Membership Committee
The primary responsibility of the Membership Committee is to consider applications for ACIC membership and to recommend those applicants meeting the membership criteria of the College to the Board of Trustees for a membership vote. In discharging this responsibility, the Membership Committee considers the totality of a candidate’s responses in his/her application, with particular emphasis given to (i) the portion of the applicant’s practice which is devoted to representing institutional investors, (ii) indicative transactions or other legal representations on behalf of institutional investors demonstrating the applicant’s representation of institutional investors, (iii) participation by the applicant in the activities of the College (e.g. forums and educational meetings), and (iv) other factors which the Board of Trustees has determined to be relevant to the College. The committee also reviews, and refers to the Board, applications for Emeritus status from long-time members who are retiring but want to remain plugged in to the College. Finally, the Membership Committee seeks to implement various initiatives to improve the onboarding experience of new members in the College and to encourage active engagement in the College among the membership generally.
Development Committee
The Development Committee is tasked with engaging the membership, assessing and addressing membership needs and interests, and planning some of the interactive events at the April Conferences and October Meetings. Any questions can be directed to Tina Smith, Renée Dailey or Maureen Cronin. We look forward to seeing everyone at the Spring Investment Forum where some of the Development Committee’s creativity will be on display.
Communications Committee
The Communications Committee is responsible for communications among the College’s members and for communications between the College and the investment community at large. The Committee’s responsibility includes the publication of the College’s monthly newsletter, Private Notes. Among other items of interest to the College’s members, the monthly newsletter includes summaries of recent judicial decisions, information about job openings, and CLE announcements. The current co-chairs of the Communications Committee are Bryan Cho (MetLife), Lisa Conmy (Foley & Lardner), and Luke Weedon (Baker Botts). The current co-editors of the College’s monthly newsletter are Danielle Maksimow (Norton Rose Fulbright Canada) and Josephine Vashi (AIG Investments). If any Fellow of the College is interested in joining the Communications Committee, please reach out to any of the co-chairs of the Committee – the Committee is always looking for new volunteers, and it is a great way to get introduced to the College and its Fellows!
Website Committee
The Website Committee works to keep the content on our website updated and relevant. As the public “face” of the ACIC, they are always looking for ways to enhance users’ experiences, both by keeping people informed and by making the information as accessible and seamless as possible. If you have any suggestions, please reach out to one of the committee co-chairs, Melody Cross (Schiff Hardin) Michael Fierro (Prudential) or Tom O’Connor (Aikin Gump) .
Education Committee
The Education Committee assists the Annual Meeting and Spring Forum co-chairs in planning, coordinating, developing and implementing the panels, presentations and similar educational programs to be presented and discussed at each of the College’s semiannual conferences. In addition, the Education Committee is responsible for identifying topics of current interest to be presented and discussed at educational events attended by Fellows of the College and invited guests. We hope you all learned a lot from the first CLE of the year: “Make-Whole after Ultra: Key Take-Aways from the Fifth Circuit’s Decision in Ultra” (held on January 30, featuring Stefanie Greer (Prudential), Renee Dailey (Akin Gump), Kate Lindsay (Aikn Gump), Chip Fisher (Akin Gump) and Andrew Gallo (Morgan Lewis). Special thanks to our Fellows at Akin Gump for hosting this terrific and timely program, hot on the heels of a significant appellate decision on a topic of perennial interest to the College. The Education Committee is currently assisting the meeting co-chairs in wrapping up preparations for the 2019 Spring Investment Forum in Chicago, and reminds all Fellows to please mark their calendars for April 4 and 5 and register—it is going to be a terrific event and will feature some special guests, including former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates! For the remainder of the year, the Education Committee will be focusing its attention on plans for the 2019 Annual Meeting and organizing more 1-hour CLE events. Be on the lookout for invitations to their next event scheduled for March 7th entitled “Aircraft Financing” with guest lecturer, Michael Draz, Partner, Vedder Price and moderated by Randy Creighton of Allstate Investments. Please register for this informative CLE on the ACIC website. As always, the Education Committee encourages Fellows to submit ideas for panels and CLE topics to co-chairs Mary Jo Quinn (All State), Brenda Page (Hartford) and James Roberts (AIG). Help keep our membership on the cutting edge of institutional investing!
Transaction Process Management Committee
The Transaction Process Management Committee (TPMC) is responsible for the continued development of the Model Form Note Purchase Agreements. Over the last few years the TPMC has updated both the domestic and cross-border Model Form Note Purchase Agreements. The TPMC is in the process of finalizing the updated Model Form Make-Whole and Swap Indemnity Language for Swapped Notes as well as a Model Form Swap Indemnity Letter (to be utilized between circle and funding of private placement transactions). The initial drafts of these Model Forms were distributed to the market in May 2018 and the TPMC received comments back over the summer of 2018. The TPMC has now considered those as a group and included those agreed upon changes in the Model Form Make-Whole and Swap Indemnity Language and Model Form Swap Indemnity Letter. The final Model Form Make-Whole and Swap Indemnity Language and Model Form Swap Indemnity Letter will be released in February/March 2019.
There are other projects that the TPMC are tackling, including (a) standard LIBOR sunset provision, (b) providing for a maintenance of rating covenant (pertaining to private letter ratings) incorporating the necessary requirements of the TPMC in order for a private placement issuance to qualify for Filing Exempt with the SVO and (c) considering “global” Model Form NPAs taking into account the growing global investor base beyond just US insurance companies, which would affect (among others) the economic sanctions and tax withholding provisions.
