President’s Message
By: Anthony D. Yager, Chapman and Cutler LLP
What an unusual year 2020 has been so far! Like me, I assume many of you have been relegated to working from home during quarantine on a makeshift desk, hoping to resume our normal lives soon. Fortunately, the weather has finally been nice enough here in the Midwest for the last month to spend some time outside.
Unfortunately, the Spring Investment Forum scheduled for Chicago in April was postponed due to the Coronavirus restrictions. We were looking forward to an exciting program co-hosted by Patti Boss (Voya) and Michael Robson (Greenberg). The good news is Patti and Mike have graciously offered to co-host the annual meeting in October in New York City so that we will get the opportunity to benefit from all of their planning and hard work. More exciting news to come on that front soon, so stay tuned! Also, thank you to all the moderators and panelists who were planning to present for their time and effort in preparing for the Spring Investment Forum, hopefully we’ll get to hear from you at the annual meeting.
Given the commitment of the Education Committee to provide quality CLE opportunities, they have already put on two one-hour CLE programs this year. The first was April 16 on the practical impacts of COVID-19 on Private Placement Transactions. On June 9th, we were provided with an overview of Schemes of Arrangement. Both one-hour CLE programs were very well attended. The Education Committee believes it is important to continue to provide quality CLE events for our members during this pandemic in particular, so stay tuned for more one-hour CLE opportunities in 2020.
As the COVID-19 crisis unfolded, the Transaction Process Management Committee (the “TPMC“) swung into action to address issues related to the inability to obtain original signature pages. We thank all of the members of the TPMC, as well as the experts recruited from outside the TPMC, who contributed to the development of those provisions.
The Website and Social Media Committee (co-chaired by Melody Cross (Prudential), Tom O’Connor (Akin Gump) and Mike Fierro (Prudential)) completed work on our website. Not only does it have a fresh new look, but it also includes new functionality. In addition, note that the Website and Social Media Committee recently added a resources page devoted to COVID-19. If you haven’t used the website recently, I encourage you to log on and take it for a spin! Thanks to all of the members of the Website and Social Media committee for their dedication to this project. The Website and Social Media Committee is always looking for ways to improve the functionality and value of the website, so if you have suggestions, please reach out to one of the co-chairs.
The Communications Committee has done a great job of keeping us up to date with the publication of Private Notes which comes straight to your inbox by email every month. Thank you to the co-editors and all contributors to the Private Notes.
This letter highlights some of the work done by our committees. If you want to get involved, please reach out directly to me or any of the committee co-chairs. Those who have actively participated on committees in the past will tell you it’s a rewarding experience, you’ll get to know some of your colleagues better, maybe learn something new, and get a better understanding of how the college works.
Looking forward to seeing you (either in person or virtually) in New York this October!
Even if you’re stuck at home in quarantine like I am, as the commercial says, I hope each of you can nevertheless “find your beach” this summer!
