Ken Malek served on the 2020 ABI/AIRA VALCON Advisory Board. The annual conference was held in Las Vegas in February. This year’s theme, “How to Flex When in Flux” brought together experts in the distressed-debt, restructuring and valuation industries.
Ken Malek has been a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy since 1996, inducted as part of the College’s VIIth Class of Fellows. The College is an honorary association of leading restructuring practitioners who have distinguished themselves through case results, scholarship, and contributions to the profession. From 2015 through 2019, Ken served as a member of the College’s Board of Regents, which is responsible for the College’s annual nomination and approval process of admitting new Fellows.
Ken Malek served as a panelist with Moderator Brian L. Shaw, Daniel A. Aronson, Hon. Ronald Barliant (ret.), and Patrick J. Nash, addressing “Nothing Up My Sleeve: Could It Be Any Vaguer? Ethics and Disclosure Requirements of Rule 2014,” relating to professional retention and disinterestedness issues in court-supervised debt restructurings.
Ken Malek served on the 2019 ABI/AIRA VALCON Advisory Board and as a speaker at the annual conference in Las Vegas. Along with co-panelists Thomas J. Allison, Hon. Bruce A. Markell (ret.), and Adam Pilchman, he spoke on “Duties of PE-Controlled Boards, Their Counsel, and Valuation Advisors.”
Ken Malek was on the 2018 ABI/AIRA VALCON Advisory Board in addition to being a panelist. Along with Diana Hopkins, Sylvia Cho and Patrick Nash, he spoke on the “Indicators of Future Distress: A Retrospective on the Role of the Board in Monitoring for Insolvency and Identifying Where Valuations Fall Short.”
MalekRemian hosted “Space Traveler Blues” at the Union League Club to benefit the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation. Featured speaker Space Shuttle Captain Scott “Scooter” Altman shared with attendees his vast experience encompassing 4 Shuttle Missions – including the fifth and final servicing mission to the Hubble Space Shuttle Telescope – as well as F-14D Strike Leader over Southern Iraq, and Hollywood Movie role in Top Gun, including many of the films aerial stunts and the famous “flipping the bird” inverted flying scene.
Ken Malek moderated a panel discussion, “Even Napoleon Had His Watergate” – Financially Troubled Industry Special Topics, at the Eighth Annual American College of Bankruptcy Seventh Circuit Education Committee Seminar, held at Chicago-Kent College of Law. The seminar was attended by many members of the Midwest region bankruptcy, turnaround and restructuring communities.
Ken Malek and Bob Remian led discussions on “Proving and Disproving Damages in a Commercial Case – Observations/Strategies Based on The AICPA’s New Guidance on “Reasonable Certainty,” for luncheon CLE seminars hosted by Freeborn & Peters, Golan & Christie, Dykema, Williams Montgomery & John, and Fox Swibel law firms. The AICPA’s comprehensive guidance is a must-read for damages experts – whether CPAs or not.
Ken Malek authored an article entitled “Managing Fox in the Henhouse Syndrome,” addressing enterprise risk management. Published by the Beard Group in editor Jack Butler’s compendium of advice, “Navigating Today’s Environment: The Directors’ and Officers’ Guide to Restructuring,” Ken Malek provides guidance that could not be more timely than during the Covid-19 crisis.