Officers
Marc D. Bloom
Chair
Melissa S. Kibler
President
James L. Baillie
Vice-President
Hon. Joan N. Feeney
Vice-President
Karen A. Giannelli
Vice-President
Martha E.M. Kpoacz
Treasurer
Annette W. Jarvis
Secretary
Board of Directors
Agustin Berdeja-Prieto
Robert M. Charles, Jr.
Hon. Roberta A. Colton
Jan M. Hayden
Robert J. Keach
James R. Kelley
James T. Markus
Taft A. McKinstry
Timothy F. Nixon
Hon. Neil P. Olack
Norman L. Pernick
George T. Snyder
Richard Stern
Robert J. van Galen
David A. Warfield
Richard L. Wasserman
Ex Officio Directors
Marc A. Levinson
Paul E. Harner, Chair, ACB Foundation
Board of Regents
Charles A. Beckham, Jr.
Chair, Board of Regents
Michael J. Goldberg (1st Cir.)
James L. Bromley (2nd Cir.)
Natalie D. Ramsey (3rd Cir.)
Douglas M. Foley (4th Cir.)
Elizabeth J. Futrell (5th Cir.)
Michael P. Coury (6th Cir.)
James H.M. Sprayregen (7th Cir.)
Michael R. Stewart (8th Cir.)
Jennifer C. Hagle (9th Cir.)
Kenneth L. Cannon, II (10th Cir.)
Patricia A. Redmond (11th Cir.)
Prof. Ingrid Michelsen Hillinger
At Large
Hon. Jeffery P. Hopkins
At Large
Cynthia Nelson
At Large
Scholar-in-Residence
Prof. Susan Block-Lieb
Counsel
R. Patrick Vance
Executive Director
Shari A. Bedker
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College Columns May 2020 Issue
Editors
Steven N. Berger
Deborah Langehennig
Layout
Carole L. McNamara
Ever since the Nominating Committee honored me with the opportunity to serve a two-year term as Chair of the College, I've looked eagerly forward to writing my first Chair's Column for this edition of College Columns. In normal times the Spring Column recounts with great pride and enthusiasm the events of the Annual Meeting, congratulates the newly-inducted Class of Fellows, extols
the virtues of the Distinguished Service Award recipient, commends the outstanding educational sessions and, of course, expresses gratitude for the many Fellows and staff who made the Annual Meeting events so successful.
This year, however, each of us is confronted with personal and professional challenges of a type never encountered in our lifetimes. Placing Health and Family First, clients and firms right behind, we contend with a dangerous -- even life-altering -- global pandemic of a magnitude that leaves us only to wonder how, and for how long, it will continue to affect our families, careers and livelihoods. And so with the fondest hope that this Column finds each and every one of you safely sheltered, in good health and meeting your family and work responsibilities from home as best you can, I offer these thoughts and observations.
The 2020 Annual Meeting. It was only with the most profound regret that after careful, real-time consideration of the fast-developing circumstances relating to the oncoming COVID-19 onslaught, the Executive Committee voted to cancel the Annual Meeting that was scheduled for March 12-14 in Washington. Looking back over the weeks that have passed -- ever so slowly, it seems -- since that decision, it's almost difficult to remember the time when we actually and agonizingly considered whether to go forward. Indeed, it was not until the Sunday prior, March 8, that the Executive Committee met by telephone and reached the regrettable but inevitable decision that we had no choice but to cancel.
It was at that point that our Fellows, and particularly our
From the Chair
The Annual Meeting That Wasn't,
and Where We Go From Here
Mark D. Bloom, Baker & McKenzie
Chair, American College of Bankruptcy
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