Alexandria, Va. — The American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI) announces that Deborah L. Thorne of Barnes & Thornburg LLP (Chicago) has been named to serve as an At-Large member of ABI’s Executive Committee. A member of ABI’s Board of Directors since 2007 and an ABI member since 1994, Thorne is a contributing editor to the ABI Journal. She also contributed to ABI’s Interrupted! Bankruptcy’s Effects on Manufacturing Supply Chains and co-wrote ABI’s Preference Defense Handbook: The Circuits Compared, now in its second edition. Thorne also chaired ABI’s Unsecured Trade Creditors Committee and is a member of ABI’s Web Editorial Board. She will serve a term of two years as an At-Large member of ABI’s Executive Committee. Thorne is a partner in the Chicago office of Barnes & Thornburg LLP, where she concentrates in the areas of creditors’ rights, bankruptcy, financial restructurings, secured lending and commercial transactions. She also negotiates restructuring plans and other disputes, and represents secured creditors in UCC foreclosures, replevins of personal property, workouts of nonperforming loans, representation of trade vendors in preference defense and reclamation claims, and representation of various parties in assignments for the benefit of creditors. Her clients have included financial institutions, corporations and partnerships in a variety of industries including health care, truck manufacturing, food retail, advertising and franchisees. Thorne received her B.A. from Macalester College, her M.A.T. from Duke University and her J.D. with honors from the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago Kent College of Law. The complete list of directors and officers is available at http://go.abi.org/board. ### ABI is the largest multi-disciplinary, nonpartisan organization dedicated to research and education on matters related to insolvency. ABI was founded in 1982 to provide Congress and the public with unbiased analysis of bankruptcy issues. The ABI membership includes more than 13,000 attorneys, accountants, bankers, judges, professors, lenders, turnaround specialists and other bankruptcy professionals providing a forum for the exchange of ideas and information. For additional information on ABI, visit www.abiworld.org. For additional conference information, visit http://www.abiworld.org/conferences.html.