This spring marks the five-year anniversary of the founding of Gavin/Solmonese. What a wonderful experience it's been to work with so many of you who are reading this today. On behalf of our firm, we consider it a privilege and appreciate every opportunity we've had these last five years. Thank you.

As G/S celebrates this milestone, we are also celebrating the most recent achievement of our co-founder, Ted Gavin, who officially became President-Elect of the American Bankruptcy Institute at its annual meeting last week. He will serve in this role, supporting ABI's new President, retired Bankruptcy Judge Gene Wedoff, until April 2018.

Ted is a man of many talents. A natural leader, he is deeply committed to our firm and this industry. An innovative thinker, he has created an environment at G/S that attracts similarly gifted individuals. Every day, Ted inspires others, myself included, to think more expansively and devise creative solutions to help our clients. He is a generous teacher and mentor. And Ted has that rare ability to lift others up, particularly our team at G/S, and shine a spotlight on their accomplishments.

Obviously a turnaround specialist like Ted is known for, well, turning businesses around. And no one knows better than Ted how to save a dying business, or how to dismantle a business in a healthy way, with minimal damage. But years ago, Ted saw the wisdom of diversifying our own business model by offering our services to help healthy businesses and worthy nonprofits grow stronger and thrive. Thanks to Ted's foresight, today G/S is a one-stop shop for organizations at every life stage.

My background in politics and advocacy affords me a unique vantage on this industry. I help our clients think and plan strategically, anticipating how cultural and governmental changes might affect them and guiding them to use these to their advantage. It's a great complement to Ted's work. And I am grateful for Ted's ability to be a force in the industry while keeping a firm hand on the tiller of G/S and our incredible team.

Ted's ascension to the leadership of ABI is good news for our industry, for G/S, and for our clients. The industry will benefit from the talents of this principled and gifted leader. Our team can take pride in seeing Ted recognized for his hard work, vision, and foresight. And our clients know that Ted, while he remains engaged in the day-to-day, has assembled an incredibly talented staff that embodies his own innovative thinking and creative problem-solving.

Congratulations, partner, on this well-deserved honor. Here's to many more years of collaboration and teamwork at G/S.