Ms. Kaaran E. Thomas

Kaaran E. Thomas is Of Counsel with McDonald Carano Wilson, LLP in Reno, Nev., and is one of two practicing attorneys in Nevada who are Fellows of the American College of Bankruptcy. Ms. Thomas was previously a partner at the international law firm Vinson & Elkins LLP in Houston and was an ad- junct professor of law at the University of Texas School of Law, where she founded the Conference on Valuation of Assets in Bankruptcy and served for many years on the Planning Committee for the Uni- versity of Texas Annual Bankruptcy Conference. She has been a founder and member of the planning committee and a driving force in the development of ABI's VALCON program. Ms. Thomas is admitted to practice in Texas, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, the State Bar of Nevada, the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth and Ninth Circuits. She is a contributor and lecturer for several major treatises and conferences on bankruptcy and has also developed programs for federal bankruptcy judges for the Federal Judicial Center. Ms. Thomas chairs the ABA Business Bankruptcy Subcommittee on "Committees in Chapter 11" and chair of its Distinguished Student Committee. She is AV Peer-Review Rated by Matindale-Hubbell and was listed in The Best Lawyers in America for 2011, as well as in Mountain States Super Lawyers for 2009. Mr. Thomas received her B.A. with distinction in political science and her J.D. magna cum laude from the University of Houston Bates College of Law.