Restructuring & Distressed Investing Certificate Program

Kevin Kaiser is Senior Director of the Harris Family Alternative Investments Program and Adjunct Full Professor of Finance at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he serves as a leading voice on private equity and value creation. Previously, he was Professor of Management Practice at INSEAD, where he taught on the finance faculty for more than two decades. Kevin holds a BA (Honours) in Economics from The University of Western Ontario and a PhD in Finance from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. His research spans private equity, corporate restructuring, financial distress, and corporate governance, and he is co-author of The Blue Line Imperative and Becoming a Top Manager. A highly decorated educator, Kevin has received numerous teaching awards and brings to the classroom deep academic insight combined with real-world experience from McKinsey & Company and venture-backed finance platforms.

Bilge Yılmaz is a distinguished finance scholar and practitioner who brings deep academic rigor and real-world perspective to the study of alternative investments and corporate finance. He earned a double major in Electrical and Electronics Engineering and Physics from Boaziçi University, followed by a master’s degree and PhD in Economics from Princeton University. After beginning his academic career at Wharton in 1997 and serving as an associate professor of finance at Stanford University, he returned to Wharton, where he has been a professor of finance since 2013. As Academic Director of Wharton’s Harris Family Alternative Investments Program, Bilge shapes the curriculum for undergraduate, MBA, and executive education programs, and lectures on private equity, hedge funds, distressed investing, bankruptcy, and mergers. His research has been published in leading journals including Econometrica, American Economic Review, and Journal of Political Economy. In addition to teaching, he advises financial institutions and policymakers, bridging theory and practice for students seeking a global, applied understanding of finance.

Jeff Anapolsky is a seasoned interim CXO and financial transformation leader, widely trusted by private equity sponsors to lead portfolio companies through complex transitions and value-critical inflection points. With more than 25 years of experience across finance, law, and investing — including roles at Bear Stearns, Wasserstein Perella, Akin Gump, American Capital, and T. Rowe Price — he brings a rare, integrated perspective to restructuring, M&A, and growth execution. He is the founder of Anapolsky Advisors, a turnaround and interim executive firm serving middle-market companies across healthcare, construction, technology, energy, logistics, and professional services. A recognized thought leader, he is co-author of The Art of Distressed M&A and a longtime educator in financial restructuring, bankruptcy, and corporate finance. Jeff holds an MBA and JD from Harvard and dual magna cum laude degrees from the University of Pennsylvania.

Jon Matla has over a decade of experience in finance across the buy-side and sell-side. He is the Founder & Managing Partner of JEM Capital Management, a opportunistic and special situations value fund. Prior to founding JEM Capital, he worked at Guggenheim Partners and EY-Parthenon in their restructuring and liability management groups. There, Jon advised large corporations, hedge funds, private equity firms, and middle-market businesses on high-stakes, complex investment decisions and restructuring situations. Jon has supported companies through periods of uncertainty via operational improvements, distressed financing, liability management negotiations, asset sales, and chapter 11 reorganization. Jon earned a B.S in Industrial Engineering, an M.S. in Quantitative Finance, and an MBA, all from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Keith is the Global Co-Chair of Reed Smith’s Financial Industry Group, where he helps clients navigate complex, high-stakes business challenges through strategic negotiation and litigation. He advises public and private companies, boards, and executive teams on mission-critical issues, combining deep legal expertise with a pragmatic, business-first perspective. His experience spans industries including technology, health care, real estate, retail, manufacturing, hospitality, food service, and oil and gas. Keith has a particular focus on representing lenders secured by real estate, especially health care-related assets such as assisted living, memory care, and skilled nursing facilities. He has also served as a court-appointed receiver in Texas state and federal courts, giving him firsthand insight into executive-level decision-making during periods of financial and operational stress. In addition to his client work, Keith regularly lectures before bar associations and professional organizations and recently served as an adjunct professor of law at the University of Wyoming.

Jordan Berger is Managing Partner at Sundara Partners where he invests in middle market businesses facing complexity or distress. Jordan has served as CEO, CFO, and Chief Restructuring Officer to turn around companies, raise capital, negotiate complex settlements, and run buy-side and sell-side processes. His work has preserved thousands of jobs and over $1 billion in enterprise value across the B2B services, manufacturing, industrials, and construction sectors. Prior to Sundara, Jordan advised F500 corporations, PE funds, and hedge funds as part of Portage Point Partners and EY-Parthenon’s restructuring practices, where he executed transactions ranging from $50 million to $5 billion. There, he led clients through liquidity crises, balance sheet restructurings, operational transformations, carve-outs, and other special situations. Jordan graduated from Cornell University with a BS in Policy Analysis and Management.

Adam Cohen is the Managing Partner and Portfolio Manager at Caspian. He has over 25 years of experience investing in corporate credit, ranging from performing to distressed opportunities, through multiple major credit cycles. In 2001, Adam built Caspian’s fundamental research team, investment philosophy, and developed the firm into a leading fundamental credit manager. Prior to Caspian, Adam was a Vice President in a proprietary distressed investing group at Goldman Sachs & Co where he was responsible for committing the firm’s capital to numerous positions in the credit market and teaching distressed investing to other areas of the firm. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, he worked as an attorney in the business, finance and restructuring group of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP. Adam graduated cum laude from New York University School of Law and summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania.

Tad is co-leader of the firm’s Bankruptcy/Restructuring practice group. Clients quoted by Chambers USA describe him as “a remarkable strategist who can take a complicated problem and create smart solutions.” His practice includes representing parties in out-of-court and bankruptcy court financial restructurings. These clients include private equity firms, hedge funds, secured lenders, investors, debtors, unsecured creditors, boards of directors and various official and ad hoc committees in matters across the country. Tad’s practice also includes structuring distressed acquisition, financing and real estate transactions, as well as advising clients on insolvency and counter-party risks related to mergers, acquisitions and general corporate transactions.

Jim Doak is Head of the Capital Structure Advisory Group, formerly Miller Buckfire, with deep expertise in M&A, financing, and complex restructurings. He has advised companies, creditors, municipalities, and sovereigns across high-profile situations including Aéropostale, Gymboree, the City of Detroit, Foxwoods Casino, Bang Energy, and Puerto Rico’s COFINA, spanning sectors from retail and gaming to telecom, energy, and municipal finance. A recognized authority on financial distress, Jim is a member of the Turnaround Management Association and the American Bankruptcy Institute, a frequent industry panelist, and a former participant in the Federal Judiciary’s Chapter 9 Roundtable. He has authored multiple articles on restructuring and turnaround leadership and was named one of The M&A Advisor’s “40 Under 40.” Jim began his career at Goldman Sachs and holds degrees from Harvard Business School, Harvard Law School, and Harvard University.

Robert Drain served for over 20 years as a United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Southern District of New York, retiring on December 31, 2022. At the time of his appointment to the bench in 2002, he had long been a partner in the Bankruptcy Department of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison After leaving the bench, he was Of Counsel at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher, & Flom LLP, conducting a broad-based restructuring practice. He left Skadden on December 31, 2025. Since then, Drain has continued to serve as a mediator in chapter 11 cases in various jurisdictions and as a member of a three-person special committee with comprehensive powers over a chapter 11 debtor in the Southern District of Texas. On the bench, he had a diverse and active docket of individual, small business, moderately sized, and mega chapter 11 cases, as well as often serving as a mediator. For several years Drain was an adjunct professor at St. John’s University School of Law’s LLM in Bankruptcy Program and an adjunct professor at Pace University School of Law, and he has lectured in programs at the Federal Judicial Center, the NCBJ, ABI, AIRA, TMA, PLI, Federal Bar Council, the American College of Bankruptcy, Columbia University School of Law, Chicago Law School, and national, local and international bar associations, and has published on several bankruptcy-related topics, including in the American Bankruptcy Law Journal and the American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review, as well as authored a few hundred written opinions.

Brendan Hayes is Senior Managing Director at Guggenheim Securities. Prior to joining Guggenheim in 2018 through its acquisition of Millstein & Co., Hayes was Managing Director at Millstein & Co. Throughout his career, Hayes has worked with clients in a range of industries on distressed and non-distressed transactions. His experience includes advisory assignments for companies and stakeholders, M&A engagements, private placements, leveraged loan and high yield transactions, as well as rescue, debtor-in-possession and exit financings. Prior to joining Millstein, Hayes was in the restructuring group at Lazard, where he represented companies and stakeholders in restructuring and financing transactions. Prior to his experience at Lazard, he worked in the leveraged finance and restructuring groups at Lehman Brothers and, subsequently, Barclays Capital. Hayes holds a BS in Mathematics and History from Tulane University and an MBA from New York University. He is also a member of the Newcomb-Tulane College Dean’s Advisory Council at Tulane University and a member of the Board of Education in New Canaan, CT.

Andrew is President of Business Transformation & Transactions, bringing 30 years of financial and operational transformation and restructuring experience across the United States and Australia. He advises companies, creditors, and equity sponsors in both distressed and non-distressed situations, with a focus on financial and operational reviews, liquidity management, performance improvement, divestitures, business planning, recapitalizations, and reorganization negotiations. His sector experience spans Consumer Products & Retail, Real Estate & Construction, Media & Telecom, and Transportation & Distribution. Andrew frequently serves in interim executive roles, including CEO, President, Chief Restructuring Officer, and Chief Transformation Officer. Prior to joining Accordion, he was a Partner and U.S. Head of Restructuring at McKinsey & Company, where he led numerous high-profile turnarounds, restructurings, and post-bankruptcy transformations. Andrew holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Melbourne and is a Member of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand.

Andrew Herenstein is Vice Chairman of Monarch, where he provides strategic leadership guidance across the firm. In this capacity, he works closely with the investment team and strategic partners to drive long-term value. He serves on the Investment Committee for each of Monarch’s strategies, in addition to being a member of the Firm’s Partnership Committee and observer of the Operational Executive Committee. Prior to founding Monarch in 2002, Andrew was a Director at Lazard and served as Co-Portfolio Manager of the Lazard Debt Recovery Funds. He serves on the board of Claire’s and affiliates of Ruby I.A.G. Holdings. He is also on the Board of Trustees, as well as the Finance and Investment Committees, of Yeshiva University. Andrew graduated from Yeshiva University with a BA in Economics. He later earned an MBA from Columbia University.

Zul Jamal is Managing Director and Co-Head of US Capital Structure Advisory at Moelis & Company. He has over 25 years of investment banking experience focusing on in-court and out-of-court recapitalization and restructuring transactions with specific expertise in Chapter 11 bankruptcies, exchange offers, consent solicitations, lender negotiations and distressed financings. Jamal has worked with companies, creditors, and acquirers across a wide range of industries. Prior to joining Moelis & Company, he worked at Jefferies where he advised clients on a variety of restructuring, leveraged finance, and international financial sponsor transactions in New York and London. Jamal graduated magna cum laude with a BS in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Vivian Lau is a highly experienced private equity and special situations investor with deep expertise in distressed credit, opportunistic equity, and complex secondary market transactions. She most recently served as Managing Director and Head of Strategic Themes at Sixth Street, where she led equity-oriented strategies focused on high-return, opportunistic investments. Previously, she founded and managed One Tusk Investment Partners, a special situations firm investing across distressed debt, structured credit, and event-driven equity opportunities. Earlier in her career, Vivian was Senior Partner and Co-Chief Investment Officer at Serengeti Asset Management, where she helped grow the firm into a $1.6 billion platform focused on credit, structured products, and private investments. She began her career at Goldman Sachs as a founding member of the firm’s Special Situations Group and became a Managing Director at age 28. Vivian holds a BA in Applied Mathematics and Economics from Harvard University and brings students practical insight into sourcing, evaluating, and executing complex distressed and private market investments.

Kyung Lee is a seasoned restructuring and bankruptcy attorney with more than 40 years of experience guiding clients through complex workouts and Chapter 11 reorganizations. Since graduating from Duke Law School, he has first- or second-chaired numerous bankruptcy cases across a wide range of industries, representing clients in both negotiated and highly contested proceedings. Holding both a JD and an MBA from Duke University, Kyung brings a rare blend of legal and business insight, enabling him to quickly assess liquidity challenges, manage debtor–creditor relationships, and develop effective turnaround and reorganization strategies alongside senior management. His experience spans the full lifecycle of financial distress, from early-stage liquidity crises to plan implementation. Kyung is an active member of the American Bar Association’s Business Bankruptcy Committee, contributed to the ABA’s Model Asset Purchase Agreement for Bankruptcy Sales, and is a frequent speaker on advanced bankruptcy topics at leading industry conferences.

Mo Meghji is a nationally recognized turnaround and restructuring leader with more than 30 years of hands-on experience guiding companies through high-stakes financial, operational, and strategic transitions. Throughout his career, Mo has partnered with leading financial institutions, private equity firms, and distressed investors to help maximize value in complex situations. He has served as Chief Restructuring Officer for several landmark restructurings, including Sears Holdings, Barneys New York, Real Alloy, Sanchez Energy, and Capmark Financial Group. Prior to founding M3 Partners, Mo was Executive Vice President and Head of Strategy at Springleaf Holdings, where he helped transform a struggling consumer lender into a successful IPO. Mo has served on the boards of numerous public and private companies and was appointed to the Nassau County Interim Finance Authority by the Governor of New York. He is a Certified Turnaround Professional, a Chartered Accountant in the U.K. and Canada, and a graduate of the Schulich School of Business at York University.

Bruce Mendelsohn is a Partner at Perella Weinberg Partners and Global Head of the firm’s Financing and Capital Solutions Group, advising companies, sponsors, and creditors on complex capital structure situations, including financing, liability management, restructurings, distressed M&A, and other private capital solutions.

With more than 35 years of experience in investment banking and restructuring, he has advised on some of the most significant special situations and Chapter 11 cases in recent years, including mandates for Spirit Airlines, FTX Trading Ltd. (as debtors), and Ligado. His work spans multi-billion-dollar restructurings, rescue financings, recapitalizations, and distressed transactions across industries.

Prior to joining Perella Weinberg Partners, Bruce spent 17 years at Goldman Sachs, where he was a Partner and Head of the Americas Restructuring Group, and earlier worked across distressed investing, leveraged finance, and special situations.

He holds a BA from Emory University and an MBA from Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Matthew Ray is Founder and CEO of Portage Point Partners, advising private and public companies through transformations and restructurings. He has served as CRO, CEO, Chairperson, Lead Independent Director, and strategic advisor, leading performance improvement, operational turnarounds, and financial restructurings that preserve and create stakeholder value. Previously, Matthew co-founded Victory Park Capital, serving as Senior Partner and member of the Investment, Valuation, and Management Committees. As one of three founding partners, he helped grow multi-billion-dollar assets across direct lending, private equity, and special situations. His work included analysis, transaction execution, portfolio management, restructurings, control equity investments, and executive leadership. Matthew has served on more than 15 boards in executive, independent, investor, and lender roles, including restructuring committee chair. He serves on Indiana University Kelley School of Business Dean’s Advisory Council and the Board of Trustees of the Latin School of Chicago. He holds a BS in Finance and is a Certified Turnaround Professional.

Rachel Strickland is Global Chair of her firm’s Business Restructuring practice and a leading advisor to distressed companies, investors, and creditors in complex Chapter 11 and out-of-court restructurings. She is regularly sought out by private equity firms, hedge funds, and strategic investors to maximize recoveries and pursue distressed acquisitions, with notable experience in mass tort restructurings. Consistently ranked by Chambers USA and Chambers Global, Rachel has led precedent-setting restructurings across media, transportation, financial services, and technology. Her clients include Walgreens Boots Alliance, DISH Network, KKR, and J.P.Morgan Asset Management. Chambers describes her as “smart and effective” and able to “command a room and drive the process.” Rachel is a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy, a frequent lecturer on restructuring topics, and an active leader in the bankruptcy community and New York–based nonprofit organizations.

Josh Sussberg is a partner in the Restructuring Practice Group of Kirkland & Ellis and is a member of the Firm’s Executive Committee. He has been described as “the nation’s leading restructuring lawyer” and was most recently recognized by Global Restructuring Review in 2025 as “Advocate of the Year.” The American Lawyer selected Josh as a 2024 “Dealmaker of the Year,” and he was also recognized by Forbes in its 2024 inaugural list of the “Top 200 Lawyers in America” with Forbes noting that “Sussberg is a go-to restructuring lawyer who is widely considered a leading lawyer in the field.” He is a frequent speaker and writer on restructuring-related topics. Josh serves as an adjunct professor at The Wharton School and Syracuse University and is a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy. He earned a BS from Syracuse University and a JD from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.