From Our President

Harold Israel, Kaye Scholer LLP

Chicago/Midwest Chapter Launches 2012 with Great Programs and New Initiatives

WOW!  What a terrific start to 2012 for the TMA Chicago/Midwest Chapter. Our first breakfast forum, featuring a panel discussing the prognosis for healthcare and organized by Kevin Carmody, John Kemp, and David Agay, attracted over 175 people. The following week, thanks to the efforts of Joel Schneider, Gene Arenson, Tom McRae, and Phil Ostroski, a record-setting crowd of 138 attended the annual Milwaukee post-holiday celebration. Moving to February, the Women’s Group, led by Lisa Vandesteeg, Shira Isenberg, Melissa Dimitri and Trish Mattler, hosted a sold out presentation (open to all members) on the effective use of social media in the workplace. We then closed out the month by welcoming over 225 people to our annual Martini Party, held for the first time at the Paris Club and planned by Pia Thompson, Tom Fawkes and Gordy Gouveia. Thank you to all who attended these events and for our volunteers who put them together. For those who have yet to attend a 2012 event, please check out our calendar on our website, www.tmachicagomidwest.org, or on page four of this newsletter and join us at one of our upcoming events to see what you have been missing.

Returning to Milwaukee, the Milwaukee Committee continues to be an integral part of the Chicago/Midwest Chapter. In addition to the holiday party, the committee hosted a free February networking breakfast that attracted over 70 people. More people than ever are attending events hosted by the Milwaukee Committee. For those of you in Chicagoland, I encourage you to venture to Milwaukee during 2012 as you may locate a whole new set of referral sources. For those of you north of the state line, I invite you to attend all chapter events—whether held in downtown Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison or at the Grand Geneva.

We are always looking at new ways to expand our membership base in the Chicago/Midwest Chapter. Our best source of attracting new members is all of you, our current members. In that light, I am pleased to announce several incentives for you to invite your business contacts and colleagues to an upcoming TMA event.

First, any member may bring a non-member guest to a Chicago breakfast event for only $20, one-half of the regular member rate.

Second, a member may bring a non-member guest  to a Women’s Group or a Future Leader event at the member rate.

Lastly, be sure to join the TMA group on LinkedIn, friend us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter. By visiting any of those sites, you’ll discover additional special offers to attend upcoming events.

To receive either of the first two discounts, a member must register his or her guest (online or by calling the TMA Chapter office at 815-469-2935) for the program. A non-member may attend up to two events at the member-guest incentive rate (i.e. two breakfast events, a breakfast and a future leaders, etc.), after which we hope they will become a TMA member! 

Through these incentives, we hope that you will help the TMA grow and diversify our membership so that we can continue to expand our networks. I encourage you to take advantage of these programs to invite younger colleagues, turnaround contacts or contacts from areas under-represented in the TMA (private equity and hedge funds, for example) so that they may see all that the TMA has to offer.

Speaking of younger colleagues, I would also like to remind everyone that last summer, TMA Global (the new name of TMA International, reflecting the ever expanding reach of the TMA) introduced a special membership rate called “NextGen.” NextGen members are professionals 35 and under who can join the TMA, for up to two years, for only $150 a year (50 percent of the normal rate). Consider having younger colleagues in your firm join as a NextGen member. It is a great professional development investment and provides them opportunities to improve their networking skills as well as providing access to the amazing educational opportunities offered by the TMA locally and nationally. Local programming offerings include a day-long education workshop on June 1, the bi-monthly breakfast series, and the regional conference in September. TMA Global’s programs include three U.S. based conferences—the Distressed Investing Conference held in Las Vegas each January, the Spring Conference (April 3-5, 2012 in Atlanta) and the Annual Conference (November 1-3, 2012 in Boston). There is something for every member amongst all of these choices.

As I hope you can see, the Chicago/Midwest Chapter is a vibrant and active chapter. Take advantage of your membership and invite others to join us by taking advantage of the reduced non-member rates. Lastly, keep your eyes open for a special “members only” event that will be taking place this summer.