2022 CONFERENCE SPEAKERS COMING SOON - STAY TUNED!
View the 2021 Conference lineup of speakers below.
Jeffrey Altman
JEFFERIES - Managing Director
JEFFERIES - Managing Director
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Jeff Altman is a Managing Director with Jefferies Real Estate, Gaming and Lodging (“REGAL”) Group. Mr. Altman has over 21 years’ experience in investment banking specializing in M&A, restructuring, public/private capital raising and other strategic advisory. Mr. Altman has advised on over $75 billion of transactions. Prior to joining Jefferies, Mr. Altman was a Managing Director in the REGAL group at Houlihan Lokey and a Director in Lazard’s REGAL group. Mr. Altman graduated from Washington University in St. Louis – Olin Business School with a BS and MBA.
2021 Recipient of the Harvey R. Miller Outstanding Achievement Award
for Service to the Restructuring Industry
for Service to the Restructuring Industry
Jeffrey H. Aronson
CENTERBRIDGE PARTNERS - Co-Founder and Managing Principal
CENTERBRIDGE PARTNERS - Co-Founder and Managing Principal
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Jeff is the Co-Founder and Managing Principal of Centerbridge Partners. Jeff oversees the Firm’s investment activities and serves as a member of the Management Committee.
Jeff has been active in alternative investments, including credit, distressed strategies & special situations, private equity and real estate, for more than 30 years. Prior to co-founding Centerbridge, Jeff was a partner at Angelo, Gordon & Co., where he led that firm’s distressed securities and leveraged loan efforts. Before joining Angelo, Gordon & Co. in 1989, Jeff served as Senior Corporate Counsel at L.F. Rothschild & Co. He began his career as a securities attorney with the law firm of Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP.
Jeff is the former Chair and a current member of the Board of Trustees of Johns Hopkins University and also serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of Johns Hopkins Medicine and New York University School of Law. He is a director and member of the Executive Committee of The Partnership for New York City.
Jeff received a B.A., with honors, from Johns Hopkins University and a J.D. from the New York University School of Law.
Jeff has been active in alternative investments, including credit, distressed strategies & special situations, private equity and real estate, for more than 30 years. Prior to co-founding Centerbridge, Jeff was a partner at Angelo, Gordon & Co., where he led that firm’s distressed securities and leveraged loan efforts. Before joining Angelo, Gordon & Co. in 1989, Jeff served as Senior Corporate Counsel at L.F. Rothschild & Co. He began his career as a securities attorney with the law firm of Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP.
Jeff is the former Chair and a current member of the Board of Trustees of Johns Hopkins University and also serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of Johns Hopkins Medicine and New York University School of Law. He is a director and member of the Executive Committee of The Partnership for New York City.
Jeff received a B.A., with honors, from Johns Hopkins University and a J.D. from the New York University School of Law.
Patrick Bartels
Independent Director
Independent Director
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Senior investment professional with 20 years of experience with stressed and distressed companies and situations. Invested in complex financial restructurings and process intensive situations in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia in a broad universe of industries. Led creditors’ committees and served as a director on numerous public and private boards with an extensive track record of driving value added returns for all stakeholders through governance, incentive alignment, management evaluation, finance, capital markets and liability management transactions and M&A. Successfully developed relationships with management and investors to facilitate open communication lines to achieve value maximizing outcomes. Passed the CPA exam and holder of CFA designation, and qualified as audit committee financial expert.
Mark D. Bloom
BAKER MCKENZIE - Partner
BAKER MCKENZIE - Partner
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Mark Bloom is a Partner with the Restructuring and Insolvency Practice based in the Firm's Miami office. He has over 35 years of experience representing clients in a wide array of US and cross-border financial restructuring, reorganization and bankruptcy matters. In recent years he has focused the majority of his practice on complex cross-border insolvency cases and situations involving the application of Chapter 15 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, the UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency, and the insolvency regimes of various jurisdictions.
Mark regularly represents distressed companies, fiduciaries, secured and unsecured creditors, distressed asset purchasers in U.S. and international proceedings conducted both in and out of court.
Mark currently serves a two year term as Chair of the prestigious American College of Bankruptcy, having been inducted as a Fellow in 1998. For over 15 years, he has served the College in a variety of leadership roles, as President, Director, Vice President, Regent, and as Chair of the American College of Bankruptcy Foundation. Mark has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America since 1993, and is also listed in Global, National and listings of the Chambers Guides and in the K&A Restructuring Register of America's Top 100 Restructuring Professionals.
Mark was inducted into the International Insolvency Institute in 2014, and also has been an active member of INSOL International for 20 years, co- chairing its Annual Conference on International Insolvency in 2012. He has written and published extensively and lectured on five continents for INSOL, ALI-ABA, the International Section of the New York State Bar Association and other organizations, and at the Harvard Business School, on areas of interest to insolvency professionals, particularly including cross-border recognition and international comity and cooperation. He has served on the Editorial Boards of both INSOL World and the International Insolvency Law Review.
Ronen Bojmel
GUGGENHEIM SECURITIES, LLC - Senior Managing Director and Head of Restructuring
GUGGENHEIM SECURITIES, LLC - Senior Managing Director and Head of Restructuring
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With over 25 years of investment banking and management experience, Mr. Bojmel has advised a wide variety of domestic and international clients in out-of-court and Chapter 11 restructurings, recapitalizations, mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts and capital raising activities. Widely applauded for his creativity and strong leadership in major complex restructuring transactions, Mr. Bojmel has been recognized repeatedly by the industry’s leading organization, the Turnaround Management Association (“TMA”), for his achievements as
lead banker in designing and orchestrating successful restructuring transactions. Since 2004, Mr. Bojmel has received TMA’s Transaction of the Year Award four times in the Mid-Sized Company, Large Company and Mega Company categories for the following transactions: Grupo TMM, Simmons Bedding, Neff Corp. and General Growth Properties (“GGP”). GGP was also named “Real Estate Deal of the Year” by Investment Dealers’ Digest.
As the lead banker in GGP, Mr. Bojmel architected a landmark CMBS restructuring agreement with a group of the nation’s most prominent special servicers and a multi-staged exit strategy from Chapter 11. “I had the pleasure of working side by side with Ronen on perhaps the greatest real estate restructuring transaction of all time. We and the other General Growth stakeholders -- the employees, creditors and shareholders -- owe him an enormous debt of gratitude for his creativity, flawless execution, and hard work” said William Ackman, Founder
and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, Board Member of GGP and Chairman of Howard Hughes Corp. Additionally, as the lead banker representing Vulcan Capital (Paul Allen’s investment vehicle) in Charter Communication’s pre-arranged Chapter 11 case, Mr. Bojmel designed the strategy to reinstate Charter's eight billion dollar credit facility, resulting in billions of dollars of value creation to Charter's junior stakeholders and controlling shareholder Vulcan Capital.
Formerly, Mr. Bojmel was a Partner and Managing Director at Miller Buckfire. Prior to joining Miller Buckfire, Mr. Bojmel was a Vice President in the financial restructuring group of Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, and its predecessor, Wasserstein Perella & Co.
lead banker in designing and orchestrating successful restructuring transactions. Since 2004, Mr. Bojmel has received TMA’s Transaction of the Year Award four times in the Mid-Sized Company, Large Company and Mega Company categories for the following transactions: Grupo TMM, Simmons Bedding, Neff Corp. and General Growth Properties (“GGP”). GGP was also named “Real Estate Deal of the Year” by Investment Dealers’ Digest.
As the lead banker in GGP, Mr. Bojmel architected a landmark CMBS restructuring agreement with a group of the nation’s most prominent special servicers and a multi-staged exit strategy from Chapter 11. “I had the pleasure of working side by side with Ronen on perhaps the greatest real estate restructuring transaction of all time. We and the other General Growth stakeholders -- the employees, creditors and shareholders -- owe him an enormous debt of gratitude for his creativity, flawless execution, and hard work” said William Ackman, Founder
and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, Board Member of GGP and Chairman of Howard Hughes Corp. Additionally, as the lead banker representing Vulcan Capital (Paul Allen’s investment vehicle) in Charter Communication’s pre-arranged Chapter 11 case, Mr. Bojmel designed the strategy to reinstate Charter's eight billion dollar credit facility, resulting in billions of dollars of value creation to Charter's junior stakeholders and controlling shareholder Vulcan Capital.
Formerly, Mr. Bojmel was a Partner and Managing Director at Miller Buckfire. Prior to joining Miller Buckfire, Mr. Bojmel was a Vice President in the financial restructuring group of Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, and its predecessor, Wasserstein Perella & Co.
William (Bill) A. Brandt, Jr.
DEVELOPMENT SPECIALISTS, INC - Founder and Executive Chairman
DEVELOPMENT SPECIALISTS, INC - Founder and Executive Chairman
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For more than 45 years, Bill Brandt has been a fixture on the national stage in the fields of business, civic and political endeavors. A talented business strategist and political counselor, he is the founder and Executive Chairman of Development Specialists, Inc., better known worldwide as DSI and widely recognized as one of the foremost firms in the corporate restructuring industry. While Mr. Brandt and his firm have been and continue to be involved in some of the most celebrated and complex restructuring and insolvency matters in the arenas of business and government reorganization, for example, Mr. Brandt currently serves as the Chapter 11 Trustee in the largest cross-national insolvency pending in the United States, Chine Fishery Group, the firm also lends its expertise to other matters in the broader economic and political realms. An example of that was Mr. Brandt’s stewardship and resolution of the infamous Ohio “Coin Fund” scandal at the request of the Attorney General of the State of Ohio.
In 2015, Mr. Brandt finished his third consecutive term serving as Chair of the Illinois Finance Authority, having first been appointed by the Governor in 2008 and confirmed unanimously by the Illinois Senate that same year, and then subsequently reappointed as Chair in 2010 and 2012. The IFA is one of the nation’s largest state-sponsored self-financed entities principally engaged in issuing taxable and tax-exempt bonds, making loans and investing capital for business, nonprofit organizations and local governments. Mr. Brandt, again by gubernatorial appointment, was also a member of the Illinois Broadband Deployment Council, whose mission is to ensure that advanced telecommunications services are available to all of the citizens of Illinois. He is also part of the ownership group that controls Chicago’s second-largest daily newspaper, The Chicago Sun-Times. More recently, in the political realm, Mr. Brandt was a member of the United States Electoral College for the 2016 Presidential Election, serving as an Elector from the State of Illinois.
Mr. Brandt has advised Congress on matters of insolvency and bankruptcy policy, and in that capacity was the principal author of the amendment to the Bankruptcy Code permitting the election of trustees in Chapter 11 cases. He was involved in drafting several amendments to the Bankruptcy Code revisions enacted into law in April 2005 as part of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act, which substantially rewrote the nation’s bankruptcy laws. Mr. Brandt also served as a member of the Commission empaneled by the American Bankruptcy Institute several years ago to address the reform of Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code and the nation’s corporate restructuring regime.
Referred to several years ago by one media outlet as one of the ten most influential political figures in Illinois, Mr. Brandt was a member of the President’s National Finance Board during the Clinton administration, and was elected a Delegate from the State of Florida to the 1996 Democratic National Convention. During that decade as well, and upon the invitation of business and political leaders in the People’s Republic of China, Mr. Brandt worked with various public policy, law and banking leaders in China on approaches to the reorganization and restructuring of some of that nation’s state-owned industries. In 2000, he was a member of the Democratic Party’s National Convention Platform Committee, and in 2002, he served on the Illinois Gubernatorial Transition Team, as well as on the State of California’s business delegation dispatched to Cuba to discuss politics, business and trade potential. In 2008, Mr. Brandt was again elected a Delegate to the Democratic National Convention, this time from the State of Illinois.
As part of his longstanding commitment to higher education and to civic endeavors, Mr. Brandt chairs the National Advisory Council for the Institute of Governmental Studies at the University of California at Berkeley. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of Loyola University Chicago from 2007 to 2016, and is a Life Trustee of Fenwick High School in Oak Park, Illinois. Mr. Brandt is also a member of the Board of Directors of New York-based The Honorable Tina Brozman Foundation for Ovarian Cancer Research (Tina’s Wish).
Mr. Brandt served several terms as a member of the Board of Directors of the American Bankruptcy Institute, as well as also serving, for a number of years, as a member of the Advisory Board for that organization’s Law Review. He is a member of the Board of Advisors for the ABI’s annual New York City Bankruptcy Conference, having earlier served for 15 years in a similar capacity for the ABI’s Bankruptcy Battleground West Seminar held each year in Los Angeles. Mr. Brandt was a member of the Executive Committee of the Bankruptcy Section of the Commercial Law League of America and served on their National Government Affairs Committee, as well as completing three terms as a member of the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Bay Area Bankruptcy Forum.
Mr. Brandt is active in the industry internationally, and is a member of the International Insolvency Institute, as well as INSOL, and was recently selected as a U.S. Participant in the 100-member cross-border consortium known as the International Exchange of Experience in Insolvency.
For 20 years, Mr. Brandt was a member of the private Panel of Trustees for the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois, and briefly served as a member of the same panel for the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida in the late 1980s.
Mr. Brandt has written for publications spanning a broad spectrum of thought, ranging from Maclean’s, Canada’s Weekly Newsmagazine, to Directors & Boards, Corporate Board Magazine, the Florida Real Estate Journal, and the American Bankruptcy Institute’s Law Review, published in conjunction with St. John’s University School of Law. He is the co-author of the “Due Diligence” chapter in the 2nd edition of Bankruptcy Business Acquisitions published by the American Bankruptcy Institute. He is a frequent lecturer and speaker on topics of corporate restructuring, bankruptcy and related public policy issues and regularly appears on CNN, CNBC, CNNfn, Bloomberg, Canada’s BNN, and the Arise America news network, as well as the CBS Radio and National Public Radio networks. He has been profiled and interviewed in a wide array of periodicals including, among others, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The International Herald Tribune, Business Week, The Miami Herald, The Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe, Billboard Magazine and Bank Bailout Litigation News.
Among many other professional and trade organization memberships, Mr. Brandt is a member of the National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees, the International Council of Shopping Centers and the Urban Land Institute. His biography appears in a number of reference works including Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in Finance and Industry, and Who’s Who in American Law. For well more than a dozen years, his firm, Development Specialists, Inc., has been rated as one of the Outstanding Turnaround Management Firms in the world by the publication Turnarounds & Workouts, and he is routinely listed on annual rosters of the country’s top restructuring advisors. Mr. Brandt received his B.A. from St. Louis University and his M.A. from the University of Chicago, where he also completed further post-graduate work toward a doctoral degree.
In 2015, Mr. Brandt finished his third consecutive term serving as Chair of the Illinois Finance Authority, having first been appointed by the Governor in 2008 and confirmed unanimously by the Illinois Senate that same year, and then subsequently reappointed as Chair in 2010 and 2012. The IFA is one of the nation’s largest state-sponsored self-financed entities principally engaged in issuing taxable and tax-exempt bonds, making loans and investing capital for business, nonprofit organizations and local governments. Mr. Brandt, again by gubernatorial appointment, was also a member of the Illinois Broadband Deployment Council, whose mission is to ensure that advanced telecommunications services are available to all of the citizens of Illinois. He is also part of the ownership group that controls Chicago’s second-largest daily newspaper, The Chicago Sun-Times. More recently, in the political realm, Mr. Brandt was a member of the United States Electoral College for the 2016 Presidential Election, serving as an Elector from the State of Illinois.
Mr. Brandt has advised Congress on matters of insolvency and bankruptcy policy, and in that capacity was the principal author of the amendment to the Bankruptcy Code permitting the election of trustees in Chapter 11 cases. He was involved in drafting several amendments to the Bankruptcy Code revisions enacted into law in April 2005 as part of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act, which substantially rewrote the nation’s bankruptcy laws. Mr. Brandt also served as a member of the Commission empaneled by the American Bankruptcy Institute several years ago to address the reform of Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code and the nation’s corporate restructuring regime.
Referred to several years ago by one media outlet as one of the ten most influential political figures in Illinois, Mr. Brandt was a member of the President’s National Finance Board during the Clinton administration, and was elected a Delegate from the State of Florida to the 1996 Democratic National Convention. During that decade as well, and upon the invitation of business and political leaders in the People’s Republic of China, Mr. Brandt worked with various public policy, law and banking leaders in China on approaches to the reorganization and restructuring of some of that nation’s state-owned industries. In 2000, he was a member of the Democratic Party’s National Convention Platform Committee, and in 2002, he served on the Illinois Gubernatorial Transition Team, as well as on the State of California’s business delegation dispatched to Cuba to discuss politics, business and trade potential. In 2008, Mr. Brandt was again elected a Delegate to the Democratic National Convention, this time from the State of Illinois.
As part of his longstanding commitment to higher education and to civic endeavors, Mr. Brandt chairs the National Advisory Council for the Institute of Governmental Studies at the University of California at Berkeley. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of Loyola University Chicago from 2007 to 2016, and is a Life Trustee of Fenwick High School in Oak Park, Illinois. Mr. Brandt is also a member of the Board of Directors of New York-based The Honorable Tina Brozman Foundation for Ovarian Cancer Research (Tina’s Wish).
Mr. Brandt served several terms as a member of the Board of Directors of the American Bankruptcy Institute, as well as also serving, for a number of years, as a member of the Advisory Board for that organization’s Law Review. He is a member of the Board of Advisors for the ABI’s annual New York City Bankruptcy Conference, having earlier served for 15 years in a similar capacity for the ABI’s Bankruptcy Battleground West Seminar held each year in Los Angeles. Mr. Brandt was a member of the Executive Committee of the Bankruptcy Section of the Commercial Law League of America and served on their National Government Affairs Committee, as well as completing three terms as a member of the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Bay Area Bankruptcy Forum.
Mr. Brandt is active in the industry internationally, and is a member of the International Insolvency Institute, as well as INSOL, and was recently selected as a U.S. Participant in the 100-member cross-border consortium known as the International Exchange of Experience in Insolvency.
For 20 years, Mr. Brandt was a member of the private Panel of Trustees for the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois, and briefly served as a member of the same panel for the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida in the late 1980s.
Mr. Brandt has written for publications spanning a broad spectrum of thought, ranging from Maclean’s, Canada’s Weekly Newsmagazine, to Directors & Boards, Corporate Board Magazine, the Florida Real Estate Journal, and the American Bankruptcy Institute’s Law Review, published in conjunction with St. John’s University School of Law. He is the co-author of the “Due Diligence” chapter in the 2nd edition of Bankruptcy Business Acquisitions published by the American Bankruptcy Institute. He is a frequent lecturer and speaker on topics of corporate restructuring, bankruptcy and related public policy issues and regularly appears on CNN, CNBC, CNNfn, Bloomberg, Canada’s BNN, and the Arise America news network, as well as the CBS Radio and National Public Radio networks. He has been profiled and interviewed in a wide array of periodicals including, among others, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The International Herald Tribune, Business Week, The Miami Herald, The Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe, Billboard Magazine and Bank Bailout Litigation News.
Among many other professional and trade organization memberships, Mr. Brandt is a member of the National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees, the International Council of Shopping Centers and the Urban Land Institute. His biography appears in a number of reference works including Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in Finance and Industry, and Who’s Who in American Law. For well more than a dozen years, his firm, Development Specialists, Inc., has been rated as one of the Outstanding Turnaround Management Firms in the world by the publication Turnarounds & Workouts, and he is routinely listed on annual rosters of the country’s top restructuring advisors. Mr. Brandt received his B.A. from St. Louis University and his M.A. from the University of Chicago, where he also completed further post-graduate work toward a doctoral degree.
Peter Chadwick
BERKELEY RESEARCH GROUP - Managing Director
BERKELEY RESEARCH GROUP - Managing Director
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As a Managing Director, Peter Chadwick has significant operating experience, including improving underperforming businesses and advising debtors and creditors in complex financial matters.He has served as chief executive officer, chief operating officer, chief financial officer, and advisor to companies in a variety of industries.
Mr. Chadwick currently serves as CFO to Verity Health Systems, a $1.3 billion six acute care hospital system in California. Mr. Chadwick is also CFO of each hospital, the associated charitable foundations and the physician management group overseeing over 240 physicians.
Mr. Chadwick’s healthcare experience includes acting as the advisor or an officer to healthcare providers, including leading hospital systems and long-term care providers through operational turnarounds and financial restructurings. Mr. Chadwick utilizes BRG’s Healthcare Performance Improvement experts to improve revenue cycle management, reduce labor costs, improve physician productivity, and reduce supply chain costs. The improved liquidity and financial performance, in each instance, has funded the restructuring costs.
Prior to joining BRG, Mr. Chadwick was an Executive Director at Capstone Advisory Group, LLC, and prior to that, he was a restructuring advisor at FTI Consulting.
Mr. Chadwick currently serves as CFO to Verity Health Systems, a $1.3 billion six acute care hospital system in California. Mr. Chadwick is also CFO of each hospital, the associated charitable foundations and the physician management group overseeing over 240 physicians.
Mr. Chadwick’s healthcare experience includes acting as the advisor or an officer to healthcare providers, including leading hospital systems and long-term care providers through operational turnarounds and financial restructurings. Mr. Chadwick utilizes BRG’s Healthcare Performance Improvement experts to improve revenue cycle management, reduce labor costs, improve physician productivity, and reduce supply chain costs. The improved liquidity and financial performance, in each instance, has funded the restructuring costs.
Prior to joining BRG, Mr. Chadwick was an Executive Director at Capstone Advisory Group, LLC, and prior to that, he was a restructuring advisor at FTI Consulting.
Harrison L. Denman
WHITE & CASE LLP - Partner/ Financial Restructuring and Insolvency
WHITE & CASE LLP - Partner/ Financial Restructuring and Insolvency
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Harrison Denman is a partner in the New York office of White & Case's Financial Restructuring and Insolvency Practice. His practice focuses on representing investors in distressed debt and equity in Chapter 11 proceedings and out-of-court restructurings. Prior to joining White & Case, Mr. Denman clerked for Judge James M. Peck of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. Mr. Denman was selected in 2016 as an Outstanding Young Restructuring Lawyer by Turnarounds and Workouts.
Matthew Dundon
DUNDON ADVISORS LLC - Principal
DUNDON ADVISORS LLC - Principal
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Matthew Dundon founded the firm in 2016. He has been a global credit, litigation and distressed investment leader for over 13 years (research head at Miller Tabak Roberts Securities 2006-2010, and portfolio manager at Pine River Capital and Advent Capital 2010-2016), including dozens of litigation-intensive investments and trading opportunities. Corporate finance lawyer and analyst 1998-2006. University of Chicago JD, University of California at Berkeley BA.
Sherman Edmiston III
Independent Director
Independent Director
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Mr. Edmiston is the Managing Member of HI CapM Advisors, Ltd. HI CapM is a consulting firm that provides strategic and financial advisory services to corporations, private equity firms, and credit funds. Mr. Edmiston was a Partner and Managing Director at Zolfo Cooper LLC (now Alix Partners) until December 2015. Mr. Edmiston currently serves on the board of directors of Arko Corp., GTT Communications, Inc., Key Energy Services, Mallinckrodt Specialty Generics, and REAL ALLOY. Previous directorships include Arch Resources, Inc., Centric Brands, HCR Manorcare, Harvey Gulf International Marine, Monitronics Inc., JL French Automotive and Preferred Sands. Mr. Edmiston received his MBA from the University of Michigan and his BSE in Mechanical Engineering from Arizona State University.
Richard M. Fels
ODEON CAPITAL GROUP - Managing Director
ODEON CAPITAL GROUP - Managing Director
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Richard Fels is a financial professional with more than thirty years of experience in transactions relating to the event-oriented, distressed and restructuring markets. He has extensive knowledge in representing clients for all their transaction and execution needs.
Mr. Fels is currently a member of Odeon Capital’s Capital Markets Group, specifically focused on Restructuring and Distressed M&A . He previously spent many years as a principal of Tradition NA, formerly Asiel & Company.
Mr. Fels is also a managing member of Sunset Advisors LLC, an advisory practice.
He is currently an active panelist on the Beard Group’s Distressed Investing Conference and has also been on various residential, charitable, and community boards.
Mr. Fels is known by clients for his strong commitment to fair and equal dealing. His sense of order and accountability enhances any working group.
He holds an A.B. in economics from Franklin and Marshall College and is a graduate of Central High School for Boys in Philadelphia with a B.A. Mr. Fels is, and will always be, a proud Eagle Scout.
Mr. Fels is available for engagement on various advisory and creditor committees pertaining to bankruptcy cases, workouts, and litigation throughout the country. He has a special interest in investor and employee issues, where he provides forensic financial consulting and planning.
Mr. Fels is currently a member of Odeon Capital’s Capital Markets Group, specifically focused on Restructuring and Distressed M&A . He previously spent many years as a principal of Tradition NA, formerly Asiel & Company.
Mr. Fels is also a managing member of Sunset Advisors LLC, an advisory practice.
He is currently an active panelist on the Beard Group’s Distressed Investing Conference and has also been on various residential, charitable, and community boards.
Mr. Fels is known by clients for his strong commitment to fair and equal dealing. His sense of order and accountability enhances any working group.
He holds an A.B. in economics from Franklin and Marshall College and is a graduate of Central High School for Boys in Philadelphia with a B.A. Mr. Fels is, and will always be, a proud Eagle Scout.
Mr. Fels is available for engagement on various advisory and creditor committees pertaining to bankruptcy cases, workouts, and litigation throughout the country. He has a special interest in investor and employee issues, where he provides forensic financial consulting and planning.
Steven L. Gidumal
VIRTUS CAPITAL - Managing Director
VIRTUS CAPITAL - Managing Director
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Steve Gidumal is the President and Managing Partner of Virtus Capital, LP, a Florida and New York based hedge fund specializing in investing in restructurings and distressed securities. Mr. Gidumal has been investing capital since 1994 first at Bear, Stearns, then at Tribeca Investments, an internal hedge fund of Travelers and Citibank and since 2004 at Virtus Capital LP. In 2007, a $400 million fund managed by Mr. Gidumal was ranked the number one fund in the United States in its category by Hedge Fund Research Institute. Mr. Gidumal was a co-founder of Westside Energy in 2003, an oil and gas exploration company focused on drilling for oil and natural gas in the western counties of the Barnett Shale in Texas. In June 2008, Westside Energy was sold to Crusader Energy for approximately $200 million. Mr. Gidumal was also instrumental in negotiating resolutions to the Eurotunnel restructuring in 2006, the Smartalk litigation in 2008, and as a Board member of the Mirant Recovery Trust (“MCAR”) negotiated the settlement with Southern Energy which paid MCAR $202 million in cash. Mr. Gidumal began his career at Arthur Andersen’s consulting division (now Accenture) and was hired by Polychrome Corp. to be its Materials Manager in its 1980s turnaround, where Mr. Gidumal was promoted to Director of Operations and became the company’s youngest executive. Mr. Gidumal has been a speaker at our Distressed Investing annual conference in New York for the past 17 years. Mr. Gidumal has a Bachelor of Science cum laude from the Wharton Business School of the University of Pennsylvania where he double-majored in Accounting and Finance and has a Masters’ in Business Administration (MBA) from Harvard Business School where he graduated as a Baker Scholar with highest honors.
Suzanne Gibbons
DAVIDSON KEMPNER CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LP - Managing Director
DAVIDSON KEMPNER CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LP - Managing Director
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Ms. Gibbons joined Davidson Kempner in July 2007. Ms. Gibbons was appointed Managing Director in January 2015 and became a Managing Member in January 2020. From 2003 to 2005, Ms. Gibbons worked as an Associate at Montgomery & Co., advising healthcare companies on private placements and mergers and acquisitions. From 2001 to 2003, she was an Analyst in the healthcare investment banking group at JPMorgan. Ms. Gibbons received her M.B.A. from Harvard Business School in 2007 and her B.A. from Dartmouth College in 2001.
Mark F. Hebbeln
FOLEY & LARDNER LLP - Partner
FOLEY & LARDNER LLP - Partner
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Mark F. Hebbeln is a partner and bankruptcy attorney with Foley & Lardner LLP. Mark concentrates his practice in corporate restructuring, including particularly the representation of indenture trustees and other creditors and creditors' committees in chapter 11 cases.
Mark has been recognized as one of the top bankruptcy and restructuring attorneys by Chambers USA, which has noted that he is “an unflappable kind of guy who is really calm, and really good at handling tense situations.”
Mark has represented indenture trustees and bondholder interests in numerous national bankruptcy cases, including; Chesapeake Energy, The Hertz Corporation, Sun Edison, Breitburn Energy, ASARCO, TerreStar, Bally Total Fitness, Energy Future, Exide Technologies, Abitibi-Bowater, Trico Marine, Kaiser Aluminum, Alpha Natural Resources, Extended Stay, Angiotech, Atlas Air, PG&E, Midstates Petroleum, Hawker Beechcraft, Mirant Corporation, BankUnited and United Airlines.
He also has significant experience representing official committees of unsecured creditors in chapter 11 proceedings, including leading the representations of the official committees in the Capitol Bancorp (Detroit) and Shorebank Corporation (Chicago) chapter 11 cases.
Mark has been ranked as one of the top bankruptcy and restructuring attorneys in Illinois by Chambers USA, which has noted that he is “an unflappable kind of guy who is really calm and really good at handling tense situations." He has been Peer Review Rated as AV Preeminent®, the highest performance rating in Martindale-Hubbell® Peer Review Ratings™
Turnarounds & Workouts recognized Mark as one of 12 outstanding young restructuring lawyers in the country in 2005 and as one of 14 outstanding young restructuring lawyers in the country in 2006. He has also been named to the Illinois Super Lawyers®.
Mark has been named a “Leading Lawyer” in Illinois for Bankruptcy & Workout Law: Commercial, and Mark was selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America© in the fields of Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law (2016 - 2022).*
Mark received his J.D. from Emory University School of Law (1997), where he was an articles editor for the Bankruptcy Developments Journal. He received his bachelor's degree, cum laude, in economics and politics from Wake Forest University (B.A., 1993), where he was admitted to the Pi Sigma Alpha (political science) and Omicron Delta Epsilon (economics) national honor societies.
Mark has been recognized as one of the top bankruptcy and restructuring attorneys by Chambers USA, which has noted that he is “an unflappable kind of guy who is really calm, and really good at handling tense situations.”
Mark has represented indenture trustees and bondholder interests in numerous national bankruptcy cases, including; Chesapeake Energy, The Hertz Corporation, Sun Edison, Breitburn Energy, ASARCO, TerreStar, Bally Total Fitness, Energy Future, Exide Technologies, Abitibi-Bowater, Trico Marine, Kaiser Aluminum, Alpha Natural Resources, Extended Stay, Angiotech, Atlas Air, PG&E, Midstates Petroleum, Hawker Beechcraft, Mirant Corporation, BankUnited and United Airlines.
He also has significant experience representing official committees of unsecured creditors in chapter 11 proceedings, including leading the representations of the official committees in the Capitol Bancorp (Detroit) and Shorebank Corporation (Chicago) chapter 11 cases.
Mark has been ranked as one of the top bankruptcy and restructuring attorneys in Illinois by Chambers USA, which has noted that he is “an unflappable kind of guy who is really calm and really good at handling tense situations." He has been Peer Review Rated as AV Preeminent®, the highest performance rating in Martindale-Hubbell® Peer Review Ratings™
Turnarounds & Workouts recognized Mark as one of 12 outstanding young restructuring lawyers in the country in 2005 and as one of 14 outstanding young restructuring lawyers in the country in 2006. He has also been named to the Illinois Super Lawyers®.
Mark has been named a “Leading Lawyer” in Illinois for Bankruptcy & Workout Law: Commercial, and Mark was selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America© in the fields of Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law (2016 - 2022).*
Mark received his J.D. from Emory University School of Law (1997), where he was an articles editor for the Bankruptcy Developments Journal. He received his bachelor's degree, cum laude, in economics and politics from Wake Forest University (B.A., 1993), where he was admitted to the Pi Sigma Alpha (political science) and Omicron Delta Epsilon (economics) national honor societies.
Gary E. Hindes
THE DELAWARE BAY COMPANY LLC - Managing Director
THE DELAWARE BAY COMPANY LLC - Managing Director
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Gary E. Hindes is Chairman and Managing Director of The Delaware Bay Company, LLC.
Mr. Hindes began his career in 1970 as what is believed to have been the youngest newspaper publisher in the United States. At age 19, Mr. Hindes founded The Evening Standard Group, which published The Oak Forester and three other Chicago suburban weekly newspapers. Mr. Hindes then became editor of the Edmond Sun in Edmond, Oklahoma. From 1973 to 1975, Mr. Hindes was associate editor and chief investigative reporter for the Delaware State News in Dover, Delaware, where he won First Prize for Spot News Reporting and Second Prize (with staff) for investigative reporting from the Maryland-Delaware-District of Columbia Press Association. From 1976 until 1978, Mr. Hindes served as press secretary to the county executive of New Castle County, Delaware and then as Assistant to the Speaker of the House during the 119th Delaware General Assembly.
Mr. Hindes began his career in the securities industry in November of 1978 as a trainee at Blyth, Eastman Dillon & Co. In 1980, he became a Vice President of Paine, Webber, Jackson & Curtis, Inc. In 1981, he was elected a Vice President of Kidder Peabody & Co. and from 1983 to 1986 he was employed in the high net worth unit of Morgan Stanley. At Blyth, Eastman Dillon, Kidder Peabody and Morgan Stanley, Mr. Hindes specialized in researching the securities of bankrupt and distressed companies such as the Pennsylvania Railroad, Chrysler Corporation, Chrysler Financial Corporation, First Pennsylvania Bank, International Harvester Credit Corp., and Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Company of Chicago. In 1986, Mr. Hindes resigned from Morgan Stanley in order to form the Fallen Angels Fund, L.P., a private partnership investing in distressed securities. Also that year, he founded The Delaware Bay Company, Inc., an institutional brokerage firm specializing in distressed securities. Mr. Hindes sold his interest in The Delaware Bay Company, Inc. in 1996 and then served as liquidating trustee of the South Street Funds, a group of hedge funds with over $250 million in assets. In 2000, Mr. Hindes joined Deltec Asset Management, LLC, where he founded and was the sole manager of Deltec Recovery Fund, L.P. until December 31, 2010.
In addition to having conducted extensive research into and invested in the securities of bankrupt and distressed companies, Mr. Hindes has also had considerable direct experience in the management and operations of such companies. Mr. Hindes served as chairman of the creditors committee in the McLean Industries bankruptcy and as a member of the creditors committee in the Circle Express and Western Union bankruptcies. He also served on the ad hoc committee of bondholders when the LTV Corporation was in bankruptcy proceedings and was chairman of the Bondholders Protective Committee during the Johns-Manville bankruptcy. In addition, Mr. Hindes was the Chairman of the Meritor/PSFS Bondholder Committee during the Philadelphia Savings Fund Society’s successful exchange offer in 1991. He has been quoted extensively as to bankruptcy-related matters in such publications as the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Business Week magazine and has appeared on Bloomberg Television, the CBS and NBC Evening News; he also served as the 1998 co-chairman of the American Distressed Investors Conference held in New York City. Mr. Hindes is a former member of the board of directors of Lancer Industries, Inc. (an affiliate of the Joseph, Littlejohn & Levy Funds); Intranet Corp. (owner of Roadrunner Transportation, Inc. and three other over-the-road trucking companies), and Busse Broadcasting, Inc. (owner of the NBC affiliate in Kalamazoo, Michigan and the ABC affiliate in Eau Claire, Wisconsin), all of which are successors-in-interest to bankrupt companies.
From 1982 to 2007, Mr. Hindes served as chairman of the board of trustees of Wilmington Head Start, Inc., a not-for-profit pre-school educational program for underprivileged inner-city children, and from 1993 to 2001 served by presidential appointment on the John F. Kennedy Center Advisory Council on the Arts. Mr. Hindes currently serves on the investment management committee of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and is a former member of the boards of directors of the Wilmington Housing Authority and the Delaware Theater Company. He is a member of the Economic Club of New York, the Turnaround Management Association and a life member of the Sons of the American Revolution and the NAACP.
Mr. Hindes began his career in 1970 as what is believed to have been the youngest newspaper publisher in the United States. At age 19, Mr. Hindes founded The Evening Standard Group, which published The Oak Forester and three other Chicago suburban weekly newspapers. Mr. Hindes then became editor of the Edmond Sun in Edmond, Oklahoma. From 1973 to 1975, Mr. Hindes was associate editor and chief investigative reporter for the Delaware State News in Dover, Delaware, where he won First Prize for Spot News Reporting and Second Prize (with staff) for investigative reporting from the Maryland-Delaware-District of Columbia Press Association. From 1976 until 1978, Mr. Hindes served as press secretary to the county executive of New Castle County, Delaware and then as Assistant to the Speaker of the House during the 119th Delaware General Assembly.
Mr. Hindes began his career in the securities industry in November of 1978 as a trainee at Blyth, Eastman Dillon & Co. In 1980, he became a Vice President of Paine, Webber, Jackson & Curtis, Inc. In 1981, he was elected a Vice President of Kidder Peabody & Co. and from 1983 to 1986 he was employed in the high net worth unit of Morgan Stanley. At Blyth, Eastman Dillon, Kidder Peabody and Morgan Stanley, Mr. Hindes specialized in researching the securities of bankrupt and distressed companies such as the Pennsylvania Railroad, Chrysler Corporation, Chrysler Financial Corporation, First Pennsylvania Bank, International Harvester Credit Corp., and Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Company of Chicago. In 1986, Mr. Hindes resigned from Morgan Stanley in order to form the Fallen Angels Fund, L.P., a private partnership investing in distressed securities. Also that year, he founded The Delaware Bay Company, Inc., an institutional brokerage firm specializing in distressed securities. Mr. Hindes sold his interest in The Delaware Bay Company, Inc. in 1996 and then served as liquidating trustee of the South Street Funds, a group of hedge funds with over $250 million in assets. In 2000, Mr. Hindes joined Deltec Asset Management, LLC, where he founded and was the sole manager of Deltec Recovery Fund, L.P. until December 31, 2010.
In addition to having conducted extensive research into and invested in the securities of bankrupt and distressed companies, Mr. Hindes has also had considerable direct experience in the management and operations of such companies. Mr. Hindes served as chairman of the creditors committee in the McLean Industries bankruptcy and as a member of the creditors committee in the Circle Express and Western Union bankruptcies. He also served on the ad hoc committee of bondholders when the LTV Corporation was in bankruptcy proceedings and was chairman of the Bondholders Protective Committee during the Johns-Manville bankruptcy. In addition, Mr. Hindes was the Chairman of the Meritor/PSFS Bondholder Committee during the Philadelphia Savings Fund Society’s successful exchange offer in 1991. He has been quoted extensively as to bankruptcy-related matters in such publications as the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Business Week magazine and has appeared on Bloomberg Television, the CBS and NBC Evening News; he also served as the 1998 co-chairman of the American Distressed Investors Conference held in New York City. Mr. Hindes is a former member of the board of directors of Lancer Industries, Inc. (an affiliate of the Joseph, Littlejohn & Levy Funds); Intranet Corp. (owner of Roadrunner Transportation, Inc. and three other over-the-road trucking companies), and Busse Broadcasting, Inc. (owner of the NBC affiliate in Kalamazoo, Michigan and the ABC affiliate in Eau Claire, Wisconsin), all of which are successors-in-interest to bankrupt companies.
From 1982 to 2007, Mr. Hindes served as chairman of the board of trustees of Wilmington Head Start, Inc., a not-for-profit pre-school educational program for underprivileged inner-city children, and from 1993 to 2001 served by presidential appointment on the John F. Kennedy Center Advisory Council on the Arts. Mr. Hindes currently serves on the investment management committee of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and is a former member of the boards of directors of the Wilmington Housing Authority and the Delaware Theater Company. He is a member of the Economic Club of New York, the Turnaround Management Association and a life member of the Sons of the American Revolution and the NAACP.
Chad J. Husnick, P.C.
KIRKLAND & ELLIS - Partner, Restructuring
KIRKLAND & ELLIS - Partner, Restructuring
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Chad Husnick is a partner in Kirkland & Ellis’ Restructuring Practice Group. He represents debtors, creditors, equity holders, and other stakeholders in all aspects of corporate liability management, restructuring, bankruptcy, and insolvency proceedings.
Chad has represented clients in a variety of industries, including energy, retail, real estate, infrastructure, manufacturing, transportation and distribution, hospitality and gaming, automotive, and printing. He works closely with his clients to address issues proactively and efficiently. He regularly advises clients on corporate governance issues facing financially distressed companies, including liability management strategies, fiduciary duties, and executive compensation.
Chambers recognized Chad in the 2017–2021 editions of Chambers USA, America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, noting that he is “one of the best tacticians and one of the most knowledgeable scholars when it comes to the law,” “a brilliant attorney. He is smart, hard-working and singularly focused on delivering for his clients,” and “one of the next generation of big hitters in the business.” The American Bankruptcy Institute selected Chad for the 2018 edition of ABI’s “Forty Under Forty–Emerging Leaders in Insolvency Practice,” with interviewees observing that [w]hat is most impressive about Chad is his vision of how things can and will play out. He can think through the many different scenarios facing a company and apply the law, the process and (perhaps most importantly) the practical realities of the world to deliver sound strategic advice and thoughtful guidance for his clients.” Law360 selected Chad as one of five Bankruptcy “Rising Stars for 2018” in its list of top attorneys under 40. Chad also earned recognition in the 2017 edition of Chicago Daily Law Bulletin and Chicago Lawyer’s “40 Attorneys Under Forty,” with interviewees describing him as “hard-working, smart, diligent and committed to achieving the best results for his clients.” Chad was named a “Dealmaker of the Year – 2016” by The American Lawyer for his role in the $40+ billion restructuring of Energy Future Holdings Corporation and “Outstanding Young Restructuring Lawyer ̶ 2017” by Turnarounds and Workouts.
Chad is a Lecturer in the Law at the University of Chicago Law School and a Contributing Author for Collier on Bankruptcy—the leading treatise on bankruptcy law.
Chad has represented clients in a variety of industries, including energy, retail, real estate, infrastructure, manufacturing, transportation and distribution, hospitality and gaming, automotive, and printing. He works closely with his clients to address issues proactively and efficiently. He regularly advises clients on corporate governance issues facing financially distressed companies, including liability management strategies, fiduciary duties, and executive compensation.
Chambers recognized Chad in the 2017–2021 editions of Chambers USA, America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, noting that he is “one of the best tacticians and one of the most knowledgeable scholars when it comes to the law,” “a brilliant attorney. He is smart, hard-working and singularly focused on delivering for his clients,” and “one of the next generation of big hitters in the business.” The American Bankruptcy Institute selected Chad for the 2018 edition of ABI’s “Forty Under Forty–Emerging Leaders in Insolvency Practice,” with interviewees observing that [w]hat is most impressive about Chad is his vision of how things can and will play out. He can think through the many different scenarios facing a company and apply the law, the process and (perhaps most importantly) the practical realities of the world to deliver sound strategic advice and thoughtful guidance for his clients.” Law360 selected Chad as one of five Bankruptcy “Rising Stars for 2018” in its list of top attorneys under 40. Chad also earned recognition in the 2017 edition of Chicago Daily Law Bulletin and Chicago Lawyer’s “40 Attorneys Under Forty,” with interviewees describing him as “hard-working, smart, diligent and committed to achieving the best results for his clients.” Chad was named a “Dealmaker of the Year – 2016” by The American Lawyer for his role in the $40+ billion restructuring of Energy Future Holdings Corporation and “Outstanding Young Restructuring Lawyer ̶ 2017” by Turnarounds and Workouts.
Chad is a Lecturer in the Law at the University of Chicago Law School and a Contributing Author for Collier on Bankruptcy—the leading treatise on bankruptcy law.
Mark Kalla
UMB - Senior Vice President, Specialty Corporate Trust
UMB - Senior Vice President, Specialty Corporate Trust
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Experienced Trust Officer and former Law Partner with a demonstrated history of working in Bankruptcy and on municipal and corporate bond defaults. Strong entrepreneurship professional with a JD from University of Minnesota Law School.
Harold L. Kaplan
FOLEY & LARDNER LLP - Partner/PG Chair - Corporate Trust & Bond Rights
FOLEY & LARDNER LLP - Partner/PG Chair - Corporate Trust & Bond Rights
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Harold L. Kaplan is a partner with Foley & Lardner LLP. He, among other things, is the leader of the firm's Corporate Trust and Bondholders Rights Team and is a member of the firm's Bankruptcy & Business Reorganizations Practice. Over the last three decades, Mr. Kaplan has represented financial institutions, debtors, trustees under the Bankruptcy Code and the Securities Investors Protection Act, foreign liquidators in ancillary proceedings, creditors' committees, and other creditor groups, including specializing in representing indenture trustees and bondholder interests.
In addition to more traditional areas of practice, he has extensive experience in claims trading and regulated industry matters, including railroad, airline and other transportation reorganizations; utility, energy industry, oil and gas and mining proceedings; securities industry and broker-dealer matters; insurance and bank insolvencies; telecommunications, gaming; and health care industry matters, including health care finance, reorganizations, insolvencies, and other proceedings.
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS AND AFFILIATIONS
Mr. Kaplan is a past chair of the American Bar Association Committee on Trust Indentures and Indenture Trustees, as well as serving on several related committees, including the advisory drafting group of the Subcommittee on Revision of the Model Simplified Indenture. He is a frequent speaker and writer (with upwards of 100 articles and presentations) on Corporate Trust and Bond Default matters. He has served as a member of the editorial board of the American Bankers Association Trust and Investments magazine, and was a member of the editorial board of Network News, a publication for corporate trustees. He also served as a past chair of the Chicago Bar Association Bankruptcy and Reorganization Committee and past chair of the American Bar Association Health Care and Nonprofits in Bankruptcy Subcommittee. He is a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute, where he served as a contributing editor to the ABI Journal’s "Intensive Care" column on health care related issues. He served as an original member of the Cornerstone Council, an advisory group that makes recommendations to the Turnaround Management Association (TMA) Management Committee on the uses of Cornerstone 15 funds for academic research.
RECOGNITION
Mr. Kaplan has been Peer Review Rated as AV® PreeminentTM, the highest performance rating in Martindale-Hubbell's peer review rating system and he has been awarded the highest possible distinction by both his peers and the Judiciary as Judicial AV® PreeminentTM in 2019. He was named one of 12 outstanding bankruptcy lawyers in the country in 2014, 2005, 2004 and 2003, and one of 13 in 2001, by Turnarounds & Workouts. Harold is recognized as one of Chambers USA's 2006 – 2017 "Leaders in their Field" for bankruptcy. Harold has been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America© since 2007 in the specialties of bankruptcy and creditor-debtor rights law, corporate law, and bankruptcy litigation. He was also selected for inclusion in the 2005 – 2017 Illinois Super Lawyers® lists. In 2010 – 2014, the Legal 500 recognized Harold for his work in corporate restructuring.
REPRESENTATIVE EXPERIENCE
Previous and Current Representative Major Bond/Indenture Trustee/Creditor Cases:
Energy Future, SunEdison, Bristow, Sanchez Energy, Alpha Natural, Walter Energy, Exide Technologies, Altegrity, Caesars Entertainment Operating Company, ASARCO, TerreStar Networks, Inc., Trico Marine, Evergreen Solar, Travelport Limited, Hawker Beechcraft, Angiotech, Reddy Ice, AbitibiBowater, Aleris International, Bally Total Fitness, Charter Communications, Primus Telecommunications, Simmons Bedding, Extended Stay, Inc., General Growth, Hartmarx, HRP Myrtle Beach Holdings LLC, Kimball Hill, Remy International, UAL Corp., Northwest Airlines Corp., FLYi, Inc., Mirant Corp., Loral Orion, USGen New England, Atlas Air, Tower Automotive, WHX Corp., Kaiser Aluminum, Conseco, Petro-Geo, HealthSouth, Magellan Health Services, NCS Healthcare, AHERF, Home Products International, Inc., Fleming, Kmart, Redback Networks, USN Communications, Favorite Brands, Southern Mineral, United Companies Financial, ContiFinancial, Sunterra, Crown Vantage, Kitty Hawk, Safety-Kleen, Reliant Building Products, Wheeling-Pittsburgh, Metal Management, Armstrong World Industries, Outboard Marine, Loewen Group, Globe Manufacturing, Pacific Gas & Electric, AMRESCO, Goss Holdings, Thermadyne Holdings, Jacobson Stores, Farmland Industries, Hunt International Resources, Sunshine Mining, Eastern Air Lines, Telemundo, Bally’s Grand, Wedtech, Manville Forest Products, Venture Stores, Rock Island Railroad, Milwaukee Road, and WPPSS.
In addition to more traditional areas of practice, he has extensive experience in claims trading and regulated industry matters, including railroad, airline and other transportation reorganizations; utility, energy industry, oil and gas and mining proceedings; securities industry and broker-dealer matters; insurance and bank insolvencies; telecommunications, gaming; and health care industry matters, including health care finance, reorganizations, insolvencies, and other proceedings.
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS AND AFFILIATIONS
Mr. Kaplan is a past chair of the American Bar Association Committee on Trust Indentures and Indenture Trustees, as well as serving on several related committees, including the advisory drafting group of the Subcommittee on Revision of the Model Simplified Indenture. He is a frequent speaker and writer (with upwards of 100 articles and presentations) on Corporate Trust and Bond Default matters. He has served as a member of the editorial board of the American Bankers Association Trust and Investments magazine, and was a member of the editorial board of Network News, a publication for corporate trustees. He also served as a past chair of the Chicago Bar Association Bankruptcy and Reorganization Committee and past chair of the American Bar Association Health Care and Nonprofits in Bankruptcy Subcommittee. He is a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute, where he served as a contributing editor to the ABI Journal’s "Intensive Care" column on health care related issues. He served as an original member of the Cornerstone Council, an advisory group that makes recommendations to the Turnaround Management Association (TMA) Management Committee on the uses of Cornerstone 15 funds for academic research.
RECOGNITION
Mr. Kaplan has been Peer Review Rated as AV® PreeminentTM, the highest performance rating in Martindale-Hubbell's peer review rating system and he has been awarded the highest possible distinction by both his peers and the Judiciary as Judicial AV® PreeminentTM in 2019. He was named one of 12 outstanding bankruptcy lawyers in the country in 2014, 2005, 2004 and 2003, and one of 13 in 2001, by Turnarounds & Workouts. Harold is recognized as one of Chambers USA's 2006 – 2017 "Leaders in their Field" for bankruptcy. Harold has been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America© since 2007 in the specialties of bankruptcy and creditor-debtor rights law, corporate law, and bankruptcy litigation. He was also selected for inclusion in the 2005 – 2017 Illinois Super Lawyers® lists. In 2010 – 2014, the Legal 500 recognized Harold for his work in corporate restructuring.
REPRESENTATIVE EXPERIENCE
Previous and Current Representative Major Bond/Indenture Trustee/Creditor Cases:
Energy Future, SunEdison, Bristow, Sanchez Energy, Alpha Natural, Walter Energy, Exide Technologies, Altegrity, Caesars Entertainment Operating Company, ASARCO, TerreStar Networks, Inc., Trico Marine, Evergreen Solar, Travelport Limited, Hawker Beechcraft, Angiotech, Reddy Ice, AbitibiBowater, Aleris International, Bally Total Fitness, Charter Communications, Primus Telecommunications, Simmons Bedding, Extended Stay, Inc., General Growth, Hartmarx, HRP Myrtle Beach Holdings LLC, Kimball Hill, Remy International, UAL Corp., Northwest Airlines Corp., FLYi, Inc., Mirant Corp., Loral Orion, USGen New England, Atlas Air, Tower Automotive, WHX Corp., Kaiser Aluminum, Conseco, Petro-Geo, HealthSouth, Magellan Health Services, NCS Healthcare, AHERF, Home Products International, Inc., Fleming, Kmart, Redback Networks, USN Communications, Favorite Brands, Southern Mineral, United Companies Financial, ContiFinancial, Sunterra, Crown Vantage, Kitty Hawk, Safety-Kleen, Reliant Building Products, Wheeling-Pittsburgh, Metal Management, Armstrong World Industries, Outboard Marine, Loewen Group, Globe Manufacturing, Pacific Gas & Electric, AMRESCO, Goss Holdings, Thermadyne Holdings, Jacobson Stores, Farmland Industries, Hunt International Resources, Sunshine Mining, Eastern Air Lines, Telemundo, Bally’s Grand, Wedtech, Manville Forest Products, Venture Stores, Rock Island Railroad, Milwaukee Road, and WPPSS.
Barak Klein
MOELIS & COMPANY - Managing Director
MOELIS & COMPANY - Managing Director
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Barak Klein is a Managing Director at Moelis & Company where he specializes in recapitalization and restructuring advisory. Mr. Klein has over 20 years of investment banking and asset management experience, advising clients on distressed M&A and debt financing transactions, out-of-court restructurings, and Chapter 11 reorganizations. Prior to joining Moelis & Company as a Senior Vice President, Mr. Klein was a member of the CR Intrinsic-General Distressed Group, investing in work-out and special situations at SAC Capital Advisors. He has also held senior level roles at Jefferies Asset Management and Jefferies & Company in the Restructuring & Recapitalization Group. Mr. Klein began his career at Houlihan, Lokey, Howard & Zukin in the Financial Restructuring Group.
Mr. Klein holds a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Klein holds a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
- Over 20 years of investment banking and asset management experience
- Specializes in recapitalization and restructuring advisory, including distressed M&A and debt financing transactions, out-of-court restructurings, and Chapter 11 reorganizations
- Former member of the CR Intrinsic-General Distressed Group, investing in work-out and special situations at SAC Capital Advisors
- Previously a Senior Vice President at Jefferies Asset Management as well as a Vice President in the Restructuring & Recapitalization Group at Jefferies & Company
- Notable transactions include the restructurings of HCR ManorCare, Chemtura, Seventy-Seven Energy, General Growth Properties, SeaDrill, Peabody Energy, Lear, RESCAP, Revel, Sino-Forest, and Yellow Media
Kathleen Lauster, CFA
DLA CAPITAL ADVISORS - Managing Director / Group Leader
DLA CAPITAL ADVISORS - Managing Director / Group Leader
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Kathleen Lauster, CFA is a Managing Director at DLA, LLC and heads the Capital Advisory & Restructuring practice. She leads the DLA team in providing expert financial support and advising companies and creditors with strategies to unlock capital and maximize recoveries in distressed, restructuring, and special situations. DLA assists companies with their liability management, helps raise capital, and advises on the sale of their businesses. Additionally, DLA unlocks liquidity for private equity sponsors, providing tailored liquidity solutions to limited partners in secondary transactions.
Kathleen has over 20 years of global financial services and commercial real estate experience, working for and advising firms in Europe and the U.S. with their capital raises, restructurings, asset management, and valuation. Kathleen has a deep understanding of the economic, operational and institutional aspects of credit, structured securities, and the derivatives markets, focused on fundamental valuation. Her clients have ranged from early-stage ventures to Fortune 500 firms.
Prior to joining DLA, Kathleen served as a Managing Director of Restructuring and Corporate Finance at Silver Leaf Partners, LLC., where she focused on Capital Advisory and Special Situations in the middle market space. Before that, Kathleen was a Senior Vice President within Houlihan Lokey’s Financial Restructuring and Real Estate Strategic Advisory Practice, where she advised U.S. and European creditors and debtors in both healthy capital raises along with illiquid, distressed, and restructuring scenarios. Her clients included the Icelandic Banks, Bank of Ireland, GGP, Capital Trust, Lehman Brothers, UBS, the National Asset Management Agency, and CIT Group, Inc.
Kathleen has over 20 years of global financial services and commercial real estate experience, working for and advising firms in Europe and the U.S. with their capital raises, restructurings, asset management, and valuation. Kathleen has a deep understanding of the economic, operational and institutional aspects of credit, structured securities, and the derivatives markets, focused on fundamental valuation. Her clients have ranged from early-stage ventures to Fortune 500 firms.
Prior to joining DLA, Kathleen served as a Managing Director of Restructuring and Corporate Finance at Silver Leaf Partners, LLC., where she focused on Capital Advisory and Special Situations in the middle market space. Before that, Kathleen was a Senior Vice President within Houlihan Lokey’s Financial Restructuring and Real Estate Strategic Advisory Practice, where she advised U.S. and European creditors and debtors in both healthy capital raises along with illiquid, distressed, and restructuring scenarios. Her clients included the Icelandic Banks, Bank of Ireland, GGP, Capital Trust, Lehman Brothers, UBS, the National Asset Management Agency, and CIT Group, Inc.
Lorenzo Marinuzzi
MORRISON & FOERSTER - Partner
MORRISON & FOERSTER - Partner
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Lorenzo is global co-chair of the firm wide Business Restructuring & Insolvency Group. Lorenzo represents debtors, creditors, and creditors’ committees in complex bankruptcy cases, workouts, and litigation. His cases have spanned the United States as well as countless industries, such as airline and cargo transportation, mortgage origination and servicing, retail, banking and finance, energy, oil and gas, and telecommunications.
Lorenzo has represented the official committee of unsecured creditors in numerous recent chapter 11 cases, including Windstream Holdings, Inc., Cloud Peak Energy, Westmoreland Coal Company, Inc., The NORDAM Group, Inc., Avaya Inc., Armstrong Energy, Inc., 21st Century Oncology Holdings, Inc., Peabody Energy, Inc., Energy Future Holdings, Corp., and UCI International, Inc. He also recently represented Maxus Energy Corporation and HOVENSA LLC in their chapter 11 cases.
Lorenzo’s deep experience and capabilities advising on precedent-setting bankruptcy and restructuring matters have not gone unnoticed. He is listed as a leading lawyer in Chambers USA and has also been recommended by The Legal 500 US. He was also designated by Turnarounds & Workouts magazine as an Outstanding Restructuring Lawyer for his accomplishments in 2016 and 2017.
Lorenzo has represented the official committee of unsecured creditors in numerous recent chapter 11 cases, including Windstream Holdings, Inc., Cloud Peak Energy, Westmoreland Coal Company, Inc., The NORDAM Group, Inc., Avaya Inc., Armstrong Energy, Inc., 21st Century Oncology Holdings, Inc., Peabody Energy, Inc., Energy Future Holdings, Corp., and UCI International, Inc. He also recently represented Maxus Energy Corporation and HOVENSA LLC in their chapter 11 cases.
Lorenzo’s deep experience and capabilities advising on precedent-setting bankruptcy and restructuring matters have not gone unnoticed. He is listed as a leading lawyer in Chambers USA and has also been recommended by The Legal 500 US. He was also designated by Turnarounds & Workouts magazine as an Outstanding Restructuring Lawyer for his accomplishments in 2016 and 2017.
Samuel Maizel
DENTONS - Chair, Distressed Health Care
DENTONS - Chair, Distressed Health Care
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Samuel Maizel is a partner in Dentons' Restructuring, Insolvency and Bankruptcy group. His practice includes bankruptcy matters and financial restructuring in- and out-of-court in all industries, and he leads the firm's healthcare industry restructuring efforts nationwide. In chapter 11 cases, he has served as lead counsel to debtors, trustees, and creditors' committees, as well as serving as a trustee, examiner, patient care ombudsman, and consumer privacy ombudsman. He has represented many buyers and sellers of assets in chapter 11 cases. In chapter 9 cases, Sam has represented local hospital districts and other governmental units, as debtor's counsel and as counsel to creditors' committees.
Before joining Dentons, Sam was a partner in a national bankruptcy firm, and previous to that he represented the federal government in bankruptcy, district, and appellate courts nationwide as a trial attorney in the US Department of Justice's Commercial Litigation Branch. He has also served in US Army's The Judge Advocate General's Corps, including service in Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm, for which he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal. Previously he served as an Infantry Officer in the 101st Airborne Division and the 3rd US Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard).
Sam has lectured extensively, is widely published, and been interviewed on television and radio on bankruptcy topics. He is the only attorney in the United States ranked in both healthcare and bankruptcy by Chambers and Partners and also Best Lawyers. Sam is not only a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy but was also recently awarded “Restructuring Lawyer of the Year” in 2020 by Global M&A Network. He has every year since 2007, been named a "Super Lawyer" in an annual region-wide peer survey, an honor bestowed on only 5% of Southern California attorneys; and was named a "Best Lawyer in America" for Healthcare in the 21st edition of Best Lawyers in America.
Before joining Dentons, Sam was a partner in a national bankruptcy firm, and previous to that he represented the federal government in bankruptcy, district, and appellate courts nationwide as a trial attorney in the US Department of Justice's Commercial Litigation Branch. He has also served in US Army's The Judge Advocate General's Corps, including service in Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm, for which he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal. Previously he served as an Infantry Officer in the 101st Airborne Division and the 3rd US Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard).
Sam has lectured extensively, is widely published, and been interviewed on television and radio on bankruptcy topics. He is the only attorney in the United States ranked in both healthcare and bankruptcy by Chambers and Partners and also Best Lawyers. Sam is not only a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy but was also recently awarded “Restructuring Lawyer of the Year” in 2020 by Global M&A Network. He has every year since 2007, been named a "Super Lawyer" in an annual region-wide peer survey, an honor bestowed on only 5% of Southern California attorneys; and was named a "Best Lawyer in America" for Healthcare in the 21st edition of Best Lawyers in America.
Tania M. Moyron
DENTONS - Partner
DENTONS - Partner
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Tania M. Moyron is a partner in Dentons' Restructuring, Insolvency and Bankruptcy group. Tania has significant experience in bankruptcy, corporate restructuring and related litigation matters. She has represented Chapter 11 debtors, creditors’ and equity committees, liquidating trustees, principals and secured and unsecured creditors in all aspects of corporate bankruptcy. She also has advised buyers and sellers of assets in bankruptcy and receivership cases, including representation of a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) and restaurant franchise.
Tania's representations span a variety of industries, including health care, retail, entertainment, trucking, commercial and residential real estate and restaurant franchise industries. She also has litigation experience in state and federal courts and appellate experience before the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, District Courts and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Prior to joining Dentons, Tania gained experience in complex and challenging Chapter 11 cases at top-ranked national firms for business restructuring and bankruptcy. Tania also served as a judicial and appellate law clerk to the Honorable Christopher M. Klein, Chief Judge for the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of California and former member of the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Tania's representations span a variety of industries, including health care, retail, entertainment, trucking, commercial and residential real estate and restaurant franchise industries. She also has litigation experience in state and federal courts and appellate experience before the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, District Courts and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Prior to joining Dentons, Tania gained experience in complex and challenging Chapter 11 cases at top-ranked national firms for business restructuring and bankruptcy. Tania also served as a judicial and appellate law clerk to the Honorable Christopher M. Klein, Chief Judge for the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of California and former member of the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
John A. Pintarelli
PILLSBURY WINTHROP SHAW PITTMAN LLP - Partner
PILLSBURY WINTHROP SHAW PITTMAN LLP - Partner
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John Pintarelli represents debtors and creditors in complex domestic and international bankruptcy and insolvency matters, including judicial and out-of-court restructurings.
John regularly advises clients in the structuring of debtor-in-possession (DIP) and exit financings, loan restructurings, asset sales and acquisitions. His practice includes the representation of foreign liquidators and administrators in cross–border insolvency proceedings and chapter 15 cases.
Prior to entering private practice, John served as a vice president in The Bank of New York’s Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Africa group, where he was responsible for the bank’s Arabian Gulf relationships.
John regularly advises clients in the structuring of debtor-in-possession (DIP) and exit financings, loan restructurings, asset sales and acquisitions. His practice includes the representation of foreign liquidators and administrators in cross–border insolvency proceedings and chapter 15 cases.
Prior to entering private practice, John served as a vice president in The Bank of New York’s Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Africa group, where he was responsible for the bank’s Arabian Gulf relationships.
Mark D. Podgainy
GETZLER HENRICH & ASSOCIATES LLC - Managing Director
GETZLER HENRICH & ASSOCIATES LLC - Managing Director
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Mark D. Podgainy, managing director, has more than 20 years of experience in operational roles and turnaround consulting in a variety of industries. His areas of expertise include operations restructuring, business plan analysis, performance improvement, cash and vendor management, bankruptcy consulting and interim management services. He has also worked with law firms on forensic and litigation support assignments in bankruptcy cases. Mark has extensive experience in the food and hospitality industries, including line and management positions at Harvey Hotels, Winegardner & Hammons (Holiday Inn concepts) and Howard Johnson’s Restaurants. Mark has significant consulting experience in the real estate supply chain. He has advised hospitality, residential and multifamily real estate companies in workout situations with their lenders and has served as a Chief Restructuring Officer. Mark has a master’s degree in business administration from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration. He is currently a board member of the NYC chapter of the Turnaround Management Association; of Neighborhood Housing Services of New York City, Inc., a non-profit that revitalizes underserved neighborhoods by creating and preserving affordable housing and of 520 West 19th Street Condo Association. He is a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute and the Cornell Hotel Society and has written frequently on distressed mergers and acquisitions, real estate and related topics for numerous industry trade publications. He is a certified turnaround professional.
Madlyn Gleich Primoff
FRESHFIELDS BRUCKHAUS DERINGER LP - Partner, Restructuring and Insolvency
FRESHFIELDS BRUCKHAUS DERINGER LP - Partner, Restructuring and Insolvency
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Madlyn has more than 25 years of experience representing companies, lending groups, syndicate agents, global financial institutions, and private credit investors in complex US domestic and cross-border out-of-court restructurings, prepackaged Chapter 11 cases and contentious Chapter 11 cases as well as related litigation matters. She has substantial cross-border insolvency experience (including Chapter 15 cases and parallel proceedings).
Madlyn is regularly called upon by her clients to act as “first chair” trial counsel in contentious restructuring matters and insolvency related litigations. She has deep expertise in metals and mining, energy and infrastructure, consumer products, financial services, agriculture, entertainment, media, communications, shipping, and health care (including device manufacturing and distribution).
Madlyn is ranked as a leading attorney in Chambers USA, Best Lawyers and Expert Guides – Women in Business Law. She has also been named the “Best in Insolvency and Restructuring” – Americas Women in Business Law Awards (2016) by Euromoney. She is a member of Freshfields’ Finance and Risk Committee.
Madlyn is regularly called upon by her clients to act as “first chair” trial counsel in contentious restructuring matters and insolvency related litigations. She has deep expertise in metals and mining, energy and infrastructure, consumer products, financial services, agriculture, entertainment, media, communications, shipping, and health care (including device manufacturing and distribution).
Madlyn is ranked as a leading attorney in Chambers USA, Best Lawyers and Expert Guides – Women in Business Law. She has also been named the “Best in Insolvency and Restructuring” – Americas Women in Business Law Awards (2016) by Euromoney. She is a member of Freshfields’ Finance and Risk Committee.
Damian S. Schaible
DAVIS POLK - Partner, Restructuring
DAVIS POLK - Partner, Restructuring
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Damian is co-head of our Restructuring practice, with extensive experience in a wide range of corporate restructurings and bankruptcies. He represents debtors, creditors, banks, hedge funds, asset purchasers and other strategic parties in connection with prepackaged and traditional bankruptcies, out-of-court workouts, DIP and exit financings, bankruptcy litigation, section 363 sales and liability management transactions.
Damian has served on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the American Bankruptcy Institute and on the Executive Committee of the New York City Bar Association as its Treasurer.
He was twice named an “Outstanding Restructuring Lawyer” by Turnarounds & Workouts, most recently in 2020, and was named an “Energy MVP of the Year” by Law360 for 2017 and 2021.
Damian has served on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the American Bankruptcy Institute and on the Executive Committee of the New York City Bar Association as its Treasurer.
He was twice named an “Outstanding Restructuring Lawyer” by Turnarounds & Workouts, most recently in 2020, and was named an “Energy MVP of the Year” by Law360 for 2017 and 2021.
Ray C. Schrock, P.C.
WEIL, GOTSHAL & MANGES LLP - Co-Chair, Restructuring Department
WEIL, GOTSHAL & MANGES LLP - Co-Chair, Restructuring Department