Happy Summer 2018 to all our members!
We had a tremendous Spring Investment Forum in Chicago in April. Bill Bulmer (Prudential) and Cathy Hood (Pillsbury) orchestrated “Chicago – Our Kind of Town” which showcased panels on energy financing, private equity, project financing, private ratings, and restructuring and intercreditor issues, while also offering two panels with potential ethics credit (anti-bias and diversity and the complexities of representing a group of clients in a restructuring).
We rolled out the Attendify app for the first time at this conference, which provided attendees with the conference schedule, list of attendees, access to panel materials and the opportunity to participate in live polling questions peppered throughout the program. We also leveraged the app’s ability to collect evaluations and feedback, and we will use that information to make our programs better.
Tina Smith (Thrivent Financial), Brenda Page (Hartford), Chris Dallas (Pacific Life) and Armando Gamboa (Prudential) hosted a breakfast on Thursday morning for new(er) members and shared their thoughts on how the ACIC works and how to optimize the benefits of membership.
With attendance at its highest level since 2010, the atmosphere at the Four Seasons was upbeat and energized. We thank our co-chairs for their hard work and dedication to putting the program together, and we extend our appreciation to all of the moderators and speakers who joined us at the Four Seasons and contributed their time and talent to an interesting, engaging conference.
In addition to contributing ideas for topics and speakers for our Annual Meeting and Spring Investment Forum, the Education Committee has also been hard at work producing one-hour CLE programs, the latest being the March 2018 program on the phase out of LIBOR, which was also well-attended. Stay tuned for two more interesting one hour CLE opportunities coming to you before the end of 2018.
The Website committee has been updating the ACIC website.
The Transaction Process Management Committee recently published the Updated Model Swap Breakage provisions. Our model forms and provisions are valued and utilized by the entire private placement market, and bring meaningful efficiencies to the placement of securities in this market. The TPMC’s ongoing commitment to updating the forms for new developments is critical to the acceptance of these forms. We thank all of the members of the TPMC who contributed to the development of the Model Swap Breakage provisions.
The Communication Committee is prolific in its publication of Private Notes which comes straight to your inbox by email, and is also linked to the ACIC LinkedIn account. If you are not “following” the ACIC on LinkedIn, I encourage you to do so to be sure you do not miss the tremendous content provided by our regional case law reporters as well as the Communications Committee members themselves. Thank you to the co-editors and all contributors to the Private Notes.
The Development Committee brings a creative flair to our conferences, making them engaging and fun. Their work can be seen in the evaluation questions in the Attendify app, in the swag bags for the conference and in the details at the reception. We appreciate all they do to enhance the College.
If you want to get involved in our committees, please reach out and find out where you can plug in. The experience of being a member of the ACIC is enhanced through your participation.
Our 2018 Annual Meeting and Education Conference will be co-chaired by Michael Shepherd (Genworth) and Sarah Smith (Akin Gump) and is already shaping up to be an outstanding program. The Annual Meeting will again be held at the Grand Hyatt New York (Grand Central Station) October 18th and 19th. Contact the hotel now to reserve your room and watch for the link to register for our program.
I look forward to seeing you in New York in October!
Carolyn
