International Nomination Committees were going through a similar process to identify excellent Judicial Candidates and International Candidates. At the conclusion of their processes, the Chairs of the Judicial Nominating Committee and the International Nominating Committee presented their recommendations to the Board of Regents. The Board of Regents meeting was held on October 8, 2017 at the NCBJ Conference. The Board of Regents spent most of a full day going over each and every nominee’s application in detail. At the end of that day, we were able to choose those nominees that would be invited to join the College.
The results of this year’s process was the selection of twenty-nine candidates who have been invited to become Fellows in the College. The twenty-nine come from from 18 states, the District of Columbia, Singapore and Canada. 28% of the New Fellows are women. In terms of occupation, the new Fellows include three bankruptcy judges, one law professor, one bankruptcy court clerk, seventeen lawyers and seven financial advisors/investment bankers.
The Circuit Regents and Chairs of the nominating committees all performed exceptionally well and the credit for the success we experienced this year is all on account of their hard work and diligence in completing their very important tasks. Thanks also the all of the members of the Circuit Councils and Nominating Committees. It was great to see the broad participation by so many Fellows, who may not have had official roles, but demonstrated their interest in the College, and its future, by participating in the process of nominating and helping to vet candidates.
On a personal note, while my term as Chair of the Board of Regents will officially end in March 2018, I consider this role to have been one of the most rewarding I have ever experienced professionally. The Board of Regents is responsible for nothing less than the future of the American College of Bankruptcy. My thanks to all of the Fellows in the College and to the current and past leadership of the College, because you created the opportunity for me to serve in this capacity. It does not get better than that.
In Remembrance
of R. Glen Ayers
Roger S. Cox, Underwood
I must tell you that Glen was very proud of being a Fellow. But more importantly, I am old enough to remember Glen as my bankruptcy professor in law school (back in the dark ages). He was the one professor I grew to know and one who ended up affecting my career to this day (30+ years later).
Having crossed paths with Glen early on, I have observed both up close and from afar (I live across the state from where Glen practiced) the profound and lasting impact that Glen had on the profession and in his community. In sports, folks talk about a “coaching tree.” Glen had a “lawyering tree,” and big one at that. An astounding number of outstanding bankruptcy lawyers (and at least one bankruptcy judge, if not more) were heavily influenced by Glen in law school or early in their careers. More importantly, Glen always remained a career-long mentor and good friend.
I say all of this because I fear that younger lawyers and his out of state colleagues may not have seen that side of Glen; but those that are my vintage would no doubt agree with my observations.
Glen was one of a kind.
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