Handouts available for sessions that have this symbol

Monday, May 19, 2008
2:00–5:00pm

Industry Day sessions are valid for .25 CEUs, 3 CPEs and CCE Recertification Points. Industry Day Sessions are designed for attendees to gather and network by like industries. Please note that these are not “closed” group meetings (unless indicated), and anyone is welcome to attend any of these sessions should the topic and/or speaker be of interest.

16021. Advertising/Media
Issues relevant to the advertising and media industry will be discussed in this session that is sure to give you insight into what credit professionals need to know.

16022. Agri-Business
How much do you really know about the products of your industry? “Fertilizers and Modern Agriculture: Get the Facts” from Dr. Jay Lehr, senior scientist, Environmental Education Enterprises, Inc. and members of The Fertilizer Institute (TFI) will bring you the Best of Fertile Minds and educate you on the benefits of fertilizers and modern agriculture.“Tackling Today’s Credit Challenges with Emerging Technologies,” Jeff Parisi, VP customer solutions for eCredit, provides an overview of the new technologies and tools available to credit managers today. Attendees will leave with a clear understanding of the ways in which the credit profession is changing, and how emerging technologies can help credit managers tackle today’s challenges. “Benefits of Statistical-Based Portfolio Scoring” by Sam Fensterstock, director of business development for PredictiveMetrics, will demonstrate the benefits of implementing statistical-based portfolio scoring. Automate many risk decisions, reduce operating costs and overall portfolio risk and increase credit and collection department productivity.

16023. Apparel/Footwear
This interactive presentation, “The Revenge of the Trade Creditors”, will explore what trade creditors in the apparel industry can do to prevent or reduce the risk of abuse by financially distressed customers as well as their officers, directors and shareholders. The presentation will focus on remedies available to trade creditors both outside and inside of bankruptcy. As the program continues, it will explore ways in which your receivables portfolio can be diluted without your knowledge, even to the extent of unwilling involvement in fraud. This portion of the presentation will discuss “soft marketing dollars” and the settlement through receivables credit, volume rebates, side agreements, unstated rights of return or set-off and other timely issues you should keep in mind as you sign off that the accounts receivable balance is correct and valid. The third and final portion of this program will highlight preferences and fraudulent transfers. It covers the blocking and tackling of minimizing your company’s preference and fraudulent transfer exposure. This practical information touches on the following: minimizing your company’s
exposure when selling to a distressed customer, how to decrease — and not increase—your company’s exposure after your customer files bankruptcy and how to assess and challenge claims on the front end.

16024. Building/Construction
Harriet C. Isenberg, attorney at law and founding partner of Isenberg & Hewitt, P.C., will give a presentation on “Perfecting the Personal Guarantee.” This presentation will illustrate how to properly review the wording on our credit application to insure you will have recourse against the personal guarantor. Thomas P. Hirsch, a managing director of the Global Wealth Management Department of Merrill Lynch, will go on to discuss the “Economic Forecast of the Construction Industry in the Coming Economic Year.”

16025. Drugs/Cosmetics/Pharmaceuticals
Join this group for an informative session in which Bruce Nathan Esq. of Lowenstein Sandler, PC covers current issues in bankruptcy. Then, Steve Hatala, Director of Credit for Novartis Pharmaceuticals, will give an overview of best practices for deduction reconciliation and benchmarking.

16026. Electrical Wholesalers & Distributors
Most credit executives know the definition of a preference and many credit executives are confident in their ability to successfully defeat a preference claim. Some creditors are not quite sure what the defense of“new value” really means. All creditors want to argue that their transaction was absolutely ordinary, but is it? While BAPCPA may have made a credit executive’s job of defending a preference easier, there are still traps in preference defenses of which a creditor must be aware. In this session, Wanda Borges, Esq. will concentrate on some of the legal issues that are encountered by creditors in fighting a preference action and some pitfalls to avoid in pre-bankruptcy debt control.

16027. Food
Ken Green, President of IAB Solutions, LLC whose company works with suppliers to manage and resolve deductions will discuss Deduction Update 2008: Are They Manageable? Review benchmark statistics, identify trends in customer claims and learn strategies for process, control and management . Then Bruce Nathan, Esq. and Scott Cargill, Esq. of Lowenstein Sandler PC will review the Interstate Bakeries Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Case. Hear an overview of the reorganization efforts of Kansas City based Interstate Bakeries Corporation, the maker of such widely recognized products as Wonder bread and Hostess snack cakes. Bruce Nathan and Scott Cargill represent the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in Interstate's bankruptcy case. Interstate has been operating under bankruptcy protection for over three years and has faced significant challenges as it attempts to emerge as a reorganized business. This includes the treatment of secured and unsecured claims, obtaining exit financing, attempted modifications to collective bargaining agreements, the tightening of credit markets, soaring commodity prices, and disputes concerning whether individual debtor companies should be consolidated for purposes of a plan of reorganization. There will be a discussion of the current status of the case based on public information, plus an update on the status of preference claims and related issues. There will also be a discussion of how sellers of goods have fared on their administrative priority claim for goods delivered within 20 days of bankruptcy in the Buffets Holdings, Wornick Company, Nellson-Nutraceutical Chapter 11's and other cases, compared to the less favorable treatment of reclamation claims, and other court decisions that have dealt with 20-day priority claims.

16028. International
Bernard McGough, director of credit and international trade finance for American Safety Razor Company, examines international financing in preparation for export transactions as well as exporting of products, strategic planning and positioning a product in the international marketplace. He will go on to review the pros and cons of a centralized versus decentralized credit function. Bernie will then present a “what-if discussion” of currency evaluation/devaluation and how it may affect global pricing.

16029. Metals
Scott Friedman of Avenue Capital in New York begins the program by assessing the risk in private-equity takeovers. The second part of the session gives participants the opportunity to take part in a roundtable discussion focusing on managing the challenge of extended terms.

16031. Publishing
Any merchant who accepts Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, or JCB branded cards must comply with the Payment Card Industry (PCI) security standards. David Wallace, Group Manager for Security Standards Compliance at Chase Paymentech Solutions, will discuss the body of Payment Card Industry standards, their relationship to individual payment brand security programs, and provide general information on the PCI compliance process. An update on recent forensics findings at compromised merchants will be included, along with additional resources available to organizations making their way towards PCI standards compliance.

16032. Wholesale/Distribution
With SOX’s fifth anniversary upon us, Scott Blakeley, Esq. of Blakeley & Blakeley, LLP addresses how the law is affecting credit professionals employed by public companies. What difference does the newly disclosed financial information make to the credit professional’s credit analysis? Scott will explain the responsibility of upstream certification on credit professionals, including whether a credit professional must certify monthly financial reports, their liability for certifying, what if they are wrong, D&O policy and indemnification. The session will also touch on the duties of the credit professional to disclose fraud under SOX, whistleblower protection, confidential hotlines and disclosures. The session will conclude with a review of email policy and document
retention, internal controls and procedures and the impact on the credit department.

Please note that Industry Day topics and speakers are subject change based on circumstances beyond NACM’s control. You may check back for updates. Also, some Industry Day groups may opt to attend the Executive Forum, rather than holding a separate group meeting.