaders Award. He holds inactive NASD licenses 7, 65and 63 and has provided advisory services to clients across energy (exploration and production) and materials, retail, technology, hospitality, media and real estate. In addition, he has Till cramdown interest rate expert witness experience. Mr. Perry is a member of the DFW Chapter of the Turnaround Management Association, ABI, the CFA Institute’s DFW Society and the Association of Insolvency & Restructuring Advisors, and he is a former treasurer of the DFW Association of Young Bankruptcy Lawyers and a former business division liaison of the Young Lawyers Committee of the Bankruptcy Law Section of the State Bar of Texas.

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.

Edward T. Gavin, CTP, NCPM is the managing partner of Gavin/Solmonese LLC in Wilmington, Del., and has more than 20 years of experience working with distressed companies and their stakeholders in diverse industries, including retail, transportation, regulated and nonregulated manufacturing, pharmaceutical and health care, professional services, construction and metal-forming. He has served in leadership roles in engineering, manufacturing, information technology and regulatory affairs functions. Mr. Gavin is experienced in strategic planning and process re-engineering, with hands-on management experience in nonprofit, for-profit and public sector operations. He testifies frequently as an expert witness on such matters as ordinary-course-of-business issues in preference litigation, as well as on fiduciary duties of management in distressed companies. In 2021, Mr. Gavin launched business/disrupted, a weekly talk radio show and podcast on the VoiceAmerica Business network. He also is a nationally recognized expert in mediation; he is a National Certified Professional Mediator and a member of Mediators Beyond Borders International (MBBI). Mr. Gavin is a past president of ABI and served as Chairman from 2020-21, and he co-chairs ABI’s Mid-Atlantic Bankruptcy Workshop. He also co-authored ABI’s Chief Restructuring Officer’s Guide to Bankruptcy. Mr. Gavin has received the prestigious Turnaround Atlas Leadership Achievement Award, which honors individuals who have contributed to successful turnarounds resulting in revitalized companies, an improved local economy and job creation. He attended the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, studying music theory and education, received his Master of Studies with a concentration in dispute resolution and his Master of Dispute Resolution from Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law and Pepperdine University Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, respectively.

Susan M. Freeman is a partner with Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie LLP, in Phoenix. In addition to her business bankruptcy law practice, she is an appellate lawyer and has briefed more than 300 civil appeals and argued over 100, many of which are bankruptcy appeals, including a U.S. Supreme Court appeal. Ms. Freeman is a member of the National Bankruptcy Conference and a Fellow and former director, vice president and secretary of the American College of Bankruptcy. She also is the chair of theAmerican Bar Association’s Business Bankruptcy Committee and previously chaired several sub committees. Ms. Freeman is a life member of the American Law Institute and has been a certified specialist in bankruptcy law since 1985. She is a frequent author and lecturer, having authored Chapter 172 ofNorton Bankruptcy Law & Practice on Professional Responsibility in Bankruptcy Cases and “Are DIPand Committee Counsel Fiduciaries for Their Clients’ Constituents or the Bankruptcy Estate? What isa Fiduciary, Anyway?” 17 Amer. Bankr. Inst. L. Rev. 291 (Winter 2009). Ms. Freeman is a Fellow and former president of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers, and co-authored the civil appeals chapter of the Arizona Appellate Handbook. She was co-counsel for several law professors on amicuscuriae briefs in Tennessee Student Assistance Corp. v. Hood, 541 U.S. 440 (2004), and Central VirginiaCommunity College v. Katz, 126 S. Ct. 990, 1004 (2006), and she briefed and argued Hall v. UnitedStates of America, 132 S. Ct. 1882 (2012). Ms. Freeman has been listed since 1989 in The Best Lawyers in America for bankruptcy and commercial litigation/appeals, and in Chambers USA. She received herB.A. with distinction from Mount Holyoke College and her J.D. from New York University School ofLaw in 1975, where she was a Root-Tilden Scholar.

Richard P. Carmody is a principal bankruptcy lawyer in the Birmingham, Ala., office of Adams and Reese LLP and has practiced law for more than 49 years. He specializes in insolvency law (C&I) and secured lending, and has a network of referral sources that he has developed throughout his career. Mr.Carmody is one of the firm’s principal bankruptcy attorneys, representing clients in difficult financial matters. He also provides counsel to lenders for complex commercial transactions and internal policies.In 1992, Mr. Carmody became the first lawyer in Alabama to become Board Certified in Business Bankruptcy Law by the American Board of Certification. On the state level, he helped establish and served as the first chair of the Alabama State Bar section on bankruptcy and commercial law, and he was a member of the Alabama Law Institute’s committees for revision of the UCC (Articles 3, 4, 4A, 5 and 9). Mr.Carmody is a founding member of ABI, and he established and co-chaired its Ethics Committee from1999-2005. Additionally, he served as vice chair of the ABI’s 2013 Task Force for Ethical Standards and was honored as ABI’s Committee Member of the Year in 2012. Currently, he serves on ABI’s VeteransTask Force. Mr. Carmody was inducted as a Fellow in the American College of Bankruptcy in 1999 and serves as a Co-Chair of the Senior Committee. He is a frequent writer and lecturer on bankruptcy and commercial law topics. In 2017, the Alabama State Bar presented him with the Albert L. Vreeland Pro Bono Award. Mr. Carmody received his B.A. in finance in 1964 from the University of Illinois and his J.D. in 1975 from Vanderbilt University School of Law.

Michael P. Richman is a member of Richman & Richman LLC in Madison, Wis., where he focuses on representing chapter 11 business debtors, creditors and creditors’ committees and advises on virtually every aspect of financial distress and bankruptcy, as well as out-of-court restructurings. He is also an experienced litigator who frequently represents parties in commercial litigation in state and federal courts. In addition to chapter 11 business debtor, creditor and creditor committee work, Mr. Richman’s bankruptcy experience includes the prosecution and defense of complex preference and fraudulent conveyance cases, breach-of-duty claims against corporate insiders, and advocacy for purchasers of assets under § 363. Prior to moving to Wisconsin in April 2018, his legal practice was centered in New York City in the federal, state and bankruptcy courts located in the Southern District of New York, and he appeared frequently in Delaware. Mr. Richman maintains his active bar admission in New York and continues to represent clients in bankruptcy and litigation matters across the nation. In a career of more than 40 years, he has appeared in courts in more than 20 states. Mr. Richman is a past ABI President and chaired the Section 363 Subcommittee of ABI’s Commission to Study the Reform of Chapter 11, and he served as co-vice chair of ABI’s National Ethics Task Force. He has for many successive years been named a “Super Lawyer” in peer surveys conducted by Thomson Reuters, including most recently for Wisconsin in 2022-24. He was also recently honored by The Best Lawyers in America as a Lawyer of the Year in both 2024 and 2025 in Wisconsin. Mr. Richman has written numerous articles on ethics in bankruptcy practice published in the ABI Journal, is a regular lecturer on bankruptcy ethics topics for ABI and the Practicing Law Institute, and over the past 30 years has been an invited speaker/lecturer at hundreds of bankruptcy conferences on many other topics. He is also the founder and a performing member of ABI’s house band, the Indubitable Equivalents, and since January 2018 he has taught bankruptcy law as an adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Wisconsin Law School in Madison. Mr. Richman received his undergraduate degree with honors from Vassar College and his J.D. from Columbia Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone scholar and was awarded the David M. Berger award in honor of Prof. Wolfgang Friedmann for distinction in international law. He also served as managing editor of the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law.

Hon. Elizabeth S. Stong has served as a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn since 2003. Prior to her appointment the bench, she was a litigation partner and associate at Willkie Farr & Gallagher in New York, an associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, and law clerk to Hon. A. David Mazzone, U.S. District Judge in the District of Massachusetts. Judge Stong is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Council of the American Law Institute, and the boards of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, the Practising Law Institute, the New York County Lawyers’ Association and the New York Law Institute. She is a member of the Advisory Committee of Columbia University’s Committee on Global Thought and the Advisory Board of P.R.I.M.E. Finance, an international dispute resolution and judicial training organization, as well as co-chair of the New York City Bar’s Middle East-North Africa Law Committee. Judge Stong regularly serves as a delegate to UNCITRAL’s Working Groups on Arbitration and Conciliation and Insolvency, and is an elected member of the European Law Institute. She also chairs the ABA Standing Committee on Continuing Legal Education and holds leadership roles in the International Insolvency Institute, ABI and the ABA’s Business Law Section, International Law Section and Judicial Division. In addition, she is an adjunct professor at Brooklyn Law School. Judge Stong has trained judges in more than 25 countries on five continents, including North, Central and West Africa, Central Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East, the Arabian Peninsula and South America, with the U.S. Commerce Department Commercial Law Development Program, the World Bank, INSOL and the ABA-Rule of Law Initiative, among other entities. She also has consulted with the Supreme Court of China and People’s High Courts in Beijing and Guangzhou, the Uganda Registration Services Bureau, and recently has led judicial workshops and consultations in Bahrain, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Nigeria and Brazil, among other venues. Judge Stong received the ABA International Law Section’s Mayre Rasmussen Award for the Advancement of Women in International Law, the New York City Bar “Her Hero” Lifetime Achievement Award, the American Bar Foundation’s Outstanding State Chair Award, the ABA Glass Cutter Award, the NYIC Honorable Burton R. Lifland Mentor of the Year Award, the NYIC Hon. Cecelia Goetz Award, the Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Advisors Judicial Service Award, the MFY Legal Services Scales of Justice Award, and the Brooklyn Bar Association’s Freda Nisnewitz Award for Pro Bono Service, among others. She received her A.B. magna cum laude from Harvard University and her J.D. from Harvard Law School, where she received the Williston Prize, and she studied at the Université des Sciences Sociales in Toulouse, France, as a Rotary Foundation Graduate Fellow.

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, and she served on the program’s steering committee from 2022-23, the publications committee in 2023 as the judicial chair for ABI’s Southeast Bankruptcy Workshop in 2024. 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.

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.

Brian E. Greer is a shareholder with Greenberg Traurig LLP in New York and has experience representing creditors, debtors and equity investors in cross-border and domestic restructuring matters, both in and out of court. He guides clients through complex restructurings, bankruptcies, liquidations and other stressed or distressed situations. He also regularly helps clients capitalize on opportunities as purchasers, sellers and lenders in distressed mergers and acquisitions (M&A) transactions. Mr. Greer’s clients include hedge funds, private-equity funds, asset managers, insurers, securitization servicers, debt issuers, equity sponsors and directors. His award-winning practice spans a wide range of industries, including hospitality, financial services, energy, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, restaurants, IT consulting, life sciences, health care, chemicals, automotive and retail. Mr. Greer is recognized by IFLR 1000 as“Highly Regarded” for restructuring and insolvency and by the Legal 500 United States as a leading restructuring attorney. In addition, he worked on a deal recognized by The American Lawyer as GlobalFinance Deal of the Year, as well as deals recognized by The M&A Advisor as Deal of the Year in the(U.S. $100 million to $500 million) category and Industrials Deal of the Year (over U.S. $100 million).Mr. Greer received his B.A. from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and his J.D. from the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University, where he served as research editor for theHofstra Law Review.

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.

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.

Susana Hidvegi Arango is a senior advisor at Riveron Consulting, LLC in Bogotá, Colombia, where she advises on business insolvency, complex litigation and arbitration. Until December 2021, she was the Superintendent of Bankruptcy Proceedings in Colombia (Chief Justice of Bankruptcy of Colombia). Between 2019-21, Mr. Hidvegi Arango represented the Republic of Colombia at the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Working Group V (Insolvency Law). During her participation, the UNCITRAL Model Law on Enterprise Group Insolvency with Guide to Enactment (2019) and the Legislative Recommendations on Insolvency of Micro and Small Enterprises (2021) were approved. Before taking office as Chief Justice of Bankruptcy of Colombia, Ms. Hidvegi Arango was the head of the Insolvency practice at Brigard Urrutia Abogados in Colombia, worked as international associate at Dechert LLP in New York City, and clerked for the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris. She led the reforms to the bankruptcy regime to address the effects of the COVID-19 crisis, and as a result, the Government of Colombia issued Legislative Decrees 560 and 772 in April and June 2020 and the subsequent regulations, which provided for the creation of extra-judicial bankruptcy proceedings, the incorporation of artificial intelligence tools to the administration of bankruptcy cases by the court, and the creation of a simplified insolvency regime for small enterprises. Ms.Hidvegi Arango is a lecturer of bankruptcy law at several universities, including Universidad del Rosario, Universidad Javeriana and Universidad de Los Andes, and she has participated in multiple projects with organizations such as the World Bank and INSOL. She also has participated in numerous national and international conferences as a lecturer and panelist on insolvency, and she has published several papers and articles on bankruptcy law. Ms. Hidvegi Arango is a member of the International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation (IWIRC), for which she is co-chair for Latin America; the International Association of Restructuring, Insolvency & Bankruptcy Professionals (INSOL), where she is a member of its Legislative and Regulatory Group, the Technical Research Committee and the Latin America Committee; the International Insolvency Institute (III), where she is a member of the board of the III Committee Model Laws@Work; and Colegio de Abogados Rosaristas, where she is a member of the directive board. She was honored in 2020 as one of ABI’s “40 Under 40,” and she is a member of the Global Restructuring Review’s 2022 “40 under 40” class. Ms. Hidvegi Arango was named Woman of the Year in Restructuring 2022 by IWIRC. Also in 2022, she was selected as part of INSOL’s Future Forty, a celebration of the rising stars of the insolvency industry in recognition of the 40th anniversary of the organization. Ms. Hidvegi Arango is admitted to practice law in Colombia and the State of New York. She received her law degree as well as a specialization in finance law from Universidad del Rosario, Bogotá, and she pursued her LL.M. in business and bankruptcy law at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Jolene E. Wee, CIRA is the owner, managing director and founder of JW Infinity Consulting, LLC in New York, a financial advisory firm specialized in providing transaction advisory, interim management, litigation consulting, and forensic accounting services to distressed companies and its stakeholders. Using her mathematics and computer science background, she deploys large-scale data analytics to derive forward-looking business insights based on her professional training in accounting, finance and economics. Ms. Wee has served as an advisor to investors, fiduciaries, creditor committees, debtors, legal counsel, distressed companies, high-net-worth individuals, and public agencies on restructuring, bankruptcy, litigation, forensic, financing, merger and buyout matters. She has also performed fraudulenttransfer analyses and business valuations on bankruptcy litigation matters. Her case experience includes companies in the banking, e-commerce, financial services, health care, insurance, manufacturing, professional services, real estate and retail industries with revenues of up to $15B. Fluent in several Chinese and Southeast Asian languages, Ms. Wee was selected as a member of ABI’s 2020 “40 Under 40” class. In 2018, she was named Valuation Adviser of the Year by Finance Monthly Global Awards. Ms. Wee is a subchapter V trustee in Region 2, covering the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York, and Region 4, covering Maryland, the District of Columbia and the Eastern District of Virginia. She received her bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and business administration with a focus on finance from Berea College, and her M.B.A. from Miami University of Ohio.

Craig M. Geno is a member of the Law Offices of Craig M. Geno, PLLC in Ridgeland, Miss., and his bankruptcy practice consists representing secured and unsecured creditors, unsecured creditors’ committees, chapter 11 debtors-in-possession and bankruptcy trustees in chapter 7 and 11 cases. Additionally, he has served as a trustee in chapter 11 cases and is a subchapter V trustee in the Northern and Southern Districts of Mississippi and the Western District of Tennessee. His practice areas also include commercial and corporate litigation. Mr. Geno is a frequent writer and lecturer on various bankruptcy topics. He is a member of the American Bar Association, Mississippi State Bar Association (for which he served as president of its Law Office Economics Section from 1993-94), Mississippi Bar Foundation, Federal Bar Association (for which he served as the Southern District Vice President of the Mississippi chapter from 1989-90), and the Mississippi Bankruptcy Conference (for which he served as president in 2001). In addition, he is a member of ABI, the Business Bankruptcy Subcommittee of the Section of Business Law of the American Bar Association, and the Turnaround Management Association. Mr. Geno is a Fellow in the American College of Bankruptcy, the Mississippi Bar Foundation and the American Bar Foundation. He is listed in The Best Attorneys of America and as a “Top Fifty Attorney” in Super Lawyers, and his firm is listed in U.S. News & Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms.” Mr. Geno is Board Certified in Business Bankruptcy Law by the American Board of Certification, served on its board of directors for eight years, and served as its president and chairman. He also served on the Mississippi State Bar as special counsel for the Committee on Character and Fitness from 1984-87, and as a member of the Committee on Character and Fitness from 1987-2013. Mr. Geno received his undergraduate degree in 1975 and his J.D. in 1978 from the University of Mississippi, during which time he served on the law school’s Moot Court Board.

Joanna Diane Caytas is an attorney in the Bankruptcy, Restructuring & Creditors’ Rights section at Porter Hedges LLP. Her practice focuses on all aspects of bankruptcy and restructuring, with a particular emphasis on debtor representation in complex chapter 11 and chapter 15 cases across many industries, including crypto, energy, transportation, and hospitality. She also has experience in special investigations as well as bankruptcy litigation and appeals, including representing creditors’ committees.

She serves as Co-Chair of the ABI Commercial and Regulatory Law Committee and as Vice Chair of the Houston Network of the International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation (IWIRC), executive board member of The Honorable Artur L. Moller – David B. Foltz Jr. American Inn of Court, and is a member of the TMA and INSOL.

Joanna draws on her prior experience as a tax associate at an international law firm where she focused on tax planning for complex transactions, including corporate restructurings, private and public mergers and acquisitions, private equity, as well as formation and operation of private investment funds, including those investing in energy and in digital assets and blockchain technologies. Joanna’s research on blockchain was cited by the European Parliament.

Patrick Hruby is a senior associate attorney at Brock & Scott, PLLC in its Tampa, Fla., office. His practice focuses on creditor-side bankruptcy matters in all Florida and Ohio bankruptcy courts. Mr. Hruby has a broad understanding of bankruptcy from his creditor representation in all chapters, and from having served as a judicial law clerk in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Ohio and serving chapter 7 trustees for several years. He writes frequently for industry publications and is currently serving as the Editor of ABI’s Consumer Committee Newsletter. Mr. Hruby received his undergraduate degree summa cum laude in 2006 from Cleveland State University and his J.D. cum laude in 2009 from Case Western Reserve University School of Law.

I have spent my life working in and for small to midsize closely held businesses, both as an employee and as a consultant. I have a deep, personal understanding of the many challenges faced by these businesses and their management and ownership groups. My unique background allows me to provide competent solutions in many areas. I am equipped with over ten years of sales and operations experience in small businesses in the retail, manufacturing, and distribution industries. I also spent several years in the public accounting realm, specializing in management consulting and tax resolution, primarily with troubled companies, as well as experience as a financial statement auditor. My current practice focuses almost exclusively on advisory services for troubled companies, including interim and fractional CFO/Controllership work, value growth advisory, bankruptcy & insolvency consulting, and mergers & acquisitions. I serve on the Board of Directors for the California Tax Education Council, the Workforce Development Board of Madera County, the Alliance of Merger & Acquisition Advisors’ Southern California chapter, the Central California Bankruptcy Association, and the Ag Lenders Society of California. I am an active member of several industry organizations.

Liz Fried, CPA, CFE, is a Manager in RubinBrown’s Consulting Services Group. Liz is a forensic accounting and litigation support professional with six years of public accounting experience. Her areas of focus include forensic investigations, economic damages, cash tracing, business disputes, bankruptcies, and receiverships. She has experience across a wide variety of industries, including construction, manufacturing & distribution, professional services, and private equity.

A testament to the power of human spirit, Kath Koschel is a survivor who has overcome incredible odds and unimaginable tragedy to inspire ordinary people to do extraordinary things. Koschel is a former professional cricketer and Ironman competitor who’s world came crashing down when she broke her back twice in the span of five years and was told that she would never walk again. Instead, she faced the challenges head-on and defied all medical prognosis by teaching herself to walk again on three separate occasions. In the midst of these harrowing experiences, she believes she experienced two things in large amounts: adversity and kindness. After re learning to walk for the second time in her life, this realization kickstarted a 2-month journey around Australia which relied solely on the kindness of strangers. No cash, credit card food or water – and no help from family or friends!

Driven by a passion to spread gratitude and kindness sin the world, she founded Kindness Factory™ with the goal of encouraging one million acts of kindness. To date, Kindness Factory has recorded over 7 million acts of kindness and is now a registered not-for-profit in three countries.

An internationally sought after speaker and author of Kindness the book, Kath has worked with some of the biggest and most well-known companies and brands in the world to help them achieve perspective, resilience, good culture and of course, kindness.

Virginia Tate, CFE, CIRA, EA is the president of Tate & Associates, FAI International – Forensic Accounting & Investigations, a division of the EP Global Corporation, in New Orleans. She heads up the firm’s Tax, Accounting and Forensic Division, which focuses on litigation support, taxation and financial investigations with clientele throughout the world. Ms. Tate is an ABI member and previously chaired ABI’s Commercial Fraud Committee. She also serves on ABI’s Litigation and Taxation Committees. Her regular speaking engagements include continuing professional education providers such as the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, National Business Institute, Association of Insolvency & Restructuring Advisors, ABI, Chambers of Commerce, CPA Societies, televised crime documentaries and investigation series, as well as exclusive presentations in private industry and nonprofit sectors. Ms. Tate received her B.S. in business administration with a focus on accounting from the University of Washington.

Marc Ross specializes in assuming hands-on management roles or providing consulting assistance to troubled or under-performing companies both inside and outside of Court-mandated processes. He also provides services to non-distressed clients to assist them in maximizing recurring cash flows, enterprise value and navigating through a sale or transfer of ownership.

Marc has provided clients with interim management services including roles as a CRO and interim CEO, CFO and COO, operational and financial consulting, advising Debtors and Creditors’ committees, providing litigation consulting and performing forensic investigations.

J.P. Marcos works in Restructuring & Financial Advisory for Alastar Partners in New York. He advises corporate management teams and creditors through complex liquidity and operational challenges, combining analytical rigor with hands-on stakeholder engagement. Prior to joining Alastar, he was an Associate in Riveron’s Restructuring and Turnaround Services group, where he supported Chapter 11 and out-of-court engagements across the aerospace, consumer, industrial, media, and technology sectors. A graduate of Wake Forest University, J.P. earned a B.A. in Philosophy with minors in Politics & International Affairs and Economics, graduating magna cum laude. He is a member of the Turnaround Management Association (New York Chapter) and the Association of Insolvency & Restructuring Advisors.

Katharine B. Clark is a partner with Thompson Coburn LLP in Dallas and represents clients before bankruptcy courts, federal and state trial courts, arbitration panels and appellate courts nationwide. She routinely handles bankruptcy and insolvency litigation, including the representation of debtors, banks, court-appointed fiduciaries and creditors in chapter 11, 7, 15 and 13 bankruptcies. Ms. Clark has broad commercial litigation experience related to troubled and insolvent businesses. Her experience includes representing companies, fiduciaries, lenders, secured and unsecured creditors, and constituencies from every segment of the capital structure in federal and state court reorganization, liquidation and litigation proceedings. She has helped clients navigate insolvency matters involving billions of dollars in liabilities. In 2017, Ms. Clark was part of a team that received the Turnaround of the Year Award (Large Company) from the Turnaround Management Association for her work on the first successful bankruptcy reorganization of a life-settlement company. She also has experience in bankruptcy and litigation matters involving the real estate and energy industries, and she has litigated actions related to fraud that leads to bankruptcy or other displacement of management or control, including fraudulent-transfer litigation and state and federal court receivers. Ms. Clark received her B.A. magna cum laude in 2001 from Austin College and her J.D. cum laude from SMU Dedman School of Law in 2004, where she was a member of the Order of the Coif and associate managing editor of the SMU Law Review.

Michael B. Schaedle is a partner with Blank Rome LLP in Philadelphia in its Finance, Restructuring and Bankruptcy Practice Group. He concentrates his practice on bankruptcy, reorganizations and workouts, debt and equity restructuring, and commercial and public debt transactions. Mr. Schaedle frequently represents secured creditors, creditors’ and other committees and creditor groups, creditors, contract counterparties, asset-purchasers/plan-of-reorganization proponents, and trustees, debtors, foreign representatives and other fiduciaries. He is a Fellow in the American College of Bankruptcy and a member of the International Insolvency Institute, and he has been certified as a Business Bankruptcy Specialist by the American Board of Certification. Mr. Schaedle is ranked by Chambers USA as a leading bankruptcy lawyer and was a member of the 2020 faculty for ABI’s Complex Financial Restructuring Program. He routinely publishes on bankruptcy topics. Mr. Schaedle received his B.A. cum laude with distinction in major from the University of Pennsylvania and his J.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Todd R. Snyder is a managing director and global head of Restructuring at Piper Sandler Companies restructuring group, TRS Advisors, in New York. Prior to joining the firm, he was CEO at TRS Advisors and executive vice chairman of Rothschild & Co., as well as co-head of its North American restructuring advisory business. Prior to that, Mr. Snyder was a managing director in the restructuring and reorganization group at Peter J. Solomon Co. and a managing director at KPMG Peat Marwick in its corporate recovery group, where he also served as national director of its corporate recovery practice for government enterprises. Before making the move to investment banking, he practiced law in the business reorganization department of Weil, Gotshal & Manges. Mr. Snyder was a commissioner of the New York State Gaming Commission and a member of New York State’s financial restructuring board for local governments. He serves as a director of Amplify Energy Corp and previously served as a director of Midstates Petroleum Co., Inc., GenCorp Inc., AMC Financial, Inc. and EcoStim Energy Solutions. Mr. Snyder currently serves as trustee for nonprofit organizations Bowery Residents Committee and Shining Hope for Communities. He received his B.A. in religious studies in 1984 from Wesleyan University and his J.D. in 1988 from the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School.

Prof. Robert M. Lawless is the Max L. Rowe Professor of Law and co-director of the Program on Law, Behavior & Social Science at the University of Illinois College of Law in Champaign, Ill., where he writes and teaches about bankruptcy, consumer finance and business law. He also served as the College’s associate dean for research from 2013-16. Prof. Lawless served as the reporter for the ABI’s Commission on Consumer Bankruptcy and was the recipient of ABI’s Service Award in 2019. He is a co-author of Secured Transactions: A Systems Approach and Empirical Methods in Law. He also is a regular contributor to the blog Credit Slips, a discussion on credit, finance and bankruptcy. Prof. Lawless has testified before Congress, and his work has been featured in media outlets such as CNN, C-SPAN, NPR, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the National Law Journal, the L.A. Times and the Financial Times. Prof. Lawless is a member of the American Law Institute and the National Bankruptcy Conference, and he is a Fellow in the American College of Bankruptcy. He received both his undergraduate degree in accounting and his J.D. from the University of Illinois, during which time he served as editor-in-chief of the University of Illinois Law Review.

Stephanie J. Drew, CPA, CFE, CFF, CIRA is a partner with RubinBrown LLP’s Business Advisory Services Group in Denver, where she concentrates her practice on the calculation of economic damages, forensic accounting investigations and bankruptcy matters. She has more than 20 years of varied public accounting experience, including taxation and consulting. Ms. Drew concentrates her efforts on assisting counsel representing both plaintiffs and defendants in a variety of legal disputes. Her consulting experience includes the calculation of economic damages, forensic accounting, and bankruptcy. Ms. Drew serves as a testifying expert and provides services to counsel, receivers and trustees on a variety of legal disputes. She has experience in a variety of industries, including retail, health care, manufacturing, construction, real estate, energy, and financial and legal services. Ms. Drew is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Colorado Society of Certified Public Accountants, Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), ABI and the Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Advisors (AIRA), and she serves on the board of the International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation (IWIRC). She received her B.S.B.A. in accounting and information systems and her M.S. in taxation from the University of Colorado, Denver.

Eric S. Chafetz is a partner in the Bankruptcy & Restructuring Department of Lowenstein Sandler LLP in New York and advises creditors’ committees and individual trade creditors, debtors and plan/liquidating trustees involved in complex chapter 11 bankruptcies throughout the U.S. He advises clients across a wide range of industries on all aspects of the chapter 11 process, from pre-filing negotiation and preparation of first-day pleadings, including financing and sale documents, through the drafting and negotiation of plans of reorganization and all related ancillary documentation. Through his extensive workin two separate bankruptcies filed in 2013 and 2020, respectively, by lead-acid battery manufacturer Exide Holdings, Inc., et al. and Exide Technologies, LLC, Mr. Chafetz was instrumental in reaching settlements with the EPA and various state environmental agencies in both cases, which resulted in con-firmed plans and successful exits from bankruptcy. His work also includes investigating and prosecuting actions against officers, directors and lenders, as well as in prosecuting and defending preference/fraudulent transfer actions. Mr. Chafetz is a frequent speaker on current bankruptcy and creditors’ rights topics, including serving as a guest lecturer at the Columbia University School of Professional Studies, where he has lectured on such subjects as the intersection of bankruptcy and construction law. He participated in the ABI Commission on the Reform of Chapter 11’s Avoidance Power Subcommittee’s study of aspects of the Bankruptcy Code involving preferences, creditors’ reclamation rights and creditors’ rights under § 503(b)(9). He also is a prolific author, and he has published numerous articles addressing various cutting-edge issues in journals geared toward trade and other categories of creditors, including publications by the National Association of Credit Management, the Credit Research Foundation and the New York Law Journal. Active in the firm’s pro bono efforts, Mr. Chafetz has represented several individuals who have filed for chapter 7 protection. He received his B.A. in 2000 from the University ofMichigan and his J.D. cum laude in 2004 from Brooklyn Law School.

Minglei Wu is a bilingual civil and commercial panel mediator based in London, UK. She is also an international commercial lawyer qualified to practice in UK(England & Wales), the U.S.(Illinois), and China.
With 20 years of international commercial law experience, Minglei specializes in cross-border transactions, corporate insolvency and restructuring, joint ventures, and international trade. She has advised clients across a wide range of industries, including e-commerce, manufacturing, retail, TMT, automotive, property, pharmaceuticals, and aviation.
As a mediator, Minglei handles the full range of commercial disputes and has particular expertise in international and multi-jurisdictional matters, including:
 

• International insolvency and restructuring
• Joint venture and partnership conflicts
• International trade and contract disputes

Having lived and worked in Australia, China, the U.S., and the UK, Minglei brings a deep cross-cultural understanding to her mediation and legal practice.

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.

Kara Gendron is co-owner of Mott & Gendron Law in Harrisburg, Pa. She has been practicing bank- ruptcy law exclusively since 2001 and focuses her practice on representing individuals, farmers and small business owners in bankruptcy cases. Ms. Gendron is board certified in Consumer Bankruptcy Law and a certified bankruptcy court mediator. In addition to her private bankruptcy law practice, she is a chapter 7 trustee and a chapter 12 trustee. Ms. Gendron is the Membership Relations Director for ABI’s Consumer Bankruptcy Committee and is an advisory board member for ABI’s 2023 Consumer Practice Extravaganza (CPEX). She also is a board member of the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys (NACBA) and serves as NACBA’s chair for the Circuit Leader Committee. Ms. Gendron is a director for the American Board of Certification (ABC), a board member of the Middle District Bankruptcy Bar Association (MDBBA), an advisory board member for the Middle District of Pennsylvania Bankruptcy Court, and an advisory board member for the American Bankruptcy Law Journal, published by the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges (NCBJ). She also taught bank- ruptcy law for several years at the Widener School of Law. Ms. Gendron received her B.A. in 1997 from the University of Pennsylvania and her J.D. in 2001 from Pennsylvania State University Dickinson School of Law.

R. Caleb Chaplain is the career law clerk to Hon. Rebecca B. Connelly of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Virginia in Harrisonburg and is an adjunct professor of bankruptcy law at Washington and Lee University School of Law. Prior to career clerking, he was a term law clerk for both Judge Connelly and Hon. Paul M. Black, Chief Judge for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Virginia. Mr. Chaplain is a coordinating editor for the ABI Journal and has authored articles. He also is a 2022 honoree of ABI’s “40 Under 40” program. Mr. Chaplain volunteers as a member and current president of the board of directors of Second Home Learning Center, a nonprofit that provides out of school care, education and development opportunities for children in low-income households in Harrisonburg. He received his B.A. from Dartmouth College and his J.D. from Indiana University Maurer School of Law.

Jeffrey S. Fraser is a partner with ALAW in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and is the firm’s national Bankruptcy Partner. In this pivotal role, he works closely with each state’s managing attorneys as it relates to training, legal strategy, and all facets of the firm’s bankruptcy practice. Mr. Fraser is admitted to practice in the state of Florida and also is admitted to all federal district courts in the state of Texas, where he has extended his bankruptcy practice. In recognition of his efforts, he was selected by Super Lawyers as one of its “Florida Rising Stars” from 2019-23. Additionally, Mr. Fraser was named a 2017 Blackshear Fellow by the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges (NCBJ), and he is a 2020 ABI “40 Under 40” honoree, as well as a 2021 Junior Professional of the Year Award recipient by the American Legal & Finance Network (ALFN). He has published articles on bankruptcy issues in such publications as the ALFN, DS News, the Southern District of Florida Beacon and the Legal League. He also holds the highest rating by Martindale-Hubbell. Mr. Fraser received his B.A. in 2007 from the University of Miami and his J.D. in 2010 from the University of Miami School of Law.

Dania Slim is a partner with Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw & Pittman LLP in Miami and Palm Beach, Fla.,where she focuses her practice on bankruptcy, litigation and corporate skills in both in- and out-of-court restructurings. Selected as a “Rising Star” by Law360 and Super Lawyers, she represents debtors, creditors and other parties in interest (including asset-purchasers) in bankruptcy cases across a broad range of industries, including health care, real estate, hospitality and manufacturing. A significant portion of her practice also focuses on Latin America. Ms. Slim is a 2020 honoree of ABI’s “40 Under 40” pro-gram. She received her B.A. cum laude in 2005 from Florida International University and her J.D. in2008 from The George Washington University Law School, where she served as executive editor of theGeorge Washington University Law Review.

Lacey S. Bryan is an attorney with Markus Williams Young & Hunsicker LLC in Denver, where her practice is focused on complex bankruptcy litigation. She represents clients in all phases of insolvency and restructuring, including debtors, creditors, and trustees in chapter 7 and 11 bankruptcies. Ms. Bryan previously clerked for Hon. Michael E. Romero of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Colorado and was the staff attorney for the Chapter 13 Trustee for the Northern District of Oklahoma. She is a member of ABI and the International Women’s Insolvency and Restructuring Confederation, Faculty of Federal Advocates, and the Colorado and Oklahoma Bar Associations. Ms. Bryan received her B.A. in 2009 from the University of North Texas and her J.D. with highest honors in 2013 from the University of Tulsa, where she served on the executive board of the Tulsa Law Review.

Nancy J. Whaley is an attorney serving as a chapter 12 and 13 trustee for the Northern District of Georgia in Atlanta. On Oct. 1, 2023, she was appointed to the Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules. Ms. Whale0y is a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy and serves on its Pro Bono and Distinguished Student Committees. She also serves on ABI’s Board of Directors on its Finance and Investment Committees, and she is a past co-chair for ABI’s Southeast Bankruptcy Workshop. Ms. Whaley is a member of the Northern District of Georgia Bankruptcy Court’s Bench and Bar Committee and has served on the State Bar of Georgia Executive Committee, is a member of its Board of Governors and chaired its Investment and Finance Committees. She sits on the board of directors for the Association of Chapter 12 Trustees and is a member of the National Association of Chapter 13 Trustees. She also is a founding officer of the NACTT Foundation, and a past chair of the Atlanta Bar Association’s Bankruptcy Section and the Bankruptcy Section of the State Bar of Georgia. Ms. Whaley served as president of the Georgia Association for Women Lawyers and of the GAWL Foundation. She retired from the Air Force Reserve as a Lieutenant Colonel. Ms. Whaley received her B.A. cum laude from Eureka College, where she was a Ronald Reagan Scholar, and her J.D. from Emory Law School.

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-Hub-bell. 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 is a member of the Uniform Law Commission and is licensed to practice in the states of Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota. He has been recognized in The Best Lawyers in America and Super Lawyers. Mr. Swanson 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.

Krystal R. Mikkilineni is a shareholder in the Restructuring, Insolvency, and Bankruptcy and the Mergers & Acquisitions departments of Dentons Davis Brown in Des Moines, Iowa, and represents businesses, creditors, trustees and individuals with reorganizations, insolvency matters, and chapter 7, 11, 12and 13 bankruptcies. She focuses on M&A work within bankruptcy and § 363 sales, and she collaborates with investment bankers and financial advisors to develop cash-flow projections, bidding procedures and asset-purchase agreements. Ms. Mikkilineni is a founding member and current vice chair and treasurer of the Midwest Network of the International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation and was recently selected as one of five semi-finalists for its national Rising Star Award. She also is actively involved in ABI and was selected for its 2021 class of “40 Under 40,” and she recently participated as one of 40 attorneys in the Next Generation Program of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges in Washington, D.C. She most recently practiced at Des Moines law firm, Bradshaw, Fowler, Proctor & Fairgrave P.C. In addition to her law practice, Ms. Mikkilineni is an active leader in the community and currently serves on the Chrysalis Foundation board of directors. She also is a past board member of theIowa chapter of the Lupus Foundation of America and recently graduated from the Greater Des MoinesLeadership Institute’s Community Leadership Program. Ms. Mikkilineni received her B.A. magna cum laude in 2009 from the University of Northern Iowa and her J.D. in 2013 with honors from Drake University Law School, from which she holds a Business Law Certificate.

Hon. Catherine J. Furay is Chief Bankruptcy Judge for the Western District of Wisconsin in Madison. Prior to her appointment, she practiced bankruptcy, commercial law and business litigation. Judge Furay is a frequent lecturer on bankruptcy, commercial law, ethics, marital property and litigation skills. She served as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Wisconsin Law School teaching lawyering skills for 21 years and guest lectures for its bankruptcy course. Judge Furay is a member of the Bankruptcy Judges Advisory Group of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, the bankruptcy judge member of the Advisory Process Review Working Group, and a member of the Advisory Group for theAO’s Bankruptcy Case Weighting Study. In 2020, she became a Fellow of the American College ofBankruptcy. Judge Furay is a contributing author of Construction Law, Chapter 16, “Bankruptcy,” and is the author of several articles on various bankruptcy, collection, marital property and litigation topics.In 2019, Judge Furay became the editor-in-chief of Ginsberg & Martin on Bankruptcy. She is a member of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, for which she serves as a member of its Elections,Finance, and Online Learning Committees. She has also served as the Seventh Circuit representative on the NCBJ Board of Governors and on the NextGen and Technology Committees of NCBJ. Judge Furay is a member of ABI and currently serves on the Education Advisory Committees for the Central StatesBankruptcy Workshop and the Hon. Eugene R. Wedoff Seventh Circuit Consumer Bankruptcy Conference. In addition, she is a member of the Turnaround Management Association, a member of the Board of Trustees, past chairman of the board, and past president of the Certification Oversight Committee.Judge Furay has served on the board of governors and various committees of the State Bar of Wisconsin, including its Executive and Finance Committees. In addition to being co-author of Wisconsin BusinessAdvisors Series: Collections & Bankruptcy Vol. 4 (Pinnacle Books), she co-authored the WisconsinCivil Litigation Forms Manual (Pinnacle Books). Judge Furay received her J.D. from the University ofWisconsin-Madison Law School.

Ferve E. Khan is a full-service bankruptcy and restructuring attorney in the New York office of BakerHostetler LLP, where her practice includes both plaintiff and defense-side litigation and transactional work. She has particular experience in the financial services, energy and health care industries. She also has represented creditors, committees and fiduciaries in cases of mass torts, the recovery of the proceeds of fraud, and chapter 11. In 2020, Ms. Kahn was named one of ABI’s “40 Under 40.” In addition, she co-chairs ABI’s Legislative Committee. Ms. Khan received her B.A. in political science magna cum laude in 2005 from Brown University, and her J.D. in 2008 from Cornell University Law School, where she served as articles editor for the Cornell International Law Journal and managing editor of the Legal Information Institute Bulletin.

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, where he practiced for 18 years. Judge Hage serves on ABI’s Executive Committee as Secretary and as an 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.

Robert F. Elgidely is a partner with Fox Rothschild LLP in Miami and New York, where he focuses his practice on complex bankruptcy disputes and commercial litigation matters. In his bankruptcy practice, he regularly represents court-appointed fiduciaries in connection with chapter 7 and 11 cases stemming from fraud and financial crimes. He also regularly represents debtors, creditors, creditors’ committee sand liquidating trustees. Mr. Elgidely has handled business, real estate, aviation, admiralty, sports and entertainment, motor vehicle and ERISA/employee benefits disputes. He prosecuted avoidance claims seeking more than $84 million in recoveries in a chapter 7 bankruptcy case stemming from a massive check kiting scheme, served as special counsel to the chapter 7 trustee in a bankruptcy case involving a$350 million international Ponzi scheme in which 7,000 victim-creditors obtained significant recoveries, represented the chapter 11 trustee of a law firm that collapsed following the revelation of a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme perpetrated by the firm’s principal and secured recoveries that contributed to a 100 percent distribution to victim-creditors, and represented several Italian professional tennis players in connection with a suit against the ATP concerning provisions of the official rulebook for the sport. Prior to joiningFox Rothschild, Mr. Elgidely was a partner in the bankruptcy law and litigation practice of a Florida boutique law firm. Before he became a lawyer, he served in the U.S. Army National Guard and U.S.Army Reserve; he completed Basic Combat Training at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., in 1989 and AdvancedIndividual Training as a medic at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, in 1990. Mr. Elgidely received his B.A. fromSiena College in 1993, his J.D. in 1996 from Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad College ofLaw and his LL.M. in taxation in 1997 from the University of Miami School of Law.

Robert S. Marticello is a founding partner of Smiley Wang-Ekvall, LLP in Los Angeles, where he focuses his practice on business bankruptcy matters and related litigation. He represents virtually all parties in chapter 11 bankruptcy cases and out-of-court restructurings, including debtors, committees, secured and unsecured creditors, equity holders, trustees, asset-purchasers and others. Mr. Marticello has represented clients in a broad range of industries, such as real estate, nonprofit, retail, restaurant and technology, and has represented clients in multiple forums throughout the U.S. He is also experienced in representing plaintiffs and defendants in bankruptcy avoidance actions and plaintiffs in non dischargeability actions. Mr. Marticello was honored as one of ABI’s first “40 Under 40.” In 2012, he was selected to participate in the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges’ Next Generation Program. Mr. Marticello has also been consistently selected as a “Rising Star” in Super Lawyers and has been recognized by The Best Lawyers in America for multiple years running. He also is a frequent speaker and author on insolvency issues and has presented on current and expected trends in real estate related bankruptcies and the hospitality industry. Mr. Marticello has served as an officer and director of a number of professional organizations. He is co-chair of the Lawyer Representatives to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference, and director of both the Federal Bar Association (Orange County Chapter) and the TurnaroundManagement Association (Southern California Chapter). Mr. Marticello was the president of the California Bankruptcy Forum from 2015-16. He previously was a director of the Orange County BankruptcyForum from 2008-11 and served as its president from 2010-11. Mr. Marticello clerked for Hon. John E.Ryan in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California from August 2005 to February2007, and for Hon. Robert N. Kwan in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California from March to August 2007. Mr. Marticello received his undergraduate degree from California StateUniversity Chico and his J.D. magna cum laude from Californian Western School of Law in 2005, where he was a member of the California Western Law Review.

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 2001-03, 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.

Jeffrey S. Ainsworth is an attorney with BransonLaw PLLC in Orlando, Fla., where he practices primarily in the areas of bankruptcy, creditors’ rights and dischargeability issues, and has represented individual debtors, corporate debtors, unsecured creditors, committees, secured creditors and trustees. He is a member of ABI, the Orange County Bar Association and the Central Florida Bankruptcy Law Association. Mr. Ainsworth is admitted to practice in all Florida courts and the U.S. District Courts for the Northern, Middle and Southern Districts of Florida. He received his B.A. in political science in 2004 from the University of Central Florida and his J.D. in 2008 from Florida State University, where he also received a Certificate in Environmental and Land Use Law.

David E. Gordon is a shareholder with Polsinelli PC in Atlanta and leads Polsinelli’s national distressed health care practice. He counsels on business bankruptcies and insolvencies with a distinct focus on healthcare industry restructuring. Mr. Gordon has represented health care providers, REITs, hospitals, lenders, landlords, health care systems, skilled-nursing and assisted-living facilities, purchasers of distressed assets, secured and unsecured creditors, committees, trustees and other parties-in-interest in chapter 11 reorganization proceedings, receiverships and workouts throughout the U.S. His transactional experience includes representing purchasers in § 363 sales and representing various parties in problem loan workouts, bridge loans and other financings, forbearance agreements and other distressed transactions. Prior to joining Polsinelli, Mr. Gordon taught as an adjunct professor of law at the Emory University School of Law for more than seven years. He received his B.A. in 2003 from Georgetown University and his J.D. with honors in 2006 from Emory University School of Law.

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.

Hon. Judith K. Fitzgerald is a shareholder with Tucker Arensberg, P.C. in Pittsburgh and formerly a member of its board of directors. She served as President of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, sat on the ABI Board and is part of the education and other committees of several professional associations. She has a trial background and frequently served as a settlement judge and mediator. Judge Fitzgerald retired from her position as a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Western District of Pennsylvania after more than 25 years on the bench, having presided over matters in the Western District of Pennsylvania (where she was chief judge for 5 years) as well as in the District of Delaware (20 years), the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (8 years) and the U.S. Virgin Islands (9 years). During her tenure as a bankruptcy judge, Judge Fitzgerald presided over many significant corporate cases and adjudicated more mass tort bankruptcies than any other bankruptcy judge in the country. Since joining Tucker Arensberg in 2013, she has served as a mediator and arbitrator in bankruptcy, consumer and commercial transaction-related proceedings. Judge Fitzgerald has been retained as an expert witness and consultant in cases throughout the country involving bankruptcy issues, insurance and reinsurance issues, fee disputes, bankruptcy-related malpractice and professional responsibility matters, asbestos trust issues, and various commercial and contract disputes. She has represented both debtors and creditors in bankruptcy cases and works with clients on complex bankruptcy, insolvency and commercial issues. She participates in educational programs for a variety of professional associations and designed the Around the Circuits ethics program for the American Inns of Court. Among her many recognitions including professionalism awards from the Bankruptcy Inn Alliance of the American Inns of Court and the Commercial Law League of America, in 2016 Judge Fitzgerald received an honorable mention by Law360 as one of The Ten Most Influential Bankruptcy Judges in History. She is an elected member of the American Law Institute and the American College of Bankruptcy, as well as other professional organizations. Before being appointed as a bankruptcy judge in 1987, Judge Fitzgerald was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Western District of Pennsylvania, with a concentration in complex frauds and criminal tax cases. She received her B.S. in psychology and B.A. in English writing from the University of Pittsburgh, and her J.D. from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.

Jennifer M. Meyerowitz is chief growth officer and general counsel for SAK Healthcare in Atlanta. Her experience in health care consulting, bankruptcy, restructuring, operational management and advisory services spans more than 23 years, and she has served as an attorney, consultant, investor, advisor, real estate professional and company leader. Ms. Meyerowitz is responsible for implementing SAK’s growth strategy, managing operational reporting for facilities and client relations, overseeing the human resources and legal departments of SAK and providing executive-level management to the company. She regularly serves as a receiver, expert witness, board member, third-party manager and fiduciary for various health care entities, including senior living facilities, skilled nursing homes, memory care centers and hospitals. Ms. Meyerowitz previously worked with Summit Investment Management and Keen-Summit Capital Partners, buying distressed debt, selling distressed real estate and negotiating lease portfolios in bankruptcy and restructuring processes. She also served in operations, business-development, consulting and other leadership roles, including as vice president for global legal technology and services companies, with responsibility for development, legal consulting and strategic communications, compliance and logistics, and case-management functions for the company’s bankruptcy and restructuring settlement services. Ms. Meyerowitz began her career as a practicing attorney at Alston & Bird LLP, where for nearly 10 years she represented debtors, secured and unsecured creditors, creditors’ committees, landlords and tenants, banks and trustees in complex workouts, debt-restructurings, commercial litigation and chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. She is an active participant in several industry organizations, serving on their boards, speaking on panels and publishing industry articles. Ms. Meyerowitz is a former global chair of the International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation and a former chair and co-founder of its Georgia network. She currently serves on the boards of ABI and the Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Advisors, and on the global executive board of the Turnaround Management Association. She also is involved in various other professional organizations, including having served as a former chair of the Bankruptcy Section of the Atlanta Bar Association and currently serving on various boards and committees in the industry, as well as other nonprofit organizations in her community. Ms. Meyerowitz received her B.A. from the University of Michigan and her J.D. from Emory University School of Law, where she was executive notes and comments editor for the Emory Bankruptcy Developments Journal.

Thomas S. Kessler is a partner in Cleary Gottlieb’s New York office, where he advises clients in high-profile restructuring matters, finding business-oriented strategies designed to achieve client goals. He has worked with debtors and creditors to navigate complex, multi-billion dollar distressed situations and regularly litigates high-stakes contested matters, adversary proceedings, and other complex civil cases. Tom’s practice spans a variety of industries and geographies, with a particular focus on cross-border matters, including acting as U.S. counsel in foreign restructurings and lead counsel in Chapter 15 proceedings. Tom received his B.A. magna cum laude in 2010 from the University of Akron and his J.D. in 2013 from Columbia Law School, where he was a James Kent Scholar.

Rachel Jaffe Mauceri is a partner with Robinson & Cole LLP in Philadelphia in the firm’s Bankruptcy + Reorganizations Group and has more than 20 years of experience counseling clients in complex corporate bankruptcy and restructuring matters. She participates in all aspects of in- and out-of-court restructurings in such industries as health care, retail, energy, automotive, oil and gas, mortgage servicing, real estate and telecommunications. Ms. Mauceri regularly represents official committees in chapter 11 cases and has experience counseling companies in pre-negotiated and traditional bankruptcy proceedings as well as out-of-court workouts, advising stalking-horse and other bidders in distressed and bankruptcy-related transactions, representing borrowers and financial institutions in the negotiation and documentation of secured lending facilities, advising indenture trustees and second-lien lenders, representing pension and health plans in connection with collective bargaining issues and proceedings under §§ 1113 and 1114 of the Bankruptcy Code, and counseling vendors, contract parties and other significant creditors and parties in interest on a variety of bankruptcy related litigation and other issues. She is listed in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, Pennsylvania & Surrounds, and she was named to the IFLR 1000 United States as a Notable Practitioner in 2022 and as a Rising Star in 2021, 2020 and 2019 in the area of Restructuring. In addition, she was named a Rising Star, Restructuring (including Bankruptcy): Corporate in The Legal 500 US in 2019, and she represented Tribe 9 Foods in its 2021 purchase of Carla’s Pasta, which won the Food & Beverage Restructuring of the Year at the 14th Annual Turnaround Atlas Awards. She also represented The Bank of New York Mellon as indenture trustee in connection with the sale of North Philadelphia Health System, a transaction that won the 17th Annual M&A Advisor Sector Deal of the Year, in the category of “Healthcare and Life Sciences (Under $100MM).” Ms. Mauceri regularly speaks and writes on current issues and topics in bankruptcy. She currently serves as vice chair of the Chapter Presidents Counsel of the Turnaround Management Association and as a member of TMA Global’s Executive Board and board of directors, and she is chair of TMA’s Philadelphia/Wilmington chapter. She also is a member of ABI and IWIRC, is co-chair of ABI’s 2023 VALCON conference, and is secretary of the Consumer Bankruptcy Assistance Project. Prior to joining Robinson & Cole, Ms. Mauceri worked for two global law firms in New York and Philadelphia, respectively, focusing on bankruptcy and restructuring matters. While in law school, she interned for Hon. Prudence Beatty Abram (ret.) of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. Ms. Mauceri received her B.A. in journalism from Ithaca College in 1995 and her J.D. cum laude in 2001 from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, where she was elected to the Order of the Coif and was supervising editor of its law review.

Mark B. Joachim is a shareholder with Polsinelli in Washington, D.C., and has more than 25 years of experience representing clients on complex financing arrangements. In the restructuring arena, he regularly represents distressed businesses, boards of directors, special committees, independent directors, debtor-in-possession lenders, distressed-debt investors, official committees, ad hoc groups of creditors in connection with bankruptcy proceedings and out-of-court restructurings. Mr. Joachim has represented first- and second-lien senior lenders, mezzanine investors, and equity sponsors and borrowers in senior debt, mezzanine and private-equity financing arrangements. He also has successfully closed dozens of leveraged finance transactions for lenders utilizing cash-flow, asset-based, and hybrid structures. Mr.Joachim is a member of the Turnaround Management Association and is an associate editor of the ABIJournal. He received his B.A. in 1989 in political science and philosophy from Stony Brook University and his J.D. in 1992 with distinction from Hofstra University School of Law, where he is managing editor of the Hofstra Law Review.

Robert Fishman serves as Vice Chairman of Algon Group, bringing decades of experience as a business bankruptcy and insolvency attorney to his work in corporate restructurings and asset liquidations. Over the course of his legal career, he has represented a wide range of clients — including debtors in possession, trustees, creditors’ committees, secured creditors, litigants in bankruptcy proceedings, and buyers of distressed assets — giving him a comprehensive perspective on complex financial challenges. In his current role, Robert leverages this breadth of experience to guide businesses and stakeholders through reorganizations, workouts, and strategic asset dispositions. He is also recognized for his extensive work as a bankruptcy mediator and fee examiner, helping parties navigate disputes and ensure the integrity of bankruptcy processes.

Hon. Roberta A. Colton is a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Middle District of Florida in Orlando, appointed in December 2017. Contemporaneously, she was appointed as a member of the judicial mediation team involved in the Puerto Rico PROMESA cases and served in that capacity until January 2022. Prior to taking the bench, Judge Colton practiced at Trenam Law in Tampa, Fla., where she was a shareholder and a member of the firm’s Management Committee. Prior to joining Trenam, she served as a judicial law clerk for Hon. James C. Hill of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. During her more than 30 years in practice, Judge Colton was active in service to the legal profession and has been recognized for her accomplishments. Among others, she was listed in The Best Lawyers in America for Bankruptcy & Creditor/Debtor Rights from 1995-2016 and named one of the top 10 Super Lawyers in Florida from 2011-16. Judge Colton served as Eleventh Circuit Regent for the American College of Bankruptcy and as chair of the Grievance Committee of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. She also is the former chair of the Florida Bar Business Law Section’ Bankruptcy/UCC Committee, as well as the Tampa Bay Bankruptcy Bar Association. Judge Colton received her B.A. in commerce with distinction from the University of Virginia in 1979 and her J.D. from William & Mary Law School in 1982, where she served on its law review and was a national moot court finalist.

Kara E. Casteel is a partner at ASK LLP in St. Paul, Minn., and practices in the areas of bankruptcy, creditors’ rights and litigation. She has successfully litigated preference and fraudulent-transfer matters in multiple jurisdictions, including the U.S. Bankruptcy Courts for the District of Delaware, Southern District of New York, Southern District of Texas and the Southern District of Indiana. In 2022, Ms. Casteel obtained a judgment in excess of $3.5 million in a preference trial. Her representative matters include the prosecution of avoidance actions in such large bankruptcies as Dean Foods Co., Sears Holdings Corp., Quebecor World (USA), WP Steel Venture LLC, NewPage Corp., RS Legacy Corp. (f.k.a RadioShack) and hhgregg, Inc. Prior to joining ASK LLP, Ms. Casteel clerked for Hon. Casey Christian and Hon. Joseph Bueltel in the Third Judicial District of Minnesota. She is a member of the Minnesota State Bar Association, the International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation (IWIRC), ABI and the Turnaround Management Association (TMA). In 2013, she helped found the IWIRC’s Minnesota chapter, and she is a past co-chair of the IWIRC-Minnesota Network. Ms. Casteel received her B.A. in 2005 in political science and legal studies from the University of Wisconsin, and her J.D. in 2008 from the University of Minnesota Law School.

Anne R. Vanderkamp is a director with AlixPartners, LLP in Chicago and provides financial advisory, litigation support and investigative services for boards of directors, law firms, general counsel, debtors, and court-appointed examiners and trustees. She has experience in calculating damages in expert witness assignments with regard to construction claims, fraud allegations, lost profits, post merger and acquisition disputes, and shareholder disputes. Ms. Vanderkamp also leads forensic investigations in bankruptcy-related litigation, including investigations involving allegations of fiduciary breaches and fraudulent transfers, analysis of related-party and other inter company transactions, analysis of third-party asset transfers and quantification of damages. She has provided expert reports and trial testimony in federal and state courts. Most recently, Ms. Vanderkamp was a managing director at Baker Tilly and Mesirow Financial. She received her B.B.A. in finance from the University of Notre Dame.

Dana L. Robbins is an associate with Burr & Forman LLP in Tampa, Fla., where she serves in its Creditors’ Rights and Bankruptcy Practice Group. She represents a diverse array of clients, including banking institutions, municipalities, real estate developers, title insurance groups and retail shopping centers in commercial bankruptcy cases, as well as in business litigation, commercial litigation, appeals and general civil litigation. Ms. Robbins’ practice includes all aspects of corporate restructuring, bankruptcy and insolvency proceedings, including § 363 sales, and preference and fraudulent transfer litigation. Prior to joining Burr & Forman, she clerked for the Chief Judge Caryl E. Delano in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida, where she assisted with complex bankruptcy and state law issues. She has also served as a trial court staff attorney in the Office of Court Counsel for the Sixth Judicial Circuit of Florida, where she advised circuit court judges on substantive and procedural issues in trial and appellate cases. Ms. Robbins is actively involved in several professional organizations, including serving on the boards of the Federal Bar Association’s Tampa Bay Chapter, and the International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation. She has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America as a “One to Watch” since 2021, and for Bankruptcy and Creditor/Debtor Rights/Insolvency and Reorganization Law, Litigation - Banking and Finance for 2023, and she was listed as a Florida Super Lawyers “Rising Star” from 2021-22. Ms. Robbins received her B.S. from the University of Tampa, her M.B.A. from Stetson University and her J.D. from Stetson University College of Law. She also studied abroad at the University of Oxford.

Hon. Daniel P. Collins is a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the District of Arizona in Phoenix, appointed on Jan. 18, 2013. He served as chief judge from 2014-18 and is presently a conflicts judge in the Districts of Guam, Hawaii and Southern California. Previously, Judge Collins was a shareholder with the Collins, May, Potenza, Baran & Gillespie, P.C. in Phoenix, practicing primarily in the areas of bankruptcy, commercial litigation and commercial transactions. He is a past president of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, is a Fellow in the American College of Bankruptcy, served on ABI’s Board of Directors, is on the board of the Phoenix Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, is a member of the University of Arizona Law School’s Board of Visitors, and serves as an American Bar Association Business Court representative. He also is a founding member of the Arizona Bankruptcy American Inn of Court. Judge Collins received both his B.S. in finance and accounting in 1980 and his J.D. in 1983 from the University of Arizona.

Jason Wright is a Managing Director with Stout and brings 20+ years of combined experience in forensic accounting, fraud investigations, and litigation consulting. He has broad experience working on anti-corruption and anti-bribery engagements, including matters involving the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, complex forensic accounting investigations, and commercial litigation cases involving public and private companies as well as municipalities and government entities in a wide variety of industries. He has significant experience providing a broad range of business and financial advice to trial lawyers, in-house counsel, audit committees, and stakeholders throughout the dispute process and in investigations in both domestic and international contexts. He has also provided testimony in federal and state courts as well as during arbitration.

Mr. Wright has extensive experience supporting the Fraud Section of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). In this role, he traces assets through the international financial system to identify illegal proceeds and their subsequent movements for use in money laundering, embezzlement, and bribery schemes. In addition, he evaluates the gains arising from companies’ schemes to offer and pay bribes to foreign officials and also evaluates large multi-national corporations’ claims of an inability to pay a criminal fine or criminal monetary penalty. For example, he assisted in the global resolutions of Airbus S.A., Herbalife Nutrition Ltd., Odebrecht S.A., Braskem S.A., and Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd., among others. Further, he assists DOJ prosecutors in securities fraud investigations, including the appropriate determination of revenue recognition under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). Finally, Mr. Wright traces all manner of cryptocurrencies, both on-chain and off-chain.

Mr. Wright has also assisted individuals, companies, and legal counsel on a variety of complex accounting matters related to various GAAP issues, including government enforcement actions for the improper treatment of revenue recognition, inaccurate and inappropriate accounting for reserves, warranty accruals and expenses, and other financial reporting irregularities. He has advised his clients on various fraud issues, including embezzlements, procurement fraud, kickback schemes, securities fraud, false financial reporting, Ponzi schemes, and other complex accounting issues.

Finally, Mr. Wright has participated in a wide variety of litigation and consulting matters, including the preparation, analysis, and rebuttal of damage claims, bankruptcy matters, and contract compliance (royalty) audits, among others.

Adam leverages his accomplished career, spanning twenty-five years in restructuring and corporate finance, into various roles for his clients, including financial advisor, investment banker, CRO, expert witness, and fiduciary. His clients have run the gamut, including companies, bank lenders and other secured and unsecured creditors, buyers, sellers, bankruptcy counsel, and litigators, all in the context of workouts, insolvency proceedings, fundraising, M&A, and litigation. He provides expert testimony concerning transactions, intangible/intellectual assets, valuation, solvency, and reasonably equivalent value issues. Adam has a proven record in advising, structuring, and executing in excess of 100 mergers, acquisitions, capital transactions, restructurings, and litigation support assignments. Prior to co-founding Force 10 Partners in 2016, Adam was a Senior Managing Director at GlassRatner Advisory & Capital Group and Co-President and Chief Compliance Officer of GlassRatner Securities. Adam was also a Principal with XRoads Solutions Group. He spent half his career at CIBC World Markets and its predecessor, Oppenheimer & Company, where he led numerous multi-disciplinary teams on large capital markets, M&A, and restructuring assignments. He also co-established CIBC’s Houston-based energy practice and helped establish CIBC’s software practice. Prior to CIBC, Adam worked in the energy groups at Jefferies and Howard Weil. Adam majored in finance and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Management from Tulane University in 1993.

Howard A. Cohen is a partner with Fox Rothschild LLP in Wilmington, Del., and has more than 20years of experience in financial restructuring, bankruptcy and creditors’ rights matters. He represents debtors, official committees, ad hoc committees, equity sponsors, trustees, asset-purchasers, lenders and trade creditors in bankruptcy proceedings. He also concentrates on the preparation and issuance of non consolidation and other Delaware opinions, and advises troubled companies and their boards in insolvency situations. Mr. Cohen represents clients in bankruptcy avoidance litigation, including fraudulent-transfer and preference litigation. He provides counsel in a variety of industries, including health care, retail, oil and gas, media, technology, transportation, manufacturing and real estate. Prior to joining Fox Rothschild, Mr. Cohen was a director of the financial restructuring and creditors’ rights group at an East Coast law firm. He also served as a partner in the corporate restructuring practice group in the Wilmington office of a national law firm, and before that, he was a corporate restructuring associate at two international law firms, as well as an associate in the creditors’ rights and bankruptcy group of a Florida-based firm. Mr. Cohen is admitted to practice in Delaware and Florida and is MembershipRelations Director of ABI’s Financial Advisors and Investment Banking Committee. He also is a member of the Delaware Bankruptcy Inn of Court. Mr. Cohen received his B.S. in 1996 from Florida StateUniversity and his J.D. in 1999 from Duke University School of Law.

Lois R. Lupica is the Director of the Legal Innovation Lab at the Community Economic Defense Project and the Maine Law Foundation Professor of Law, Emerita at the University of Maine School of Law. She served as Director of the University of Denver Sturm College of Law Legal Innovation Lab from 2020-2024. In 2019 she received a Fulbright Senior Scholar Award where she researched access to justice and technology at the University of Melbourne in Melbourne, Australia. Professor Lupica is an Affiliated Faculty member of the Harvard Law School Access to Justice Lab, Co-Principal Investigator of the Financial Distress Research Study, and Co-Principal Investigator of the Princeton Debt Lab. She also served as Visiting Scholar at the Colorado Law & Policy Center. Her empirical work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, the Arnold Foundation, JPAL, and the American Bankruptcy Institute. She has published articles on a variety of topics including access to justice, legal design, bankruptcy, consumer finance, securitization, property and contract theory, intellectual property in commerce, secured transactions, legal ethics, as well as a leading Casebook on Bankruptcy Law & Practice. She is also a member of Sync Gallery in Denver, Colorado where she shows her Cold Wax and Encaustic paintings. Her artwork is in numerous private and corporate collections and has been featured in museums and galleries.