Eric Katz
Eric Katz, a senior partner with Mazie Slater Katz & Freeman in Roseland, has been appointed head coach for the youth men’s baseball team at the 2018 International Maccabi Youth Games. Katz has been coaching youth baseball for many years and led the MetroWest Jewish Community Center baseball teams to six medals between 2008-14, including two gold medals. This is Katz’s first time participating with Maccabi USA, and he is excited to be part of the inaugural International Maccabi Youth Games, he said. “It is a singular and humbling honor to be granted this opportunity to not only represent the United States and our faith, but to do so in Israel,” Katz said. “Maccabi USA is so much more than just the first-rate athletic competition, it is about coming together as Jews. The history and fulfillment of playing in our Jewish Homeland brings the Maccabi USA experience to a new level, one that I can’t wait to share with my players.” The Maccabi Youth Games will take place in Israel, July 22-Aug. 1, 2018. The Games are in cooperation with JCC Association, the JCC Maccabi Games, BBYO, and Maccabi organizations around the world.
Gibbons’ Giannelli Receives Woman of the Year Award
Karen Giannelli
Karen A. Giannelli, chair of the financial restructuring and creditors’ rights department of Gibbons in Newark, received the 2017 Woman of the Year Award by the New Jersey Network of the International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation (IWIRC-NJ). The award was presented at the organization’s annual holiday party on Dec. 14, 2017, at Mompou in Newark. IWIRC-NJ was founded to enhance the professional status and reputation of women in the insolvency practice, including attorneys, turnaround managers, accountants, investment bankers, and others. The award recognizes the professional accomplishments and contributions to the practice of insolvency of a distinguished practitioner and role model in the field. Among Giannelli’s qualifications for the award is her 35-plus-year career at Gibbons, advising public and private companies and financial institutions throughout the country in financial restructuring, creditors’ rights, and financial services. She is a member of the firm’s executive committee and a founding member of the Gibbons Women’s Initiative, which serves to develop young women professionals through mentoring and networking. She was a founding member and the first president of the Women in Federal Practice in New Jersey Inc. She serves on the board of the New Jersey Chapter of Turnaround Management Association and was the chapter’s first female president. She was also the first woman elected chair of the New Jersey State Bar Association’s Bankruptcy Law Section and the first woman attorney from New Jersey to be elected into the American College of Bankruptcy, for which she has held leadership positions for several years and currently serves on its board of directors.
