DETROIT Regional Meeting | Troy | April 16
On your mark! NACM Connect is heading to the starting gate in Detroit, MI, for our 2026 Regional Meeting. Round up your crew for an elite educational agenda and pre-race networking festivities on us! We’ll see you at the finish line on April 16.
For more information please contact Bob Rabe at bob.rabe@nacmconnect.org.
Courtyard by Marriott Detroit Troy
1525 East Maple Road
Troy, MI 48083
9:00 AM — 3:30 PM ET
9:30 – 9:45 A.M.
Opening Remarks
Bob Rabe, NACM Connect
9:45 – 10:45 A.M.
The End of the Traditional Credit Check: Your Next-Gen Playbook for Smarter Fraud Defense
Sean McCaffrey, Sales & Product Advisory Manager, Bectran; Tommy Ugalde, Associate Account Executive & Product Advisor, Bectran
The traditional credit process was not designed to handle the modern era of fraud seen in the industry. Join us as we discuss the evolution of modern B2B fraud, what it looks like today, and why traditional credit checks fail. We will also dive into best practices in building your defense against fraud and real-world examples of how automation and AI creates a seamless prevention process before it’s too late.
11:00 A.M. – 12:00 P.M.
Standby Letters of Credit
Thomas Fawkes, Partner, Tucker Ellis LLP; Brian
Jackiw, Partner, Tucker Ellis LLP
Standby letters of credit represent one of the most powerful tools in a credit professional’s toolbox to provide payment assurance in the event of a customer default. What makes them particularly attractive, compared to other credit enhancements, is that they are “bankruptcy-proof,” meaning that they can be accessed in the event of a bankruptcy and therefore provide creditors with substantial protection against bankruptcy losses. For them to be effective, however, they must be properly structured, and their requirements must be strictly followed. During this presentation, Thomas Fawkes and Brian Jackiw from Tucker Ellis LLP will provide an overview of standby letters of credit, including how they are created, how they operate, and the steps creditors must take to ensure that they are honored.
1:15 — 2:15 P.M.
How To Make A Sound Credit Decision
Dorann Guenard, CGA, Regional Manager, NACM
Connect; Bob Rabe, Education Manager,
NACM Connect
In this interactive workshop, random scenarios for credit requests will be worked out by the attendees with the assistance of the facilitator. Join us for what promises to be a fun session that will test what you know about credit decisions while learning new ways to assess your customers’ requests.
2:30 – 3:30 P.M.
Understanding Bankruptcy Trends: How Unsecured Creditor Data Shapes Effective Credit Solutions
James Brown, Founder & Owner, BK Wire
Monitoring companies’ losses through unsecured creditor data provides critical insights into bankruptcy trends and financial vulnerabilities in today’s volatile market. By analyzing this data, credit professionals can identify patterns of risk and adjust credit policies
proactively. During this session, BKwire experts will explore certain bankruptcies and how bankruptcy and unsecured creditor insights reveal signs of financial distress, enabling attendees to enhance credit risk management strategies. Attendees will learn to
leverage bankruptcy data to anticipate market shifts, mitigate losses, and seize opportunities, with practical examples drawn from recent bankruptcy filings.