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MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
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I hope everyone had an enjoyable summer! Fall is upon us and the 2015-16 season of TMA began at our Fall Kickoff held at Tre Monti in Troy on September 10. It was a beautiful evening and everyone seemed to be in good spirits. Members and guests supported our charity for the event, the Ally Jolie Baldwin Foundation which helps children with cancer make their days as full of love as possible. No child should ever endure cancer feeling alone and your support of the Ally Jolie Baldwin Foundation helps make this possible. We are proud to support this fine organization.
Over the summer, the Michigan Chapter of TMA split into TMA Detroit and TMA West Michigan chapters. West Michigan has operated as a sub-chapter for many years and we wish them well as TMA's newest chapter. We look forward to more events and networking opportunities throughout Michigan.
On September 15, 2015, TMA announced its Transaction of the Year awards. Winner in the Mega Company category was the City of Detroit Turnaround. We congratulate firms Conway MacKenzie, Ernst and Young, Jones Day, and Miller Buckfire for their hard work and dedication in making the restructuring a success.
Below are more details on both the new West Michigan chapter, the TMA Transaction of the Year award as well as a Member Spotlight piece on Dan Weiner, Co-Founder and Senior Partner, Schafer and Weiner, PLLC.
Regarding upcoming events, in October we have a panel discussion on
"Healthcare: Challenges, Opportunities and What Comes Next" since the passage of the Affordable Care Act. November features a discussion titled "
100 Years in Business-How Companies Survived and Thrived in Detroit". In December, it is our annual Holiday Party, again at the Birmingham Country Club. Mark your calendars! Additionally, keep an eye out for nextGen and Network of Women announcements. As you participate in events this year, we encourage you to spur others at your firms or restructuring professionals in your own networks that aren't attending, to join us.
Sincerely,
Scot R. Lund
TMA Detroit Chapter President
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Written by John Klehm
Daniel Weiner, Co-Founder and Senior Partner
Schafer and Weiner, PLLC
Dan's profile page on the Schafer and Weiner website includes his motto, a quote from Sun Tzu "One hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the most skillful. Subduing the other's military without battle is the most skillful". That says much about Dan's approach to his craft.
Dan grew up in metro Detroit, but left Michigan for New York and Hofstra University for law school. Dan's first love in the law was litigation and at that time, Hofstra was one of a select group that offered coursework blessed by the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA). His attraction to trial work was later combined with an interest in restructuring after studying bankruptcy under professor Alan Resnick who later became editor-in-chief of the Collier on Bankruptcy treatise.
After graduation, he came back to Michigan to start his career. Like a character in a well-known movie, he had to "go see about a girl", someone he had met during undergrad at Michigan State and soon after became his wife (Lisa), and with whom he will soon celebrate 34 years of marriage.
His career started over 35 years ago with one of Detroit's premier creditors' committee specialist law firms. After four years of valuable experience and having developed an entrepreneurial itch, he went out on his own. To manage expenses, he shared office space with another solo bankruptcy practitioner, Arnold "Arnie" Schafer, a decision that would become fortuitous. At the time Dan was doing mostly creditor work and Arnie was a respected debtor's counsel specialist. After a year of sharing space, they combined their skills and formed their own firm, Schafer and Weiner, in 1985.
Working together, Arnie and Dan developed their firm's reputation for excellence and grew in size. Dan would say his early work as a creditor's rights attorney has made him a better debtor's advocate, the area of much of the firm's activity today. Knowing your opponent's offensive playbook provides invaluable strategy to design unexpected defensive maneuvers.
The firm was shocked in 2007 with the death of Arnie Schafer. It is not uncommon for a death or departure of a co-founding member to be fatal to a law firm. But that wasn't the case with Schafer and Weiner. It was a challenge and an opportunity for Dan to grow from co-leader to leader, and others in the firm rallied around the firm's supportive work culture to not only survive those difficult days, but thrive. This month, the firm is proud to celebrate its 30th anniversary - - an accomplishment impossible to have achieved without Dan's valued partners and associates.
One of the things Dan is most proud of is the professional culture built at Schafer and Weiner. As he describes it, the firm is a "potent team of hard working, intensely loyal professionals, interacting and unselfishly contributing to best serve our clients' needs". The most exciting part of Dan's day is working on the conference room white boards developing creative client strategies with team members. He characterizes his team as "preparation maniacs" that love to out-work and out-think their opponents. In doing so, they turn adversity into opportunity.
Dan enjoys publishing and public speaking, which helps him learn and grow. In preparation for publishing a piece, "the author learns more than the reader does". What gives Dan the most pleasure, however, is working intimately with his clients as a solution provider. Clients often arrive thinking they are "finished", with few options and unattractive choices - - but many times, they are just getting started. When a client walks out of his office with a game plan saying "I feel better than when I walked in", Dan considers that a success.
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WEST MICHIGAN FORMS TMA'S LATEST CHAPTER-CONGRATS!
Written By John L. Klehm
For the past nine years, restructuring professionals in West Michigan have organized and operated as a subchapter of TMA Detroit. During this time, they developed their own sub-Chapter Board, arranged separate events as well as their own sponsors. On July 1, 2015 TMA West Michigan was formed as the newest TMA Chapter. The Detroit Chapter wishes our fellow Michigander restructuring professionals all the best as they move forward!
TMA West Michigan is led by Ross Meehan, of Rehmann as Board President.
Geographically, Michigan is now split, almost down the middle, with restructuring professionals
west of Lansing recommended to join West Michigan, east of that, Detroit. The Upper Peninsula is also part of West Michigan. That said, members and prospective members are free to join either.
The Detroit Chapter looks forward to working with West Michigan from time to time on joint programming and doing whatever we can to facilitate the growth and development of the TMA throughout Michigan.
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TMA TRANSACTION OF THE YEAR AWARD:
Mega Company Category
On September 15, 2015, the Turnaround Management Association announced the winners of their 2015 Transaction of the Year Awards. Recognition is made in several categories, based on organization size. The Mega Company award this year went to the City of Detroit restructuring.
Congrats to the restructuring professionals involved!
Transaction of the Year: Mega Company - City of Detroit, Michigan
Kevyn D. Orr, City of Detroit
Van E. Conway, Conway MacKenzie
Kevin J. Hand, Conway MacKenzie
Gaurav Malhotra, Ernst & Young
Heather Lennox, Jones Day
Thomas A. Wilson, Jones Day
Kenneth A. Buckfire, Miller Buckfire & Co. LLC
James Doak, Miller Buckfire & Co. LLC
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Douglas Bernstein, Partner, Plunkett Cooney, recently received the 2016 Best Lawyers in America designation, by
Best Lawyers.
Van Conway, CEO & President
, Conway MacKenzie, was featured in the August 3,
Bloomberg Brief. Click
here to read the article.
Amherst Partners was selected by the M & A Advisor as a finalist for the best deal of the year in the retail/distribution category. The sale was Marshall Distributing and the professionals from Amherst
Scott Eisenberg and
Sheldon Stone. The awards are on November 17th at the New York Athletic Club in New York City.
Danielle Iafrate, Conway MacKenzie
John Jansen, Conway MacKenzie and
Alex Petrovich, KeyBank have joined the nextGen board.
Eric Novetsky
, Partner, was recently named Partner at Jaffe Raitt Heuer & Weiss.
Meredith Taunt
, Corporate Counsel, AlixPartners, LLP, recently joined the firm and was named a Super Lawyers rising Star for 2015.
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| 17th Annual Golf Outing | June 21, 2015
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First Place
From left to right: Karl Tech, Charlie Flint,
Chuck Mouraine and Jim Bitterle
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Second Place
From left to right: Paul Hage, Brendan Joyce,
Greg Ryan and Jacob Villemure |
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Third Place
From left to right: Matt Dekutoski, Bob Tull,
Matt Rybinski and Mike Hausman |
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From left to right: Tim Ashley, Angus White,
Ian Maloney and Larry Fraley |
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From left to right: Doug Bernstein, Dennis Lutz,
Patrick Lannen and Rob Marsh |
2015 Fall Kick-Off & Charity Event
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Chapter president Scot Lund with our 2015 charity,
The Ally Jolie Baldwin Foundation |
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Upcoming Events
October 5-7, 2015
TMA Annual
Fairmont Scottsdale Princess
Scottsdale, Arizona
October 8
Healthcare Panel
Oakland Hills Country Club
October 22
nextGen Social
Dick O' Dow's Irish Pub House
November 5
100 Years in Business
Oakland Hills Country Club
November 18
Network of Women Luncheon
Skyline Club
December 3
Holiday Party & Charity Event
Birmingham Country Club
Visit our new website to sign up for these and other events!
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2015-2016
Scot Lund, President
Crestmark Bank
Jason Bank, President-Elect
Kerr, Russell and Weber, PLC
Russ Long, Treasurer
O'Keefe
Brendan Best, Director
Schafer and Weiner, PLLC
John Dimovski, Director
Harmon Partners
Robert Gordon, Director
Clark Hill PLC
Paul Hage, Director
Jaffe Raitt Heuer & Weiss PC
Meagan Hardcastle, Immediate Past President
Harmon Partners
Mike Hausman, Director
Conway MacKenzie
John Klehm, Director
SPECTRUM Commercial Services
Kerri Ross, Director
O'Keefe
Merdith Taunt, Director
AlixPartners, LLP
Jacob Villemure, Director
Comerica Bank
Angus White, Director
PNC Business Credit
Sharon Kimble, Chapter Executive
TMA Detroit
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Thank you for your support!
Click on the logo to visit
our sponsors
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Thank you for your support!
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| Patrick Kelleher Conway MacKenzie Brett Howard Conway MacKenzie Jeffrey Peck Great Lakes Business Credit Seth Drucker II Foster Swift Glenn Currin Great Lakes Business Credit Donald Britt Great Lakes Business Credit Joshua Irving Stephanie Squires The Financial Solutions Network Christopher Kollmann Leonhardt Rattunde John McTevia McTevia & Associates LLC
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Looking to renew or Join TMA?
Click
here
for an application
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Sharon Kimble
Chapter Executive
TMA Detroit
734.757.4689
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Thank you
2015 Golf Sponsors
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AlixPartners
Conway MacKenzie
Crestmark Bank
Dickinson Wright
The Dragich Law Firm
Foster Swift
Great Lakes Business Credit
Hilco
Jaffe Raitt
Liquidity Services, Inc.
Loeb Term Solutions
Mackinac Commercial Credit
Maynards
New England Consulting Partners
Plante Moran
Plunkett Cooney
PNC Business Credit
Spectrum Commercial Services
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