The FUTURE of Due Diligence: Integrating Quantitative Analysis to Mitigate Environmental Risk

Mr. Skjold is General Counsel to North American High Speed Rail Group, LLC, which is in a significant growth mode establishing rail corridors and developing transit oriented real estate throughout the country. Mr. Skjold also maintains a private practice where he regularly counsels clients on a wide array of corporate and securities matters, including private financings, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate governance. He has an active banking practice, where he has represented some of the largest banks in the country along with numerous regional banks and credit unions. His industry background brings a sophisticated understanding of financial institutions and transactions. He previously held Securities Licenses - Series 7 and Series 63 - and worked on the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade, prior to his admission to the bar.

His clients include investment companies, financial institutions, broker-dealers, private equity, manufactures and real estate ventures. He also regularly represents high net-worth business owners in structuring business transactions, wealth protection strategies, and business succession planning. Mr. Skjold is outside counsel for a number of rapidly growing middle market companies and has considerable experience with start-up ventures as well as corporate restructuring activities.

Mr. Skjold has extensive litigation experience, which enables him to approach business challenges from multiple perspectives. He has tried 22 cases to a jury verdict and over 50 arbitrations to a final decision. He regularly supervises commercial litigation, FINRA arbitrations, securities litigation, and shareholder disputes for his clients acting as outside general counsel.

He has been an active member in legal, financial and securities industry groups including the National Society of Compliance Professionals (NSCP), the Minnesota Bankers Association, and the Defense Research Institute (DRI), where he served as Vice-Chair of the Financial Advisory Services Specialized Litigation Group. Mr. Skjold regularly speaks and writes on topics ranging from corporate, banking and securities issues to firm management and technology. He also is an author of the upcoming 3rd edition of Legal Aspects of Doing Business in North America, and authored the “Taking Stock with Ben Skjold” series on securities litigation for Thomson Reuters News & Insight. Mr. Skjold earned his Juris Doctor from Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology and has a B.A. from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Mr. D’Angelo has more than 35 years of experience in establishing, managing and growing engineering, and contracting businesses with an emphasis on environmental building defects and forensics. . He pioneered the concepts of environmental due diligence in the 1980s long before the ASTM Phase I protocols were established. He has planned, designed and managed over $1.5 billion of engineering, contracting, environmental, restoration and remediation project work throughout for the real estate and construction industries. He is a proven executive combining technical expertise, strategy and leadership skills into the development of successful enterprises and projects. He has extensive hands-on experience in operations, finance, business, project management, communications, public relations and disaster response management. His current firm has over 12 years of experience providing risk management services to the real estate, lending, legal and insurance industries. He is a recognized expert in Federal and State court as well as with the American Arbitration Association on issues including environmental remediation, water intrusion, wind /flood allocation, building defects, microbiological growth and asbestos exposures. He has served as an expert for both the insurance carriers and the insured.

Mr. D’Angelo’s prior environmental consulting, engineering and construction experience includes founding and serving as President of Kaselaan & D’Angelo Associates, a nationally renowned environmental consulting, asbestos management, remediation and construction management company followed by serving as CEO of a national engineering and specialty construction company. In 1990, he was appointed by New Jersey Governor James Florio to the Department of Environmental Protection and Energy Clean Air Council. President George H. Bush appointed Mr. D’Angelo in 1992 to the Leadership Committee of the Business Industry Council. He has also served as a Senior Vice President and consultant to the McGraw Hill Companies—Construction Information Group (ENR, Dodge, Sweets, Architectural Record).

Ms. Viner is a nationally renowned environmental attorney with 20 years of experience representing corporate clients in a broad range of environmental matters, including federal and state litigation, regulatory compliance, permitting and operational issues, and finance. Anne currently is a member of the senior management team of WCD Group, LLC, where she helps clients navigate and resolve complex environmental issues in her role as Director of Environmental Risk Management. She also serves as WCD’s General Counsel.

Anne has extensive experience at the intersection of real estate and environmental law and has advised manufacturers, consultants, developers, banks, financial institutions, and other clients regarding the risks and impact of environmental issues on transactions, investments, and other strategic initiatives. Ms. Viner is known for her proactive approach to the complex issues involved in the redevelopment of challenging Brownfields sites across the United States. As an experienced negotiator and litigator, she takes a proactive approach to the resolution of environmental issues and understands how to mitigate the risks involved for all stakeholders.

In her career, Anne has prosecuted and defended a number of environmental disputes (including class actions) on behalf of manufacturing clients in a wide range of industries. She has represented Superfund potentially responsible parties (PRPs) and has served as common counsel for a CERCLA PRP group with respect to remedy negotiations with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, implementation of landfill remedies, operations and maintenance activities, allocation determinations and contribution litigation. Anne has advised clients in the manufacturing, chemical, fuel and other industries on regulatory, compliance and day-to-day operational issues.

She serves as a Vice-chair for the ABA's Environmental Transactions and Brownfields subcommittee and is an active member of Commercial Real Estate Executive Women and the Claims & Litigation Management Alliance. Anne chaired the Chicago Bar Association's Environmental Law Committee from 2011-2013. In 2005, Anne was selected by the Law Bulletin Publishing Company as one of the “40 Illinois Attorneys Under Forty to Watch.” She has served as an Adjunct Professor of environmental law at Loyola University Chicago School of Law. Anne earned her J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago and has a B.A. from Denison University in Granville, Ohio.