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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 Michael St. Patrick Baxter 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 Lisa Schweitzer 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.) Paul Leake( 2nd Cir.) Derek C. Abbott( 3rd Cir.) Lynn Lewis Tavenner( 4th Cir.) William Wallander( 5th Cir.) Rozanne M. Giunta( 6th Cir.) Brian L. Shaw( 7th Cir.) Monica L. Clark( 8th Cir.) Debra Grassgreen( 9th Cir.) Annette W. Jarvis( 10th Cir.) Elizabeth A. Green( 11th Cir.) Bradley D. Sharp At Large Hon. Deborah L. Thorne At Large Prof. Angela Littwin At Large Hon. Joan N. Feeney At Large, DEI Committee Liaison
Scholar-in-Residence Donald S. Bernstein
Counsel Stephen D. Lerner
Executive Director Alexandra“ CC” Schnapp
College Columns May 2025 Editors Melanie L. Cyganowski Dion W. Hayes
Layout Michelle Foster
From the Chair Piñatas!
Charles A. Beckham, Jr., Haynes and Boone, LLP Chair, American College of Bankruptcy
Greetings! I’ m still glowing from the terrific Annual Meeting and Induction Ceremony we held in Washington, DC in March. It was a true pleasure to be with you as we inducted thirty-nine( 39) new Fellows into the College. A few weeks after the Annual Meeting and Induction Ceremony, I was fortunate to attend the Emory Bankruptcy Development Journal’ s Annual Banquet in Atlanta. Deborah Williamson, our Fifth Circuit Regent, CC Schnapp, our Executive Director, and numerous of our 11th Circuit Fellows attended the Banquet as well. The EBDJ honored Professor Jay Westbrook of the University of Texas with its 2025 Distinguished Service Award for Lifetime Achievement.
Jay, the Godfather of crossborder bankruptcy and insolvency and a College Fellow, received the College’ s Distinguished Service Award in 2016. Jay is clearly the Global Bankruptcy GOAT. Following his introduction, Jay gave a great speech in which he praised Chapter 11 as America’ s greatest export because it has become the model for business restructuring laws around the globe.
During Jay’ s speech and in light of our global trade wars, I started thinking about international trade. While I have ya, I would like to tell you a story about my first experience in international trade.
I grew up along the Texas / Mexico Border. When I was 4 years old, my Dad was stationed at Webb Air Force Base in Laredo,