TMA Webinar Changes Date Not Outlook: Ford Motor Exec and Other Power Panelists Drill Down on Auto Supplier Challenges

CHICAGO, Oct. 20, 2009 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- TMA's next Webinar, "Pressure on the Supply Chain -- Beginning of the End or End of the Beginning," will now be held from 12:00 noon to 1:00 p.m. (EDT) on Thursday, October 29, 2009.

Now that several auto companies weathered restructuring, manufacturing and distribution channels need shock absorbers of their own to maneuver new financial and marketing road bumps. The following leaders from industry and the professional service ranks examine the impact of recent changes on the internal supply chain and within the supplier base:

  Moderator:

  --  Benjamin Mann, director, Huron Consulting Group, is a senior finance
      and operations professional provides innovative solutions for
      pre-bankruptcy restructuring, financial turnarounds and complex
      business issues to manufacturing and wholesale/distribution companies.

  Panelists:
  --  John C. DiDonato, CTP, managing director and national practice leader,
      Huron Consulting Group, guides financially challenged businesses
      maneuvering through out-of-court and court-supervised restructurings.
      Industry expertise includes automotive original equipment and
      aftermarket suppliers, among other industries.
  --  Heather Lennox, partner, Jones Day, has represented significant debtor
      and creditor groups in many of the nation's largest in-court and
      out-of-court corporate restructurings and has represented a number of
      businesses in the structuring and consummation of spin-offs, secured
      financings, distressed sales and acquisitions and other out-of-court
      restructuring transactions.
  --  Justin E. Mirro, managing director, Moelis & Co., is experienced in
      automotive investment banking, most recently at Jefferies & Company.
      There he built a leading franchise advising automotive assemblers,
      suppliers, the aftermarket and dealerships on mergers and
      acquisitions, debt and equity financings, restructurings and leveraged
      buyouts. He began his automotive career as a test driver for Car and
      Driver magazine and was an engineer for General Motors in Detroit and
      for Toyota in Japan.

  --  William Strong, manager of supplier analysis, Corporate Finance and
      Global Purchasing, Ford Motor Company, joined the company before
      choosing to be part of the spin-off with Visteon, where he rose to the
      position of financial strategy manager for North America and Asia
      Pacific. After returning to Ford to work in financial systems
      development, Strong moved into his present position where, for the
      past two years, he and his group have handled all North American
      supplier bankruptcies.

The Chicago-based Turnaround Management Association has more than 9,000 members in 46 regional chapters who comprise a professional community of turnaround practitioners, attorneys, accountants, investors, lenders, venture capitalists, appraisers, liquidators, executive recruiters and consultants.