We Planned for the Future
Friday started with an early morning Board of Directors ’ meeting led by Chair , Melissa Kibler . The Board is responsible for the governance of the College and is comprised of directors from the circuits and the committee chairpersons . This link is the list of the current officers , Board of Directors and committee chairpersons .
Melissa recognized the directors and committee chairs who were attending their first meeting , and those whose terms were ending at the close of the Annual Meeting . During her Chair ’ s Report , Melissa paused the normal order of business to honor Shari who had served the College as Executive Director for 28 years and had been the “ rock ” that allowed the College to grow and become the strong organization it is today .
At the Board Meeting , the Committee Chairs provided written and / or oral reports . The theme among committees is collaboration and coordination . For example , the International Committee is looking forward to a joint event with one or more circuits during the coming year to increase integration and involvement of international fellows with their US counterparts .
In addition , the Visibility Committee is launching the newly designed website in late spring / early summer 2024 and seeks input from all fellows and committees to make sure the website is user-friendly and up-to-date .
Another example is the Education Committee and its circuit level representatives who are developing multicircuit events to provide education and networking opportunities for the fellows .
During the weekend , Charlie announced the formation of an Ad Hoc committee to study the venue for the 2026 Annual Meeting . As many fellows will remember ,
the College had moved the Annual Meeting from Washington , D . C . to San Diego and Denver in the past and is looking to evaluate a potential venue for 2026 .
We Were Educated
Rich Levin , scholar in residence , once again , curated for us a terrific education program on various areas of substantive law and practice .
The first program was entitled , Mindfulness in Practice : Why DEI remains relevant in the College . This program was tailored , not to a generic DEI mission , but rather to the mission adopted by the College and our fellows in their particular circumstances .
That program was followed by My Path To Become A Bankruptcy Professional with luminaries such as Michael Cook and Mary Grace Diehl talking about their path into bankruptcy and their journey throughout their careers .
Saturday morning brought another excellent group of educational programs . First , was Views from the Appellant Bench with Judges Thomas L . Ambro and Jeffrey P . Hopkins focusing on how to be an effective advocate . Second , was a program sponsored by the International Committee entitled Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Chapter 15 from the Experts Perspective featuring Judge Martin Glenn , retired Judge Chris Sontchi , Robbin Itkin and Professor Irit Mevorach detailing the latest cases and approaches in Chapter 15 .
The last program of the morning was A Fresh Start : Conversation with Senator Warren ’ s Staff on Reimagining Consumer Bankruptcy , which presented , among other things , a look at the pending legislation proposed by Senator Warren .
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