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Patricia B. Tomasco is a partner in Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP’s Houston office and has more than 30 years of experience solving corporate insolvency problems. She focuses on workouts, distressed acquisitions and corporate restructuring, and debtor and creditor representation in chapter 11 cases and related litigation.

Ms. Tomasco frequently represents clients in the energy and telecommunications industries and high-tech debtors in both reorganizations and litigation. Her current and recent representations include counsel to the Kingfisher Midstream, LLC in the pending chapter 11 cases of Alta Mesa Resources, Inc.; the ad hoc committee of unsecured bondholders in Sanchez Energy, Inc.; the unsecured creditors’ committees of Halcon Resources, Inc. and EXCO Resources, Inc.; counsel to the Ad Hoc Committee of First Lien Lenders in Vanguard Natural Resources, Inc.; and debtors’ counsel in SH-130 Concession Company, LLC., Westmoreland Coal Company, iHeartMedia, Inc., Linn Energy LLC, Berry Petroleum, Midstates Petroleum Company, Inc., El Paso Children’s Hospital, AF Global and Ameriforge Group, Inc. and Light Tower Rentals; and equity sponsor in Francis’ Drilling Fluids, Inc.

Ms. Tomasco currently serves a three-year term as chair of the Complex Case Committee for the Southern District of Texas, a function created by Judges Jones and Isgur to review and improve complex case procedures and to provide a liaison between complex case practitioners and the courts.

From 2006-19, she has been listed as a Super Lawyer and was selected as a Best Business Bankruptcy Lawyer by the Austin Business Journal. She is admitted to the New York and Texas Bars, as well as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, Federal, Fifth and Sixth Circuits, the U.S. District Courts for the District of Columbia, the Eastern District of Michigan, the Southern District of New York, the District of Arizona, and the Eastern, Western, Southern and Northern Districts of Texas, and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Ms. Tomasco received her B.A. from Rice University and her J.D. from South Texas College of Law.

Honorable Michael E. Romero, Chief Judge, U.S. Bankruptcy Court - District of Colorado, was appointed to the bankruptcy bench in 2003, and was appointed as Chief Judge of that Court in 2014. He also has served on the Tenth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel since 2010.

Judge Romero received an undergraduate degree in economics and political science from Denver University in 1977 and his juris doctor degree from the University of Michigan in 1980. Since becoming a judge, he has served on numerous committees and advisory groups for the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, is the past chair of the Bankruptcy Judges Advisory Group, and as the sole Bankruptcy Court representative/observer to the Judicial Conference of the United States. He is the immediate past president of National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges and is on the Board of Governors.

Judge Romero also serves on the Executive Board of Our Courts, a joint activity between the Colorado Judicial Institute and the Colorado Bar Association, which provides programs to further public understanding of the federal and state court systems. He is a member of the Colorado Bar Association, the American Bankruptcy Institute, the Historical Society of the Tenth Circuit and the Colorado Hispanic Bar Association. In what little spare time he has, Judge Romero can be seen participating in musical theater productions throughout Colorado. While he admits he can sing a bit, his dancing skills leave much to be desired.

Manish Kumar has over 20 years of experience as a senior corporate finance professional, including diverse restructuring and litigation support experience. Manish specializes in valuation-related issues, including evaluating solvency and fraudulent transfers, valuing businesses and assets, assessing business projections for reasonableness and reviewing alleged preferences and grounds for substantive consolidation. Manish not only assists counsel in conducting these types of complex analyses, but also has extensive experience developing the underlying factual record through forensic financial investigations into relevant corporate operations and transactions.

Among his many engagements, Manish has led the forensic financial investigation in the Taylor Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp. matter, and was a key member of the Goldin team in the Worldcom/Intermedia, Lyondell and Hexion/Huntsman matters. He has served as a testimonial witness on solvency and fraudulent conveyance issues.

Melissa has more than 25 years of experience providing financial advisory, restructuring and turnaround management services to Fortune 500 and mid-sized companies and their stakeholders. She also has extensive investigative, litigation and valuation experience, including insolvency-related litigation, avoidance actions, fraud investigations, merger and acquisition disputes, director and officer claims, and other commercial litigation support. Melissa has provided expert testimony on a number of occasions in U.S. District Court, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, state court, arbitrations, and other venues. Her industry experience includes automotive, aviation, education, energy, financial services, gaming, healthcare, manufacturing/distribution, media/entertainment, municipalities, natural resources, real estate/construction, retail, restaurant, steel, telecommunications and other industries.

Melissa has led or played a senior role in teams delivering exceptional solutions in restructuring and/or related litigation matters for clients such as the examiner in Residential Capital, where she investigated potential claims against parent Ally Financial and related parties, leading to a $2.1 billion global settlement; represented debtors or estate fiduciaries in matters such as Tronox, Sprint, Sentinel Management Group, North Pacific Group, Havens Steel, Capital Consultants, and Iridium; advised creditors or official committees in cases such as Energy Future Holdings, Savient Pharmaceuticals, Neff, Tribune, Chrysler, Quebecor, Engineered Plastic Products, Kmart, Bethlehem Steel, Warnaco Group, Singer and numerous out of court matters; and provided litigation support or expert testimony in matters such as Calumet, FirstMed EMS, American Commercial Lines, Keywell, International Offshore Services, ASARCO, Amaranth and Enron.

Melissa recently served as Chief Restructuring Officer in the bankruptcy of Juno USA, LP et al., previously the third-largest ride-hailing company in New York, and recently served as the Chief Financial Officer of Edmentum Holdings, Inc., a leading provider of online learning solutions.

Melissa currently serves as the President of the American College of Bankruptcy and has held leadership positions at numerous industry organizations, including President of the American Bankruptcy Institute, Director of INSOL International, and Chair of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) Bankruptcy Task Force. She has received many industry recognitions, including Consulting Magazine’s Leadership Award for Women Leaders in Consulting, the AICPA’s Women to Watch Award for Experienced Leaders, and the International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation’s Woman of the Year in Restructuring Award. Highly credentialed, Melissa is a Certified Public Accountant, Certified Insolvency and Restructuring Advisor and Certified Turnaround Professional, and also holds the Certified in Financial Forensics and Certification in Distressed Business Valuation credentials. She is a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy.

Prior to joining Mackinac Partners, Melissa served as a senior executive for leading consulting practices, most recently as Senior Managing Director and Executive Committee member of Mesirow Financial Consulting, and as Partner and Midwest Region Corporate Recovery practice leader of KPMG. She started her career in financial advisory services in the Dallas, Houston and Portland, OR offices of Price Waterhouse.

Melissa earned her BBA in accounting and is a summa cum laude graduate of Texas A&M University. She earned an MBA from Southern Methodist University, where she graduated first in her class. She is a frequent speaker regarding bankruptcy and restructuring, valuation, forensic and litigation, and other topics for organizations that include the American Bankruptcy Institute, American College of Bankruptcy, and American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Craig Schuenemann represents national banks, real estate investment entities, energy companies and corporations in proceedings before federal bankruptcy courts. He specializes in representing secured creditors in all facets of the bankruptcy process. He also routinely appears on behalf of unsecured creditors, committees, and foreign trustees and has achieved victories for several clients in adversary proceedings brought by Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 Trustees. In concert with his bankruptcy practice, Mr. Schuenemann often counsels clients on receiverships, workouts and distressed transactions.

Mr. Schuenemann represents commercial clients in complex litigation of tort, breach of contract, and construction actions. Mr. Schuenemann has vast experience with a variety of financial services litigation matters, including the recovery of collateral, enforcement of guarantees, and defense of wrongful foreclosure claims.

Before attending law school, Mr. Schuenemann was an active duty military officer in the United States Navy. He deployed overseas as a helicopter pilot several times, including an eight month deployment to support combat operations in Iraq. While attending law school, Mr. Schuenemann continued his service as an active duty naval officer at the Pentagon where he served as the military assistant to the General Counsel of the Navy.

Mr. Schuenemann has devoted significant time to pro bono representation of low-income and veteran clients.

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Schuenemann clerked for the Honorable Charles Weller in Nevada’s Second Judicial District from 2008-2009.

Jamie founded the Buechler Law Office in January of 2010. Prior to this Jamie was a shareholder at the boutique bankruptcy law firm of Sender & Wasserman, P.C., and was an associate attorney with Stoorman & Friednash, LLP in Denver. While going to law school, Jamie was a clerk in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Colorado.

Jamie was born in Oceanport, New Jersey. She attended the University of Colorado where she earned her B.A. with distinction in 1993. She received her J.D. from the University of Denver College of Law in 1999. While at DU, she was a member of the Trial and Appellate Teams, won First Place in the Criminal Law Association Irving P. Andrews Mock Trial Competition, and received a Dufford & Brown Legal Writing Award, Honorable Mention.