Sub-Par Performers: Restructuring Challenges in the Golf Course Industry

Dan is a senior managing director for Fenix Financial Forensics LLC (F3) who has over 30 years of experience. Dan is a nationally recognized restructuring professional who has advised numerous underperforming companies in a variety of industries through the restructuring and recapitalization process. Dan is frequently contacted by secured lenders and creditor constituents to assist their portfolio companies in the development of strategic and restructuring alternatives. Dan’s experience includes serving as lead partner on several restructuring, corporate finance, bankruptcy and turnaround engagements including numerous national matters. Dan has served as a court appointed trustee in Chapter 11 and Chapter 7 cases, Examiner, Examiner with expanded powers for the purpose of investigating fraud, expert witness, and Section 702 expert (Judge’s expert) in bankruptcy court.

Dan has assisted various constituents in identifying solutions to complex operational and financial issues and has led highly successful restructurings teams that have created significant value. As part of this work, Dan has been active in the restructuring of billions in debt and equity capital. Dan is a speaker and writer on various restructuring strategies and distressed company initiatives. Dan has also provided business audit, management and operational consulting services to construction, retail, wholesale distribution, hotel and hospitality, real estate, insurance and other emerging businesses.

In addition to his bankruptcy, turnaround and consulting practice, Dan has experience in interpreting and implementing accounting standards. Dan was a two-year member of Andersen’s “Accounting Principles Group”, the national office technical standards setting group responsible for firm-wide accounting standards. Dan was a direct report to Edmund L. Jenkins, who became Chairman of the FASB in 1997. Technical specialties included SEC reporting, real estate accounting and accounting for income taxes. In this role, Dan provided diverse technical consultation to firm Partners, Managing Directors, Directors as well as Corporate CEOs and CFOs of Fortune 500 entities and emerging businesses. Issues included income taxes, SEC reporting, real estate issues, leveraged buyouts, mergers and acquisitions and foreign currency issues.

Prior to joining F3, Dan was a Partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers . Previously, Dan was the Phoenix Office Managing Partner as well as the Regional Consulting Head at McGladrey, Arizona’s second largest accounting firm. Dan was Deloitte’s US Managing Partner of Restructuring. Dan also served as the Regional Managing Partner at Arthur Andersen, responsible for the Central and West Region Global Corporate Finance Group where he managed all aspects of restructuring, turnaround, capital formation and investment banking.

Jeffrey M. Reisner, a partner and former member of the firm's Executive Committee, is a member of the litigation and transactional departments at Irell & Manella LLP. Mr. Reisner's practice focuses on representing private equity, hedge funds, privately held and public companies and high net-worth individuals in connection with complex commercial litigation, merger and acquisitions, financings and general corporate governance, as well as the reorganization of their (or their portfolio companies') financial affairs. He also serves as a trusted advisor to boards of directors and individual directors in complex circumstances. Mr. Reisner is also head of the interdisciplinary Bankruptcy, Reorganization and Creditors' Rights practice group. He also frequently leads corporate investigations covering topics as diverse as alleged sexual misconduct and corporate and financial malfeasance.

Mr. Reisner brings to bear expertise across a wide range of transactions and industries. His background also facilitates counseling clients acquiring or disposing of assets from healthy and troubled companies in both traditional sales and auctions.

Mr. Reisner is also an experienced litigator, having represented clients in both state and federal courts throughout the country. He has litigated complex commercial matters involving claims of lender liability, avoidance action claims, breach of fiduciary duty, licensing, and intellectual property issues, and has addressed issues involving contract, corporate, real property, tax, labor, and numerous other areas of the law.

Mr. Reisner’s work has spanned many industries, including defense contractors, automotive and trucking, restaurants and hospitality, convalescent and health care, energy, technology, building supply, sporting goods, textiles, distribution, satellites, manufacturing, mortgages, payroll, aerospace, medical testing and devices, entertainment, communications technology, sporting goods and real estate.

Mr. Reisner’s professional experience is not limited to the practice of law. He founded and managed two successful businesses and served as a turnaround manager of another prior to joining Irell & Manella.

Mr. Reisner is a 1985 graduate of Cornell University, where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial and Labor Relations. He was a member of New York University’s Joint Degree Program and received his Juris Doctor and Master of Business Administration (Finance) degrees in 1989. While attending Cornell University and New York University, Mr. Reisner was awarded the Clem Miller Scholarship and the Frank S. Columbus Scholarship and was elected to membership in Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society.

Holly E. Estes, Esq., is an experienced chapter 11 reorganization attorney who has been certified by the American Board of Certification – the nation’s premier legal specialty certification organization- in business bankruptcy law.

While in law school, Ms. Estes accepted an externship working with then Chief Bankruptcy Judge Mike K. Nakagawa. It was at that time and through that experience that she fully began to appreciate the bankruptcy system and knew that she wanted to become a bankruptcy practitioner.

After graduating from the William S. Boyd School of Law, Ms. Estes began a clerkship with Bankruptcy Judge Gregg W. Zive. During that time Ms. Estes, among other tasks, researched and drafted the Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel Opinion, Honkanen v. Hopper (In re Honkanen), 446 B.R. 373 (9th Cir. BAP 2011) with Judge Zive, sitting pro tem for the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel. Next, Ms. Estes accepted a clerkship with Bankruptcy Judge Bruce T. Beesley. It was through her clerkships that her practice skills began to sharpen and Ms. Estes truly began to understand the complicated inner workings of a chapter 11 reorganization case.

After her clerkship experiences, Ms. Estes began her career in private practice. Throughout her practice, Ms. Estes has striven to achieve the best results for her clients. Ms. Estes has successfully represented corporations, limited liability companies, individuals, partnerships, bankruptcy trustees, creditors and purchasers of bankruptcy estate assets in chapter 11 reorganization and chapter 7 bankruptcy cases. One of the highlights of her practice thus far has been arguing before the Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel with successful results for her clients. Village at Lakeridge v. U.S. Bank, N.A. (In re Village at Lakeridge), Argued April 5, 2013; Weilert v. Gwartz (In re Weilert), Argued June 23, 2016.

Hon. Bruce T. Beesley is Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the District of Nevada in Reno, initially sworn in on Jan. 3, 2011, and named chief judge in October 2015.

Prior to his appointment, he was a practicing attorney for approximately 30 years, specializing in bankruptcy law and civil litigation matters. He began his bankruptcy career in 1980 and has represented creditors’ committees, trustees, debtors and creditors in bankruptcy. Judge Beesley’s practice has also included civil and business litigation, as well as expert advice or testimony regarding bankruptcy and secured transactions. He has taught and been a presenter at several seminars regarding various bankruptcy-related topics, and has co-authored several articles in business publications. Judge Beesley was board-certified in Creditors’ Rights Law by the American Board of Certification in 2003.

He is a member of ABI, serves on the advisory board of ABI’s Southwest Bankruptcy Conference, and has served as a lawyer representative for the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference. He was also a member of the Board of Governors for the State Bar of Nevada from 2000-10 and president from 2008-09. Judge Beesley is a Master Emeritus member and past president of the Bruce R. Thompson American Inns of Court.

He received his B.S. in 1975 from the University of Nevada, Reno and his J.D. in 1978 from the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law.