A New Executive Director!

In April, Suzanne Bingham advised us that she decided to retire so that she could enjoy a less hectic schedule and spend more time with her ailing parents. Suzanne has given us many good years as Executive Director, beginning when we were still in our formative stage, and we will miss her. She has been one of the keys to our growth in size and stature. We wish her well. As the result of good luck and great planning by Suzanne, we have been able to retain Shari Bedker as our new Executive Director. Many of you know Shari, who assisted Suzanne for many years. Shari already has been a huge help to us, and the transition has been seamless. Please give Shari an enthusiastic welcome when you see her in September in Arizona – and feel free to contact her beforehand at sbedker@amercol.org.

– Dave Heiman – Paul Singer

New Website Design and Address

Please visit our website often. While we still have some work to do to keep it current and informative, we hope you will see the improvements in design and content that we have made. We welcome any suggestions you have that may make the website more useful to you. The new website address is www.amercolbankruptcy.org. The old address of www.amercol.org will also continue to point to the new site.

– Mark Bloom

Directory to be Mailed Next Month

The 2008 Directory of Fellows is undergoing a modest change in format in an effort to make it more user friendly. We hope to have it in the mail to you before September 1.

– Shari Bedker

Scottsdale Lunch Meetings Set

We have put together a great lunch program in conjunction with the NCBJ meetings at Scottsdale. Current issues involving claims trading will be discussed by Bruce Bennett, Tom Mayer, Chris Redmond and Tom Walper. If you have not done so already, please register now (you can access this on our website) for this program, taking place on Wednesday, September 24, 2008. Also, we are co-sponsoring a lunch program with the NCBJ on September 25 featuring J. Peter Morrow, who will review his exploits in leading the reorganization of the Khan Bank of Mongolia. This will be a fascinating review of comparative laws. You can register at www.ncbj.com

– Michael Temin

New Fellow Nominations

The Board of Regents is now in the process of gathering the nominations for the Class of 2009. The deadline for submissions is August 1 for U.S. Fellows and for Judicial and International Fellows. The Board of Regents will consider the recommendations of the Circuit Admission Councils when it meets in September. Please make sure to give consideration to professionals whom you believe should be in the College. You are encouraged to consult with the Regent of your Circuit if you have any questions regarding a particular candidate.

– Bill Cohen

Conrad B. Duberstein U.S. Bankruptcy Courthouse

For those of you who fondly remember the incomparable Connie Duberstein, you will be pleased to know that last month Congress passed legislation naming the U.S. Bankruptcy Courthouse in Brooklyn after Judge Duberstein. A fitting tribute in memory of our former Fellow, who died in 2005.

– Marcia Goldstein

International Bankruptcy Course

Thanks to Prof. David Epstein and Kaplan Higher Education, as well as an extraordinary volunteer faculty, the College-sponsored International Bankruptcy Course, presented this past Spring at NYU with hookups to Tulane and the University of Utah, was a huge success. We expect to again sponsor the course next Spring, with participation by additional law schools. Watch this Fall for further details about next Spring’s course.

– Sally Neely

The Eagle Has Landed

Last but not least, it is with great pleasure that I announce that one of our Vice Presidents, Richard Toder, recently shot an eagle on a difficult par four at the Piedmont Driving Club in Atlanta. This miraculous event was witnessed by three other College members – the undersigned, Phil Hendel and Mark Bloom. It seems that Rich was more surprised than anyone – we had to explain to him just exactly what an eagle is.

– Dave Heiman