From the Chair
By Mark D. Bloom III Chair
With great excitement I offer my first column as Chair of III. Excitement over the challenges and opportunities that await us as an organization. Excitement over the prospect of working closely with my good friend and our President Stephan Madaus and the rest of the Executive Committee and Board. Excitement over building and advancing on the solid foundation and strategic plan set out for us by my esteemed predecessor and friend Mr. Justice Kannan Ramesh and the strong and visionary leaders who preceded him. But mostly excitement over the excitement – the unmistakable enthusiasm at all levels of III coming off our outstanding Annual Meeting and Legendary Dinner in São Paulo, and the active engagement of our leadership at the combined meeting of the outgoing and incoming Boards of Directors on the day following its conclusion.
If there is a single objective for my term as Chair it is to establish and ingrain the identity of III – so as to distinguish and differentiate us from the many other fine organizations in the global and regional insolvency worlds as an active member organization; to continue and expand our meaningful contributions to the thought leadership of our profession worldwide; to harness the energy so many of us shared in São Paulo to engage and exploit( in a good way!) the talent and diversity of our elite membership; to promote our“ brand” and visibility in both developed and developing countries around the globe; to communicate with and provide opportunity for our members and NextGens to contribute to the activities of the organization; and to establish our unique value proposition as a means of providing a solid financial foundation from which to realize these many objectives.
I am privileged to serve for one year as Chair at what I see as the high point of activism and enthusiasm over the 25-year history of III. We have an exceptional and engaged leadership team, the most distinguished global membership of any organization in the legal and business profession, a dynamic and highly engaged cohort of NextGen members, and an unparallelled opportunity for growth in our numbers, profile, financial standing and influence around the world. I look to all of you for support of and contribution to our exciting mission as an active member organization – one whose members and NextGens don’ t just join but to which they devote their time and considerable talents for the good of our profession and the global communities we serve.
And finally, to end this column on the saddest of notes. Elsewhere in this issue of The DIIIGEST you will find a tribute to our long-time member Patrick Ang of Singapore, who passed away at the young age of 61 just as many of us were returning home from São Paulo. Patrick was a dear friend of III, and to me and so many of our other members – one of the most admired, best-loved and instantly recognizable figures in the global insolvency world. As his countless professional accomplishments have been chronicled in the many news items reporting his passing, I’ ll focus briefly here on the personal qualities that were at the foundation of his relationships with me and so many others who are so deeply affected by his passing.
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