Contact: John Hartgen
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MELISSA KIBLER KNOLL NAMED ABI PRESIDENT

May 19, 2010 Alexandria, Va. — The American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI) announces that Melissa Kibler Knoll of Mesirow Financial Consulting, LLC (Chicago) has been selected by the ABI Board of Directors to be President. She succeeds Robert J. Keach of Bernstein Shur (Portland, Maine) and will serve a one-year term that began at ABI’s Annual Spring Meeting held April 29 - May 2, 2010 in Washington, D.C. An ABI member since 1996, Kibler Knoll has served as ABI’s Vice President–Membership, as co-chair of ABI's Inaugural Professional Development Program and as a member of ABI’s Executive Committee.

Kibler Knoll is a senior managing director at Mesirow Financial Consulting, LLC. Her practice focuses on financial advisory services to companies, unsecured creditors, secured lenders and other parties in restructurings and turnarounds.

Kibler Knoll is also a member of the Turnaround Management Association, Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Advisors, Women's Insolvency and Restructuring Confederation, the Chicago Finance Exchange, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Illinois Society of Certified Public Accountants. A frequent contributor to the ABI Journal, she was recognized in 2004 in Crain’s Chicago Business '40 Under 40' and received the 2003 CIRA gold medal award for her work as a certified insolvency and restructuring advisor.

For a complete list of ABI’s officers and directors, please visit:

http://www.abiworld.org/Content/NavigationMenu/About_ABI/Board_of_Directors/Board_of_Directors.htm

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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 12,600 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.