Business Valuations 101

Kathryn McGlynn is a Director of Financial Advisors at AlixPartners.

Hannah L. Blumenstiel is a judge on the United States bankruptcy court, Northern District of California. She was appointed to the court on February 11, 2013.

From 1997 to 1998, Blumenstiel was an Assistant Attorney General with the Revenue Recovery Section of the Ohio Attorney General's Office where she "represented the State of Ohio's interests in bankruptcy cases." She was also a Law Clerk to Charles M. Caldwell from the United States bankruptcy court, Southern District of Ohio, Eastern Division from 1998 to 2001. She worked as an associate with Winston & Strawn LLP from 2001 to 2008, until she became a partner from 2008 to 2012. In 2013, she was appointed a bankruptcy judge. She also lectures on bankruptcy, commercial litigation and receivership.

Blumensteil received her undergraduate degree from The Ohio State University in 1992 and her J.D. from Capital University Law School in 1997.

Michael Bernstein is a partner in the firm's Bankruptcy and Restructuring practice. He is consistently distinguished as one of Washington's top bankruptcy and restructuring lawyers by Chambers USA, which has described him as bringing "an encyclopedic knowledge of the Bankruptcy Code, an unbelievably tireless energy level, and a practical results-oriented approach to bankruptcy issues," noting that clients describe him as a "fierce and zealous advocate and skilled negotiator," and a "creative and loyal advocate whose knowledge of the Bankruptcy Code makes him incredible at getting the best results for his clients."

He represents secured and unsecured creditors, committees, bondholders, investors, asset purchasers, private equity funds, debtors, directors, and other parties in a wide variety of bankruptcy and restructuring matters, and in related litigation throughout the United States. He also advises clients concerning corporate governance and fiduciary duty issues arising in the insolvency context.

Mr. Bernstein is a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy, a Director of the American Bankruptcy Institute, a published author and a frequent lecturer. He has been interviewed by major newspapers and on television and radio, and has been invited on several occasions to testify as an independent expert, before Congress, concerning proposed bankruptcy legislation. For more than a decade, Mr. Bernstein served as chair of the firm's national Bankruptcy and Restructuring practice and as a member of the firm's Policy Committee.

Franklind Lea is the President of Tactical Financial Consulting. During his 30 years of education and professional experience in complex business and financial matters, Mr. Lea has developed broad experience and expertise in commercial finance, insolvency, real estate, real estate finance and valuation. His experiences encompass business and project evaluation, damage claims & lost profits, debt and equity structuring, feasibility analysis, financial analysis, investment management, lending and leasing, and valuation.

He is also a nationally recognized expert in the areas of bankruptcy, financial restructuring, insolvency and workouts and is one of only approximately 1,000 individuals in the United States designated as a Certified Insolvency and Restructuring Advisor by the Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Advisors.

Mr. Lea has been a financial consultant since late 2005 when he formed Tactical Financial. Since the creation of Tactical Financial, Mr. Lea has served as a financial advisor to debtor companies, investors, lenders and secured creditors, plaintiffs and defendants, unsecured creditors’ committees, and law firms. As an advisor, he has provided due diligence services and financial consulting as well as litigation consulting and expert testimony for a number of matters related to asset disposition, damage claims, financial feasibility, financing, reasonable business conduct, and specialized bankruptcy and insolvency issues such as Till interest rates, the 1111(b) election, indubitable equivalent, and 1129 confirmation requirements. Within these roles he has participated in over 200 court hearings and provided testimony through affidavits, depositions and direct examination within the courtroom.

Prior to forming Tactical Financial, Mr. Lea was a senior lender at Textron Financial Corporation for 11 years where he focused on specialty real estate lending and large account workouts for real estate, equipment leasing and commercial lending. During his tenure at Textron Financial, he held several senior roles within its specialty lending divisions and risk management department. He completed approximately 50 multi-million dollar specialty loan transactions and conducted several multi-year complex workouts and financial restructurings.

His other professional experiences include roles as a commercial real estate appraiser with national and regional appraisal firms and various positions at First Florida Bank, including Vice President of Commercial Lending and Regional Commercial Credit Manager. Collectively, his experiences include direct lending of approximately $500 million to businesses and commercial real estate ventures and credit review and approval of approximately $1.5 billion. He has also led numerous workouts and financial restructurings saving debtors and/or creditors hundreds of millions of dollars of potential losses while working with companies with market capitalization ranging from $1 million to in excess of $1 billion.

Mr. Lea graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Management from Florida State University in 1986, a Master of Business Administration from Florida State University in 1987 and a Master’s Degree in Real Estate and Urban Analysis from the University of Florida in 1994.