Brian Fox Managing Director Alvarez & Marsal

Brian J. Fox is a Managing Director with Alvarez & Marsal North American Commercial Restructuring Practice (NACR) in New York. As Leader of NACR’s East region, he provides a full range of financial advisory, operational improvement and interim management services in restructurings and other special situations, both in court and outside of bankruptcy.

Mr. Fox has worked with companies to develop operational improvement programs around customer and product profitability, working capital reduction and expense reduction. He has assisted in the review and development of cash flow and liquidity forecasts, strategic and operating plans capital structure alternatives and the development, negotiation and implementation of restructuring transactions.

Some of Mr. Fox’s notable engagements include acting as Chief Restructuring Officer (CRO) and interim Chief Financial Officer to GTT Communications, Inc. in its financial restructuring; advising a global medical services company in its operational and financial restructuring; advising a $850 million food additives business on a financial and operational restructuring; advising a $1.4 billion manufacturer of building products on an out-of-court exchange; and advising a $500 million apparel company in an out-of-court restructuring of its credit facilities.

Previously, Mr. Fox advised Performance Sporting Goods on its sale through Section 363; advised Dean Foods, a $2 billion dairy processor, on a sale of essentially all its assets; advised Rockport Shoes in its restructuring through a Chapter 11 sale process; and acted as CRO to Gibson Brands in its financial restructuring

Mr. Fox earned a BBA in accounting from the Hofstra University and an MBA in finance from Fordham University. He is a CPA in New York and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Turnaround Management Association and the American Bankruptcy Institute. A frequent panelist on restructuring topics, Mr. Fox was an author of The Chief Restructuring Officers’ Guide to Bankruptcy.

Bradley Scott Friedman Partner Ares Management

Mr. Friedman is a Partner in the Ares Private Equity Group, where he focuses on special opportunities investing. Prior to joining Ares in 2017, Mr. Friedman was an Associate in the Financial Restructuring Group at Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy L.L.P., where he represented debtors and creditors in chapter 11 reorganization cases and out-of-court workouts, and private equity funds and hedge funds acquiring control positions in financially distressed companies. Mr. Friedman was a Secondee at Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P. in the Special Situations and Distressed Investing Group. Previously, Mr. Friedman was a Judicial Law Clerk in the District Court for the District of Columbia. Mr. Friedman holds a B.A. from Emory University in Political Science, where he was appointed to the Pi Sigma Alpha Honors Society, and a J.D., summa cum laude, from The George Washington School of Law. During law school, Mr. Friedman was a George Washington Scholar and received the Charles Glover Award and the Justice Thurgood Marshall Civil Liberties Award.

Steve Tesoriere Co-Portfolio Manager and Managing Director Oaktree Capital

Mr. Tesoriere, Managing Director and Co-Portfolio Manager for Oaktree’s Value Opportunities strategy, is also a member of the Opportunities group in New York. Prior to joining the firm in 2016, Mr. Tesoriere was Managing Principal and Portfolio Manager of Altai Capital Management, an investment manager he co-founded in 2009, which focused on investing in distressed debt and event-driven equities. Prior thereto, Mr. Tesoriere was with Anchorage Capital Group for six years, where he was a founding analyst. He began his career with Blackstone in the Restructuring and Reorganization Group before working at Goldman Sachs in distressed debt research. Mr. Tesoriere received a B.S. degree in Commerce with a concentration in finance from the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce.

Daniel Flores Partner & Head of US Restructurings and Turnarounds GoldenTree Asset Management

Daniel Flores is a Partner and Head of US Restructurings and Turnarounds at GoldenTree Asset Management where he is responsible for restructurings and turnarounds in North America. In addition, Mr. Flores is a member of GoldenTree’s Distressed Committee. Prior to joining GoldenTree, Mr. Flores was a Senior Vice President at Avenue Capital Group, where he focused on U.S. distressed opportunities and restructuring transactions. Previously, Mr. Flores worked in the Restructuring and Finance Group at Lehman Brothers, where he advised clients in connection with out-of-court workouts and Chapter 11 cases in the U.S. and Europe.  Prior to joining Lehman Brothers, Mr. Flores was an analyst in Merrill Lynch’s Global Power Group in New York and Singapore. In addition, Mr. Flores co-Founded MENU Pte Ltd, a leading operator of Western food and beverage concepts in Singapore. Mr. Flores received an A.B. degree from Duke University and his M.B.A. from Columbia Business School.

Judge David S. Jones United States Bankruptcy Judge Southern District of New York

David S. Jones was sworn in as a United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Southern District of New York on February 19, 2021. 

Judge Jones received his A.B. magna cum laude from Brown University in 1985 and his J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1990. He served as a law clerk for the Honorable Morris E. Lasker, United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York, from 1990 through 1992. Judge Jones was in private practice in New York from 1992 through 1996. From 1996 until he was appointed to the bench, Judge Jones served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and at different times served as the Chief of the  U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Tax and Bankruptcy Unit; the Office’s Chief Civil Appellate Attorney; and Deputy Chief of the Civil Division. He was awarded the Justice Department’s Director’s Award and the New York City Bar Association’s Henry L. Stimson Medal, among other awards. Judge Jones also served as an instructor at the National Advocacy Center, and an evaluator of U.S. Attorney’s Offices throughout the nation.

Ryan Preston Dahl Partner Ropes & Gray

Ryan Preston Dahl is co-chair of the business restructuring practice group at Ropes & Gray, with extensive experience representing publicly- and privately-held debtors, investors, and financial sponsors in special situations, out-of-court restructurings and distressed acquisitions, and in-court chapter 11 processes through prepackaged, prearranged, and traditional restructurings. His practice also includes a broad range of transactional and litigation matters across a number of industries including automotive, technology, retail, media, gaming, manufacturing, professional services and financial services. Ryan is a leading commentator on corporate governance, special situations, and restructuring topics, having been interviewed and quoted in leading publications such the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and the Financial Times. 

Ryan has been named among Lawdragon’s 500 Leading Global Restructuring & Insolvency Lawyers in 2020 and Turnarounds & Workouts’ “Outstanding Young Restructuring Lawyer” for 2018, as well as receiving the Rising Star award from Euromoney Legal Media Group and the Law360 40 Under 40 award, also in 2018. Ryan was previously recognized by the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges for participation in its Next Generation Program at the NCBJ's 2017 annual conference.

Ryan also regularly speaks on a variety of restructuring, executive compensation, corporate governance, and ethics-related topics at institutions and organizations including the University of Michigan Law School, the University of Chicago Law School, the Insolvency Institute of Canada, and the International Bar Association. He is a member of the Turnaround Management Association and the International Bar Association.

Matt Rahmani Executive Director Perella Weinberg Partners

• Mr. Rahmani is an Executive Director in Perella Weinberg Partners’ Advisory business. He focuses on advising companies, creditor groups, and investors on corporate restructurings, financings, M&A and other transactions. 
• During his tenure at Perella Weinberg Partners, Mr. Rahmani has advised a wide range of companies and boards, including Concordia International, Del Monte, EB Holdings, Halcon Resources, iHeartMedia, Oasis Petroleum, and Vantage Drilling. Mr. Rahmani also has experience representing creditor groups, unsecured creditor committees, and investors both in-court and out-of-court, including on transactions involving Celsius Networks, Diamond Offshore, Hexion, Ocean Rig, Peabody, Pyxus, Salt Creek Midstream, Savers, Travel Leaders Group, and VER Technologies. 
• Prior to joining Perella Weinberg Partners, Mr. Rahmani was at CIT Group from 2012 to 2016 where he invested in middle-market private debt and syndicated loans in the TMT and Gaming sectors. He began his career at Deloitte, participating in a rotation program through the strategy consulting and financial advisory groups. 
• Mr. Rahmani received a Bachelor’s of Science, with a double major in Accounting and Finance from Yeshiva University.  Mr. Rahmani currently holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and was previously a CPA in NY

Leonard Klingbaum Partner Ropes & Gray

Leonard Klingbaum is co-head of Ropes & Gray’s global capital solutions and private credit group and actively participates in the firm’s finance group. Leonard’s practice focuses on event driven and opportunistic financing transactions, as well as special situations, workouts, restructurings and insolvency matters. He routinely represents participants in all aspects of the capital solutions' arena, including distressed investing, strategic lending, loan-to-own, and restructuring matters. He has represented lenders (credit funds) and borrowers in direct lending, high yield, and mezzanine transactions, from the lower middle market to large cap transactions. He also acts on behalf of public and private corporate clients as general finance counsel.

Leonard has been recognized by The Legal 500 (United States), where clients recognize him as “diligent and hardworking" and "adept at locating problems and finding solutions.” Additionally, IFLR 1000 ranks him as “highly regarded,” and he has been recognized by the Turnaround Management Association with a Transaction of the Year award. Leonard also has been ranked by Chambers USA as one of America's Leading Lawyers for Business (2021).

Michael Weissenburger Director BlackRock

Michael Weissenburger, Director, is a member of Blackrock's Global Credit Platform. He is responsible for originating and executing direct lending and special situations investment opportunities and maintaining relationships with key deal sources and intermediaries across the US including private equity groups, investment banks, turnaround advisors and others. The investments sourced can be placed across the BlackRock Alternative Investors (BAI) platform but sit primarily in the BlackRock Private Credit group which since 1999 has invested nearly $27 billion in over 800 portfolio companies.

Prior to his current role, Mr. Weissenburger was a Managing Director at DDJ Capital Management, LLC a leading institutional investment advisor with $8 billion in assets under management, specializing in leveraged credit market investments. Prior to joining DDJ in 2015, Mr. Weissenburger was a Director, Direct Loan Originations at Wells Fargo Capital Finance, providing senior secured financing solutions from $3M to $1B to middle market companies across North American and Canada, to refinance debt, improve liquidity and to provide capital for acquisition or expansion.

Mr. Weissenburger earned a MBA in finance from D’Amore-McKim School of Business at Northeastern University and a BA in political science from University of Connecticut.

Chris Moon Managing Director, Credit DigitalBridge Investment Management

Chris Moon is a Managing Director, Credit at DigitalBridge Investment Management.  Mr. Moon is responsible for origination in the Americas and European regions and has over 20 years of experience in the Communications and Technology sectors including over 15 years of direct experience in sourcing transactions in digital infrastructure.

Prior to joining DigitalBridge, Mr. Moon was a Managing Director and founding member of the TMT Sector Lending Group at ING Bank and had responsibility for origination, structuring and underwriting leveraged transactions in North America and LatAm. Prior to ING, Chris was an Analyst at Goldman Sachs in the Investment Management Division and a CPA at PriceWaterhouseCoopers in the Communications and Technology practice.

Mr. Moon received an MBA and MS in Tax and a dual Bachelor of Science in Finance and Computer Information Systems from Northeastern University. He is a CFA Charterholder and a Certified Public Accountant (inactive).

Lauren Krueger Managing Director, Credit KKR

Lauren Krueger (New York) joined KKR in 2018 and is a Managing Director in the firm’s Credit business, where she leads corporate governance and restructuring efforts. Ms. Krueger is a member of the Global Corporate Private Credit Investment Committee and Co-Chair of the KKR Private Credit Portfolio Monitoring Committee. Ms. Krueger currently sits on the Board of Directors of several KKR portfolio companies, including JW Aluminum Inc., PRG Worldwide Entertainment, Constellis and One Call. Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Krueger was an independent fiduciary for Drivetrain Advisors, where she worked with investors to maximize value for stressed and distressed companies. Previously, Ms. Krueger served in investing roles at Esopus Creek Advisors and the D.E. Shaw Group and in restructuring advisory at Lazard Freres. Ms. Krueger holds an AB degree from Princeton University and an MBA from Columbia Business School, where she served as an associate adjunct professor of finance and taught the course “Misunderstood Securities” for several years. Ms. Krueger also serves on the Advisory Board of Columbia Business School’s Heilbrunn Center for Graham & Dodd Investing. In addition, Ms. Krueger currently sits on the Board of Directors of Her Justice, a nonprofit organization that provides free legal help to women living in poverty in New York City, and the Board of Trustees of Horace Mann School.

David Levy Managing Director Keen Summit Capital Partners

David Levy, CCIM, is a Managing Director at Keen-Summit Capital Partners LLC and Summit Investment Management LLC and leads their combined Chicago/Midwest office. Levy responsible for all aspects of business development and execution with Keen-Summit’s special situations real estate brokerage, auction, investment banking, lease modification and restructuring, and lender services platform, plus Summit’s distressed debt acquisition, rescue bridge and debtor-in-possession financing, and asset acquisition transactions. Levy has more than 15 years’ experience in real estate advisory and transaction experience, with expertise in workouts and bankruptcy. Levy received an MBA from Miami University. Levy is a licensed real estate broker and auctioneer and serves as the Special Projects – Education Leader for the American Bankruptcy Institute’s Real Estate Committee and is the Vice President of Programs for the Turnaround Management Association’s Chicago/Midwest Chapter.

Natalia Sosnina Head of Acquisitions Terra Strategies

Natalia oversees acquisition opportunities and financial analysts for Terra and has extensive experience conducting due diligence and assessed new CMBS issues for Moody’s and Fitch. Ms. Sosnina has also managed the acquisition and asset management of distressed real estate debt. Natalia is a licensed real estate broker in four states, and has a Masters in Real Estate from NYU.

Brendan Ballou Special Counsel at U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division, author of Plunder: Private Equity's Plan to Pillage America

Brendan Ballou is a federal prosecutor and served as Special Counsel for Private Equity in the Justice Department's Antitrust Division.  Previously, he worked in private practice, and before that, in the National Security Division of the Justice Department, where he advised the White House on counterterrorism and other policies.  He graduated from Columbia University and Stanford Law School.

Daun Chung Partner MTS Health Partners

Daun Chung is a partner with MTS Health Partners. He joined the firm in 2023 and has extensive experience advising companies and stakeholders in complex restructuring & recapitalization transactions with over 15 years of experience. Mr. Chung’s background also includes representations in municipal restructurings, M&A and general corporate finance advisory transactions. Prior to joining MTS, he was a Senior Managing Director at Guggenheim Securities, a Partner at Milstein & Co., and a member of the restructuring group at Lazard. Mr. Chung graduated from Harvard College with a B.A. in Economics and holds a J.D./MBA from New York University School of Law/Stern School of Business.