Dear Members of the Bankruptcy Section:

It is my privilege to serve as chair of the Bankruptcy Section during this fiscal year. The Section leadership is looking forward to a great year. You can find the officers, council members and committee chairs for the Bankruptcy Section by going to its webpage on the NCBA website.

I am excited that there are three new committees working for the Bankruptcy Section this year.

The Networking Committee led by Cindy Oliver, Samantha Bumbaugh and Andy Houston will have more networking events outside the Annual Bankruptcy Institute and Council meetings. This committee is the result of the members’ interests indicated by the survey conducted at the end of 2018. I encourage you to look for announcements of additional networking events this year.

Through the survey, the members also indicated interest in additional CLE beyond the Annual Bankruptcy Institute. A new committee led by Damon Duncan will seek to provide CLE in various formats.

Finally, the council approved last year a new Sponsorship Committee to seek to increase funding from sponsors for the support of the Annual Bankruptcy Institute in order to maintain the high quality of the presentations, particularly with keynote speakers, and the support of the bankruptcy judges, their law clerks, and the bankruptcy administrators. If you have an interest or experience in soliciting sponsors, please contact Jill Walters who is leading that committee.

As you may be aware from various announcements by the NCBA, it has a new dues structure which includes one section membership in the base price. I encourage Section members to invite those who may not be members of the Section to use the included section membership to join the Bankruptcy Section.

I also encourage each member to join one of the many committees of the Bankruptcy Section and become more involved. You can easily volunteer for a committee on the Bankruptcy Section’s web page found on the NCBA website.

Finally, I hope to see each of you at the Annual Bankruptcy Institute in Wilmington on Nov. 22-23. Our CLE Committee for the 2019 Annual Institute has been working hard to develop a great program. More information will be forthcoming.

If you have any questions or ideas, please contact me.

John Small, Chair
NCBA Bankruptcy Section 2019-2020

July 24, 2019/by Bankruptcy