Obsolescence as a Catalyst

Marjorie E. Kaufman is a managing director at Getzler Henrich & Associates LLC in Boston, where she has provided turnaround and interim management for companies for more than 30 years. She frequently serves as CRO and CFO, and has provided cash-flow-management services, conducted business plan viability analyses, designed and steered turnaround action plans, managed debt and equity placement, and sourced refinancing. Her expertise in forensic accounting is a valuable asset in many engagements/management positions, which have spanned many industries, including retail, distribution, high tech, manufacturing, education, health care, construction, road maintenance, and food and beverage.

Ms. Kaufman has worked with a number of retailers and consumer product companies, evaluating operations and identifying nonperforming stores and/or product lines. She has also performed a number of due diligence projects in the course of acquisitions, in which she has represented strategic buyers, equity firms and mezzanine funds. As part of the due diligence process, she has reviewed various business segments for viability, and analyzed policies on revenue recognition for contracts, customer profitability and working capital needs. She has also played a role in designing the financing structures of the acquisitions.

Ms. Kaufman is a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy, and she has served as the president and director of the northeast chapter of the Turnaround Management Association and is now a member of the past president’s council for the chapter. She is also a member, director and programming chair of the International Women’s Insolvency and Restructuring Confederation and an ABI member.

Ms. Kaufman received her B.S. in accounting from the University of Bridgeport.

Jeffrey Finger is a managing director with Jeffries LLC in New York. He previously was an analyst with Wasserstein Perella & Co., a managing director with Miller Buckfire & Co. LLC, and an investment banking analyst with John Nuveen & Co.

Mr. Finger received his B.A. from the University of Michigan and his M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.

Holly F. Etlin is a managing director in the New York office of AlixPartners LLP and has more than 30 years of experience in providing turnaround services for companies in the retail, distribution, consumer products, financial services, media and hospitality industries.

Before joining AlixPartners, she was a principal with XRoads Solutions Group. In 2007, the Turnaround Management Association (TMA) recognized Ms. Etlin with its Turnaround of the Year Award for the successful turnaround of Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc. In 2011, TMA once again recognized her with its Transaction of the Year Award for the successful refinancing of Neff Rental. In addition, she was named Woman of the Year in Restructuring in 2014.

Ms. Etlin received her B..A in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Mark D. Collins is a director of Richards, Layton & Finger in Wilmington, Del., and chairs the firm’s Bankruptcy & Corporate Restructuring Department.

For more than two decades, he has served as counsel to hundreds of large troubled companies, secured creditors, debtor-in-possession lenders, creditors’ committees, boards of directors (including special or independent committees), and acquirers of businesses and assets in large corporate chapter 11 cases, prepackaged chapter 11 cases, chapter 15 cases and out-of-court restructurings. Mr. Collins frequently lectures at national corporate restructuring and bankruptcy seminars, and is a Fellow in the American College of Bankruptcy.

He received his B.A. from Rutgers College and his J.D. in 1991 from American University Washington College of Law.