Mr. Michael R. Stewart

Michael R. Stewart is a partner at Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP in Minneapolis, where he is the leader of its Finance & Restructuring Group. He also leads the agribusiness finance and bankruptcy segment of the firm?s Food & Agriculture industry team and serves on the steering committee for the firm?s Financial Services industry team. Mr. Stewart practices primarily in the areas of bankruptcy, se-cured transactions, creditors? rights and banking law, representing lenders in all aspects of structuring, documenting and collecting commercial and DIP loans. He has significant experience in workouts and chapter 11 bankruptcies on a national basis, with a particular focus on agribusiness loans. Mr. Stewart is a Fellow and Eighth Circuit Regent in the American College of Bankruptcy and is listed in The BestLawyers in America. He also is a past-president of the Upper Midwest Chapter of the Turnaround Management Association, and the former chairman and vice-chairman of the Bankruptcy Law Section of the Minnesota State Bar Association. In addition, he is a member of ABI, the Turnaround ManagementAssociation, the American Bar Association, the Commercial Finance Association and the MinnesotaState Bar Association, and he served on the national board of directors of the Turnaround ManagementAssociation and on the Minnesota Receivership Statute Committee. Mr. Stewart is a frequent lecturer and a contributing author to Successful Partnering Between Inside and Outside Counsel, published byThomson Reuters; Debtor Creditor Handbook, published by Minnesota Continuing Legal Education; and The Art of Grain Merchandising, published by Stipes Publishing Co. He also is a co-editor of Bankruptcy Practice in Minnesota, a desk book published by Minnesota Continuing Legal Education. Mr.Stewart received his undergraduate degree from Cornell College in 1977 and his J.D. from Harvard LawSchool in 1980.