The American Bankruptcy Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award, which recognizes the recipient’s sustained and deep commitment to the leadership and governance of the organization, has been renamed after William A. Brandt, founder of Development Specialists. ABI proclaimed on Dec. 9 during its Winter Leadership Conference in Palm Springs, Calif., that the award will now be called the Bill Brandt Lifetime Achievement Award.
An ABI member since 1987, Brandt served on ABI’s board of directors, was a commissioner on ABI’s Commission to Study the Reform of Chapter 11, and served on the advisory boards of ABI’s New York City Bankruptcy Conference and Bankruptcy Battleground West program. He is currently living and working with the rare condition of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a nervous system disease that weakens muscles and impacts physical function.
Brandt has been in the business of workout, turnaround and insolvency consulting for 47 years and is widely recognized as one of the foremost practitioners in the field. He is president and CEO of Development Specialists (DSI), a firm specializing in the provision of management, consulting and turnaround assistance to troubled or reorganizing enterprises. While his firm operates offices throughout the country, he lives and works in his native city of Chicago.
Brandt’s political, legislative and civic endeavors have spanned almost four decades. He has continually advised congress on matters of insolvency and bankruptcy policy, and in that capacity was the principal author of the amendment to the Bankruptcy Code permitting the election of trustees in chapter 11 cases. He also was involved in drafting several amendments to the Bankruptcy Code that were enacted into law in April 2005 as part of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, which substantially rewrote the nation’s bankruptcy laws.
