2016 was a busy year for the Business Reorganization Committee. We have an active and involved membership base, and took part in multiple panels, newsletters, publications and networking. We have terrific plans for 2017 and beyond in support of you, our members, in the arena of business reorganizations.
We continue to grow the reach and impact of the committee, and ideas for new publications and other special projects are always welcome. Please contact either of our co‑chairs, Charles Berk or Brent Weisenberg, with suggestions.
Educational Programming
Each year, our committee presents panels at the Annual Spring Meeting and the Winter Leadership Conference. Last spring at the Annual Spring Meeting (Washington, D.C.), the Business Reorganization Committee teamed up with the Legislation committee to present a panel titled “Public Securities and the Bankruptcy Plan Process: What Not to Do.” In December, at the Winter Leadership Conference, the Business Reorganization Committee joined forces with the Financial Advisors and Investment Banking Committees to present a panel on retail issues titled “Not Everything Has to End this Way: Strategies for Keeping Your Retailer Out of Chapter 11.” Both presentations were a great success, with informative speakers and lively discussions. In fact, the Public Securities panel was received so warmly that it was reprised as an ABI webinar later in the year.
We are looking forward to 2017, and are already busy working with the Unsecured Trade Creditors Committee to develop a topic for a panel at the 2017 Annual Spring Meeting. The keynote speaker at this year's Annual Spring Meeting will be Hon. Spencer Abraham, the former Energy Secretary and U.S. Senator from Michigan. He is now with Blank Rome Government Relation's LLC and Chairman and CEO of The Abraham Group LLC, a consulting firm in Washington, D.C. Proposals for future panel topics can be sent to either of our co-chairs (Charlie or Brent) or our education directors, Shane Ramsey and Dan Besikof.
Special Projects
This year the Business Reorganization Committee put on a webinar titled “The Importance of Pre-Bankruptcy Planning to Maximize the Value of Customer Data and IP.” In addition, as noted above, the committee’ panel on plan securities was reprised as a webinar in 2016. We are also working diligently on a book about claims trading. Our Special Projects coordinators have reached out to industry leaders in that practice area, have developed a working draft outline for the book and are working to line up authors. We have several more special projects that are in the works, including additional webinars. We are also open to additional ideas. If you are interested in assisting with any of these special projects or have another idea for a special project, please contact one of our co-chairs or Special Projects Directors Patrick Mohan and Dan Besikof.
Newsletter
2016 was another great year for the committee’s newsletter. We published 13 different scholarly and professional articles on current topics in multiple newsletters during 2016. These articles remain available on the ABI website. As we have done in the past, we coordinated several of our newsletters with other events and presentations to better present meaningful substantive content to our members. Many of our members have enjoyed the profile-raising benefits of publishing in our widely distributed newsletter. If you are interested in writing an article or have any ideas or suggestions, please contact either of our co-chairs or Newsletter Editor Jordana Renert.
Listserve
Finally, the listserve continues to provide a meaningful opportunity to foster useful discussion of bankruptcy-related topics and to provide a means for announcing ABI-related business. The listserve can be used to:
- start discussions regarding recent court opinions, pending legislation, rules, etc.;
- raise or answer questions regarding practice, procedure, precedent, etc.;
- provide or solicit insight on and discussion of a particular substantive topic;
- locate specific professionals (by experience or geographic region) for an assignment;
- raise or discuss bankruptcy-related news in the popular and trade press; and
- publicize or discuss ABI-related business, such as upcoming programs or new publications.
If there is a specific topic that you would like to see addressed in our listserve, please contact our listserve facilitator, Ronni Arnold.
Our membership is vibrant, and we welcome new members. If you are interested, please contact either of our co-chairs or our membership relations director, Chip Azano. Our goal is to make membership in the Business Reorganization Committee a valuable and rewarding experience, and we are working to continue to make it even more so. Please feel free to reach out with any questions, comments or suggestions.