The Turnaround Management Association (www.turnaround.org) is the only international nonprofit association dedicated to corporate renewal and turnaround management. It celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2008 and the turnaround management, restructuring and distressed investing industry that TMA helped develop and define. TMA’s international headquarters are at 150 S. Wacker Drive in Chicago.
Established in 1988, TMA has more than 8,100 members in 43 chapters, including 31 in North America, and one each in Australia, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, India, Japan, the Netherlands, Southern Africa, Spain, Taiwan, and the U.K., with chapters in formation in China and Italy.
TMA members are a professional community of turnaround and corporate renewal professionals who share a common interest in strengthening the economy through the restoration of corporate value. They include:
- Turnaround practitioners, who consult with or participate in helping troubled companies in the recovery process, including interim corporate managers, operations advisors, and accountants (40%)
- Financial advisors and investors (17%)
- Lenders and banker/workout officers (15%)
- Attorneys (11%)
- Auctioneers/liquidators/appraisers (5%)
- Others, including receivables, trustees, factors, academics, students, government/judges (11%)
All TMA members must sign the association’s Code of Ethics each year, agreeing to abide by high standards of professionalism, integrity, and competence.
TMA’s Certified Turnaround Professional (CTP) program recognizes professional excellence and provides an objective measure of expertise related to workouts, restructurings, and corporate renewal. Applicants for certification must meet stringent standards of education, experience, and professional conduct; pass a comprehensive three-part examination; and maintain the credential by obtaining continuing education credits. In 2005, the CTP program expanded beyond turnaround practitioners to allow other corporate renewal professionals, such as workout officers, portfolio managers, and corporate executives, to gain this valuable credential.
TMAssist is a public service program that originally was established to aid businesses affected by the 2005 Gulf Coast hurricanes. The program includes free seminars/workshops, educational materials, and an online resource center. Currently, TMAssist workshops are being offered to any chapter and community with exceptional needs.
The Journal of Corporate Renewal, the Annual Report, and its Web site ( www.turnaround.org ) are TMA’s principal publications.
The 2008 International TMA meetings include the Distressed Investing Conference in Las Vegas, January 23 to 25; the Spring Conference in Orlando, March 27 to 29; and the 20th Anniversary Convention in New Orleans, October 27 to 29. Several 2008 regional workshops developed by TMA chapters are scheduled, including the European Conference in Paris, April 10 to 11 .
Each year, TMA’s award program recognizes members and chapters, naming Turnaround of the Year, Chapter of the Year, and Outstanding Individual Contribution of the Year recipients at its convention. Other awards include the Carl Marks Student Paper Competition, the Butler-Cooley Excellence in Teaching Award, and the Transaction of the Year. In 2008, in honor of its 20th Anniversary, TMA established the Turnaround, Restructuring and Distressed Investing Industry Hall of Fame to honor and preserve the names of those whose outstanding individual contributions have increased the stature and respect of the industry.
TMA’s principal spokespersons for the corporate renewal industry are its 2008 Chairman William E.J. Skelly, a Vancouver attorney with the Canadian law firm of Heenan Blaikie LLP, head of its Lending and Restructuring Group and TMA’s first non-U.S. Chairman, and President Arthur T. Perkins Jr., co-head of the West Region restructuring practice for Deloitte in San Francisco. For more information or to request an interview, contact Cecilia Green, TMA public relations director, at 1-312-242-6031 or mailto:cgreen@turnaround.org.
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