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Tina’s Wish was honored to present to James H.M. Sprayregen of Kirkland & Ellis the 2019 Tina Brozman Mentoring Award.

James H.M. Sprayregen is a Restructuring partner in the Chicago and New York offices of Kirkland & Ellis and served on Kirkland’s worldwide management committee from 2003-2006 and 2009-2019. Mr. Sprayregen is recognized as one of the outstanding restructuring lawyers in the United States and around the world and has led some of the most complex Chapter 11 filings in recent history. He has extensive experience representing major U.S. and international companies in restructurings in and out of court and has handled matters for clients in industries as varied as manufacturing, technology, transportation, energy, media, retail, and real estate. He has extensive experience advising boards of directors, and generally representing debtors and creditors in complex workout, insolvency, restructuring, and bankruptcy planning matters worldwide.
Chambers & Partners has praised Mr. Sprayregen for his “outstanding reputation for complex Chapter 11 cases” noting he is a “great clients’ lawyer, admired for his unflustered ways.” Chambers said that clients it spoke to noted that he is “probably the best restructuring lawyer in the world.” Most recently, sources commented that Mr. Sprayregen is “a premier restructuring expert” and “in a class of his own” with “unbelievable technical capabilities” and “deep experience he can draw upon.” Prior editions of Chambers guides have described Mr. Sprayregen as “a world-class practice leader,” “one of the deans of the Bar,” and “a restructuring genius and one of the best strategists in the country” noting that clients look to him as someone who is “providing leadership and strategic guidance on the big issues.”
In March 2010, Mr. Sprayregen was selected by The National Law Journal as one of “The Decade’s Most Influential Lawyers.” Mr. Sprayregen was named “Global Insolvency & Restructuring Lawyer of the Year” in 2013 by Who’s Who Legal Awards, receiving more votes from clients and peers than any other individual worldwide. In October 2013, Mr. Sprayregen was inducted into the Turnaround Management Association (TMA) Turnaround, Restructuring, and Distressed Investing Industry Hall of Fame‎. From 2013-2015, Mr. Sprayregen was appointed to serve a two-year term as the President of INSOL International, the leading insolvency association in the world.
Mr. Sprayregen joined Kirkland in 1990 and built its international Restructuring Group. He joined Goldman Sachs in 2006 where he was co-head of Goldman Sachs’ Restructuring Group and advised clients in restructuring and distressed situations. He rejoined Kirkland three years later. Mr. Sprayregen is a frequent lecturer, speaker, and writer on insolvency, cross-border, and distressed M&A issues. He has served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, New York University School of Law, and the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Tina’s Wish was honored to present to Simon Freakley of AlixPartners, LLP the 2020 Tina Brozman Mentoring Award.

Simon is the chief executive officer of AlixPartners and a member of the firm’s board of directors. In his more than 30 years of extensive experience in advising clients, Simon has played a leading role in the development and implementation of business transformation strategies in many large and high-profile cases. Prior to AlixPartners, Simon was CEO of Zolfo-Cooper Europe from 2008-2015 and previous to this, he was CEO of Kroll Inc., a global risk consulting firm based in New York with revenues of over $1 billion.

Long involved in philanthropic causes, Simon is Chairman of Grange Park Opera, London Music Masters, and the American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and was formerly Chairman of Dulwich Picture Gallery. He was also on the Board of the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington and the English National Ballet.

Tina’s Wish was honored to present Joele Frank of Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher with the 2021 Tina Brozman Mentoring Award.

Joele Frank is the founder and managing partner of Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher. Founded in 2000, the firm has ranked #1 in M&A since 2013. For more than 30 years, Joele has been a trusted advisor to executive teams and Boards of Directors as they manage through some of the most complex situations in their company’s history. Having played a major role in more than 1,000 special situations, Joele understands the impact of communications on corporate reputation and a company’s ability to achieve its overall business objectives. Joele has been named to PRWeek’s Hall of Fame and Inside PR’s Hall of Fame as an All-Star for Investor Relations, and she has appeared on PRWeek’s PR Power List of the 25 top PR industry leaders.

She is a member of The Committee of 200, the Financial Women’s Association, The Economic Club of New York, and the Board of The Museum at FIT.

Tina’s Wish was honored to present Ricky Mason of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz with the 2022 Tina Brozman Mentoring Award.

Richard G. Mason (Ricky) is a senior partner in Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and the chair of the Firm’s Restructuring and Finance Department. Ricky has held leading roles in many of the largest and most complex bankruptcies and out of court restructurings over the past several decades.

Ricky also believes in giving back to the community. A Distinguished Eagle Scout, he is Chair Emeritus of the Boy Scouts of America’s Greater New York Councils and a co-chair of the Bankruptcy and Reorganization Group of the UJA-Federation of New York’s Lawyers Division. Together with his wife Beth and their two children, Ricky founded the Mason Civic League, a 501(c)(3) charity dedicated to providing educational, art and civic support in Hoboken, New Jersey and beyond.

Tina’s Wish was honored to present Dennis Dunne of Milbank with the 2023 Tina Brozman Mentoring Award.

A distinguished restructuring practitioner, author and speaker, Dennis Dunne is the Global Leader for the firm’s Financial Restructuring Group and a member of the Global Executive Committee. Dennis has extensive experience in representing companies and creditors in reorganization cases and out-of-court workouts, acquirors of financially distressed companies, providers of financing, and board of directors of public and private companies. He is a trusted advisor to his clients and draws upon his broad experience across several disciplines to craft practical solutions and build the consensus required to implement those solutions.