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Officers Charles A . Beckham , Jr . Chair Patricia A . Redmond President Hon . Clifton R . Jessup , Jr . Vice-President Hon . Craig Goldblatt Vice-President Hon . Laurel M . Isicoff Vice-President Prof . Elizabeth Tashjian Treasurer Sandeep Qusba Secretary Paul E . Harner DEI Committee Liaison
Board of Directors Patrick Ang Hon . Lisa G . Beckerman Hon . Janet E . Bostwick E . Franklin Childress , Jr . Charles T . Coleman Douglas M . Foley Jay S . Geller Hon . Mary Jo Heston Hon . Peggy Hunt Laura Davis Jones Demetra Liggins Cynthia Nelson Felicia Gerber Perlman Paul S . Singerman Berry D . Spears
Ex Officio Directors Melissa S . Kibler Jan M . Hayden
Board of Regents Jennifer C . Hagle Chair , Board of Regents Douglas R . Gooding ( 1st Cir .) Kelley A . Cornish ( 2nd Cir .) Derek C . Abbott ( 3rd Cir .) Michael St . Patrick Baxter ( 4th Cir .) Deborah D . Williamson ( 5th Cir .) Rozanne M . Giunta ( 6th Cir .) Brian L . Shaw ( 7th Cir .) Eric W . Lam ( 8th Cir .) Debra Grassgreen ( 9th Cir .) Annette W . Jarvis ( 10th Cir .) Elizabeth A . Green ( 11th Cir .) Randall S . Eisenberg At Large Hon . Deborah L . Thorne At Large Prof . Angela Littwin At Large Hon . Erithe A . Smith At Large , DEI Committee Liaison
Scholar-in-Residence Richard B . Levin
Counsel Stephen D . Lerner
Executive Director Shari A . Bedker
College Columns May 2024 Editors Melanie L . Cyganowski Dion W . Hayes
Layout Michelle Foster
From the Chair
The Greatest Generation ... of Bankruptcy Professionals
Charles A . Beckham , Jr ., Haynes and Boone , LLP Chair , American College of Bankruptcy
Fresh off our Annual Meeting in Washington , D . C . and an opportunity to attend the Ninth Circuit Fellows Retreat in Half Moon Bay , California last weekend , I turn to my first Column as College Chair . First , a fond farewell to Shari Bedker , our beloved Executive Director who is retiring from the College in June . We will miss you and recognize your fine contributions to the College over twenty-eight years . Enjoy the Cruise ! Second , a huge thank you to Melissa Kibler , our Immediate Past Chair . For all fellows , you made the College “ our house ” and it is a very , very , very fine house . Third , a big shout out to our newly installed officers , directors and committee chairs . The vitality of the College starts with the vibrant engagement of our fellows in the affairs of the College . We could not build the College we dream of without your effort and dedication .
In considering the great efforts of our new officers , directors and committee chairs , I started thinking about how they got here . It occurred to me that not only does it come from within but it also comes from our mentors in leadership , service , scholarship and professionalism in the College : our senior fellows . And , our Senior Fellows Committee , co-chaired by Richard Carmody and Bob Gerber , has been collecting “ origin ” stories from some of our more seasoned fellows ( licensed 1983 and before ) about how or why they became bankruptcy lawyers . So far , the Senior Fellows Committee has collected a little over 115 stories with a goal of 150 stories .
While I ’ ve gotcha , I want to share a sampling of those stories with you . You will see that our senior fellows represent the greatest generation of bankruptcy professionals . While they may not have fought a bankruptcy war ( although some are Vietnam war vets ) or died for the valiant cause of bankruptcy , they laid the foundation of a functioning bankruptcy practice for everyone in the College and deserve our respect and admiration . There is also a commonality with many of the stories . Most