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Union League Club
65 W Jackson Boulevard, Chicago
5:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. Registration & Networking
6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. Panel Discussion
7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Reception
Members $35 ~ General $65 ~ Young Professional General (35 and under) $50
Midwest Chapter membership must be current for to qualify for the member's rate. Not a member? Save $30 on your event fee by adding on your chapter dues. You'll also receive the member's rate for all remaining 2015 chapter events.
Young Professionals (35 and under) received reduced rates for event fees and memberships. Join CFA Young Professionals for free to receive these discounts.
Program Highlights:
Experts predict that in 2015, significant volatility will be experienced in several key industry segments, including oil & gas, dairy, steel and ethanol. Companies in these industries will be forced to contend with and plan around a variety of hurdles, including fluctuating competitive landscapes, regulatory pressures, technological advancements, and changing customer preferences. The anticipated volatility of these industries presents exciting opportunities for asset-based lenders, but with those opportunities come a host of unique challenges that lenders must overcome. This panel discussion will feature leading turnaround, valuation and lending experts, who will engage in a lively discussion concerning these opportunities and challenges. Participants will gain an understanding of what factors should be considered during the proposal and due diligence phases, as well as best practices for monitoring companies in these volatile industries.
Moderator:
Thomas Fawkes is a partner at Goldstein & McClintock LLLP, a boutique law firm comprised of approximately 20 professionals and 7 offices around the country, featuring pre-eminent finance, corporate restructuring, bankruptcy, creditors’ rights, litigation, corporate law and real estate practice groups. Mr. Fawkes represents borrowers, secured and unsecured creditors, official and ad hoc creditors’ committees, asset purchasers and trustees in bankruptcy and out-of-court restructuring matters throughout the United States. Mr. Fawkes was recently selected by Turnarounds & Workouts as an Outstanding Young Restructuring Lawyer, an honor given to only 12 attorneys in the country each year. His writings on topics of bankruptcy and creditors’ rights law have been published in the ABI Journal, Crain’s Chicago Business, and The Bankruptcy Strategist, and he is a contributing editor of the West Bankruptcy Litigation Manual. Mr. Fawkes is an active member of the American Bankruptcy Institute and the National Association of Credit Management, among other organizations.
Panelists:
Charles Braley is an AlixPartners Director in the firm’s Turnaround & Restructuring Services practice. Mr. Braley joined the Chicago office in 2009. He oversees the development and implementation of operational turnaround initiatives in crisis environments. Mr. Braley’s experience includes managing corporate finance and treasury departments, constructing and negotiating complex financings, driving savings initiatives and process improvement within the supply chain, and navigating debtors through the Chapter 11 process. Prior to joining AlixPartners, Mr. Braley was with the leveraged finance group at Heller Financial and with Ernst & Young in that firm’s transaction advisory group. He held a management role during the restructuring of BearingPoint (formerly KPMG Consulting) which at its peak was a $3.5-billion global consulting firm with 16,000 employees. Mr. Braley’s efforts as global corporate treasurer and in collaboration with others were recognized by the Turnaround Management Association, which named BearingPoint its 2010 Mega Company Turnaround of the Year.
Penny Fine is a Senior Vice President and Business Development Officer at FirstMerit Bank Business Credit. Ms. Fine joined FirstMerit Bank in February 2013 focusing on asset-based lending in the Illinois market. Ms. Fine has worked in the Lending Industry for twenty-five years. Prior to joining FirstMerit, she was the ABL Midwest Region Manager at Chase Business Credit in Chicago and an advisor to Lenders at Capstone Advisory Group. During the prior years, Ms. Fine had various positions in the Lending Industry focusing on Asset Based Lending (including Debtor-in-Possession Loans and other restructuring relating Loans) as well as Cash Flow Lending at CIT, GE Capital and Heller Financial. Ms. Fine started her career at Arthur Andersen in public accounting and is a Certified Public Accountant. She received her Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of Illinois and her Master of Business Administration from the University of Chicago.
Richard Schmitt is the CEO, President and a founder of AccuVal-LiquiTec. Mr. Schmitt is responsible for guiding the company's corporate valuation, advisory and liquidation services worldwide. He previously served as the firm's chief operating officer for 25 years. In that role, he oversaw production of all appraisal, liquidation and consulting engagements and was responsible for driving the achievement of the firm's profitability goals. A multi-disciplined appraiser, Mr. Schmitt has more than 30 years of experience appraising businesses, intangible assets, machinery, real estate and inventory across a wide variety of industries, including manufacturing, distribution and service companies. Mr. Schmitt has managed multi-national evaluations of manufactured and retail inventories, businesses, product lines, trademarks, patents, equipment, machinery and real property. He has also directed numerous appraisals involving true lease analysis, and valuations of assets at lease inceptions, buyouts and residual valuations.
Credit for Continuing Professional Education (CPE) and for Continuing Legal Education (CLE) are pending approval.