Lecturer Bios
Al Fenichel, MBA, CPA
Al Fenichel has extensive financial management and senior executive experience spanning both domestic and international environments in insurance, financial services, recorded music and consumer product businesses. His expertise includes acquisitions and divestitures, domestic and international management and financial reporting, corporate controls and compliance, and change management. Most recently,
Al served as the Senior Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer of AXA Financial and AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company, both SEC Registrants, retiring in 2012. Previously, Al served with CBS Inc. as the Finance Officer of its Consumer Products Group and as the officer responsible for Global Internal Audit.
He is a past president and member of the Board of Directors of the New York City Chapter of Financial Executives International, a member of the Town of Greenburgh, NY Water Advisory Committee and the Rider University Accounting Advisory Council. Al also serves as the coordinator of the HSG’s New York Litigation Support and Consulting Team.
Al represented CBS Inc. in front of the SEC Enforcement Division in Washington related to an industry-wide investigation of field broadcast operations, and later was deposed by the plaintiff in connection with civil litigation brought against CBS Inc. related to the sale of property. In his work at AXA, Al worked extensively with in-house and outside counsel in connection with acquisitions, dispositions and commercial contracts.
At HSG, Al has performed expert examinations of documents supplied in discovery and developed analyses of facts and factors supporting or refuting allegations. He also has served as a speaker in HSG’s business and professional programs for law and insurance clients.
Frank Gatti, MBA, CPA, NACD Leadership Fellow
Frank has been directly involved with over $10 billion of M&A, Equity and Debt Transactions, Turnaround, Transformational Strategies, Credit Ratings, Investor & Bank Relations and Benefits Administration.
He had a 13 year career at ETS leading a two-year turnaround that reversed a decade of operating and cash flow deficits. During his tenure revenues quadrupled to $1.3 billion with 35% from outside the U.S. and 6.500 employees worldwide. Through his leadership of numerous transformational transactions and initiatives, the creation of financial functions/tools and building high performance teams, over $500 million of net free cash flow was generated and reinvested in quality, innovation, R&D and technology.
Prior to ETS, Frank spent about 20 years at NYT where he was directly involved in over fifty M&A transactions that propelled the company to a media conglomerate. Revenues during his tenure grew from $400 million to $2.4 billion, 50% from acquired businesses, and 13,000 employees across the U.S. Due to this explosive growth, he implemented a range of scalable and integrated technologies to facilitate timely decisions by Management and the Board of Directors and created a shared services center.
Mr. Gatti began his career with Deloitte/New York and provided an array of services to public, private and tax-exempt companies across various industry segments.
Dan Brill, MBA
Dan Brill has extensive experience in global banking and finance developed in a
career spanning more than thirty years at Citicorp in the U.S., Canada, Europe
and Asia. From 2008 to 2012 he was the Chief Risk Officer of Treasury and
Trade Solutions at Citicorp’s Division of Global Transaction Services, responsible
for identifying risks and resolving complex business issues across a broad array
of functions in Global Cash Management and Finance Services. In addition to
currently serving as Board President of SARAH, Inc. (Guilford CT), he is a
member of Midstate Investors, LLC (Middletown CT).
Prior to joining H.S. Grace & Company, Inc., Dan had extensive experience in negotiating complex
corporate acquisition finance agreements with attorneys, investors and debt providers
and also had lead experience in negotiating debt restructuring for Donald Trump and
Rupert Murdoch. At HSG, Dan has served on engagement teams addressing financial
institution matters and corporate financing. He also has served as a speaker in HSG’s
business and professional programs for law and insurance clients. He received his MBA
from Wake Forest University School of Business.
Ed Grun
Ed has over 40 years of professional design and management experience. His
portfolio includes over 50 million square feet of development including more than
60 hotels and resorts totaling over 35,000 keys, high-rise residential and
numerous large corporate campus projects. Among his notable projects are: the
Sands Parisian Macau, Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, the
Fairmont Austin, Signia Hilton at Georgia World, Manchester Pacific Gateway,
Deloitte University, KPMG Innovation & Learning Campus and the ExxonMobil
and Halliburton Corporate Campuses. He earned a B.E.D. in Architecture and
Building Construction from Texas A & M University, Magna Cum Laude
Dr. Stephen Grace
Dr. Stephen Grace is President and Founder of H.S. Grace & Company, Inc., a
litigation support, expert testimony and business consulting firm serving
corporate officers and directors and their counsel as well as other organizations
and individuals. Dr. Grace is an economist, consultant and longtime expert
witness on corporate governance, business practices, and damages arising in
business disputes.
His prior business career included senior responsibilities in
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organizations involved in real estate, oil & gas, national sports team franchises,
auto and equipment leasing, and other areas. In these roles, he managed
financing and guided entities through bankruptcy and troubled debt situations.
Since founding H.S. Grace, he has assisted in litigation involving complex
commercial disputes in the energy, banking, financial and insurance industries
and in numerous other organizations including partnerships and non-profit
entities. He has also assisted clients in defending against shareowner derivative
suits and regulatory enforcement actions.
H.S. Grace & Company’s resources
include about thirty advisors and expert engagement staff members from a wide
range of industries and professional disciplines. For additional information about
the firm and its work, see www.hsgraceco.com. He earned a Bachelor’s degree
in Industrial Engineering from Lamar University, a Master’s Degree from the
University of Chicago and a PhD in Economics from University of Houston. MBA .
Steven B. Lilien, Ph.D., CPA
Steven B. Lilien, Ph.D., CPA is the Weinstein Professor of Accountancy at the Zicklin School of Business, Bernard M. Baruch College, The City University of New York. Steven is the Chairman of the Stan Ross Department of Accountancy at the Zicklin School of Business and the Director of the Robert Zicklin Center for Financial Integrity.
Joseph Monteleone, Esq.
Joe serves as coverage and monitoring counsel for errors and omissions (E&O), directors and officers (D&O), employment practices liability (EPL), and other claims-made insurance products.
Additionally, Joe also provides clients with consulting and testifying expert witness in insurance disputes involving claims handling practice and industry custom and practice in the underwriting of risk. In particular, he has concentrated this work in the D&O and professional liability product lines.
In Joe’s practice, he handles reinsurance audits in specialty lines such as Representations and Warranties Insurance. He is also experienced in drafting policies and endorsements.
Joe is certified as an arbitrator by ARIAS-US concentrating on D&O and professional lines coverage disputes. He is also a mediator of insurance and reinsurance coverage disputes.
S. Lawrence Prendergast , MBA
Larry Prendergast is Chairman of the Turrell Fund and serves on the advisory
boards of several investment funds, including JPMorgan. He is a member of the
Board of Advisors for H.S. Grace & Company and provides expert services 5
relating to business operations, corporate finance, acquisitions and restructuring,
officer and director responsibilities and other matters. Larry was previously a
board member of three NYSE listed companies, AT&T Capital Corp., LaBranche
& Co., and Lucent Technologies, Inc., and also served as Chairman of the
Financial Executives Research Foundation.
Larry was the Vice President and
Treasurer of AT&T from 1983–1997. In 1997 he was elected Chairman and CEO
of AT&T Investment Management Corp. which was responsible for the
investment and the administration of $35 billion in funded employee plan assets
for AT&T Corp. He retired from AT&T in 1999 and subsequently served as
Executive Vice President of Finance at LaBranche & Co. Inc., a New York Stock
Exchange specialist firm. Larry is the author of the book, “Uncommon Profits
Through Stock Purchase Warrants” published by Dow-Jones Irwin. He earned a
BA in Mathematics from Brown University and an MBA from New York
University.
Richard Schrader, MBA, MA, PE
Rich Schrader has almost 50 years of professional experience with almost 40
years in engineering and construction. He worked for Parsons Brinckerhoff for
almost 30 years, including as chairman of the $2.5 billion revenue firm.
Previously, he spent 11 years with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and taught
at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
His experience spans commercial real estate and housing, enterprise risk programs,
corporate governance, ethics and compliance, corporate finance, government contracts,
HR and benefits programs, public/private partnerships, strategic planning, M&A,
corporate IT and facilities construction. He earned a BS from the U.S. Military Academy
at West Point, an MA from the Jons Hopkins University School of Avanced international
Studies and an MBA in Finance from Long Island University.
Christopher Tirro, JD
Christopher Tirro is a very experienced claims professional specializing in claims and
underwriting issues concerning Financial Institutions, Representations & Warranties,
Directors & Officers, Professional Liability, and Employment Practices insurance
policies.
He currently serves as Claims Director for HudsonPro, part of the Hudson Insurance
Group, where he manages public D&O and Financial Institution claims. He worked 22
years for AIG, most recently as SVP for Financial Institutions and Reps & Warranties
claims, previously holding other senior roles regarding Financial Institutions claims. He
6 earned a BA in History and Law from Binghamton University and a JD from Elisabeth
Haub School of Law at Pace University
