Subchapter V: A Practical Look at the First 12 Months of the Small Business Reorganization Act

Iana A. Vladimirova, CPA is a bankruptcy attorney and commercial litigator in the Madison, Wis., office of Husch Blackwell. A former auditor for a Big Four accounting firm, she helps clients understand bankruptcy and commercial litigation matters, and is experienced in all types of insolvency matters, having represented both debtors and creditors in chapter 7, 11, 12 and 13 proceedings, foreclosure actions and state court receiverships.

Ms. Vladimirova’s commercial litigation experience includes cases involving fraud, embezzlement, fraudulent transfers, Ponzi schemes and theft-by-contractor, which often lead to bankruptcy filings. She has been recognized for her work in bankruptcy, creditor/debtor rights/insolvency and reorganization law in The Best Lawyers in America. In addition to her bankruptcy practice representing creditors, Ms. Vladimirova serves as a subchapter V trustee for the U.S. Bankruptcy Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Wisconsin and the Northern District of Illinois, and she sits on the advisory board of ABI’s Central States Bankruptcy Workshop.

Ms. Vladimirova received her undergraduate degree in accounting from Missouri Southern State University, her Master’s degree in accountancy from the University of Virginia, and her J.D. from Fordham University School of Law.

Neema Varghese, CIRA is a managing director with NV Consulting Services in Chicago and is a seasoned financial advisor and independent director in complex situations. She advises clients through liquidity management, transaction advisory services, turnarounds and protecting creditor interests.

Ms. Varghese has served a number of industries, including health care, retail, financial services, oil/gas, pharma, manufacturing and transportation, and typically has direct reporting responsibilities to C-suite executive teams, boards of directors and debt/equity investor groups.

Ms. Varghese has more than 15 years of experience in managing comprehensive M&A diligence (buy-side and sell-side efforts), restructuring, bankruptcy and disputes engagements. She has aided companies through cash-management issues, worked through receiverships, prepared entities for liquidations and going-concern sales of parts or entire businesses, and guided secured lenders and private-equity firms through healthy and troubled portfolio companies.

In 2019, Ms. Varghese was appointed by the Department of Justice to serve as a subchapter V trustee for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. She has represented the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in assessing damages resulting from a $2.5 billion bank failure engaged primarily in mortgage-backed securities. Previously, she was a portfolio manager with Merrill Lynch’s Specials Assets group, working with a $100MM portfolio, consistently maximizing recovery and minimizing charge-off exposure.

Ms. Varghese is a board member of the Turnaround Management Association, a volunteer tax-preparer and a 2016 winner of the M&A Advisor’s Emerging Leader Award. She received her B.S. in accountancy from the University of Illinois at Urbana – Champaign.

Christopher Mu?iz is the administrative attorney for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Indiana in Indianapolis. In this role, he delivers substantiative legal advice to the clerk of the bankruptcy court and operations staff, and assists with the procedural management of the court’s caseload, including specific responsibility for appellate issues. He also provides procedural guidance to pro se parties while overseeing the court’s pro bono and pro se programs and plays an instrumental part in the court’s annual revision of its local rules.
For close to two decades prior to joining the court in 2018, Mr. Mu?iz concentrated his practice in the areas of bankruptcy and commercial litigation at Scalambrino & Arnoff, LLP in Chicago, where he represented individual and small business debtors, creditors, chapter 7 trustees and creditors’ committees in chapter 7 and 13 bankruptcy cases. He also handled a wide variety of bankruptcy litigation matters, representing individual debtors, corporations and single-asset real estate debtors in successful chapter 11 reorganization cases.

Mr. Mu?iz is the founder and local coordinator of the Indianapolis chapter of the Credit Abuse Resistance Education program (CARE); his work earned him the CARE’s Rising Star Award for 2019. He also is the current secretary of the Indiana State Bar Association’s Bankruptcy & Creditors’ Rights Section.

Mr. Mu?iz received his B.S. in psychology from Bradley University in Peoria, Ill., in 1996 and his J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law in 1999.

Brendan G. Best is a partner at Varnum LLP in Detroit and serves as chair of its Restructuring Group and co-chair of its Banking, Restructuring and Finance Practice Team. He focuses on complex chapter 11 restructurings, out-of-court workouts and insolvency-related transactions and litigation.

Mr. Best has experience advising stakeholders in insolvency-related matters across a wide array of industries. In recognition of his achievements in bankruptcy and restructuring, he is routinely honored as a top practitioner by publications that include DBusiness magazine, The Best Lawyers in America and Michigan Super Lawyers.

Mr. Best is a board member and past president of the Turnaround Management Association’s Detroit Chapter, a longstanding ABI member, and a frequent writer and speaker on restructuring and bankruptcy-related topics.

Mr. Best received his B.A. cum laude in 1997 from The George Washington University and his J.D. cum laude in 2003 from Wayne State University Law School, where he was admitted to the Order of the Coif and was a member of the Wayne Law Review.

Michael E. Ridgway is a judge on the United States bankruptcy court, District of Minnesota. He was appointed to the court on May 20, 2013, and his current term will expire on May 19, 2027.

Judge Ridgway has spent seventeen years in private practice, but has also worked in public service. Prior to joining the court, Ridgway was a Trial Attorney with the United States Trustee's Program. He also served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the U.S. Attorney's Office in the District of South Dakota. Judge Ridgway was elected county prosecutor, a position he served in for five years.

Judge Ridgway received his undergraduate degree from Yankton College in 1978 College and his J.D. from the University of Notre Dame Law School in 1981.