The Southern California Chapter of the TMA (TMA SoCal) announced its new board of directors under the leadership of Matthew Covington, of Conway MacKenzie, as president. Covington assumes the role from George Blanco of Avant Advisory Group, who served on the board since 2009 and as president for the past two years. Blanco remains on the board as an ex-officio member and further co-chairs the 2015 and 2016 TMA Western Regional Conference.

“I’m honored to have the opportunity to serve as President of the TMA SoCal Chapter,” Covington said. “We are looking forward to continuing the momentum built under George’s stewardship and advancing our mission of providing educational and networking opportunities for the restructuring community, while also doing good works. We are very proud that our events in the past have supported worthwhile organizations such as the Wounded Warrior Project and the City of Hope, and we look forward to continuing such support.”

“We have developed a 2015 schedule that features an exciting line-up of entertaining and informative events that we believe will be appealing to all of the various professionals in our community. The TMA SoCal leadership and board will continue to build our membership base and presence in the region during the new year.”

As outgoing president, Blanco noted, “Serving on the board and as the chapter president was incredibly rewarding. It was not only an opportunity to have an impact on our industry, it also allowed me to build a number of life-long relationships with other professionals. Matt will be a terrific leader for our organization and will be able to provide strong leadership to a very high-powered board.”

Covington is joined by Jeffrey Krause, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, VP; Christine From, Avant Advisory Group, treasurer; and Jim Menton, Robins, Kaplan, secretary. Returning to their previous chairmanships are Michelle Salazar, Tiger Group; and Jason Carmona, AloStar Business Credit, Programs; Ilan Yedros, PNC Bank, Sponsorships; James Baring, Deloitte CRG, NextGen; and Rivian Bell, The Abernathy MacGregor Group, Communications.

Membership will be handled by Mary Lane, Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp. Jeff Golden, Weiland & Golden will serve as coordinator for the TMA Western Regional Conference with Blanco.

Other board members include Nathan Cook, AlixPartners; Van Durrer, Skadden, Arps, Meagher & Flom; Scott Gautier, Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi; Ryan McCarthy, Aurora Resurgence; Tamara McGrath, FTI Consulting; Kelley McLaren, Trigild; John Schafer, The Schafer Law Firm; Jack Spivak, Z-Capital Partners; and Sandy Thomson, Wells Fargo Capital Finance.