Thank you again for the opportunity of a lifetime. The year that has passed since ABI's 2005 Annual Spring Meeting will be remembered as one of the most amazing years in ABI history.

The incredible work by ABI's members and staff produced more conferences, more publications, more energy and more excitement than in any preceding year—so much so that ABI's talented accounting department worked overtime to keep track of the increased revenues and expenses.

The numbers from this past year are staggering. During 2005, more than 4,300 professionals attended an ABI conference, including those enjoying "distance learning" via our Webinars.¹ Of this, more than 1,700 attended our Annual Spring Meeting and/or our Winter Leadership Conference. Replicating this incredible success will require even more effort in the coming years.

Fortunately, 2005 also marked the year that Ann vom Eigen joined us as our Deputy Executive Director and General Counsel to help share the workload and responsibilities for keeping our operations running like the well-oiled machine that ABI has become. Ann's prior fundraising experience will contribute significantly to her work with our Endowment Fund.

During the past year, ABI enjoyed unmatched media exposure as the effective date of the new law approached. Googling "American Bankruptcy Institute" shows that ABI tops the list of bankruptcy Web sites. It also reveals a staggering number of Internet references to our primary spokespeople.² This exposure solidified ABI's role as the media's go-to source for unbiased information about bankruptcy and insolvency matters.

ABI's publications were also exceptional this year. Our authors and contributing editors burned the midnight oil writing about the law's changes so our members would be ready to implement them as they became effective. Our writers either created new editions of existing publications or submitted entirely new works for publication. We are blessed with so many talented authors that we even changed the ABI Journal's format to accommodate the increased content.

The hard work and dedication of our members, our volunteer leaders and our staff created ABI's successes this past year. Working together with the common goals of research and education, we have excelled at both. Encouraging those with differing viewpoints and clientele to share their views and experience allowed ABI, as an organization, to maintain its neutrality at a time when other organizations were battling on behalf of one side or the other. This neutrality is an ABI hallmark that must never change.

This year's Annual Spring Meeting provided us with an opportunity to both look back on where we've been while looking forward to greater success in the future. With this meeting, we began celebrating our 25th Anniversary in 2007. We recognized five of our early leaders who made substantial contributions and sacrifices to launch ABI and get it off on a sound footing. We would not be where we are today without them toiling in the early years to lay the foundation of an outstanding organization. Ed Creel, Harry Dixon, Bob Feidler, Richard Gitlin and Hon. William Norton Jr. deserved the recognition that they received, as well as our thanks for what they have done for the ABI in our early years and beyond.

The Annual Spring Meeting also marks an ABI first. Hon. Wesley Steen is now our 16th president and our first sitting judge to serve in that capacity. Wes served the ABI in many different roles over the years and was most recently our Vice President for Research and Grants. We look forward to his sound judgment and steady hand at the helm during upcoming year.

The expanded Journal format, as big as it is, does not provide enough space to recognize everyone that made this past year so special and successful. So many members and staffers gave of their time and talents that trying to name a just a few would omit others that would deserve equal (if not greater) recognition. Sam Gerdano and ABI's entire staff overcame every challenge that this past year presented and should be thanked for their truly Herculean efforts.

Each of us sees but a small slice of everything that ABI does. The president gets the opportunity to see the organization's entire fabric along with a vantage point that gives you the perspective that you cannot claim sole credit for our success. Everything ABI has achieved is the result of the work and dedication of thousands of members. ABI truly is more than the sum of its many parts, and we owe a collective debt of gratitude to the many people working day in and day out that make this a wonderful organization.

Footnotes

1 This does not include any duplication of members that attended more than one conference.

2 Searches for "bankruptcy" and one of "Jeffrey Morris," "Nathalie Martin" and "Samuel Gerdano" (our Resident Scholars during 2005 and our Executive Director) reveal thousands of Web references.