John J. Ray III Chief Executive Officer and Chief Restructuring Officer FTX

John J. Ray III is an attorney and CEO with over 40 years of legal and restructuring experience. He has served as the Chief Restructuring Officer in several of the largest corporate failures in history including Enron, where he was tasked with recovering creditor funds in the wake of its accounting scandal and subsequent collapse. Other notable bankruptcy cases he has led include Residential Capital, Nortel Networks, Overseas Shipholding, and, most recently, crypto exchange FTX. Nearly every situation in which he has been involved has been characterized by failures in internal controls, regulatory compliance, human resources, and systems integrity.

Before Enron, he served as general counsel of Waste Management and Fruit of the Loom, where managed the sale of the company’s assets in their Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Ray currently serves as Managing Director of restructuring firm Owl Hill Advisory.

Andersen Fisher Managing Director HPS INVESTMENT PARTNERS

Andersen Fisher is a Managing Director at HPS Investment Partners and Portfolio Manager of the Special Situations Opportunity Funds. Prior to joining HPS in 2018, Mr. Fisher was the Managing member of Tålamod Asset Management, a distressed credit investment firm he founded in 2008. Prior to founding Tålamod, Mr. Fisher was a Principal at Watershed Asset Management, a hedge fund focused on distressed debt and special situations. Prior to Watershed, Mr. Fisher was an Associate at Golden Gate Capital, a San Francisco based private equity firm. Mr. Fisher began his principal investing career as an Analyst in the London office of private equity firm, Hicks Muse Tate & Furst. Mr. Fisher holds an AB in English and American Literature and Language from Harvard College and an MBA from Stanford University's Graduate School of Business.

Joseph Goldschmid Managing Director OAK HILL ADVISORS

Joseph Goldschmid serves as a Managing Director with primary focus on stressed, distressed and special situations investments at Oak Hill Advisors (OHA), an alternative investment firm with over $55 billion under management across performing and distressed credit related investments in North America, Europe and other geographies. Prior to joining OHA, Mr. Goldschmid was a Director in the Distressed & Special Situations Group at Angelo Gordon. During his career, Mr. Goldschmid has served on numerous official and ad hoc creditor committees, including several steering committees. Before joining Angelo Gordon, Mr. Goldschmid worked in the Restructuring and Special Situations Group at The Blackstone Group and PJT Partners. Mr. Goldschmid began his career as an Analyst at Morgan Stanley. Mr. Goldschmid currently serves on the Board of Directors for Valaris Limited (NYSE: VAL). He previously served on the Board of Directors for Expro Group Holdings International Limited. Mr. Goldschmid holds a B.S. degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School and a J.D. from Columbia Law School, where he was a James Kent Scholar.

Dan Pombo Managing Director, Global Head of Restructuring JP MORGAN

Dan is the global head of Restructuring at J.P. Morgan, focusing on advising and raising capital for distressed companies. Dan has led numerous DIP, Exit and distressed financings and prepackaged plans of reorganization, and has advised on several liability management and out-of-court restructuring transactions. Dan has been with J.P.Morgan for 25 years. Prior to joining the Restructuring Group, Dan was a senior member of J.P. Morgan’s Leveraged Finance team, where he served in Capital Markets and Origination roles and completed over 100 transactions across numerous industry verticals, including energy, power, chemicals, paper and packaging, building materials, real estate, gaming, consumer and retail. Prior to joining the firm, Dan practiced corporate law at White & Case, LLP. Dan holds a B.A from Amherst College and a J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law.

Madalina Iacob Deputy Managing Editor DEBTWIRE

Madalina Iacob is a senior distressed debt reporter for Debtwire, covering the energy sector and telecommunications. She writes breaking news stories and analytical articles on distressed borrowers and debtors including Energy Future Holdings, ATP Oil & Gas, Samson Resources, Patriot Coal and Nortel. She received a M.A. in Business and Economic Reporting from New York University and a M.A. in European Politics & Policy from Manchester University, UK, where she was an Open Society Foundation/George Soros scholarship recipient.

Jacob Czarnick Managing Director RAYMOND JAMES

Jacob Czarnick is a Managing Director in the Capital Structure Advisory Investment Banking Group of Raymond James. Raymond James’ investment bank is a leading, full-service investment banking platform with 600+ bankers, including 130 managing directors, organized by industry and transaction specialty groups in 20+ offices across the U.S., Canada and Europe.  Since 2017, the firm has completed more than 950 M&A transactions on behalf of clients.  Raymond James’ investment banking revenue has grown from approximately $300 million a decade ago to $1.1 billion each fiscal year of 2021 and 2022, 70% of which was transaction advisory revenue.

Mr. Czarnick has over 20 years of experience advising clients along a range of M&A, financing and restructuring transactions. His experience includes Chapter 11 Plans of Reorganization, out-of-court restructurings, Section 363 asset sales, exchanges offers and rights offerings. Mr. Czarnick has advised clients across a range of industries including the Energy, Power, Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, Industrials, Metals & Mining, Technology and Consumer industries.

Mr. Czarnick has represented companies in a number of large and complicated restructurings including T.D. Williamson, Bonanza Creek Energy, Novelion Pharmaceuticals, American Energy Utica, Energy XXI, Blackhawk Mining, Calfrac Well Services, James River Coal the Debtor and School Specialty. In addition, Mr. Czarnick has represented creditors in some of the largest and most complicated restructurings including PG&E Corporation, Global Eagle Entertainment, Vanguard Natural Resources, Admiral Permian Resources, American Tire Distributors, VER Technology, Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, Eastman Kodak and Lehman Brothers.

Mr. Czarnick began his career in 2001 as an investment banking analyst at Credit Suisse First Boston and later Bank of America, covering global energy and healthcare companies. He served as a Vice President of Mergers & Acquisitions at Citigroup prior to his graduate education. He most recently spent 11 years in the restructuring group of Perella Weinberg Partners before joining Raymond James in 2021.

Mr. Czarnick graduated cum laude with honors distinction in research with a Bachelor of Science in Applied Economics from Cornell University. In addition, he graduated from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with an M.B.A. in finance.

Daniel Gurvich Managing Director BEACH POINT CAPITAL MANAGEMENT

Daniel Gurvich is a Managing Director at Beach Point Capital Management, focused on sourcing new investment opportunities and performing fundamental research and company analysis. Mr. Gurvich has been in the industry since 2012. Prior to Beach Point, he was an Associate in Investment Banking at Credit Suisse. Mr. Gurvich received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business.

Mark Hootnick Partner, Co-Head of Capital Transformation and Debt Advisory SOLOMON PARTNERS

ROLE

Mark Hootnick is a Partner and Co-Head of Solomon Partners’ Capital Transformation and Debt Advisory.

EXPERIENCE

Mark has worked in the restructuring and distressed advisory industry for over 20 years. He has extensive experience guiding distressed companies, their stakeholders and other constituents through a variety of complex, sophisticated transactions, most recently as a Managing Director at Millstein & Co.

Prior to Millstein & Co., Mark served as a Managing Director at Moelis & Co., Gleacher, Imperial Capital and Greenhill & Co. Before joining Greenhill, he was a founding member of Miller Buckfire and an investment banker at Wasserstein, Perella & Co. Mr. Hootnick began his career as an attorney at Kramer Levin.

Mark has represented companies, debtors, creditors, investors and acquirers in transactions involving more than $50 billion in liabilities across an array of sectors. Past clients have included General Motors, American Airlines, LightSquared Communications, ICO Global Communications, Lear Corporation, Hyundai Merchant Marine, Indiana Toll Road and Olympia & York.

EDUCATION

Mark received a JD from New York University School of Law and a BS in Finance, with honors, from Lehigh University.

Kevin O'Neill Director, KKR Credit KKR

Kevin O'Neill (New York) joined KKR in 2018 and is a Director in KKR Credit focusing on governance, workouts and restructurings. Prior to his current role, Mr. O'Neill was an attorney in the bankruptcy & corporate reorganization group of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP and prior to that, was a law clerk to the Honorable Shelley C. Chapman of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. Mr. O'Neill holds an M.Sc in Law and Finance from the University of Oxford, a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and a Bachelor's in Business Administration from the University of Notre Dame.

Charles Tricomi Head of Leveraged Loan Research XTRACT

Charles has served as Head of Leveraged Loan Research at Xtract since 2016.  Previously, he was engaged in the practice of law for more than thirty years, most recently as a partner at Chapman and Cutler LLP and Sidley Austin LLP.  In serving as counsel to domestic and foreign commercial banks, investment banking firms and corporations, he specialized in negotiating and documenting commercial and bank finance arrangements, including secured and unsecured acquisition, leveraged, working capital and letter of credit financings and liquidity facilities.    

David Geenberg Managing Director, Co-Head of the North American Investment Team STRATEGIC VALUE PARTNERS

Mr. Geenberg oversees the North American investment team, with responsibility across the firm’s investment, restructuring, and operational functions based in Greenwich, CT.

Since joining Strategic Value Partners in 2009, Mr. Geenberg has led investment efforts over a range of industries including infrastructure, energy, power generation, and industrials.  In that capacity, Mr. Geenberg has overseen the firm’s control deals in North America, including GenOn, OmniMax, PureField, and SH-130. Previously, Mr. Geenberg worked at Goldman, Sachs & Co., most recently in its infrastructure private equity business, and, prior to that, in the investment bank’s natural resources group.

Mr. Geenberg received a BA in Economics summa cum laude from Dartmouth College in 2005.  Mr. Geenberg is on the Boards of Directors of OmniMax International, GenOn Holdings, Purefield Ingredients, and SilverBow Resources, and previously served on the Boards of Bicent Power, Penn Virginia Corporation, Chaparral Energy, and White Energy.

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 (2021-2023).

Steve Krause Partner OWL CREEK ASSET MANAGEMENT

Mr. Krause is a Partner at Owl Creek Asset Management, L.P., where he focuses primarily on process-driven distressed and special situation opportunities. Before joining Owl Creek, Mr. Krause was a bankruptcy attorney at Davis Polk and White & Case, where he advised debtors, creditors and investors in distressed and bankrupt companies. He has substantial experience in a broad range of corporate matters, with a focus on restructurings and bankruptcies. Prior to joining the bar, Mr. Krause’s varied experience also included stints as chief operating officer of a toy company, in business development at a San Francisco-based dot-com, in commercial finance at GE Capital, and as a business re-engineering consultant for Accenture.

Mr. Krause is a member of the Bankruptcy Committee for the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, a member of the Distressed Investor Roundtable, a member of the Advisory Board of the Creditor Rights Coalition, a member of the board of the Columbia Journal of Law & Social Problems, and a former co-chair of the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI) Business Reorganization Committee. Mr. Krause is a regular speaker at bankruptcy and restructuring industry events, has published numerous articles and chapters on bankruptcy topics, and was selected as one of Turnaround and Workouts' Outstanding Restructuring Lawyers. Mr. Krause also sits on the boards of several charities, not-for-profit organizations, and private businesses.

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

Emanuel Grillo Partner ALLEN & OVERY

Manny is a partner in the firm’s Restructuring Practice and represents troubled companies, secured and unsecured creditors, court-appointed trustees, and other stakeholders, including official and ad hoc committees of creditors and equity sponsors in large complex restructurings.

He also represents sellers and purchasers in distressed merger and asset dispositions. His practice encompasses both out-of-court debt restructurings and exchange transactions, and the reorganization and liquidation of financially distressed businesses under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. Manny’s restructuring experience extends across a broad array of industries including energy and power companies; commercial real estate and hospitality properties and portfolios; technology, media and telecom businesses; airlines; healthcare providers; financial services firms; and other industries.

Manny regularly advises lenders, investment funds, sponsors and other financial institutions regarding insolvency and restructuring matters in complex financings and securitizations. He negotiates distressed financing transactions, including debtor in possession loans on behalf of both lenders and borrowers and litigates contested confirmation and financing matters, as well as avoidance actions and lender liability claims.

From time to time, he has represented clients in internal investigation matters and commercial litigation involving notes, indentures, and other financial instruments in both state and federal courts.

Manny participates in a number of industry and civic activities including the American Bankruptcy Institute, Volunteers of Legal Services in New York City, and the Chapter 11 Complex Case Advisory Committee for the Southern District of Texas. He also recently served as a member of the Editorial Advisory Board for Bankruptcy Law360.

Prior to joining Allen & Overy, he was the head of the Financial Restructuring practice at Baker Botts LLP.

Kathryn Judge Harvey J. Goldschmid Professor of Law COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL

Kathryn Judge is the Harvey J. Goldschmid Professor of Law and Vice Dean for Intellectual Life at Columbia Law School. Her research focuses on banking, nonbank financial intermediation and financial regulation. She regularly presents her work to audiences in the United States and abroad, allowing her to engage with an array of policy makers, academics and industry leaders. In Direct: The Rise of the Middleman Economy and the Power of Going to the Source (HarperBusiness), she uses the insights she gained from studying financial intermediation to explain broader shifts in the structure of the economy, the power of intermediaries and implications for resilience and sustainability. Direct was on the longlist for the Financial Times Business book of the Year and was an Axios Gold Medal winner, among other accolades. Prior to joining Columbia, she clerked for Judge Richard Posner of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals and Justice Stephen Breyer of the Supreme Court.

Ashish Kumbhat Director BANK OF AMERICA MERRIL LYNCH

Ashish is a Director in the Financial Institutions Group at Bank of America Securities and leads coverage of various large cap regional banks and specialty finance companies in the US. He has worked on a wide range of transactions in this space, including mergers and acquisitions, capital raisings, cross-border situations and balance sheet restructuring assignments.

Prior to joining BofA, Ashish was on the staff of the Monetary Affairs Division of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. He regularly advised the Board of Governors and Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) on a broad range of topics at the intersection of financial markets and monetary policy. Ashish participated in various international working groups at the BIS Committee's on Banking Supervision and Global Financial System. While at the Fed, Ashish was appointed as a Member of the Secretariat for the Financial Stability Board (FSB).

Ashish has published on topics related to monetary policy and banking regulation. Ashish completed his undergraduate degree at the George Washington University, where he serves on the Board of Advisors for the Elliot School for International Affairs.

Tim Sanders Managing Director PIPER SANDLER

Tim Sanders is a managing director in the Piper Sandler restructuring group, TRS Advisors.

Sanders has over two decades of strategic, operational and financial leadership experience across the federal and private sectors. Prior to joining Piper Sandler, Sanders was the assistant director of the FDIC’s resolution transactions division. In this role, he led a workforce responsible for the restructuring, marketing and eventual disposition of the nation’s largest and most systemically important financial institutions. Through his direct leadership of dozens of FDIC bank resolutions since the 2008 financial crisis and development of the post-Dodd Frank large bank resolution framework, Sanders is looked to as one of the nation’s leading authorities on financial institution resolutions and restructurings.

Sanders holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, and is a graduate of the Stonier School of Banking at the University of Pennsylvania and The Wharton Executive Leadership program.

Adam Rogoff Partner KRAMER LEVIN

Adam C. Rogoff

Adam C. Rogoff provides senior corporate governance advice to boards and C-level executive management in all aspects of restructuring, whether in court or out of court, and also represents significant creditor and other interests in complex restructuring matters. In particular, Adam counsels and represents a diverse range of corporate debtors, directors and sponsors; official and ad hoc creditors’ committees; secured creditors, including debtor-in-possession financing lenders; distressed asset purchasers; and other significant parties in complex transactional, litigation, corporate governance and advisory matters relating to restructuring, Chapter 11 bankruptcy, “prepackaged” Chapter 11 cases and out-of-court workouts.

Adam has represented the official unsecured creditors’ committees in some of the largest and most well-known bankruptcies in the country, including the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of Stanadyne/PurePower Technologies, Eagle Hospitality (REIT), Ruby Tuesday Inc., California Pizza Kitchen Inc., Forever 21, Toys “R” Us, NII Holdings Inc. (an international telecommunications company and a leading provider of mobile communication services operating under the Nextel brand in Latin America), the Patriot Coal Corp., General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC cases, and the Committee of Ad Hoc Unsecured Creditors of K’s Merchandise Mart in an out-of-court restructuring.

He also has successfully represented various real estate or “hard money lenders” in single asset real estate cases in New York City in which, on behalf of his clients, the lenders successfully prosecuted competing Chapter 11 plans for the sale of the underlying collateral. This includes successfully obtaining the appointment of a Chapter 11 Trustee for “cause” (based on, among other things, fraud and dishonesty) for The Williamsburg Hotel.

Adam advises and represents purchasers of substantially all of a Chapter 11 debtor’s assets, as well. He represented the acquirer of the assets of Airways Inc., MobileAira (a subsidiary of Delphi), Norstan Apparel, Jacobson Stores, Today’s Man and Filene’s Basement. He has also been involved in extensive distressed real estate acquisitions, including well-known matters such as Service Merchandise.

Daniel Berman Partner KRAMER LEVIN

Daniel Ross Berman

Daniel Ross Berman counsels developers, investors, lenders and operators in a range of real estate transactions, including acquisitions, dispositions, joint ventures, development deals, preferred equity investments, loans, leases, recapitalizations and restructurings. His work spans hospitality, industrial, health care, entertainment, retail, office, multifamily and mixed-use properties.

Dan has a national practice that includes acquisitions, dispositions and joint venture development deals across the country as well as a localized practice with an emphasis on complex development deals. For example, Dan is currently handling numerous redevelopment projects in New York City involving various religious and charitable institutions, each with different deal structures. These include ground leasing the land during development and dividing the ownership of the completed building between the developer and the institution by converting the property to a commercial condominium.

Ian Glastein Managing Principal and Co-Head of Real Estate MONARCH ALTERNATIVE CAPITAL

Ian Glastein is a Managing Principal and Co-Head of Real Estate at Monarch Alternative Capital, a global investment firm with over $10 billion in assets under management. Mr. Glastein focuses on investments in opportunistic and distressed situations across corporate debt, real estate, special situations, and other market segments. Prior to joining Monarch in 2011, Mr. Glastein worked at Goldman Sachs as an Investment Banking Analyst in the Healthcare Group before completing a two-year fellowship at The Rabinowitz Institute in Israel. Mr. Glastein currently serves on the boards of various entities related to investments in U.S. real estate, including RX Health & Science Trust and RGMZ, and serves as Chairman of the Board of Shopko Optical.  Mr. Glastein graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, magna cum laude, with a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School and a B.A. in Biology from the College of Arts and Sciences. He also earned a Master of Biotechnology from the School of Engineering and Applied Science.

Larry Kwon Managing Director MOELIS

Larry Kwon is a Managing Director at Moelis & Company where he specializes in advising clients in the real estate, gaming, hospitality and leisure industries. Larry has over 20 years of investment banking experience, advising both companies and investors on a wide variety of corporate finance matters including M&A, recapitalizations and restructurings, and debt and equity capital raisings. Larry advises on both U.S. and international transactions and has executed numerous cross-border transactions involving parties in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas.

David Schonbraun Managing Partner GREENBARN INVESTMENT GROUP

Mr. Schonbraun is a Managing Partner of GreenBarn Investment Group responsible for overseeing the origination, structuring and asset management of GreenBarn’s investments. Prior to joining GreenBarn, he was Head of US Real Estate Credit at The Carlyle Group and also served as CIO of SL Green Realty Corp (NYSE: SLG), where he worked for 19 years. At SL Green, Mr. Schonbraun was responsible for the real estate equity and debt acquisitions, dispositions, alternative investments, borrowings and structured finance. He closed on tens of billions of dollars worth of transactions in the United States, including many of SL Green’s largest office acquisitions and helped lead the formation of public company Gramercy Capital Corp—an early entrant in the specialty finance business. He also led and expanded SL Green’s structured finance platform and was directly responsible for Green Loan Services, the Company’s special servicing arm that serves by SL Green and third-party lenders. In addition, Mr. Schonbraun has built and maintained key relationships with top institutional borrowers, lenders and brokers. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Princeton University and has been named for multiple years in Commercial Observer’s 50 Most Important People in Commercial Real Estate.

Thomas Braziel Managing Partner 507 CAPITAL

Thomas is a partner and co-founder at 507 Capital, a distressed investing firm. With seven years of experience founding and running a distressed investing fund prior to establishing 507 Capital in 2019, Thomas has developed extensive expertise in the field. He has played a pivotal role in almost every crypto distressed situation, starting with MtGox in 2015. He has also been involved in other crypto insolvencies such as Bitcoinica, Cryptopia, Gigawatt, Voyager, Celsius, FTX, 3AC, among others, as a claim buyer and capital provider.

 Thomas holds a Master of Science in Applied Mathematics from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics and Economics from New York University. Interestingly, Thomas grew up around bankruptcy law as both his parents were bankruptcy attorneys.

Kenneth Ehrler Managing Director M3 PARTNERS

Kenneth Ehrler, Managing Director, M3 Partners, LP

Ken Ehrler brings more than 15 years of experience leading financial restructuring and value creation engagements. Ken is currently advising in several crypto-related cases, including advising the creditors (UCC) in Celsius Network and BlockFi Inc. Recently, he led out-of-court workout for US Bitcoin (bitcoin mining), and his industry experience also includes on/off chain asset tracing, investigating potential token manipulation and other causes of action, and evaluating existing and new product opportunities including mining, staking, and other digital products.

Prior to M3, Ken was a leader in EY’s strategy consulting practice, advising corporate clients on capital allocation and enterprise and business unit strategy. His engagements included managing activist investors, executing/integrating acquisitions, digital transformation, new market entry, and intelligent automation. He has partnered directly with CEO and CFO clients to develop and execute financial and operational transformation plans while managing board, vendor, and investor relationships.

Ken received a B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Cornell University and an MBA with Honors from The Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania.

Michael Maloney CEO and Founder ROYALE HOLDINGS

Michael Maloney is a digital currency and blockchain technology expert who has been active in the space since 2011. He is the CEO and Founder of Royale Holdings, a Web 3.0 blockchain technology that bridges the gap between institutional finance and DeFi. 

Royale recently launched the Royale ETH Totale Return Fund –the first fully regulatory-compliant staking trust that allows investors to easily purchase and stake digital assets through their traditional brokerage account.

Royale also develops institutional-grade client nodes for POS blockchain networks (Ethereum, Solana, etc.) that support client-specific microservices. Royale has also developed MEB3EX(“Most Efficient Block Beacon for Best Execution”), a novel transaction selection engine for POS networks which increases combats negative front-running and encourages fair market making. Michael is presently an Adjunct Professor at Fordham Law School and Fordham Gabelli Business, (since August 2019), and co-teaching "Blockchain, Virtual Currencies, and Tokens: Business and Legal Issues" at Wharton School of Business. Michael was a founding employee of Galaxy Digital as the Head of Advisory. At Galaxy, he directed the Digital Strategy and Transaction Advisory practice to assist clients in the building and financing of blockchain technologies. Michael also previously served as the CFO for Coinmint, LLC from July 2019 to October 2021and was a founding member of Ernst & Young’s Distributed Ledger Technology group and led global blockchain development for the firm from June 2013 to September 2017.

David Turetsky Partner WHITE & CASE

David Turetsky is a partner in the Financial Restructuring and Insolvency Practice at White & Case. David represents companies and other parties in complex business reorganizations, out-of-court restructurings and workouts, debt restructurings, and insolvency matters. Recognized as an "Emerging Leader" by M&A Advisor, David has advised on the restructuring of billions of dollars of debt across a variety of industries and jurisdictions.

David has played a significant role representing numerous debtors in their Chapter 11 cases, including Atlas Resource Partners, FiberMark, GenTek, Herbst Gaming, Savient Pharmaceuticals, Spectrum Brands, Sterling Chemicals, Syms and Filene's Basement, and Winn-Dixie Stores.* The Savient Pharmaceuticals Chapter 11 sale to Crealta Pharmaceuticals was recognized by Turnaround Atlas as the "Pharmaceuticals Turnaround" of the Year in 2015.* In 2007, the reorganization of Winn-Dixie Stores was named the "Mega Turnaround of the Year" by Turnaround Management Association.*

David also has had substantial involvement representing companies in connection with out-of-court restructurings, refinancings and workouts, including Archstone, DS Waters, ION Media Networks and Residential Capital.* The out-of-court restructuring of DS Waters was recognized as one of the "Most Successful Restructurings of 2012" by Turnarounds & Workouts.* In 2008, the comprehensive recapitalization of ION Media Networks was recognized as the "Turnaround Deal of the Year" (Media, Telecom & Technology) and as the "Refinancing Deal of the Year" by The M&A Advisor.*

In addition, David has played a significant role representing creditors, sponsors, and other interested parties in connection with Chapter 11 cases and out-of-court restructurings, including: Apax Partners in the out-of-court restructuring of Contech; Citibank, Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank Securities in their litigation arising out of an exit financing for Solutia; claimants in the pre-negotiated Chapter 11 Case of Signal International; Clayton, Dubilier & Rice in the Chapter 11 reorganization of CHC Group; Credit Suisse as agent for a syndicate of lenders to Ginn Resorts; the official equity committee in Chemtura’s Chapter 11 case; Pfizer Inc. in connection with aspects of Quigley’s Chapter 11 case; and Sealed Air Corporation in connection with the Chapter 11 case of W.R. Grace.

In 2017, David was named a BTI Client Service All-Star in recognition of his outstanding client service.  David has been recognized as a "Top Rated Bankruptcy Attorney" by Super Lawyers and received an "Emerging Leader" award from M&A Advisor for being among the top 40 M&A, financing and turn­around professionals under the age of 40. David also repeatedly has been selected as one of the country's "Outstanding Young Restructuring Lawyers" by Turnarounds & Workouts. In addition, David has been selected as a member of the International Insolvency Institute’s "Next Generation," has served as a member of the New York City Bar Committee on Restructuring and Reorganization, and is a member of the UJA-Federation’s "Next Generation" Bankruptcy & Reorganization Group.

James Wheaton Special Counsel to the Director of Enforcement US CFTC

James Wheaton is currently Special Counsel to the CFTC's Director of Enforcement. He previously spent twelve years as a Senior Trial Attorney at the CFTC investigating and litigating a wide variety of matters including offline communications, digital assets, fraud and market manipulation in swaps, and insider trading. He has taking leading roles in the Division's ongoing litigations CFTC v Rivoire and CFTC v Gorman.

Before government James worked as a litigation associate at both Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison and at Pillsbury Winthrop. James is a graduate of the NYU School of Law and Stanford University.