Presidents Column

<p>The last 12 months have been a whirlwind of activity and achievement for ABI. As I reflect back on these
milestones at the end of my year as ABI president, there are many people to acknowledge and thank.

</p><p>Membership is the lifeblood of any professional association, and in this area we surpassed the once-unthinkable
10,000-member mark, growing at more than 10 percent with a 92 percent retention rate. <b>Mitch Cohen,</b> our Vice
President-Membership, has done a wonderful job working with ABI staff to develop new and creative ideas for
helping our membership grow while continuing to make membership service a high priority. For example, coming
soon will be an innovative package of benefits available to law, accounting and consulting firms based on the
percentage of members in the firm who maintain their ABI membership.

</p><p>ABI is the largest provider of continuing education in the insolvency field and our offerings this past year attracted
record crowds and highly rated programs. <b>Neil Olack,</b> our Vice President-Education, has skillfully worked with our
regional program chairs and ABI event planners to make each seminar fresh in content, giving our audience what
they need to succeed. We have several new programs ready to launch over the next several months, including a
specialized program aimed at consumer practitioners and a new international program to be held in Puerto Rico.
Additionally, our new Bankruptcy Fundamentals program, first presented at last year's Annual Spring Meeting, has
provided needed training to help the new generation of professionals who are just becoming active in the insolvency
world. We also are expanding our delivery systems for these programs, putting more online where members can
access them at their convenience and at lower cost.

</p><p>Our publications have grown dramatically over the last year, providing great opportunities for members to be
published while enhancing the scope of our titles. <b>John Penn</b> has provided strong leadership as our Vice
President-Publications, bringing new and diverse products to market in areas such as international practice, first-day
motions, consumer bankruptcy, telecommunications and now insurance. Also under John's direction is the ABI web
site, which has become the standard for content in the insolvency arena with more than 2 million views per month.
With our new web site design, which will be available shortly, our content is better organized and more readily
searchable. In other words, we have upgraded the web site to make it even more functional and valuable to our
members.

</p><p>ABI's Endowment Fund has grown to more than $1.2 million, thanks to the efforts of our Vice
President-Development, <b>Ben Nortman.</b> In the past year, the Endowment provided key support for both the 25th
Anniversary Symposium and the ABI Resident Scholar. We thank Judge <b>Wesley Steen</b> for his dedicated work with
the Research Grant Committee in evaluating proposals for grant funding, and providing support for other valuable
Endowment uses.

</p><p>In the international area, <b>Steven Golick</b> and <b>Tracy Sandler</b> spearheaded our volunteers in the creation of the new
Global Insolvency site (globalINSOLvency.com), a one-stop location for content on global insolvency issues. The
site was up and running in short order and is a hit with those tracking international developments.

</p><p>One of my goals, as ABI's first non-lawyer president, has been to involve more financial professionals in the
organization, especially in leadership positions, and to make our committees stronger. I am pleased that we were
able to achieve these goals. For instance, we were able to add professionals like <b>Claudia Slacik</b> and <b>Rebecca Roof</b>
to our Financial Advisors Committee and <b>Lester Levy</b> to our ADR Committee. We also added several new and
distinguished judges to leadership positions, such as Judge <b>Barbara Houser</b> on the ADR Committee and Judge
<b>Cecilia Morris</b> on the Court Administration Committee. Additionally, we have strengthened our relationships with
other organizations in the insolvency arena through our liaison program. I would like to offer a special thanks to
Judge <b>Linda Riegle</b> and <b>Andy Caine</b> for all of their good work with the Judges Liaison Committee, to <b>Melissa
Kibler Knoll</b> for her efforts with IWIRC and to <b>John Ames</b> with the American College of Bankruptcy.

</p><p>Finally, I need to thank all of our sponsors, directors, committee chairs, regional program chairs and advisory
board—close friends all—for their support this past year. A special thank you to Sam Gerdano, ABI's Executive
Director, and to all of the ABI headquarters staff for their continued commitment to making the organization
responsive and open to all members. And no one deserves a greater showing of our appreciation than our outgoing
chairman, <b>Richardo Kilpatrick,</b> for his many years of dedication and work for this organization and the leadership
he has provided to ABI. I know <b>Michael Richman,</b> our incoming president, shares these thoughts, and I look
forward to working with him to sustain our growth for the benefit of the insolvency community.

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