Speakers

• David L. Peavler U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission | Fort Worth, TX
  

  David L. Peavler

  U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission | Fort Worth, TX

  David Peavler is the Regional Director of the SEC’s Fort Worth Regional Office, which covers Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kansas. Before serving as Regional Director, David was General Counsel for a registered broker-dealer and investment adviser. Previously, Mr. Peavler spent 15 years in the SEC’s Enforcement Division, most recently as head of Enforcement for the Fort Worth office.

  In addition to his tenure at the SEC, Mr. Peavler has been a partner in the trial section of Locke Liddell (now Locke Lord), where he primarily represented major accounting firms, and in-house with Phillips Petroleum Company and ConocoPhillips, handling general corporate and transactional matters. Mr. Peavler is a lifelong Texan who received his law degree from the University of Texas and his undergraduate degree in accounting and economics from Baylor University.

• Deborah D. Williamson Esq. Dykema | Dallas, TX
  

  Deborah D. Williamson Esq.

  Dykema | Dallas, TX

  For more than 30 years, clients have turned to Deborah Williamson for leadership and advice on bankruptcy and restructuring matters. Deborah is a national leader in bankruptcy law, and she leverages her experience and insight to advise clients across industries on counter-party risk, bankruptcy litigation, and asset acquisition.

  Deborah is widely recognized as one of the top bankruptcy lawyers in the United States and one of the top lawyers—period—in Texas. She was selected to serve on the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI) Bankruptcy Reform Commission, received lifetime achievement awards from both ABI and The San Antonio Business Journal, and is recognized in legal publications such as Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, The Best Lawyers in America, and Super Lawyers. In 2016, Deborah authored the second edition of When Gushers Go Dry, The Essentials of Oil & Gas Bankruptcy to address new realities in the oil fields, the first guide to oil and gas bankruptcy. She had previously co-authored Bankruptcy Litigation for the Commercial Litigator.

  Deborah has been named a leader in her field by Chambers USA since 2003. She was listed by Texas Super Lawyers among the “Top 100 Lawyers in Texas,” the “Top 50 Women Lawyers in Texas,” and the “Top 50 Lawyers in Central Texas” since that honor’s inception. She has also been included in The Best Lawyers in America© for more than 20 years. She has served as co-chair of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Litigation Committee of the Litigation Section of the American Bar Association and chair of the SBOT Bankruptcy Law Section.

• Eddy Espinosa Akerman LLP | Dallas, TX
  

  Eddy Espinosa

  Akerman LLP | Dallas, TX

  Eduardo Espinosa is an experienced court-appointed fiduciary frequently recommended by regulators to serve in proceedings where there is concern that assets will be dissipated. A former enforcement lawyer with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr. Espinosa has served as receiver, receiver’s counsel, or trustee, in federal and state proceedings involving fraudulent securities offerings. He has particular experience with life settlements, EB-5 offerings and FOREX funds. In addition to his fraud and recovery practice, Mr. Espinosa advises clients on the legal and regulatory aspects of their commercial and transactional opportunities.

• Matthew H. Wernz Federal Trade Commission, Southwest Region | Dallas, TX
  

  Matthew H. Wernz

  Federal Trade Commission, Southwest Region | Dallas, TX

  Matt Wernz is the Regional Director of the FTC’s Southwest Regional Office in Dallas. The FTC is the nation’s only general-jurisdiction consumer protection agency, and its Southwest Region includes Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. The FTC investigates and litigates consumer protection cases against companies and individuals who have violated the Federal Trade Commission Act and other consumer protection statutes and regulations. The Southwest Region has brought actions against deceptive online subscription services, illegal pyramid schemes, sellers of fraudulent COVID-related products, and companies engaged in deceptive and unfair privacy and data security practices. Before serving as Regional Director, Matt was an attorney in the FTC’s Midwest Region and Chicago from 2010 until 2020, and, in 2021, Counsel to the Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. Before joining the FTC, Matt graduated from Northwestern University School of Law and served as a judicial clerk for the Honorable Joan B. Gottschall of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.