College Columns May 2015 Issue | Page 2

Officers

Michael L. Cook

Chair

G. Christopher Meyer

President

Hon. Mary Grace Diehl

Vice-President

Richard E. Mikels

Vice-President

R. Patrick Vance

Vice-President

Melissa Kibler Knoll

Treasurer

Susan M. Freeman

Secretary

Board of Directors

Francis X. Buckley, Jr.

Lawrence D. Coppel

Robert M. Fishman

Hon. Robert E. Gerber

Annette W. Jarvis

Eric W. Lam

Stephen D. Lerner

Thomas E. Lumsden

Patrick Thomas McCarthy

Prof. Charles W. Mooney, Jr.

Edwin E. Smith

Claudia Z. Springer

Grant T. Stein

Jane L. Vris

Howard J. Weg

Deborah D. Williamson

Ex Officio Directors

D.J. (Jan) Baker

Mark D. Bloom, Chair, ACB Foundation

Board of Regents

Marc A. Levinson

Chair, Board of Regents

Mark N. Berman (1st Cir.)

Dennis F. Dunne (2nd Cir.)

Karen A. Giannelli (3rd Cir.)

Richard L. Wasserman (4th Cir.)

Berry D. Spears (5th Cir.)

Judy A. O'Neill (6th Cir.)

Kenneth J. Malek (7th Cir.)

David A. Warfield (8th Cir.)

Jeffrey H. Davidson (9th Cir.)

Carl A. Eklund (10th Cir.)

Sarah R. Borders (11th Cir.)

Timothy R. Coleman

At Large

Hon. Joan N. Feeney

At Large

Prof. Melissa B. Jacoby

At Large

Scholar-in-Residence

Prof. Bruce A. Markell

Counsel

William J. Perlstein

Executive Director

Shari A. Bedker

American College of Bankruptcy

P.O. Box 249

Stanardsville, VA 22973

434-939-6004

www.amercol.org

Email: [email protected]

Chair's Column

Michael L. Cook, Chair

President's Column

G. Christopher Meyer, President

The College continues to thrive. As a public service group, we relentlessly pursue our pro

"Continuous Improvement" is a popular theme today in many major corporations. And in that same

bono, educational and legacy preservation goals. To keep us focused on where the College should be heading in the next five years our Strategic Planning Committee spent the better part of a day in March with the College’s board of directors reviewing the Committee’s thoughtful report and recommendations. What follows is a quick sampling of what the College is doing; where it is heading; and how it is implementing the Strategic Planning Committee’s recommendations. Chris Meyer will, in his column, provide detail on that committee's work to date.

Induction Ceremony and Distinguished Service Award

More than 400 Fellows attended the College's annual induction ceremony and Distinguished Service Award presentation on March 13, 2015. The College admitted its 26th class of 34 Fellows. Gerald K. Smith, former Chair of the College and the recipient of the 2000 Distinguished Service Award, presented the 2015 award to Kenneth Klee and Richard Levin, recognizing them for their distinguished public service careers, starting with their essential work on the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978.

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vein, the College recently formed a Strategic Planning Committee to help sharpen our focus on where the College should be heading over the coming years. While we are proud of the successful development of the College and its many programs and activities, we recognize that we will all benefit from a thoughtful look into the future.

The Strategic Planning Committee began by breaking down its task into a series of subject areas. In the fall of 2014, the Committee chose to begin by focusing on Admissions, College Governance and Fellow Engagement. The Committee conducted a survey of all Fellows with questions surrounding those three initial subjects. Based on the results of that survey, interviews with past and present College leadership and a strategic planning meeting involving a cross-section of College Fellows, the Committee formulated its first Strategic Planning Committee Report. That report was discussed during a day-long meeting with the College Board held in advance of our annual meeting in March.

The good news is that Fellows are generally pleased with the operations of the College. However, the survey also

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