Contact: Rali Mileva    
             (703) 739-0800
             rmileva@abiworld.org

John D. Penn  Named ABI President

May 3, 2005, Alexandria, Va. — The American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI) announces that John D. Penn  of Haynes and Boone LLP (Fort Worth, Texas) was elected President of the ABI, succeeding Michael P. Richman  of Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw  LLP  (New York), for a one-year term beginning with ABI’s Annual Spring Meeting in Washington, D.C., ending May 1. He has served on the 60-member ABI Board of Directors since 1997, and as a member of the Executive Committee since 2001, most recently serving as Vice President of Publications and ABI President-Elect.

“John has been an outstanding volunteer leader in the ABI for years,” said ABI Executive Director Samuel J. Gerdano. “He is most deserving of the honor of being selected ABI President by his peers on the Board of Directors.”

Mr. Penn is a partner at Haynes and Boone and has over 20 years of experience in representing parties in business bankruptcy cases,   most recently as one of the leaders of the Haynes and Boone team representing the Official Unsecured Creditors Committee in the National Benevolent Association (NBA) of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) where unsecured creditors were paid in full, plus interest. The NBA was one of largest not-for-profit companies to ever seek bankruptcy protection.  He also represented Kitty Hawk Inc. and its subsidiaries, the nation’s largest non-integrated overnight cargo carrier, which was successfully reorganized under chapter 11.

Mr. Penn is a Past Chairman of the American Board of Certification and Past President of the Tarrant Co. Bankruptcy Bar Association. He is Board Certified in Business Bankruptcy Law by both the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and American Board of Certification. Mr. Penn received his B.B.A. from Baylor University in 1981 and J.D. from the Baylor University School of Law in 1982.

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ABI is the largest multi-disciplinary, non-partisan organization dedicated to research and education on matters related to insolvency. ABI was founded in 1982 to provide Congress and the public with unbiased analysis of bankruptcy issues. The ABI membership includes over 10,700 attorneys, accountants, bankers, judges, professors, lenders, turnaround specialists and other bankruptcy professionals providing a forum for the exchange of ideas and information. For additional information on ABI, visit ABI World. For additional conference information, visit http://www.abiworld.org/conferences.html.