Contributed by Benjamin Cordiano (Morgan Lewis)
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The ACIC is pleased to congratulate and welcome its newest officers and trustees. The following individuals were elected to the positions described below during the ACIC’s annual meeting.
Officers for 2022-2023:
- President: Renée M. Dailey (Akin Gump Straus Hauer & Feld LLP)
- Vice President 1: Luke Weedon (Baker Botts L.L.P.)
- Vice President 2: Melody R. Cross (The Prudential Insurance Company of America)
- Secretary: Patti Boss (Voya Investment Management LLC)
- Treasurer: Bryan S. Cho (MetLife Investment Management)
Class of 2025 Trustees, each to serve for a three-year term:
- Jenna Jenson (Thrivent Financial)
- Kevin C. Knohl (ArentFox Schiff LLP)
- Kate Lindsay (MetLife Investment Management)
Please continue reading to learn more about the ACIC’s esteemed new officers and trustees!
Renée M. Dailey (Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP)
Renée Dailey advises institutional investors in U.S., Australian and cross-border financial restructuring matters. The Legal 500 described her as a “first-class restructuring lawyer with a strong work ethic” who is “especially adept at pursuing matters that require persistence and focus.”
Renée frequently represents public and private noteholder groups and bank groups in amendment and consent requests, complex out-of-court restructurings, and in-court proceedings in the United States and internationally. She also advises clients on their general investment activities and proposed investment structures, with a focus on the mitigation of financial risk.
She has extensive experience advising insurance companies on their front-end investment structures and workouts. Renée’s experience spans a broad range of industries, including oil and gas, power, engineering and construction, real estate and mining.
Luke Weedon (Baker Botts L.L.P.)
Luke Weedon devotes a significant part of his practice to secured and unsecured syndicated bank financings, including the representation of agent lenders and borrowers in connection with working capital facilities, acquisition financings, bridge loans, asset-based loans, first lien/second lien financings, letter of credit facilities and project financings. In addition, Mr. Weedon devotes a substantial part of his practice to the representation of issuers and underwriters in secured and unsecured high-yield debt offerings, including liability management transactions.
Private placements of securities constitute another component of Mr. Weedon’s practice, primarily representing institutional purchasers in transactions involving senior secured and unsecured note offerings, mezzanine investments and other forms of junior capital.
Mr. Weedon also represents clients in connection with structured receivables arrangements, ISDA master agreements, bilateral guarantee facilities, workouts, debt restructurings and debtor-in-possession financings.
From an industry standpoint, a majority of Mr. Weedon’s practice involves domestic and cross-border energy finance, in particular midstream, offshore drilling, offshore construction and oilfield services. He also has significant experience with technology and manufacturing companies.
Mr. Weedon serves as partner in charge of the firm’s Dallas office.
Melody Cross (The Prudential Insurance Company of America)
Melody Cross is Vice President & Corporate Counsel for Prudential Private Capital. Her responsibilities include providing legal support to Prudential’s investment teams focusing on direct lending, corporate finance, mezzanine and cross-border transactions. Prior to joining Prudential, Melody was a partner in the Finance Group at Schiff Hardin LLP where she counseled institutional investors (and occasionally borrowers) in a variety of domestic and cross-border transactions including senior, mezzanine, private placements, and equity transactions.
Melody received her J.D. from Vanderbilt University where she was a member of the Order of the Coif and her B.S. from Northwestern University as a communications and history double major.
Melody previously served as a Trustee of the American College of Investment Counsel and is a co-chair of the Website and Social Media Committee. She lives on the north side of the city of Chicago with her husband, two elementary-aged daughters and an 18 year old cat.
Patti Boss (Voya Investment Management)
Patti Boss is Senior Vice President, Head of Private Credit Legal for Voya Investment Management. She heads the legal group that is responsible for all matters related to the structuring, documentation and negotiation of privately placed transactions, including secured, structured and international transactions, as well as the amendments and restructuring of existing investments. Prior to joining Voya she practiced law in the capital markets group of Bingham & McCutchen (formerly Hebb & Gitlin and now Morgan, Lewis & Bockius) in its Hartford and London offices where she represented institutional lenders in debt, mezzanine and equity transactions. She was also an associate with Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe in New York City, working primarily in the energy and debt financing groups.
Patti received her A.B. degree in biology from Smith College and a J.D. degree, cum laude, from Boston College Law School.
Patti served as a Trustee of the American College of Investment Counsel, and is a co-chair of the Membership Committee as well as a member of the Education Committee.
Bryan S. Cho (MetLife)
Bryan Cho is Vice President & Associate General Counsel at MetLife Investment Management located in Whippany, New Jersey. Bryan leads the fixed income and workouts legal team and provides advice and counsel to MetLife’s investment professionals domestically and abroad on a wide range of debt and alternative investments, including private placements, infrastructure, project financings and public bonds.
Prior to joining MetLife, Bryan was an associate at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in New York focusing on representing investment banks, financial institutions, sponsors and corporations on a broad array of financing transactions and general corporate matters.
Bryan received his J.D., magna cum laude, Order of the Coif, from Boston College Law School where he was an editor of the Boston College Law Review and received his B.S. in Policy Analysis and Management from Cornell University.
Jenna Jenson (Thrivent Financial)
Jenna Jenson is Vice President, Managing Counsel of Investments for Thrivent Financial. In this role, she leads Thrivent’s Investments legal department. Thrivent has approximately $189 billion in assets under management or advisement as of the 2021 fiscal year end.
Jenna serves as the primary attorney for Thrivent’s $5.3 billion private equity portfolio and its $1.6 billion real estate private equity portfolio. She serves as a member of the Development Committee for the ACIC, and is the Chair of Investments for the Association of Life Insurance Counsel.
In Jenna’s spare time, she is busy chasing around her 7-year convincing him to eat his vegetables – he has proven to be quite the formidable opponent.
Kevin C. Knohl (ArentFox Schiff LLP)
Kevin Knohl is a partner in the Chicago office of ArentFox Schiff LLP. He regularly represents financial institutions and institutional investors — including funds — in a wide variety of financing matters.
Leveraging his understanding of client business issues and concerns and legal insights, Kevin seeks to achieve optimal results for clients engaged in complex financial transactions. Kevin collaborates with clients to provide strategically appropriate, cost-effective solutions that address even their most intricate business issues.
Kevin received his JD, cum laude, from the University of Michigan Law School and received his BA, cum laude, Phi Alpha Theta, from Wake Forest University.
Kate Lindsay (MetLife)
Kate Lindsay is senior counsel on the fixed income investments team at MetLife Investment Management. She is the primary attorney on fixed income workouts, and advises on new private placement, infrastructure, and bank finance transactions. Kate serves on MetLife’s Legal Affairs Pro Bono and Volunteer Committee, and maintains an active pro bono practice representing children who are trauma/abuse survivors.
Kate has been a fellow of the American College of Investment Counsel for 10+ years, was co-chair of the Spring 2019 conference, and serves as co-chair of the Development Committee. She is also fellow of the American Bar Foundation. Kate is a double husky, having graduated from the University of Connecticut in 2005 (BA, economics, summa cum laude) and 2008 (JD, honors). In her spare time, she enjoys traveling and working on (or at least complaining about) old cars. Kate recently relocated to Chicago after 15+ years in Hartford because she got tired of the cold New England winters.
