Distressed Market Conditions: The New Bankruptcy Wave

William Rule is Senior Economist in the Judicial Services Office of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. His primary role is the application of quantitative methods to the analysis of the bankruptcy system. Most of his analyses are provided to the Judicial Conference Committee on the Administration of the Bankruptcy System and to the Chief of the Judicial Services Office to assist with recommendations and determinations related to bankruptcy rules, policies, and procedures and numbers of judgeships. In addition to his work for the Administrative Office, he works directly with bankruptcy courts on long range planning, court performance analyses, location decisions and other issues. He also provides assistance to the Judicial Data and Analysis Office, the Associate Director for the Department of Program Services and the Space and Facilities directorate.

Prior to joining the staff of the Judicial Services Office, he staffed the Judicial Conference’s Long Range Planning Committee and assisted in the development of the first comprehensive long range plan for the federal judiciary.

Before joining the Administrative Office, he worked in the management consulting divisions of Coopers & Lybrand and KPMG Peat Marwick where he was senior project manager responsible for economic analysis, econometric and mathematical modeling and statistical analysis for domestic and international clients in the private and public sectors.

He holds an undergraduate degree in economics with a math minor from Macalester College, and a Ph.D. in economics from Virginia Tech, where he specialized in monetary theory and policy, industrial organization and econometrics. He has taught in the Virginia Tech graduate economics program as well as for the USDA Graduate School in Washington, D.C. He has also served as an adjunct scholar and member of the advisory committee for the Beacon Hill Institute for Public Policy Research. He is a fellow of the Royal Statistical Society.

While he has published a number of really boring papers on various subjects, he has tended to spend much more time assisting others in their research by providing data and analysis. Thus he is mentioned much more often in footnotes than in author citations.

During his over 25-year career, Marc Puntus has led restructuring, financing and M&A assignments for companies, creditors, acquirers, shareholders and other stakeholders across a wide array of industries, including retail and consumer, energy, general industrial, chemicals, automotive, transportation, telecommunications and technology, leisure, hospitality and gaming, healthcare, and financial institutions.

Mr. Puntus joined Centerview Partners in 2011 to establish its restructuring and debt advisory practice, which he co-heads. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Puntus was a Managing Director and founder of Miller Buckfire & Co. Before that he was a member of the financial restructuring group of Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, and prior to joining DrKW. Mr. Puntus was a Partner in the Business, Finance and Restructuring department of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP.

Mr. Puntus is a member of several industry trade organizations, including the American Bankruptcy Institute and the Turnaround Management Association and is a frequent lecturer on restructuring, financing and M&A topics. Mr. Puntus is a steadfast supporter and board member of various charitable and educational organizations. He serves on the Board of Advisors of the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University.

Mr. Puntus received a J.D. (cum laude) from Boston University School of Law and a B.S.B.A./Finance (magna cum laude) from Georgetown University.

James D. Decker, CIRA is the founder of JDecker & Company, Inc. in Atlanta, which is focused on corporate governance, transactional advisory and litigation support. As an independent director, he serves on the boards of middle-market private companies typically undergoing transformational events.

Mr. Decker’s board service has included the capacities of board chairman and chair of special committees and restructuring committees. He is qualified as an Audit Committee Financial Expert. In addition, he has also served as an arbitrator and testifying expert, and is well versed in the fiduciary obligations of directors.

For the 30 years prior to founding JDecker & Company in 2019, Mr. Decker was an investment banker and advisor in the U.S. middle market, with a focus on advising clients in complex corporate finance transactions, mergers & acquisitions, recapitalizations and restructurings. He advised owners, boards, special committees, management teams and creditors across a wide range of industries and circumstances.

In the course of his investment banking career, Mr. Decker originated and completed hundreds of transactions worth in excess of $30 billion. These included restructurings, exclusive sales, acquisitions, special-situation financings, leveraged buyouts, loan placements, recapitalizations and valuations. He also recruited, developed and managed large teams of professionals at a variety of prominent institutions, including Guggenheim Securities, Morgan Joseph, Alvarez & Marsal and Houlihan Lokey.

Mr. Decker is a Fellow in the American College of Bankruptcy and has twice received Turnaround of the Year Awards from The M&A Advisor. He is also a past director of the Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Advisors (AIRA), a former co-chair of ABI’s Investment Banking Committee and a former director of the Turnaround Management Association (TMA).

Mr. Decker enjoys teaching and is a frequent speaker on corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, capital markets and financial restructuring. He maintains Series 7, 24 and 63 FINRA licenses. Mr. Decker received his B.A. in economics and geology from Vanderbilt University and his M.B.A. in business administration with a concentration in finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Kathryn A. (Katie) Coleman, a partner in Hughes Hubbard & Reed’s New York office, has handled a wide range of insolvency-sensitive and other high-stakes matters in her more than 30 years in practice, including dealing with “bet-the-company” litigation claims, chapter 11 cases for US and non-US companies, cross-border insolvency matters, out-of-court restructurings, acquisitions and investments. Her clients include individuals and companies defending trade-secret theft and Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act lawsuits, companies restructuring their financial affairs, traditional and nontraditional secured lenders, unsecured creditors (both official committees and significant creditors for their own account), equity holders, potential acquirers, equity sponsors, and financial and strategic buyers.

Ms. Coleman is a trusted advisor to the inner management circles of her clients, with substantial expertise in advising management and boards of directors on corporate governance, fiduciary duty, and D&O insurance matters.

Ms. Coleman has advised clients on, and litigated at the trial and appellate levels, the significant legal issues inherent in modern restructuring and financial practice, including contested plan confirmations, prepackaged plans, credit bidding, exclusivity, debtor-in-possession financings, valuation, adequate protection of security interests, the ability to collaterally attack orders of the bankruptcy court and cash collateral usage. She has substantial experience litigating venue, remand, removal and stay issues, and has represented recovery trustees dealing with a myriad of post-confirmation issues and litigation.

Ms. Coleman is a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy. She serves on the board of directors of the American Bankruptcy Institute, and co-chairs its annual Complex Financial Restructuring Program. She frequently speaks on bankruptcy law and distressed investing, participating in programs sponsored by the Practising Law Institute, the American Bankruptcy Institute, Turnaround Management Association, ARA, the M&A Advisor, the New York City Bar Association, California Continuing Education of the Bar and the American Bar Association. She also serves on the Steering Committee of the NYC Bankruptcy Assistance Project.

Ms. Coleman was named a 2018 Bankruptcy MVP by Law360 and one of the 100 Most Influential Women in Business by the San Francisco Business Times. She is ranked by Chambers USA as a leading restructuring lawyer. Ms. Coleman was also designated a leading lawyer in bankruptcy in The Best Lawyers in America, and her expertise in cross-border insolvency was noted in the IFLR 500 and in PLC’s Cross-Border Restructuring and Insolvency Handbook.

Ms. Coleman graduated magna cum laude from Pomona College. She earned her J.D. from Boalt Hall School of Law (U.C. Berkeley), where she was elected to the Order of the Coif. She served as Senior Articles Editor of the California Law Review and is the author of “Arnel Development Co. v. City of Costa Mesa: Rezoning by Initiative and Landowners’ Due Process Rights,” 70 Cal. L. Rev. 1107(1982).

Ms. Coleman clerked for the Honorable C. Martin Pence, U.S. District Judge for the District of Hawaii.