Agenda

Thursday, November 12

All times and topics are subject to change as needed.

8:00 am - 8:50 am Eastern

Registration and Networking Continental Breakfast

8:50 am – 9:00 am Eastern

Welcome and Introductions

9:00 am – 10:00 am Eastern

Keynote Speaker
The Amazing World of Wealth and the Global Risk Model
The Global Risk Model focuses on the top global systemic risks, ranked by probability, severity, and type. New risks are evolving rapidly from Western Europe, and potentially anti-business risks in the U.S. On the positive side, we continue to see amazing strength from Ultra High Net Worth wealth effects. We analyze this strong positive effect, especially the many industries that continue to grow from them and the huge volumes of contracts and revenues that flow from this wealth machine.

Presenter:
Richard Hastings, CCE | Macro Economist

10:00 am – 11:00 am Eastern

The Strategic Shift: From Transactions to Trusted Partner in Customer-to-Cash
Presented by The Hackett Group
It’s time to take off the gloves and dig into a workshop that may just be one of the most valuable educational programs you’ve ever attended. This two-hour interactive session will help you create the Guiding Principles to becoming a strategic business partner, align baseline best practices on the overarching Customer-to-Cash experience, identify opportunities where AI can accelerate driving value, and provide food-for-thought to take home with you and apply in your own companies. Led by a team of experts from The Hackett Group, this session is guaranteed to generate practical ideas that can change the way you do business.

11:00 am – 11:15 am Eastern

Refreshment Break & Exhibitor Networking

11:15 am – 12:15 pm Eastern

Morning Session Continues
The Strategic Shift: From Transactions to Trusted Partner in Customer-to-Cash
Presented by The Hackett Group
It’s time to take off the gloves and dig into a workshop that may just be one of the most valuable educational programs you’ve ever attended. This two-hour interactive session will help you create the Guiding Principles to becoming a strategic business partner, align baseline best practices on the overarching Customer-to-Cash experience, identify opportunities where AI can accelerate driving value, and provide food-for-thought to take home with you and apply in your own companies. Led by a team of experts from The Hackett Group, this session is guaranteed to generate practical ideas that can change the way you do business.

12:15 pm – 1:15 pm Eastern

Networking Luncheon

1:15 pm - 2:15 pm Eastern

Contained Compute: How to Help Your Workforce Swiftly and Safely
Join industry experts to learn the secrets of bringing agentic AI onto your finance team safely and swiftly. No slides full of theory. No product for sale. Just a conversation designed to leave you with something to act on NOW with your IT and compliance partners while dutifully examining bigger, longer-term AI solution building.

Our session speakers will explain how, in an environment ripe for true AI change, onboarding can take as little as 45 days. Finance Leaders will leave the session understanding what IT and InfoSec Leaders actually need from business to say yes to adding agentic workforce members now. Bring your questions. Leave with answers.

Presenters:
Pete Getchell | Transformation Executive Coach | Siven Group
Ed Ienner | Executive Director - Credit & Collections | People Inc.

2:15 pm – 2:30 pm Eastern

Refreshment Break and Exhibitor Networking

2:30 pm – 3:30 pm Eastern

Artificial (Un)intelligence: Cautionary Tales and Real-World Anecdotes
The proliferation of generative artificial intelligence in recent years has produced some spectacular growth and efficiency, but has also produced some spectacular—and sometimes, downright alarming—blunders. In this program, the speakers provide a lively and eye-opening session covering some of the most egregious and consequential AI failures that have recently made headlines across a variety of industries, including the legal profession, media outlets, and consumer-facing businesses. The speakers will explore each of these infamous AI blunders to provide key takeaways and lessons for credit professionals to consider when selecting and deploying AI tools within their organizations.

Presenters:
Andrew Behlmann | Partner | Lowenstein Sandler LLP
Colleen Restel | Partner | Lowenstein Sandler LLP

3:30 pm – 4:30 pm Eastern

Same Risk, Different Rules: Public vs. Private Companies
Public and private companies present distinct challenges and risks, so you can’t evaluate them the same way. Industry experts from CreditRiskMonitor explain how public companies concentrate exposure through large balances and complex subsidiary structures, while private companies spread risk across many accounts with limited, lagging data. With U.S. bankruptcies running above the 10-year average, they’ll show why each group demands its own modeling approach to catch distress before it hits your bottom line. What you’ll learn: How to apply the right data and models to public and private counterparties, prioritize account reviews, and use workflow automation to help your team work faster and smarter.

Presenters:
Chris Chach | Vice President, Client Services | CreditRiskMonitor
Brian Sanders | Vice President, Marketing | CreditRiskMonitor

4:30 pm – 5:30 pm Eastern

The New Media M&A Playbook: Consolidation, Capital, and Strategic Partnerships
1 CPE Credit | Field of Study: Finance
Consolidation, a shifting capital environment, and an expanding sponsor presence are redefining how media deals get done. This session covers current deal activity across local media, broadcasting, sports, gaming, and digital content; how private equity and strategic buyers evaluate assets differently; what drives value in the first 100 days post-close; and practical lessons learned from recent transactions.

RSM’s industry expert, James Zarour, will lead attendees through the following key discussion points:

Current media sector deal activity
Private equity's role in local media, broadcasting, sports, gaming, and digital content
What strategic buyers are looking for
What’s important, 100 days post-close
Lessons learned from recent transactions

Presenter:
James Zarour | Director | RSM

5:30 pm - 7:00 pm Eastern

Networking Reception
Sponsored by

Back to 2026 National Media Credit Conference

REGISTRATION

CONFERENCE VENUE:
Grant Thornton Offices
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RESERVED ROOM BLOCK: Club Quarters Hotel Grand Central
128 E 45th Street
New York, NY 10017

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