President's Letter
Alan D. Holtz, CIRA
Dear AIRA Members:
Back in the mid 1980’s, the bankruptcy advisory business was in its infancy, and a small group of individuals working in this area founded an organization called the Association of Insolvency Accountants (AIA). As the name implied, AIA’s membership base consisted primarily of accountants. After all, most of the financial work in bankruptcy and insolvency was performed by CPA’s; there were few, if any, restructuring boutiques, specialty investment banks or turnaround management firms. As the practice area evolved, so did AIA, and in 1999 the organization changed its name to the Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Advisors (AIRA), a name that better reflected the professionals it served and counted amongst its members.
An early strategic planning document unearthed recently by one of the founders of the association who continues to serve on its board, included the following goals: “develop seminars for presentation in two or more cities,” “establish a certified practitioner designation” and “increase membership to 350.” Today, with over 2,000 members, AIRA is a leading provider of professional education in the area of financial restructuring and is the sponsor of both the Certified Insolvency and Restructuring Advisor (CIRA) and the Certificate in Distressed Business Valuation (CDBV) programs. It’s pretty clear that these early goals were met long ago, and by now, far exceeded.
In recent years, emphasis has been placed on growing the association through diversification of its membership base. Our members include consultants, investment bankers, attorneys, turnaround managers, service providers, trustees, academics, and yes, even a few accountants. Our board of directors is a reflection of the membership base, with individuals from a variety of disciplines in the insolvency and restructuring arena, including six attorneys. One of these six is even set to become the AIRA President when my term expires in 2008.
Diversification has made AIRA a stronger and more interesting organization with broader capabilities to educate and otherwise serve its members. Professional relationships amongst its members have been taken to a new level, and opportunities to develop business referrals are more abundant than ever. I strongly encourage each of you to reach out to bankruptcy and insolvency professionals you know, regardless of their particular practice disciplines, to become members of AIRA and participate in its programs and events.
Warm regards,
Alan D. Holtz
President
Author bio:
Alan Holtz is a Managing Director with AlixPartners based in New York. He has spent close to 20 years as a corporate restructuring and reorganization specialist and has managed all aspects of the financial restructuring process. Alan has provided services to companies, management teams and boards of directors, as well as to financial institutions and creditors’ committees, across a wide variety of industries. A frequent speaker on the subject of bankruptcy and reorganization, Alan holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and is a CPA and a CIRA, for which he received the 1992 CIRA silver medal from AIRA.