50 Shades of Valuation

Hon. John K. Sherwood is a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the District of New Jersey in Newark, appointed in June 2015. In private practice, he had more than 25 years of experience in bankruptcy and debtor/creditor matters, including related litigation. Some of his noteworthy engagements were Ocean Place Development Resort (counsel to debtor), MagnaChip Semiconductor Finance Co. (counsel to creditors’ committee), Quebecor World (USA) Inc. (litigation counsel), Le Nature’s Inc. (counsel to creditors’ committee) and the City of Detroit (counsel to union).

Judge Sherwood was president of the New Jersey Bankruptcy Lawyers Foundation from 2008-13 and an active member of ABI and the Turnaround Management Association. He was selected by Chambers USA from 2013- 14 as one of America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, and he was recognized in The Best Lawyers in America (2012-15) for his work in bankruptcy and in Super Lawyers (2006, 2009-14), where he was featured in the bankruptcy section and corporate counsel edition.

Judge Sherwood received his undergraduate degree from James Madison University in 1983 and his J.D. in 1986 from Seton Hall University School of Law.

Anne Eberhardt is a Senior Director with Gavin/Solmonese based in New York City. She has more than twenty years of experience conducting forensic investigations, building financial reporting systems, resolving economic disputes, testing compliance, building and testing financial models, liquidating assets, and strengthening anti-corruption capacity in some of the world’s most difficult environments.

Her clients include top-tier financial services companies, global pharmaceutical companies, government agencies, and international non-governmental organizations. She is proficient in Spanish and is a frequent speaker on topics of corporate governance, fraud, anti-corruption, and money laundering.

Robert Stearn Jr. focuses his practice on bankruptcy litigation, including preference and fraudulent transfer litigation, as well as all types of contested matters. His clients include large corporate debtors as well as defendants in adversary proceedings and contested matters. Bob spent his first 10 years of practice in the firm’s Corporate Department and has substantial experience litigating corporate issues such as D&O liability. He also handles commercial disputes in the Delaware state and district courts.

Neil Gupta is a Director at SSG Capital Advisors. Neil works with investment banking clients on a wide range of transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, recapitalizations and private placements of both senior and subordinated debt and equity. His responsibilities include buyer and investor relationship management, strategic advisory and overall management of the deal process.

Prior to joining SSG, he advised the U.S. Treasury on its investment in the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) as a research analyst at Piedmont Investment Advisors. He also worked as a consulting actuary in the group benefits and health care practice at Watson Wyatt Worldwide.

Past client engagements include publicly traded, privately held, private equity sponsored and family owned businesses across a broad range of industries. Neil is a CFA Charterholder and holds a Certification in Distressed Business Valuation (CDBV). He is a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute, the Association for Corporate Growth and the Turnaround Management Association. He also serves on the serves on the Board of Directors of the Philadelphia chapter of the TMA, the Board of Directors for the Consumer Bankruptcy Assistance Project and the ACG New York Forward Committee.

Neil received The M&A Advisor’s 8th Annual Emerging Leaders Award in 2017

Hon. Maria Ellena Chavez-Ruark is a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the District of Maryland in Baltimore, appointed in 2020. Prior to joining the bench, she was a partner in the Bankruptcy and Restructuring practice group at Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr LLP in Baltimore, where she represented debtors, creditors’ committees, secured creditors, unsecured creditors, landlords, lessors, purchasers of assets and trustees in complex insolvency proceedings, including chapter 11 bankruptcy cases, receiverships and assignments for the benefit of creditors. She also represented parties in workouts, restructurings and complex commercial litigation, including fraudulent transfer, deepening insolvency, breach of fiduciary duty and preferential transfer litigation.

Judge Ruark was admitted to practice in the State of Maryland and the District of Columbia and represented clients in state and federal courts throughout the U.S. She is a past president of the Maryland Bankruptcy Bar Association, a member of ABI, the Immediate Past President of the Chesapeake Chapter of the Turnaround Management Association, a former member of the global executive board for the Turnaround Management Association, and the Immediate Past President of the Pro Bono Resource Center of Maryland. She is also a frequent speaker and author on various bankruptcy subjects.

Judge Ruark was named to the Lawdragon 500 Leading U.S. Bankruptcy & Restructuring Lawyers in 2020. She was also named one of “America’s Leading Lawyers for Bankruptcy/Restructuring” by Chambers USA from 2015-20, named in The Best Lawyers in America for Bankruptcy and Creditor-Debtor Rights Law from 2013-20, and selected for inclusion in Maryland Super Lawyers from 2010-20. In addition, in 2009, 2011 and 2020, she was named one of Maryland’s Top 100 Women in Business by The Daily Record, an annual award that recognizes leadership roles and outstanding professional, civic and mentoring achievements of professional women who reside and work in Maryland and who are making an impact on the state. Also in 2010, Judge Ruark was named one of the Pro Bono Resource Center of Maryland’s “pro bono stars” for her exemplary service and commitment to providing pro bono legal representation to Maryland’s underrepresented citizens. In 2006, she earned the first annual Educator of the Year Award by Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service for her pro bono service in the State of Maryland.

Judge Ruark served on her firm’s Pro Bono Committee and Diversity and Inclusion Committee for many years, chaired the firm’s Minority Attorney Resource Group in 2019 and 2020, and has mentored law students and young lawyers throughout her 26-year career. She received both her B.A. in accounting and her M.B.A. from Salisbury University and her J.D. from the University of Baltimore School of Law.