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

New Officers and Board of Directors Members Elected
at ABI Annual Spring Meeting

May 11, 2005, Alexandria, Va. — The following officers and members of the Board of Directors of the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI) were elected to leadership positions at ABI’s Annual Spring Meeting, held April 28-May 1 in Washington, D.C.:

New members of the Executive Committee and new officers: John Penn of Haynes & Boone LLP (Fort Worth, Texas) becomes President for a one-year term, succeeding Michael Richman of Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw (New York). Judge Wesley Steen of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of Texas (Houston) was named President-elect, to become President in April 2006. Judge Steven Rhodes, Chief Judge for the Eastern District of Michigan (Detroit); VP-Research, appointed for a two-year term. George Kelakos of ICMB Ocean Tomo (Greenwich, Conn.); VP-International, appointed for a two-year term. Melissa Knoll of Mesirow Financial Consulting (Chicago); VP-Membership, appointed for a two-year term. Anthony Schnelling of Bridge Associates (New York); VP-Development, appointed for a two-year term and James T. Markus of Block, Markus & Williams LLC (Denver); Member at Large, appointed for a two-year term.

Executive Committee members nominated for new two-year terms include John Ames of Greenbaum Doll & McDonald PLLC (Louisville, Ky.); VP-Publications, Judge Jim Gregg (W.D. Grand Rapids, Mich.); Treasurer, Dillon Jackson of Foster Pepper & Shefelman PLLC (Seattle, Wash.); Secretary, and Prof. Ralph Brubaker of the University of Illinois (Champaign, Ill.); Member at Large. Members of the Executive Committee   nominated to serve for a second term include Neil Olack of Duane Morris LLP (Atlanta); VP-Education, Judge Eugene Wedoff (Chicago); Member at Large, and Reggie Jackson of  Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP (Columbus, Ohio); Member at Large.

Six new members were elected to the ABI Board of Directors, for a three-year term of office: William Derrough of Jeffries & Co. Inc. (New York), Judge Joan Feeney, Chief Judge for the Eastern District of Massachusetts (Boston), Josefina Fernandez McEvoy of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey LLP (Los Angeles), Jeffrey Pomerantz of Pachulski, Stang, Ziehl, Young, Jones & Weintraub PC (Los Angeles), Rebecca Roof of AlixPartners LLC (New York) and Brian Shaw of Shaw, Gussis Fishman, Glantz, Wolfson & Towbin (Chicago).

Board members nominated for a new three-year term include Geoff Berman of Development Specialists Inc. (Los Angeles, Calif.), Sanford Edlein of Glass & Associates Inc. (Dallas), James Feltman of Mesirow Financial Consulting LLC (Miami), Judge Judith Fitzgerald (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Robert Medlin of FTI Consulting Inc. (Dallas), John Rao of the National Consumer Law Center (Boston), Judge Linda Riegel (Las Vegas), Sandra Schirmang of Kraft Foods Inc. (Northfield, Ill.), John Tittle of XRoads Solutions Group (Dallas) and Robert Warshauser of Giuliani Capital Advisors (New York).

The complete list of directors and officers is available at  http://www.abiworld.org/Content/NavigationMenu/About_ABI/Board_of_Directors/Board_of_Directors.htm. 

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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 more than 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 at http://www.abiworld.org.  For additional conference information, visit http://www.abiworld.org/events/newevents.html.