Best of 2006 Annual Spring Meeting
"Turnarounds after BAPCPA: Should We All Become Liquidators?"

Wednesday, August 16 at 1 p.m. EDT

Program Description:

BAPCPA brings a host of new administrative burdens and cost on business bankruptcies that could jeopardize, in particular, a smaller business’s chance for a speedy reorganization. Unwary debtors will face larger utility claims, reclamation demands and motions for conversion, dismissal and trustee appointment. This panel examines the practical effects of the new rules and concludes that pre-bankruptcy planning is more important than ever in order to avoid early liquidation.

Speaker Bios:

Mitchell H. Cohen is a principal, general counsel and managing director of Gordon Brothers Retail Partners, LLC, a division of the Boston-based Gordon Brothers Group, LLC. He is also a member of the board of advisors of Gordon Brothers Group, which provides global financial, operating and advisory services to companies at times of growth or restructuring. It delivers customized business solutions for companies that seek to maximize liquidity of under-performing inventory, real estate and fixed assets, facilitates mergers and acquisitions, appraises inventories, real estate and fixed assets and provides equity and debt capital to the retail and consumer product community. Mr. Cohen is a former partner of Gadsby and Hannah, a Boston-Washington, D.C. law firm. He is a member of ABI's board of directors, the Turnaround Management Association and is a fellow in the American College of Bankruptcy. Mr. Cohen is also president and chairman of the board for the Jewish Big Brother/Big Sister Association. He received his B.A. from Brandeis University and both his J.D. and M.B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1978.

Steven N. Cousins is a partner with Armstrong Teasdale, LLP in St. Louis.

Cynthia Nelson is a senior managing director in FTI Consulting Inc.’s corporate finance practice based in Los Angeles. Ms. Nelson assists stakeholders in evaluating, developing and implementing turnaround plans and restructurings in both judicial and nonjudicial circumstances. She has assisted lenders, creditors' committees and debtors in analyzing and developing plans of reorganization, analyzing financing options and market rates of interest, evaluating asset dispositions, conducting due diligence in connection with acquisition and financing, and providing litigation support and testimony in adversarial proceedings. Ms. Nelson has had extensive experience in a wide variety of industries including retail, entertainment and media, real estate, manufacturing, healthcare and hospitality. She has particular expertise in advising stakeholders in troubled companies that are strategically dependent on real estate. She has extensive "hands-on" industry experience assisting owners and secured lenders in formulating and implementing asset management, development and disposition strategies. Prior to joining FTI, Ms. Nelson was a partner with the U.S. division of PricewaterhouseCoopers' Business Recovery Services group. Over the past five years, She has given speeches and presentations at conferences, seminars and forums around the country. Some of her topics have included “Bridging the Cash Flow Gap: Tenant and Landlord Disputes in Bankruptcy,” “Real Estate Aspects of Retail Restructuring” and “Bringing Real Estate Knowledge and Analytical Methods to Non-Real Estate Restructurings.” She has published articles in turnaround management, socioeconomic planning sciences, location and stigma, and urban land. Ms. Nelson is a member of the Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Advisors, the International Council of Shopping Centers and Commercial Real Estate Women. She served as vice director for the Los Angeles section of the American Planning Association and as chairperson for the California Hospital Medical Center Trustee Associates. Ms. Nelson holds an M.B.A. and a Master of Planning from the University of Southern California and a B.S. in urban planning from California State Polytechnic University.

Rebecca A. Roof is a managing director in the New York office of AlixPartners, LLC. Her credentials consist of an equal blend of corporate and consulting experience. She is currently serving as interim CFO at Atkins Nutritionals, a diet and nutritional packaged foods company. Ms. Roof's tenure as vice president and CFO of a Houston-based oilfield services company has provided an enhanced perspective of the corporate and operating issues faced by management, other stakeholders and their representatives. She also possesses an extensive consulting background providing interim and crisis management to troubled and underperforming companies in a broad array of industries. She has previously served as interim CFO at Fleming Companies, Inc., a leading supplier of consumer package goods, and leader of the AlixPartners team advising ANC Rental Corp., focusing on operational consolidations and brand combinations. Prior to joining AlixPartners, Ms. Roof was a director in the corporate finance, regeneration and disputes practice for PricewaterhouseCoopers. She is a certified management accountant, a certified insolvency & restructuring advisor and a CPA (licensed in Texas). She received both her B.S. in business administration and B.A. in geology from Trinity University, where she was a university scholar. She is a member of the Turnaround Management Association, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and ABI.

Hon. Mary F. Walrath was appointed U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the District of Delaware in Wilmington and became chief bankruptcy judge on Sept. 9, 2003. Judge Walrath was an associate at Clark Ladner Fortenbaugh & Young from 1982-87 and a partner from 1987 until its dissolution in 1996. She then became a partner at Walrath & Coolidge in 1996 and later a shareholder of Jacoby Donner PC. Judge Walrath’s 17 years of legal experience as an attorney concentrated in the areas of debtor/creditor rights and commercial litigation. She received an A.B. in history from Princeton University, where she received four varsity letters and was captain of the women’s basketball team. She earned her J.D., cum laude, from Villanova University, where she was a member of the Villanova Law Review for two years and was awarded the Order of the Coif.