Ms. Jan M Hayden
Shareholder
Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz
Jan Hayden has handled bankruptcy and insolvency issues for her clients for over forty years. She is a shareholder in the Baker Donelson’s New Orleans office. Ms. Hayden's practice is concentrated on assisting clients with reorganizations under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, and she represents creditors, trustees, debtors-in-possession, and committees in a broad spectrum of industries that includes oil and gas, manufacturing, real estate, hotels, gambling, nursing homes, airlines, convenience stores and retail operations
Ms. Hayden is a member of the board of the American College of Bankruptcy as well as the American College of Bankruptcy Foundation Board. She is a Fellow in the American Bar Foundation and Louisiana Bar Foundation and currently serves as a vice president of the New Orleans Bar Association. She is a recipient of the Michelle Mendez Serviam Award 2016, Woman of the Year in Restructuring Award, International Women's Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation, 2011 and the LSBA 2009 Pro Bono Publico Award. She was named the Best Lawyers New Orleans Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights/Insolvency and Reorganization Law "Lawyer of the Year;" for 2010 and 2013 and New Orleans Bankruptcy Litigation "Lawyer of the Year;" for 2012 and 2014. Included in Louisiana Super Lawyers since 2007, she has frequently listed as one of the top 10 lawyers in Louisiana by the organization. She served as Chair of The Pro Bono Project of New Orleans and Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans and Acadiana Board. A graduate of LSU Law Center in 1979 and chair of both the LSBA CLE and MCLE committees, she is a frequent lecturer and author in the field of bankruptcy and insolvency.

Judge Marvin Isgur
US Bankruptcy Court Southern District of Texas
Marvin Isgur has been a United States Bankruptcy Judge since February 1, 2004. He was appointed to a second term as a Bankruptcy Judge, which began on February 1, 2018. Chief Justice John Roberts, Jr. appointed Judge Isgur to the Judicial Conference Committee on Court Administration and Case Management. He is the sole bankruptcy judge appointed to the Committee by the Chief Justice. Judge Isgur was recently reappointed to a second term on the Judicial Conference Committee.

Judge Isgur currently presides over more than 4,000 bankruptcy cases. He has been instrumental in reforming consumer bankruptcy practices and rules both in the Southern District of Texas and nationally.

Judge Isgur is one of two judges who is assigned complex bankruptcy cases in the Southern District of Texas. In that capacity, he has presided over multiple bankruptcy cases with liabilities exceeding one billion dollars. In 2018, he was assigned the largest bankruptcy case filed in the United States.

In 1974, Judge Isgur received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Houston. In 1978 he received his MBA, with honors, from Stanford University. After earning his MBA, Judge Isgur served as an executive with a large real estate development company in Houston. In 1987, Judge Isgur returned to the University of Houston to attend law school. Judge Isgur was awarded his law degree, with high honors, in 1990 and began representing debtors and trustees in chapter 11 and 7 bankruptcy cases until his appointment as a Bankruptcy Judge. Judge Isgur is also one of a handful of attorneys in the nation with experience representing various parties in chapter 9 bankruptcy cases.

Judge Isgur has written over 500 memorandum opinions. He was one of the first judges to issue opinions interpreting the 2005 Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act.

Judge Isgur was a founding member and served on the board of directors for the Houston Urban Debate League, a non-profit organization that works in partnership with local schools to bring policy debate to high school students. He is one of the principal organizers of the annual University of Texas Consumer Bankruptcy Conference and is a frequent speaker at continuing legal education programs.

When his volunteer and court activities permit, Judge Isgur spends his weekends sailing on Galveston Bay.

Mr. Todd S Johns
Chapter 13 Trustee, Northern District of Mississippi; Chapter 12 Trustee, Louisiana
Todd S. Johns Chapter 13 Trustee
Todd Johns is currently a Chapter 13 Trustee for the Nothern District of Mississippi and the Chapter 12 Trustee in Louisiana. He was previously the Chapter 13 Trustee for the Shreveport Division of the Western District of Louisiana from 2016 to 2023. Prior to this appointment, Todd was the staff attorney and office manager for the Chapter 13 and Chapter 12 offices of Harold J. Barkley, Jr. from October 2005 to August 2016. He was the staff attorney for Harold J. Barkley, Jr and Locke D. Barkley from June 1999 to October 2005. Prior to his bankruptcy practice, Todd began his practice as an assistant state attorney for the 3rd Judicial District of Florida, and worked as an insurance defense attorney in Jackson, Mississippi. He is licensed to practice in all Courts in Mississippi and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. He is also an inactive member of the Florida Bar.

Todd is a native of Live Oak, Florida, and attended Jacksonville University (FL) and the Mississippi College School of Law. He is a member of the Booth-Politz Inn of Court, the American Bankruptcy Institute, and the Western District of Louisiana Rules Committee. He has previously been a speaker at the Mississippi Bankruptcy Conference, the LSU Bankruptcy Conference, the Region 5 Standing Trustee Training and the NACTT annual seminar.

Mr. Benjamin W. Kadden
Lugenbuhl, Wheaton, Peck, Rankin & Hubbard
Benjamin (Ben) Kadden is the Managing Partner and leader of the Restructuring and Insolvency Section at Lugenbuhl. His areas of focus include bankruptcy, restructuring, creditors’ rights, corporate and commercial law, mergers and acquisitions, litigation, and asset-based finance. Ben has acted as lead counsel for various Official Committees of Unsecured Creditors, as well as special counsel to the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the Trico Marine bankruptcy. He has also served as Debtor’s counsel in a number of Chapter 11 proceedings, including Gulf Fleet Holdings, Inc., East Cameron Partners, L.P., and Bender Shipbuilding & Repair Co.
Admitted to practice in Louisiana and Texas, Ben has also served as special or local counsel in several large Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases in the Southern District of Texas. He has represented numerous liquidating and litigating trusts arising out of confirmed plans of reorganization and has participated in a number of merger and acquisition transactions. Because of his experience in complex Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases, Ben has knowledge regarding the purchase or sale of assets by distressed companies, including navigating the process while a buyer or seller is in bankruptcy.
Ben is admitted to practice and regularly does so in the following jurisdictions: Louisiana, Texas, U.S. Fifth Circuit, and all U.S. District Courts in Louisiana and Texas. His is ranked by Chambers USA ranking, is recognized by Best Lawyers and Super Lawyers, a New Orleans Top Lawyer recipient, and an AV Preeminent Rated Attorney by Martindale-Hubbell.

Mr. Timothy P. Kirkpatrick
Kirkpatrick & Associates, LLC
Timothy P. Kirkpatrick is the managing member of a law firm Kirkpatrick & Associates, LLC. He received a BSM in 1987 from Tulane University, A B Freeman School of Business and his Juris Doctorate from Tulane University in 1990. His practice focuses on representing consumer debtors in chapter 13‘s and 7’s in the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Judge John W. Kolwe
Chief United States Bankruptcy Judge
US Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Louisiana
John W. Kolwe was appointed United States Bankruptcy Judge by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, effective August 12, 2015. He was sworn in by Bankruptcy Judge Robert R. Summerhays and served in the Alexandria and Monroe Divisions of the Western District of Louisiana until April 25, 2019. On October 5, 2018, he was appointed to the Lafayette and Lake Charles Divisions to fill the vacancy left by Judge Summerhays. He served as Chief Judge for the Western District of Louisiana from April 2018 to April 2023. He received his B.S. in Accounting from Centenary College of Louisiana in 1985. Following graduation from Centenary, Judge Kolwe worked as a CPA. Judge Kolwe received his J.D. in 1991from the Paul M. Hebert Law Center. He practiced law in Lafayette, Louisiana from 1991 until joining the bench. John is presently the Fifth Circuit Governor of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges. He is also a member of the Dean’s Council for the LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center. John and his wife, Miriam, reside in Lafayette, Louisiana, where they raised their two children.

Mr. Omer F. Kuebel III
Partner
Locke Lord, LLP
http://www.lockelord.com
Rick Kuebel, Co-Chair of the Firm's Bankruptcy, Restructuring and Insolvency Practice Group, has extensive experience as the architect of corporate restructuring and bankruptcy solutions in multiple economic sectors, including energy, manufacturing, gaming, health care and retail. Rick has represented numerous companies in business litigation, arbitration matters and regulatory disputes involving oil and gas exploration, development, transportation, refining and marketing.

Rick also provides counseling for distressed transactions, including distressed asset acquisitions and divestitures, joint operations, regulatory implications and other financial risks. Successes include restructuring or distressed acquisition of Neuro Rehab Care, Delta Radiology and Denali/Zohar. He also represents creditors in commercial collection litigation, property litigation, enforcement of security rights and bankruptcy litigation.

In addition, Rick has formed or represented unsecured creditor committees in a number of reorganizations, including: Seadrill Limited, Diamond Offshore, Yuma Exploration, Evans Industries, the Fairgrounds, WRT Energy, Jitney Jungle, Delchamps, Forcenergy, Friede Goldman Halter, Orion Refining, Lundy Enterprises, Valentine Paper and WFA (West Feliciana Paper Mill).He has represented major companies in a number of energy or energy-related industry restructurings and bankruptcies, including McDermott International Diamond Offshore, Valaris Drilling, Fieldwood Energy, Castex Energy, Lyondell Basell, SemCrude, Flying J, Enron (North America), Getty Petroleum Marketing, ATP, Black Elk Energy, Energy XXI, Northstar Energy, VENOCO, Shoreline Energy, RDT, Dune Energy, EOTT, Panaco, Contour Energy, TDC Energy, Virgin Oil/Offshore, Watson Energy, TransTexas Oil and Gas, Forcenergy, WRT, Alma and Equinox, Rand Energy, NARCO, AP Green, Farmland Industries, PG&E, Babcock and Wilcox, Bethlehem Steel and Friede Goldman Halter.

Rick has acted as counsel in numerous commercial disputes arising from offshore exploration projects, including Macondo (Deepwater Horizon), Atlantis, Thunder Horse, Petronius, Mad Dog, West Delta and the Cook Inlet. Rick has represented numerous exploration and production companies with respect to regulatory disputes with BOEM, BSEE and numerous state regulatory agencies.

Mr. James Eric Lockridge Esq.
Partner
Kean Miller LLP
Eric Lockridge is a partner in the Baton Rouge office of Kean Miller LLP. Eric’s practice focuses on business litigation, bankruptcy and business reorganization, commercial collections, and business transactions. He has tried bankruptcy, business, and tort cases to successful verdicts in Louisiana and Texas, and has successfully defended judgments on appeal. Eric currently focuses on lender work-out agreements, bankruptcy-related litigation, and complex commercial cases for construction, energy, and financial sector clients. Within the bankruptcy arena, Eric has particular experience with representing pre-petition and DIP lenders, protecting business and industry clients from tort claims discharged in a past bankruptcy case, and advising lenders, competitors, and contractual counterparties on the risks and opportunities presented in bankruptcy cases and related litigation. Eric practiced law in Texas full time for six years before joining Kean Miller in 2005, and continues to regularly represent clients in litigation and bankruptcy matters in Texas in coordination with attorneys from one of Kean Miller’s offices in Texas. He recently represented lender and business clients in bankruptcy cases filed in Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, and New York.

Hon. Selene D. Maddox
United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Northern District of Mississippi
Honorable Selene Dunn Maddox received her B.B.A. from the University of Mississippi December, 1983, and her J.D. from the University of Mississippi School of Law May, 1987. Selene was sworn in October 22, 2018, as U.S. Bankruptcy Judge, having been appointed by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals as U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the District of South Dakota, with intercircuit assignment presiding in the Fifth Circuit as U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Northern District of Mississippi, with her chambers located in Aberdeen, MS. Prior to her appointment to the bench, Selene was a solo practitioner in Tupelo, Mississippi, in the general practice of law with an emphasis in consumer debtor and small business debtor bankruptcy law. In addition to her law practice, Selene served as a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Panel Trustee (appointed in 2004) in the Northern District of Mississippi until her appointment to the bench. Selene served as Vice-President of the Lee County Bar Association for the 1998-1999 year and as President of the Lee County Bar Association for the 1999-2000 year. Selene is an active member of many professional legal associations. Selene was appointed by the Mississippi Supreme Court to serve as a Commissioner to the Mississippi Commission On Continuing Legal Education on June 30, 1999, and completed her seventh consecutive term on July 31, 2018, having served as Vice-Chairman 2007-2008; 2010-2011; 2014-2015, and as Chairman 2008-2009; 2015-2016. Selene was a member of the Mississippi Bar President-Elect Nominating Committee for 2011 and for 2014-2015. She served on the Ethics Committee of the Mississippi Bar from 2005-2008. Selene currently serves on the Women In Profession Committee of the Mississippi Bar. Selene served two one year terms as President of the Mississippi Bankruptcy Conference for the years 2005 and 2006. Selene also served on the Board of Directors of the Mississippi Bankruptcy Conference from 2003-2007. Selene assisted in drafting new Local Rules for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern and Southern Districts of Mississippi and has served on the Advisory Committee on Local Rules for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern and Southern Districts of Mississippi from 2010-2015. Selene has been an active presenter of the Credit Abuse Resistance Education (CARE) Program in High Schools in Northeast Mississippi. Selene was inducted in 2007 as a Mississippi Bar Foundation Fellow and subsequently served as Trustee on the Mississippi Bar Foundation Board of Trustees 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 and currently is serving for 2022-2023. Selene was appointed to the Lawyer Advisory Committee by Honorable Jason D. Woodard, Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Northern District of Mississippi for a term which began June, 2016, and continued until her appointment to the bankruptcy bench. Selene has participated as a speaker in numerous seminars on bankruptcy sponsored by University of Mississippi Continuing Legal Education, the Mississippi Bankruptcy Conference, American Bankruptcy Institute, National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges and the Federal Judicial Conference as well as participation as a speaker for programs for local bar associations, Mississippi Home Extension Service, Lee County Extension Service and other public service organizations. Selene was an adjunct professor at the University of Mississippi, Tupelo, MS campus teaching classes in the undergraduate program on Wills and Estates, Commercial Law and Bankruptcy Law during 1996, 1997 and 1998.

Mr. David J. Messina
Attorney
Chaffe McCall, LLP
David J. Messina - Mr. Messina, a partner in the New Orleans office of Chaffe McCall, LLP, has more than 36 years of experience representing a broad base of clients in connection with insolvency and bankruptcy matters. He is board-certified in business bankruptcy law by the American Board of Certification, is a board-certified specialist in business bankruptcy law with the Louisiana Board of Legal Specialization, and has been an Adjunct Professor at Loyola University Law School teaching Creditors’ Rights and Bankruptcy for the last 20 years. Early in his legal career, he served as Judicial Law Clerk to The Honorable Louis M. Phillips, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Louisiana. Mr. Messina received Bachelor of Music and M.B.A degrees from Loyola University New Orleans, and earned his J.D. from the Loyola College of Law in 1987, where he served on the Board of Editors of the Loyola Law Review. He is recognized consistently by leading legal and local publications including Best Lawyers in America, Louisiana Super Lawyers and New Orleans Magazine (“Top Lawyers” list) for his work in Bankruptcy and Creditor-Debtor Rights, Insolvency, and Reorganization Law. He is a frequent speaker at bankruptcy law seminars, including multiple appearances over the last 30 years as a speaker at the annual Bankruptcy Law Seminar sponsored and organized by the Louisiana State University Center for Continuing Professional Development and the Louisiana bankruptcy judges. A considerable part of his practice since 1992 involves the representation of bankruptcy trustees in connection with all aspects of their administration of bankruptcy estates, including sales of property, investigation and prosecution of preference, fraudulent conveyance, and other avoidance action claims, prosecution of discharge complaints, objections to exemptions and claims, disgorgement actions, and prosecution of substantive consolidation, alter
ego, and single business enterprise remedies.

Mr. John A. Milazzo Jr.
Taylor, Porter, Brooks & Phillips, LLP
John is a Partner at Taylor, Porter, Brooks & Phillips, L.L.P. in Baton Rouge. John’s practice includes representing commercial banks, loan servicers and other creditors in loan workouts and litigation, both in bankruptcy court and in district court. He has significant experience in collection and judgment enforcement actions including foreclosures of commercial and multifamily residential real estate across the state.

Mr. Dwayne M Murray
Chapter 7 Trustee
Murray & Murray
http://www.murraylaw.net
Dwayne M. Murray is a Past President and CEO of the National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees and the Managing Member in the Baton Rouge Law Firm of Murray & Murray, LLC. He holds the bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and the Juris Doctorate from the Southern University Law Center. He has served as a Chapter 7 Panel Trustee since 1993 for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Middle District of Louisiana. He has been appointed Chapter 11 Trustee, Liquidating Trustee and as Special Master in state court. He is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, United States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, United States District Courts for the Middle, Eastern and Western Districts of Louisiana. Murray is affiliated with the Turnaround Management Association, American Bankruptcy Institute, National Bar Association, Louisiana State Bar Association, and the National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees.