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Profiles of Board of Directors and Key People
The Leadership Team
Board of Directors
Howard Levinson, CPA, MBA—Chairman
Gary S. Meyers—President, CEO
James Hendricks, Esq.—Automotive, Industry, Healthcare
Dan Shapiro, Esq.—Legal Services Coordinator
Carl Peterson, Esq.—Chief Legal Officer for Government and GSE Lending
Quintin Harmon—Chief Underwriter
Advisors to Board
Feisel Amin Rasoul al-Istrabadi, J.D., S.J.D.—Foreign Trade
Robert Genetski, Ph.D.—Chief Economist
Harry Cheatham.—HUD, GSE and Conduit Loans
Jerry Schain, Esq.—Land Use and Entitlements
Dan Shapiro, Esq.—Legal Services Coordinator
Stephen L. Schwartz, CHA, CPA, MBA—Hospitality
Gary Edidin—Asset Based Lending
Jeffrey Rappin—Apartments and Independent Living Management and Development
Edward Burke—Retail Automotive Industry
Cindy Kotke—Movie Theaters and Family Entertainment
Paul Valente—Energy and Heavy Industry
Steven Hovany—Research, Feasibility and Planning
Charles Husson, BSEE, MBA—Technology
Frank Buckley, Esq.—Defaults, Restructuring and Workouts
Ariel Weissberg, Esq.—Defaults, Restructuring and Workouts
Underwriting
Quinton Harmon—Chief Underwriter
Howard Levinson, CPA, MBA
Chairman Board of Directors
Financial Fraud Forensics, Corporate Organization
Managing Member Levinson, Simon, Hein & Bilkey
Howard Levinson is the Managing Member of Levinson, Simon, Hein & Bilkey, Certified Public Accountants. He also is a key member of the financial fraud forensics and analysis team of Commercial Corp Finance. Levinson is uniquely qualified for this role, because for the past 35 years he has been involved in accounting and auditing Taft-Hartley Collectively Bargained Funds. In a past life, he was an auditor for the Internal Revenue Service. A graduate of Miami University in Ohio (B.S. Accounting), he received an MBA/Finance degree from the University of Chicago.
Levinson has spent a career auditing and reorganizing companies financially, philosophically and organizationally. Proof of the quality of his work lies in the tenure of his client base, many of which have been with him and his firm for decades.
Gary S. Meyers
President, CEO, Board of Directors
President, CEO – Gary Meyers Realty, Inc.
Gary S. Meyers is a businessman/journalist. He combines a very solid business background of over 30 years in real estate marketing, management and development, research and financial forecasting skills with 20 years of journalism experience as a nationally syndicated columnist to create The Meyers Report.
Moving to Chicago, Meyers undertook the research and marketing and sales of several major real estate projects, including New Century Town, a 5,000 unit development in Vernon Hills, Illinois and Chicago’s super luxury Water Tower Place condominiums. Meyers formed a research and forecasting company for the housing industry, which he built and eventually sold. After doing real estate and financial consulting work for major corporations, he created The Meyers Report.
The Meyers Report has served newspapers from coast to coast and is syndicated by United Feature Syndicate, a division of Scripps-Howard. The business column and data package was syndicated in more than 200 newspapers in the U.S., such as the Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune, New York Post, New York Daily News, Houston Post, Dallas Morning News, Washington Times, Detroit Post, Rocky Mountain News. Mr. Meyers also has published Living in Greater Chicago Magazine, generally considered the finest relocation and community profile magazine in the country.
As an economic research and forecasting firm, The Meyers Report has served financial institutions, real estate developers and commodities users with analytical interpretation and projections, statistical data on the economy and financial industry.
Meyers began his business career in real estate in his native New York City as assistant to the chairman of the board of a major supermarket chain, responsible for real estate management operations. He then went on to do site-analysis and site location work for several other major chain stores, as well as commercial and residential real estate developers. As a sales, research and marketing professional, Mr. Meyers has been instrumental in the planning, sale and development of over $1 billion of diversified real estate projects.
Meyers has been recognized as an accurate source of information by the media for over 20 years. The U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Housing and Banking, the Congressional Joint Economic Committee, Federal Home Loan Bank Board, Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA), and many of the major broadcast media are among those who have relied on Meyers’ resources over the years.
Mr. Meyers is a graduate of the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill) in Political Science, where he also studied History and Religion. He has taught real estate classes and been a lecturer in Real Estate at NYU, Roosevelt University, De Paul University, National Association of Home Builders and numerous other schools and national and local trade associations. Mr. Meyers has been active in numerous civic and trade associations.
James Hendricks, Esq.
Board of Directors
Partner, Ford & Harrison
Jim Hendricks focuses his representation on assisting management with labor matters before the National Labor Relations Board and involving collective bargaining and arbitrations. He also defends employers in charges before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the U.S. Department of Labor and various state agencies.
A large portion of his practice is devoted to assisting clients in maintaining a union-free atmosphere and positive employee relations programs and training. Jim has represented employers in more than 250 union organizing campaigns. He has also handled numerous employment litigation cases involving discrimination, harassment, retaliatory discharge, wage and hour, and non-compete and restrictive covenant agreements.
Prior to joining the Ford & Harrison, Hendricks was the founding and managing partner of Fisher & Phillips' Chicago office.
Recent Experience
• I.A.M. - Automotive Industry - No wage increase, no pension, no union shop, no change in health insurance payment by employees. Decertification nine months later.
• Teamsters - Manufacturers of industrial rollers - One year agreement with all benefits frozen.
Recent Publications
• "The New Administration - What it Means to your Properties," Hospitality Lawyers Annual Meeting, 2009
• "Wage and Hour Issues at your Dealership," National Automobile Trade Association Annual Meeting workshop, 2008
• "Human Resource Issues in Asset Purchase Agreements," National Association of Dealer Counsel, 2009
Honors and Awards
• The Best Lawyers in America – Labor and Employment Law
• Law & Politics magazine's 2009 and 2010 list of "Illinois Super Lawyers" and 2009 list of "Super Lawyers - Corporate Counsel Edition"
• Listed as one of the Top 100 Labor Attorneys by Labor Relations Institute, Inc. for the last four years
Education: Loyola Law School J.D. (1973); Loyola University Chicago, M.S. (1968), Indiana University B.S. (1966)
Bar admissions: Illinois
Court admissions Various U.S. District Courts U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit U.S. Supreme Court
Practice areas: Arbitration Collective Bargaining/Contract Negotiations Discrimination Labor Union Organizing (NLRB) National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) Retaliation Wage and Hour/FLSA
Industries: Automobile Dealerships Healthcare Hospitality
Memberships: Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers
American Bar Association (Practice and Procedure Under the NLRA Committee)
Dan Shapiro, Esq.
Board of Directors
Partner, Thompson Coburn
Dan Shapiro advises Commercial Corp Finance on real estate transactions, coordinating general real estate services from land use to transactions. Shapiro is a partner with Thompson Coburn, where he practices in the areas of land use, zoning, governmental relations, municipal law, and civil litigation. He represents a wide variety of private developers as well as governmental entities and advises his clients closely on issues of concern. Dan has handled complex multi-million dollar projects by working closely with his clients to seek necessary zoning entitlements and/or private public partnership financing mechanisms.
He has argued before the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, the Illinois Supreme Court and the Illinois Appellate Courts. As part of his practice he has successfully presented legislative and administrative matters before plan commissions, zoning boards and village, city and county bodies.
Dan has been a speaker for the Illinois Municipal League addressing such issues as the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, the Illinois Open Meetings Act, sexual harassment, school and labor law issues. He has frequently lectured on land use issues both at a local and national level.
Carl David Peterson, Esq.
Chief Legal Officer for Government and GSE Lending
Mr. Peterson has over 40 years' experience in sophisticated commercial/special-use real estate projects, strategic planning, cost verification/analysis and advanced business research. A degreed engineer and an attorney, Peterson has broad transactional experience in commercial lending, municipal finance, bond ordinance administration, bid/construction documentation and governmental regulation at all levels. He serves Commercial Corp Finance in underwriting, due diligence studies and document preparation/management relating to government and government sponsored entity lending for the purchase/sale, redevelopment and improvement of commercial real estate, specialty real estate and small businesses.
Mr. Peterson’s career includes 15 years working for one of the nation’s largest and oldest government lenders. His project resume includes significant US and foreign public facilities including Cleveland’s I-X Convention Center, New York’s Jacob Javits Exposition Center, Chicago’s McCormick Place and the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, as well as multi-family and senior housing facilities.
As a mechanical engineer Mr. Peterson has managed significant projects relating to energy management, fire/life-safety systems, environmental issues, utility distribution systems, materials handling/traffic control, facility design and other technical areas critical to major commercial real estate operations. Mr. Peterson received both a B.S in Mechanical Engineering and a J.D. from Northwestern University.
Quintin Harmon
Chief Underwriter
For over 20 years, Quint Harmon has been a banker, working in positions of top management, chief lending officer, loan originations and underwriting. From those capacities, he brings to CCF the understanding of the needs and nature of quality loan underwriting for the needs of banking institutions and also the needs and requirements of regulatory agencies on the state and federal levels.
Business/Civic: Typical of the CCF team, Mr. Harmon is very civically involved, serving as Treasurer of the Police and Fire Pension Board (Coal City), School Board Member of Coal City District #1, Board Member of the Minooka Chamber of Commerce, Rotary International, Will County Center of Economic Development, Member of the Will County Economic Development Committee, Shorewood Chamber of Commerce, Plainfield Chamber of Commerce and the Joliet Chamber of Commerce
United States Air Force: Achieved E-4 status in three years. Recognized as top 1% in the Air Force. Promoted to E-5 in four years. Law Enforcement Specialist.
Feisal Amin Rasoul al-Istrabadi
Advisor to the Board of Directors
Visiting Professor of Law, Indiana University—Bloomington
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Deputy Permanent Representative of Iraq to the United Nations (on leave)
Dr. Istrabadi Represented Iraq at the United Nations as Deputy Permanent Representative. In 2004 he was one of the main drafters of Iraq's the Transitional Administrative Law (TAL), the Iraqi provisional constitution in the immediate postwar period, which came into effect on June 28, 2004.
Prior to his diplomatic appointment, Ambassador Istrabadi served as legal advisor to the Iraqi Minister for Foreign Affairs during the negotiations for U.N. Security Council resolution 1546 of the 8 June 2004, which recognized the reassertion by Iraq of its sovereignty.
Raised and educated in the United States since the age of 8, Istrabadi received an A.B. (Chem) and J.D. from Indiana University--Bloomington and completed an LL.M. and Doctor of Juridical Science from Northwestern University School of Law. Until his appointment as an Iraqi diplomat, Istrabadi was a leading civil rights and employment-law attorney in the Northwest Indiana/Chicago metro area.
Beginning in the fall of 2007, Istrabadi became a visiting professor at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law, and also is involved in teaching at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs.
Al-Istrabadi was born in Virginia, in the United States of America, into a distinguished Iraqi family that had fled Iraq in the aftermath of the 1958 coup. He holds dual U.S. and Iraqi citizenship. Those who know him well consider Istrabadi to be ethical, competent and an extraordinarily brave American.
Dr. Istrabadi advises CCF on matters of international diplomacy, Mideast private investment.
Evaluation/workout team:
Economics and forecasting
Robert Genetski, Ph.D.
Chief Economist/Investment Advisor
Advisor to the Board of Directors
One of the nation’s leading economists, premier interest rate forecasters and investment advisors, Dr. Genetski is a popular speaker to thousands of people at conferences and investor meetings around the world each year. He is recognized routinely by the media and his clients for his insights to economic, financial and investment matters on a micro and macro perspective.
Genetski is well known for his research and advocacy of classical economic principles. These principles provide a reliable guide to creating both a healthy economy and profitable investment opportunities. Dr. Genetski has conducted pioneering research into the role of taxes and their impact on economic prosperity.
In the early 1980s, he correctly forecast that tax cuts would end the nation’s economic malaise by boosting productivity and helping to reduce both inflation and interest rates. In 1989, Dr. Genetski correctly referred to the Japanese stock market as “a classic case of a speculative bubble waiting to burst.”
As a member of Blue Chip forecasters, Dr. Genetski has been commended on his ability to out-forecast the pack. He was listed on two separate occasions as the number one interest rate forecaster in the country, according to Institutional Investor Magazine and Blue Chip Financial Forecasts.
During the 1990s he gained a reputation as one of the most optimistic investment advisors in the nation, if not the world, for forecasting rapid growth, low inflation and record-breaking stock prices. During the course of his career Genetski has served as Senior Vice President and Chief Economist for a major Midwest Bank and has headed asset management, investment research, and investment banking operations.
Dr. Genetski has authored several books and numerous articles. He authored Taking the Voodoo Out of Economics, an influential book that anticipated and shaped many of the major policy changes that are now occurring throughout the world. In his latest book, A Nation of Millionaires, Dr. Genetski provides his vision of the changes in government policies that will shape the economic and financial landscape in the 21st century.
Dr. Genetski earned his Ph.D. in economics from and has taught economics at New York University and at the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business. He has served on numerous Boards of Directors and writes a regular column for the Nikkei Financial Daily’s leading business newspaper.
Evaluation/workout team:
Project underwriting and review
Harry Cheatham
HUD, GSE and Conduit Loans—Advisor to Board of Directors
Vice Chairman, Love Funding
Mr. Cheatham joined Love Funding in 1994 as vice president and senior originator, and he was promoted to senior vice president/director of commercial origination and a member of the Senior Management Committee in 1997. In 1999, Harry was made President, COO and a member of the board of directors, and in 2003, he became CEO, where he was responsible for overall profitability for the firm’s national operation and 15 offices. In 2007, he moved to Vice Chairman of the Board, focusing on various business development opportunities for the company, including loan production and funding source relationships.
For over three decades, Mr. Cheatham has been involved in the commercial real estate investment industry with his primary focus in mortgage banking. His experience includes portfolio lending and asset management with a life insurance company, commercial lending manager at a commercial bank and commercial real estate syndication.
Mr. Cheatham is a State Certified General Real Estate Appraiser, a licensed real estate broker and an FHA MAP-approved underwriter for both multifamily and senior housing.
Evaluation/workout team:
Project review, transactional and land use issues
Jerome Schain, Esq.
Land Use and Real Estate—Advisor to Board of Directors
Managing Partner, Schain, Burney, Banks & Kenny, Ltd.
Considered one of the Midwest’s finest land use and real estate transactional attorneys, Jerry Schain works with municipalities and developers to make large or small projects acceptable to a community. Schain is the Managing Partner in the law firm of Schain, Burney, Ross, and Citron, Ltd., which he helped found in 1986. Since then the firm has grown to 40 attorneys, most of them partners.
He and his firm work on new and redevelopment projects ranging from suburban planned unit developments to urban high rises and properties consisting of thousands of acres. In dealing with municipalities, Schain uses his experience of over two decades of private practice, and before that 16 years in the State Attorney’s office, for his clients to navigate the often times difficult waters of zoning and land use regulation.
While working in the State Attorney’s office, Schain represented Cook County in matters of Zoning, Condemnation, and Health. During that period, he helped to write a new Zoning ordinance and a comprehensive plan for Cook County, Illinois.
The clients of Schain and his law firm include virtually every major commercial and home builder in the Chicago metro area, major banks and financial institution and dozens of municipalities, other law firms, major accounting and consulting firms, labor unions, major retailers and many others.
Schain received his JD from DePaul University College of Law in 1967. He is a member of the Illinois State Bar Association, Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, and the International Council of Shopping Centers.
Schain’s experience, determination, and enthusiasm make him the ideal advocate to ensure that a project will not only survive, but succeed.
Evaluation/workout team:
Project review, workout, receivership, finance
Stephen L. Schwartz, CHA, CPA, MBA
Hospitality—Advisor to Board of Directors
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of First Hospitality Group, Inc.
A national leader in the hospitality industry, Mr. Schwartz founded FHG on the principles of excellence, awareness, growth, leadership and earnings. Since beginning in 1985 with his first hotel, he has successfully grown the company to over 40 properties in 6 states. Over the past two decades, he has successfully developed and financed more than $500 million in hotel real estate, with successful franchise relationships extending to Hilton Hotel Corporation, Marriott International, InterContinental Hotels, Cendant Corporation and other prominent hotel companies
Through Mr. Schwartz’s focused vision, staunch values and charismatic leadership, FHG has enjoyed superior performance and exceptional returns and has consistently attracted a strong investor base. In addition to its day-to-day operation of quality hotels, FHG has served in a consulting role to major financial institutions including LaSalle National Bank, TCF Bank, ORIX Financial, the RTC and Textron Financial. Mr. Schwartz holds an MBA in Finance, Accounting and International Business from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management, a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering from Northwestern and is a Certified Public Accountant. In addition to his operating responsibilities, Mr. Schwartz has been active on several boards including the International Association of Holiday Inns; Promus Acceptance Corp; and both Marriott and Hilton Franchise Advisory Committees. In 2007 he was awarded the Chairman’s Hospitality Award from the Illinois Hotel and Lodging Association and inducted into the Chicago Area Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame.
Mr. Schwartz is a known philanthropist and strongly believes in giving back to the communities his businesses serves. His charitable activities includes over ten years on the Board of Jewish Education as Executive Vice President for its Early Childhood Centers, membership in the Young Leadership Cabinet of UJA and fellow of the Wexner Heritage Foundation.
Evaluation/workout team:
Project review, international debt and finance
Paul M. McGonagle
Advisor to Board of Directors—Commercial Corp Finance
Mr. McGonagle has over 25 years of experience in the financial and international credit sector in North America, South America, Asia, Europe and the emerging nations of the former Soviet Union. Mr. McGonagle served as CEO of Exporters International until his selling for the firm in January of 2009. The firm specializes in trade reinsurance with clients in 22 countries.
Previously, he served as Head of International Credit at Bank One in Chicago. He also held a number of senior international management positions at Bank One, including Korea Country Manager, Regional Manager for Southeast Asia, based in Singapore, and Head of Country Risk.
Mr. McGonagle began his career as a diplomat in the U.S. Foreign Service, serving in Washington D.C., France and Canada. As Director of Monetary Affairs at the Department of State, Mr. McGonagle was the U.S. government representative to the Paris Club, the forum in which foreign country debt to the US and other governments is restructured.
He has a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University, A Masters of Arts in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania and a Masters in Economics from the University of Michigan.
Evaluation/workout team:
Energy and Heavy Industry
Paul Valente
Energy and Heavy Industry—Advisor to Board of Directors
Mr. Valente has been working with Gary Meyers for over 25 years. He serves Commercial Loan Corp. in reviewing energy and utility components of existing and proposed projects and comparing them with available state-of-art technologies for functionality and cost efficiency. His specialty is reviewing industrial environmental control designs for both municipal and commercial clients.
Valente's problem solving skills were developed over 30 years working in sales and marketing roles selling instrumentation products and environmental processing equipment to the petroleum, chemical, waste water, municipal and pool processing business sectors. Over that time Paul has handled numerous large accounts including Halliburton, General Electric, Pratt & Whitney, General Dynamics, Siemens Applied Automation Group, Schlumberger, United Technologies, Commonwealth Edison, Peoples Gas, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, BP/Amoco Corporation, Illinois Department of Nuclear Safety, U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Sargent & Lundy, Flour, and Harza Engineering Company.
Mr. Valente’s recent consulting work has involved:
Working with Capstone, Inc. (a micro turbine manufacturing subsidiary of United Technologies) to expand this company’s market present in the Midwest. As part of this effort he developed a public/private venture relationship between Capstone and Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry to produce a working exhibit demonstrating commercial application of Capstone’s energy-saving micro turbine/fuel cell technology.
Introducing an innovative municipal solid waste disposal technology to government leaders in the City of Chicago, Cook County, and the State of Illinois. This high temperature approach to handling solid waste converts large volume trash into a small volume molten slag that cools into a glass-like substance suitable for low cost building materials applications. The technology is currently being evaluated for use as a viable method to eliminate the need for landfill site disposal.
Funding and building domestic and international alternative fuel (bio-diesel) refineries.
Assisting a Midwest based client in the development of a more efficient continuous emissions monitor (C.E.M.) system for coal fired fossil fuel generating stations.
Mr. Valente is actively involved with non-profit environmental and historic preservation projects in Illinois, working closely with activists like Illinois Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn and his Green Solutions initiative (a statewide effort to conserve and protect the environment while creating healthy and friendly workplaces and homes). He has served on the Boards of the Historic Pullman Foundation, the Pullman Civic Organization, and St. Paul’s School in the Pilsen neighborhood. He is a member of both the Instrument Society of America (ISA) and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME). Paul lives in Chicago’s Pullman district.
Evaluation/workout team:
Market research, feasibility
Performance and market monitoring
Steven Hovany
Research, Feasibility and Planning—Advisor to Board of Directors
President—Strategy Planning Associates
Trained as a war planner, Mr. Hovany understands research and strategies and the need for it to be done properly. Hovany executes Commercial Corp Finance market research and feasibility studies and reviews those presented to us. The research work goes beyond listings of competition; it examines the capacity and timing for geographic markets to absorb the products being offered. In short, the concern is if Commercial Corp Finance provides the financing and the client builds it, "will they come?"
Steve Hovany is the founder and president of Strategy Planning Associates, Inc. His experience spans both the public and private sectors of the land development industry for over 30 years. Hovany has been actively analyzing and shaping the growth and development of the Chicagoland region, including managing and producing the weekly Home Builders Activity and Sale Report, covering over 350 subdivisions. The report is the longest running report of its kind in the nation, begun in 1976 by Gary Meyers.
Hovany's public sector involvement offered exposure to a complete range of planning issues, including his serving as Director of Planning for the Village of Schaumburg and Chief Planner for City of Naperville, the second largest city in Illinois.
Hovany has applied his wealth of public sector experience to development proposals and strategies, consulting on innumerable projects throughout the country. Hovany's site-oriented approach to market research, direct access to exclusive primary and detailed understanding of political and social nuances make his work uniquely valuable to developers and municipalities alike.
In addition to his consulting and expert testimony activities, Hovany is very active in the areas of public policy, business development, and housing. He is a founding member of the Schaumburg Business Association, and serves as a commissioner of the Schaumburg Business Development Commission appointed by the Mayor. He is one of the founders, and continues to be a board member of the North West Housing Partnership, a non-profit organization focused on developing affordable housing in the northwest Illinois.
Hovany is a regular speaker at industry forums and cited frequently in regional business publications, including Crain's Chicago Business, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Times, and the Daily Herald.
Hovany received a B.A. in Psychology from Marquette University and a M.A. in Urban Studies from Loyola University. He is a Member of the American Institute of Certified Planners.
Certifications and Professional Memberships • American Institute of Certified Planners(A.I.C.P.)
• American Planning Association (A.P.A.) • Urban Land Institute (U.L.I.) • Homebuilders Association of Greater Chicago (H.B.A.G.C.) • Illinois Development Council (I.D.C.) • National Association of Homebuilders (N.A.H.B.) • North West Housing Partnership • Greater Chicago Housing Foundation
• Schaumburg Business Development Commission • Metropolitan Planning Council
Evaluation/workout team:
Energy and technology review
Charles Husson, BSEE, MBA
Energy and Technology Review
Mr. Charles Husson reviews all technology and energy proposals brought to CCF. For over 35 years with NASA and later as a private research consultant, Mr. Husson has been at the cutting edge of technology.
Mr. Husson is a pioneer in the development of modern electronics, trained in civil, mechanical, electrical, industrial and chemical engineering. His experience includes nuclear energy measurement and radiation damage, microelectronics digital circuits and systems to on-board spacecraft computers, instrumentation, command, and control systems. For 15 years he managed and directed Microelectronics research and development for NASA guiding the original development of digital logic chips, operational amplifiers, A/D converters, comparators, and network interface chips.
He was the technical consultant to improve the performance and specification of proposed systems for the U.S. Space Orbital Shuttle, the International Space Station, and the proposed cargo carrier through technology enhancements. For the International Space Station, he conducted the on-board systems commonality studies, developed the power management core system, and evaluated candidate data bus configurations. Also, he was the principal troubleshooter for all electronic systems aboard the United States Lunar Orbiter, the Viking Mars Orbiter, and the Viking Mars Lander over a period of ten years.
Mr. Husson also developed the NASA ISIS End to End Data Management System for high speed on-board spacecraft data processing. Husson was attached (on-loan from NASA) to the Strategic Defense Initiative Office (SDI), in Washington, DC for the Under Secretary of Defense in 1986 as a systems analyst for on-board robotics, command, control, and communications technologies and weapons control systems.
During his tour of duty with NASA, Mr. Husson served on the DOD Advisory Group for Electron Devices, New Technology Review Board representing all of the NASA centers on that board.
International Refereed Publications and Presentations:
• "The Information Science Experiment and Data Fusion System-Computers for Science Experiments in Space." AIAA Conference, Computers in Aerospace, VII, Oct. 3-5, 1989. With Dr. Edwin Foudriat.
• "Data Processor for Maximum Likelihood Feature Classification." AIAA Conference on Sensor Systems for the 80s. 12/80, Colorado Springs, Col. AIAA Paper #80-1920P. Dr. Benz
• "Satellite Pattern Classification Using Charge Transfer Devices." IEEE Computer Society Conference on Pattern Recognition and Image Processing, 08/79. With Benz.
• "Impact and Trends of Smart Sensors in Spacecraft." AIAA Conference In Astronautics and Aeronautics Series-Smart Sensors Volume I, 1979.
• "Smart Sensors in Spacecraft." AIAA Conference on 'Smart' Remote Sensors, 11/78.
• "Satellite On Board Feature Classification." IEEE Intn’l Symposium--Circuits and Systems 04/77. W/Benz.
• "Real Time Multispectral Feature Classification." Electro '77, 04/77.
• "Analog Signal Processing." IEEE Proceedings Letter, 5/70. With Benz.
• "Development of Thick Film Active Devices." Fourth NASA Microelectronics Conference. 02/70.
• "The Langley Research Center Microelectronics Program." Fourth NASA Microelectronics Conference. 2/70.
• "Electrochemical Display of Visual Symbols" American Chemical Society 21st Southeastern Regional Meeting 11/69.
• "The Langley Research Center Microelectronics R & D Program." 3rd NASA Microelectronics Conference.
• "Integrated Micropower Circuits." Electronics Systems Symposium of the International Conference on Aerospace Electro-Technology.
• "Bringing Microelectronics to Spacecraft." Astronautics and Aeronautics Magazine, 04/64.
Evaluation/workout team:
Bankruptcy preverntion, planning, execution
Ariel Weissberg, Esq.
Advisor to Board of Directors
Managing Partner, Weissberg and Associates, Ltd.
Mr. Weissberg is widely respected for integrity and thoroughness and generally considered one of the most aggressive and effective bankruptcy and litigation attorneys in Chicago and the Midwest. He functions within his area of practice both proactively and as a strategic planner in business organizations—before they get into difficulty.
Typical of the CCF professional team, Weissberg takes a global approach to problems. And, unlike many lawyers who take a narrow "legalistic" view of business matters—Weissberg is widely known and respected for his grasp of the complex interplay between legal issues and broader business concerns and challenges. Beyond problem solving, Ariel proactively practices "problem-avoidance", and enables his clients to advance more efficiently and with greater vision.
Weissberg began practicing law in 1979 at a small Chicago law firm where, as the only associate, he promptly gained solid foundations in both business litigation and a wide-range of transactional work. Later, he built upon this foundation at a top medium-sized firm, further broadening his apprenticeship by representing Chapter 11 debtors and middle-market banks.
Since 1984, when Weissberg and Associates was founded, Ariel has built a varied and loyal clientele, comprised of small to medium-sized to publicly traded businesses, and individuals, who appreciate his aggressive, yet deliberate hands-on style and his dedication to achieving positive results for his clients.
Weissberg is a "quick study" especially in financial matters, and he is sought out for complex business planning, especially relating to credit facilities and crisis-management.
Weissberg has deep roots in the Chicago community. The son of Rabbi Victor H. Weissberg, Ariel graduated from Washington University (B.A. 1976) and received his J.D. from St. Louis University Law School (1979). He returned to Chicago, where, besides practicing law, he involved himself in charitable and community-based activities.
Married for over 25 years, Ariel is the father of three children including Ilan S. Weissberg, who, until recently, was on active duty as a United States Marine. Ariel is an avid student of military history and an outdoors man. He speaks frequently in the Chicago area concerning real estate, financial distress, and litigation.
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