Eric North / Attorney, Moore, Brewer, Wolfe, Jones, Tyler, & North

Eric North is an attorney who has represented the interests of credit unions for more than thirty years. His areas of expertise include compliance, privacy, corporate, collections and bankruptcy matters. Eric is admitted to practice before the courts of the State of California, the United States District Courts in Northern, Eastern, Central and Southern districts of California, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal, but has also appeared in other federal courts by special permission of those courts. Prior to becoming an attorney, Eric worked within the consumer finance industry in management, and in lending, collections, and operations departments.

In addition to practicing law, Eric spends a significant portion of his time providing training for credit unions and their attorneys with respect to legal issues. Through his separate business “NorthLegal Training and Publications,” Eric has worked closely with CUNA and other state and local credit union associations, to present local programs like this one, frequent “NorthLegal Webinars” conducted online, and annual conferences such as the NorthLegal Collections Conference and the NorthLegal Bankruptcy Conferences.

Art Sookazian / President of National Credit Union Collections Alliance (NCUCA)

Art Sookazian serves as the Vice President of Special Services and Risk Management for Los Angeles Federal Credit Union (LAFCU). In addition, he is the President of the National Credit Union Collections Alliance (NCUCA). The NCUCA is a nationwide collections organization for credit unions providing networking, best practices, and educational services. He oversees collections, recoveries, litigation, repossessions, and remarketing at LAFCU. He has twenty years of experience in collections at both captive finance and credit union industries. Art has worked at some of the leading captive finance companies including Toyota Financial Services, Lexus Financial Services, and Isuzu Motors Acceptance Corp. Prior to his time at Los Angeles Federal Credit Union, Art served as the Vice President of Collections at Xceed Financial Credit Union. Art has a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from The University of Virginia. In 2016, Art was awarded the CU Times Trailblazer 40 Below award for his success overseeing collections programs at credit unions while forming the NCUCA.

Bruce A. Pearson / Senior Partner, SW&M

Bruce Pearson is a senior partner at the law offices of Styskal, Wiese & Melchione, LLP (“SW&M”). SW&M has been involved in the financial institution movement since 1936 when its founding partners began practicing law. Bruce has over twenty-four years of experience representing the industry. He provides clients with results oriented, practical and strategic legal and business advice focusing upon corporate governance, insurance coverage, operations and regulatory matters. Bruce’s past credit union work experience provides the firm’s clients with a valuable “in the trenches” perspective.

Bruce received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Illinois where he majored in Russian, was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and graduated Cum Laude in 1985. While working for a credit union, he attended Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles, graduating Summa Cum Laude in 1992. He is licensed to practice in the state of Arizona, California, New York, Oregon, Utah and Washington.

Bruce is a frequently requested speaker and teacher at credit union industry meetings and events; he is on the faculty of Western CUNA Management School and regularly trains senior management and volunteers on fiduciary duties and responsibilities, vendor contract negotiations and is a main speaker at SW&M’s annual legal update seminars.

Alana Anaya, Esq. / Anaya Law Group

Alana B. Anaya, Esq. is the principal/owner of Anaya Law Group located in Westlake Village, California. Ms. Anaya has proudly been representing Credit Unions throughout California since 1998 for all of their collection, real estate and contractual needs. The firm’s focus areas are collection, real estate and bankruptcy matters on behalf of creditors. The firm also provides business and legal guidance to its Credit Union clients.

Alana Anaya, Esq. and her associates at the firm have extensive knowledge and experience in all aspects of collection and post judgment remedies. They also have ample experience in business, real estate and bankruptcy litigation.

Ms. Anaya has given numerous presentations at educational seminars focusing in on collections and bankruptcy. She has prepared written educational materials on the topic of collection, bankruptcy, lending and real estate that have been utilized by educational seminar groups.

Her firm has also established important legal precedents in our legal system benefitting Credit Unions and creditor’s rights. Aside from the legal practice, Anaya Law Firm believes in giving back to the community and is a founding member and participant of a growing non-profit organization that provides ongoing educational training and mentoring to at-risk children in low socio-economic areas of Los Angeles.

Thomas J. Prenovost, Jr. / Managing Principal Attorney

Education:

• Loyola Law School (Los Angeles), Juris Doctor Degree, 1977
• University of California, Los Angeles, Graduate Studies in Architecture and Urban Planning, 1973-1974
• California State University, Long Beach, Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science/Public Administration, “Cum Laude”, 1972

Practice Areas:

• Automobile Law & Dealership
• Banking Law/ Commercial Litigation
• Creditor’s Bankruptcy Law
• Civil Litigation
• Commercial Litigation
• Corporate Law
• Credit Unions
• Financial Institutions
• Real Estate Law

Admitted To Practice In:

• United States Supreme Court
• California Supreme Court
• All California Courts of Appeal
• All Federal, State and Bankruptcy Courts in California

Professional Profile:

• Managing Principal of Prenovost, Normandin, Bergh, & Dawe (1984-Present)
• Director – California Credit Union Collectors Council – Orange County Chapter (2012-2017)
• Director – California Domestic Water Company (2015 – present)
• Top 100 Irish Attorney in U.S.A. (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018)
• Planning Commissioner for the City of Brea (1998-2013)
• Parks & Recreation Commissioner, City of Brea (1996-1998)
• Served on the Board of Governors for Loyola Law School (1995)
• Served on the Board of the St. Vincent de Paul Society (1996)
• Associate Professor at Chapman University (1977-1983)
• Founder (2000) and President (2010-2012) of the Celtic Bar Association of Orange County
• Speaker on various topics, including “Current Legal Issues” and “Update on Legal Lending Issues” at California Bankers and Lenders Conference
• Brea-Olinda High School Football Booster President (1994-1999)
• Member of American Bar Association, Orange County Bar Association, Debt Collection, Bankruptcy and Real Estate Sections, Community Bankers of California, California Bankers Association, American Financial Services Association, Mortgage Bankers Association of America, and Trial Lawyers Association of America
• Member of the California Association of REALTORS® (“C.A.R.”) Attorney Referral Panel (2006 to present)
• Expert Witness
• California Licensed Real Estate Broker
• Judge Pro-Tem, Orange County Superior Court (1983-1988)

Karel Rocha

Education:

• University of San Diego, California, Juris Doctor, 2000
• University of California, San Diego, CA., Bachelor of Arts Degree, Sociology with a minor in Spanish Literature, 1997

Practice Areas:

• Civil Litigation
• Banking Law/ Commercial Litigation
• Collection
• Bankruptcy
• Real Estate Law
• Title Insurance Defense
• Mortgage Banking Law
• Escrow Defense

Admitted To Practice In:

• All United States District and State Courts in California

Professional Profile:

• Mr. Rocha is a Member of State Bar of California, Los Angeles County Bar Association, Orange County Bar Association, and the Hispanic Bar Association of Orange County.
• Mr. Rocha became a Principal at Prenovost, Normandin, Bergh & Dawe in January 2015 and represents credit unions, escrow companies, banks and financial institutions in all manner of civil litigation, including consumer finance and real estate matters, and compliance.
• Over the last sixteen years, Mr. Rocha has successfully handled court and jury trials throughout the State of California in the fields of real estate, consumer finance contract enforcement, auto dealer and auto finance defense, contractual disputes and personal injury on behalf of individuals and corporate clients.
• He has also been a panelist speaker at various seminars throughout the State relating to consumer finance litigation and compliance (FDCPA, TCPA, Rosenthal Act, Rees-Levering Act, CFPB), bankruptcy law, escrow law, and real estate matters.

Jennifer Smith / Senior Counsel at Buchalter

Jennifer Smith focuses her practice primarily on representing financial institutions and corporate clients, specializing in pre- and post-judgment remedies, workouts, and general business-related matters. Ms. Smith is also experienced in unlawful detainer prosecution and defense, and in defending worker’s compensation/ Labor code 132a claims. She is counsel to more than 70 credit unions throughout California.

Ms. Smith is on the Executive Board of the Fashion Industries Guild of Cedars-Sinai. Ms. Smith also serves on the Board of Directors for the California Credit Union Collector’s Council, North Los Angeles Chapter. She speaks regularly at various credit union chapter meetings and conferences on issues of Rees-Levering, vehicle lien laws, garageman’s liens, Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (Federal and State), indirect and direct loans, and California’s anti-deficiency laws. Ms. Smith also speaks on the enforcement of judgments. Additionally, she presents educational seminars for attorneys on Judgment Debtor Examinations, Writs of Possession, and Writs of Attachment. Ms. Smith co-authored, “When Should You File a Form 1099-C?” Points & Authorities, 2000.

Valerie Bantner Peo / Attorney at Buchalter

Valerie Bantner Peo has a broad commercial practice with significant experience at the trial and appellate levels in bankruptcy, federal, and state court, as well as mediation. She has represented financial institutions, manufacturers, airports, landlords, and trustees in state and federal court, and in all aspects of bankruptcy reorganization and liquidation, including lease assumptions and rejections, plan confirmation, claim disputes, fraudulent transfers, and preference liability.

Ms. Bantner Peo served as a clerk for the Honorable Edward D. Jellen, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California.

In 2016, Ms. Bantner Peo was one of The International Women’s Insolvency and Restructuring Confederation’s (IWIRC) 2016 “Rising Star” award finalists and was featured in their IWIRC Connection’s Member Spotlight.

Ken Evancic / Vice President, Resource Management Services

Ken Evancic is a collections veteran with over 20 years experience, managing more than 1200 collectors, and multiple portfolio types. He has managed all phases of collection, including all levels of delinquency, automated dialer units, early out agency management, recovery, and skip tracing. In addition to collections operations management, he has lead initiatives in the areas of performance management, collections strategy development, collector and manager training, collector desktop design, collections reporting systems, and risk and compliance.

Prior to joining Resource Management Services, Inc. in 2011, Ken was a Sr. Vice President and Collections Director at Citi Cards. His responsibilities included the consumer and partnership credit card portfolios. In addition to this responsibility, Ken played the lead role in developing Citi’s current collections performance management system. Prior to Citi, Ken worked at AT&T Universal Card where his career started as a collector and moved throughout collections with roles as a dialer operator, Front Line manager, and a Vice President Collections Operations manager.

Cristian deRitis / Senior Director, Consumer Credit Analytics

Cristian deRitis is a Senior Director with Moody’s Analytics. As the Head of Consumer Credit Research in the Americas, Cristian specializes in credit, policy and the broader economic conditions.

He publishes analysis regularly and is often quoted in publications such as the Wall Street Journal for his views on the economy and consumer credit markets. In addition, Cristian leads a team of analysts in the development of econometric credit loss models for stress-testing, financial reporting and business as usual purposes including CCAR,DFAST, IFRS9 and CECL. Cristian also spearheads efforts to obtain alternative sources of data to measure economic activity more accurately than traditional sources.

Before joining Moody’s Analytics, Cristian worked for Fannie Mae and taught at Johns Hopkins University. He holds a PhD in economics from Johns Hopkins University and is named on two U.S. patents for credit modeling techniques.

Deniz Tudor / Director, Consumer Credit Analytics

Deniz Tudor, PhD, is a Director with Moody’s Analytics. As a Consumer Credit Economist, Deniz specializes in US consumer credit trends and leads the development of custom and industry-based econometric credit loss models for clients. She produces researchand best-practices on U.S. consumer trends, stress- testing, IFRS9 and CECL, with extensive experience presenting at client, hosted and third-party events. Deniz also leads client projects for financial institutions of all sizes, and is responsible for several of Moody’s Analytics consumer credit analytics products and strategy, including data partnerships that expand the company’s offerings.

Before joining Moody’s Analytics, Deniz worked as a tenure-track assistant professor at San Francisco State University and taught various finance and risk management courses. She has published academic articles. She holds a PhD from the University of California, San Diego.

Sohini Chowdhury / Director of Economic Research

Sohini Chowdhury is a Director and Senior Economist with Moody’s Analytics, specializing in macroeconomic modeling and forecasting, scenario design, and market risk research, with a special focus on stress-testing and CECL applications. Previously, she led the global team responsible for the Moody’s Analytics market risk forecasts and modeling services while managing custom scenarios projects for major financial institutions worldwide.

An experienced speaker, Sohini often presents at client meetings and industry conferences on macroeconomic models, scenarios and CECL solutions. Sohini holds a PhD and a master’s degree in economics from Purdue University, and a master’s degree in applied statistics from West Chester University in Pennsylvania. Before joining Moody’s Analytics in 2011, she taught economics at the University of Cincinnati.

Detective Michael Gomez with Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD)

Detective Gomez has been employed with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department for 17 years. For over the last 11 years, he has been a part of the Financial Crimes section which investigates Frauds, Forgeries and Identity Theft. Detective Gomez is also a member of the Electronic Crime Task Force of the Secret Service.

Detective Gomez is trained in Virtual Crypto Currency investigations, network intrusion response, cellular and Wi-Fi analysis, Social Media investigations, Synthetic Identities and Detection of Counterfeit documents. Detective Gomez teaches at the LVMPD police academy as well as instructs various public groups on ways to avoid becoming a victim of Financial Crimes.

Sergeant Roger Palmer with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD)

Sergeant Palmer has been employed with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department for 20 years. For the last 3 years, he has been assigned to the Financial Crimes section. He has worked a variety of investigative assignments covering person and property crimes, including conducting numerous covert and overt investigations. He is currently a member of a Financial Crimes Task Force.

With a large tourism industry based around gambling, there is a constant issue of monetary based financial crimes. Nevada continues to be in the top states for financial crimes and identity theft, which has resulted in a wide range of financial investigation types. LVMPD’s Financial Crimes Section averages over 25 new cases every day, which provides a wide knowledge base of current trends affecting the financial industry.