Happy Saturday and welcome to CEO Speaks for Saturday, January 28th, 2023.

Being part of something bigger starts this week as over 900 friends and colleagues from all over TMA nation ascend to Las Vegas Nevada for the 2023 Distressed Investing Conference.   

From Atlanta to Australia.  From Mexico to Montreal.  With participants from Europe and all over North America too, this year we will together break into a new sphere of opportunity as we set the table for TMA 2023 right.

We will show what it means to be part of something bigger through the opportunities we share, the experiences we create, and the connections we make that reinforce how the depth of knowledge, professional diversity, intellectual curiosity, and relationships built on long-standing trust, define what it means to be part of something bigger through TMA.

I know like me you will be excited to participate in some of the most outstanding opportunities we have ever created at the dealmaking conference of the year and today I have a few highlights to share.

For the first time at a DIC, we will have an onsite TMA Boot Camp, where our participants will be part of this now foundational workshop experience, led by esteemed Certified Turnaround Professionals along with skilled lawyers and judges who will introduce the basics of turnaround, finance, management skills and legal principals as an introduction to the opportunities that abound for those who seek to pursue the CTA and CTP designation, a distinguishing factor in being hired as a chief restructuring officer.

Our Network of Women will again host what has now become one of our most coveted events, a sold-out luncheon where this year, TMA DIC co-chair and former Chicago-Mid—West President Angela Allen will moderate a panel featuring the power women of the casino industry, featuring executives Chris Flatt, Glenda Swain, and Lee Long, executives of the Wynn and Encore who lead as women in one of the most revered casinos in the world.

Our keynote speaker Rosie Rios, a finance wizard who served as 43rd Treasurer of the United States and who was the CEO of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the U.S. Mint, including Fort Knox, will share her insights on the wild ride this economic cycle has in store.  As part of this outstanding luncheon program, TMA Global President Jim Van Horn, Barnes & Thornburg LLP, and TMA NOW member Pauline Chow will moderate a fireside chat with Rosie in what will be something not to be missed.

And for you, VIPs, a meet and greet with Rosie will follow the luncheon keynote, where she will sign dollar bills her name is engraved on as a keepsake from this one-of-a-kind defining event.

We will bring our NextGen/International and First-time attendees together at a special welcome reception and together they will see in real-time what it means to be part of something bigger.   This year we again have a record number of first-time attendees at the conference and 15 international leaders and members from all over the globe including Australia, Asia, Europe, and Mexico too.  

There’s no better way to show that you are part of something bigger than being in a room that is something bigger too!

Our Mega Trend 6.0 panel, the centerpiece of our education experience, will set the conference day right where senior executives Sally Barton of Key Bank, Carolyn Glick of BlackRock, Adam Kaufman of Raymond James, and Laura Marcero of Huron Consulting Group, share their insights on economic factors and geopolitical trends that will be the drivers for distressed deals this year.

We will talk about energy instability with a panel that will include professionals from near and far including DLA Peiper partner and former U.S. Ambassador to Romania Adrain Zuckerman and former TMA Europe President, TMA Global International VP, and TMA Italy President Enrica Maria Ghia, amongst others.

That’s just the beginning of what will dazzle and delight with relevant, real, and interesting education that will both dive deep and at the same time keep it interesting and conversational on topics of the day that will inspire and ignite, like questions of risk and regulation, Lender-on-Lender Violence and the Deals and Steals that are emerging because of shifts in consumer spending.

And if that were not enough to fill your DIC dance card, our ever-popular TMA- SFNet Opening reception will show how being part of something bigger will bring into our big tent our ABL colleagues in a night that will kick off this defining conference experience right.

Our Capital Forum Networking reception will boast over 40 capital providers from all over the globe, ready to make a deal and connect as we together navigate something bigger in a year with many economic unknowns.

This is what it means to be a part of something bigger.  A bigger, broader more expansive TMA DIC experience that has something for everyone and again highlights the people, presence, and power of TMA.

None of this would be possible without the generosity of our record 64 sponsors, including elite sponsors B. Riley, eCapital, and Sherwood Partners, along with our Signature, Advocate, Patron, and event sponsors, who have stepped up to support this elevated and defining experience.  Thank you!

Lastly, please take moment to hear the following names, for these are the esteemed members of this year’s DIC conference planning committee who drove the stellar programming that you will experience next week.

Thank you to Morris Alhale, AlixPartners, Angela Allen, Jenner & Block Partner, Lyle Bauck, M3 Partners, Alicia Den Beste, epiq, Liz Gonzalez, Paladin, Mark Iammartino, Development Specialists Inc., Molly Jobe, CohnReznick LLP, Jill Kirshenbaum, Briar Capital Real Estate Fund, Jay Krasoff, Chiron Financial LLC, Roger Maldonado, Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath, Alex Porter, Lathrop GPM, Dawn Ragen,  CR3 Partners, and Stuart Walker, Armory Strategic Partners as well as 2022 VP of Conferences Rachael Smiley, Ferguson Braswell Fraser Kubasta PC and 2023 VP of Conferences Frank Gramaldi, Gordon Brothers for so selflessly giving of your time, for your creative forethought and for working together to bring the imagination of the possible to the reality that is about to unfold.  Each and every one of you stands out for what it means to be better together and TMA Proud.

I look forward to greeting one and all next week at the TMA 2023 Distressed Investing Conference, where I will again have the distinct privilege of connecting with old friends and new, all while together celebrating what it means to be a part of something bigger through TMA.

As always, thanks for taking the time to listen today.  In the one connection that is you, your input is critical, your contributions paramount, and your engagement is the foundation that will create a better TMA for all of our members.

Until next time, I’m Scott Stuart.  Be safe, resilient, and TMA Proud. And for those who will be in Las Vegas this week for the 2023 TMA Distressed Investing Conference, see you there!