GRAND RAPIDS Regional Meeting | Grand Rapids | April 14
On your mark! NACM Connect is heading to the starting gate in Grand Rapids, 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 14.
For more information please contact Bob Rabe at bob.rabe@nacmconnect.org.
Sheraton Grand Rapids Airport
5700 28th Street SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49546
9:00 AM — 3:30 PM ET
9:30 – 9:45 A.M.
Opening Remarks
Dorann Guenard, NACM Connect
9:45 – 10:45 A.M.
Leading the Way: Qualities of Effective Credit
Leadership
Diana Crowe, Regional Director, Southwest
In today’s fast-paced credit environment, leadership is more than a title—it’s a mindset.
Great leaders don’t just keep up with change – they drive it.
Join Diana Crowe as she reviews core qualities that define truly effective leaders in the credit profession. From emotional intelligence and strategic thinking to adaptability and accountability, participants will explore how these traits shape successful teams and drive meaningful change.
Whether you’re a seasoned professional or an emerging leader, this session will empower you to lead with confidence, clarity, and purpose.
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.