The activities of the Business Reorganization Committee are augmented by five subcommittees that focus on the issues of specific industries. The Subcommittee on Agriculture is chaired by Rick A. Yarnall, a chapter 13 trustee for the District of Nevada based in Las Vegas. He recently relocated there from Portland, Ore., where he also did a significant amount of chapter 12 work. He graduated from the University of South Dakota Law School in 1973.

Lawrence R. Ahern III and J. Gregg Miller co-chair the Subcommittee on Insurance, Construction & Surety. Mr. Ahern is the member in charge of the Nashville, Tenn., office of Greenebaum Doll & McDonald PLLC. He is a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy and has been certified since 1994 as a business bankruptcy specialist by the American Board of Certification and by the Tennessee Commission on CLE & Specialization. He has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America since 1989 in the areas of business reorganization, creditors' rights and bankruptcy litigation. He concentrates his practice in bankruptcy and commercial litigation and transactions with an emphasis on creditors' and debtors' interests, trustees, indenture trustees and creditors' committees. Mr. Ahern also works frequently with matters of banking and lending, particularly asset-based and workout transactions, troubled institutions and debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing. He also has extensive experience with corporate reorganizations and acquisitions, many of which involve leveraged buyouts, distressed businesses and bankruptcy transactions. He currently serves as director for both ABI and the American Board of Certification. He received both his B.A. and J.D. from Vanderbilt University and has been admitted to practice in the state of Tennessee since 1972.

Mr. Miller is a partner in the Philadelphia office of Pepper Hamilton LLP, where he heads its bankruptcy practice. Since joining the firm in 1969, Mr. Miller has concentrated his practice primarily in the areas of bankruptcy and reorganization law. He frequently represents creditors, or groups of creditors, and debtors in workouts and bankruptcy proceedings, and is particularly experienced with bankruptcies in the health care and construction industries, as well as cases involving mass toxic torts. In construction bankruptcies and workouts, he has represented sureties, banks, general contractors, subcontractors and suppliers. As a result of his construction bankruptcy work, he has represented four manufacturers and distributors of insulation projects as DIPs in chapter 11 proceedings for relief from massive asbestos litigation.

Mr. Miller has lectured and published extensively in the insolvency field. At the ABI's 1999 Annual Spring Meeting, he was moderator of the panel on "Construction and Surety Law Issues," and presented a paper titled "Properties in Construction Bankruptcies." At the 13th Annual Construction Superconference, he was moderator of the panel "Bankruptcy Law Impact on Construction and Surety Law Principles." He also addressed the American Bar Association's Section of Tort and Insurance Practice on the subject of "Bankruptcy—Crisis in the Construction Industry." Mr. Miller is the author of the bankruptcy chapter in The McGraw-Hill Construction Business Handbook. He also co-authored the bankruptcy chapter of The Aspen Law Construction Law Handbook, "How to Turn Around a Corporation Plagued with Mass Toxic Torts," a chapter in Workouts & Turnarounds, The Handbook of Restructuring and Investing in Distressed Companies, as well as "The Kennedy Mortgage Company Case: New Light Shed on the Position of Mortgage Warehousing Banks" in the American Bankruptcy Law Journal. He received his B.A. from Yale College in 1966 and his LL.B. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1969.

Rudy J. Cerone, chair of the Subcommittee on Hospitality, Entertainment Venues & Gaming, is a member of McGlinchey Stafford PLLC's Commercial Litigation Section in New Orleans with primary emphasis in the areas of business bankruptcy and commercial litigation. He has been certified as a specialist in Business Bankruptcy Law by the American Board of Certification since 1993, and by the Louisiana State Bar Association Board of Legal Specialization since 1996. Mr. Cerone received his J.D. cum laude from Boston College in 1979 and his B.A. summa cum laude as part of an honors program at the University of California at San Diego in 1976. While in law school, Mr. Cerone was a member of the Order of the Coif, the executive editor of the Boston College International and Comparative Law Review, and the recipient of the Lyne, Woodworth & Evarts Best Law Review Editor Award for 1979. His many speaking engagements have included numerous appearances at ABI events, including the 1996 Southwest Bankruptcy Conference and the Southeast Bankruptcy Workshop in 1997 and 2000. His publications include "Res Judicata Revisited by the Fifth Circuit" in the ABI Journal, and "Bankruptcy Trends in the Gaming Field" in the Journal of Bankruptcy Law & Practice. He is a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy and is president of the American Board of Certification. His recent engagements have included representation of the shipbuilder in the Crescent City Capital Development riverboat casino bankruptcy and acting as liquidating trustee of the creditors' liquidating trust established under the plan.

Deborah A. Crabbe, chair of the Subcommittee on Small Business, is a member of the Creditors' Rights and Bankruptcy Practice Group at Foster, Pepper & Shefelman PLLC in Seattle. Her practice is concentrated in creditors' rights and bankruptcy, including all facets of secured transactions, receiverships and workout proceedings. She has substantial experience representing lenders, trade creditors, trustees, receivers and individuals. Ms. Crabbe earned her J.D. from Seattle University cum laude in 1992 after earning her M.S. from the University of Massachusetts in 1985 and a Bachelor of Commerce from Laurentian University in 1982. She is admitted to practice in the states of Oregon and Washington, as well as the U.S. District Court, Western District of Washington, and the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Washington Law & Politics named her a Rising Star in 2001 and a Super Lawyer in 2003 and 2004.

Information on committee activities, upcoming programs and electronic newsletters, as well as contact information for all committee chairs, is available on ABI World.

More Members in the News

Michael H. Reed, a partner in Pepper Hamilton's Philadelphia office, ABI member and president of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, has been appointed to the Interest on Lawyers Trust Account (IOLTA) board for a three-year term. Mr. Reed concentrates his practice in bankruptcy and insolvency law. He has been a member since 1987.

Following seven years as U.S. Trustee of Region 21, C. David Butler joined Shapiro Fussell Wedge Smotherman Martin & Price LLP in the firm's bankruptcy and creditors' rights practice. In addition to his experience as the overseer of the bankruptcy system in Georgia, Florida and the Caribbean, Mr. Butler brings more than 30 years of bankruptcy case expertise and practice experience to the firm, where he will serve as private counsel for troubled companies, appointed trustees in bankruptcy and examiners, as well as clients who hold defaulted claims against distressed companies. As U.S. Trustee, he appointed and supervised trustees in the many bankruptcy cases filed each year in the region. He has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America. He is a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy and a member of the State Bar of Georgia.

GE Commercial Finance Business Credit announced that it has named Eric R. Gill as vice president of origination. Mr. Gill will be based in Charlotte, N.C., and will be responsible for the North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Washington, D.C. markets. He will originate asset-based credit facilities of $30 million and less by continuing to develop business relationships with middle-market companies and financial intermediaries throughout the mid-Atlantic market. He has more than 24 years of experience in commercial finance. He can be contacted at (704) 553-5319.

Gerard DiConza has joined Bianchi Macron LLP as a partner in its Restructuring/ Creditors' Rights Department in Garden City, N.J. Formerly with Togut, Segal & Segal LLP, he will continue his practice of representing debtors, creditors, creditors' committees, landlords and other parties in interest in chapter 11 and out-of-court restructurings. Mr. DiConza also is a past student editor of the ABI Law Review and has been an ABI member since 1993.

Joel R. Spivack, principal of the law office of Joel R. Spivack in Cherry Hill, N.J., was the keynote speaker at the Greater Philadelphia Area Summer Send-off event for incoming freshmen and their parents for the University of Maryland. Mr. Spivack practices bankruptcy, debtor/creditors' rights, business and corporate law, collection, entertainment law, real estate zoning and land-use law in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. He has been an ABI member since 2000.

Sanford P. Rosen & Associates P.C. announced that Kenneth M. Lewis has become a member of the New York firm and Alex Vinnitsky has become an associate. Mr. Lewis is a contributing author to Bankruptcy Business Acquisitions (Lexmed 1998 & Supp. 1999 & 2002). Mr. Lewis has both chaired and participated in panels sponsored by the New York State Bar Association, the Corporate Bar Association of Westchester and Fairfield Inc., and the International Council of Shopping Centers. Mr. Vinnitsky received his J.D. from Columbia University School of Law in May 1999, where he was a Stone Scholar and editor of the Journal of East European Law.

Charles A. Soule, senior partner and co-founder of Aurora Management Partners Inc. in Atlanta, and Ronald H. Turcotte, senior partner and co-founder of TBA Management Services LLC, announced that TBA and Aurora merged in July under the Aurora brand. Mr. Soule was appointed chairman of the board and Mr. Turcotte was appointed CEO and managing partner. The Board also appointed David M. Baker as managing director for the Carolinas. The newly merged firm's regional offices will be located in Atlanta, Charlotte, N.C., Chattanooga, Tenn., Orlando, Fla., Toronto and Richmond, Va., with planned expansion into the Northeast. Aurora will relocate corporate headquarters to 4485 Tench Road, Suite 340A, Atlanta, GA 30024. For further information, contact Ron Turcotte at (770) 904-5218 or [email protected].

Adorno & Yoss, the nation's largest, certified minority-owned law firm with 185 attorneys, announced that it has added an office in New York as a result of its combination with Bryant Law Group P.C. (BLG). This is the first New York office for the firm, which currently has offices in Florida, California and Georgia. Adorno's ABI members include Geoffrey S. Aaronson, Lawrence M. Schantz, Robert A. Schatzman, Steven J. Solomon and Nicole Testa (Miami); Mariaelena Gayo-Guitian, Bart A. Houston, Stephen C. Hunt and Charles M. Tatelbaum (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.); and Glen D. Rubin (Atlanta).