Jeffrey Gramlich, L.L. Bean/Lee Surace Professor of Accounting

Tuesday, November 17th
University Events Room
Glickman Family Library, 7th floor
Portland USM Campus (map)

The United States officially entered the "Great Recession" in December of 2007. Since that time, no community has been immune to economic challenges: home foreclosures, mounting credit card debt, layoffs and other financial crises seem to be in the news daily. An indicator of the pervasive effects of the "Great Recession" is the increase in bankruptcy filings by middle class Americans, as reported in the 2008 Annual Consumer Bankruptcy Demographics Report: American Debtors in a Recession by the Institute for Financial Literacy. Leslie Linfield, executive director and founder of the Institute for Financial Literacy will review this data and discuss what it means for Maine businesses and consumers in the year ahead.

The Institute for Financial Literacy has compiled an annual demographic analysis of bankruptcy filers since 2005. Several years of accumulated data now give us a good idea of what consumer debtors look like, and significant changes in the demographic trends can be readily identified. While the data presented in the 2008 report does not lend itself to drawing final conclusions about any topic or issue, it does illuminate changes in the composition of American debtors that may be attributable to the recession.

Click here to read the paper.

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Leslie E. Linfield, Esq. is the Executive Director and Founder of the Institute for Financial Literacy^TM and a national authority on adult financial literacy education and consumer finance issues. During her career as a banker, stock broker, HUD housing counselor, certified consumer credit counselor and practicing attorney she has conducted hundreds of presentations on budgeting and consumer credit. Ms. Linfield has been published on a variety of topics in professional journals, magazines and newspapers. Her published research includes "Who Went Bankrupt in 2006? A Demographic Analysis of American Debtors", "2007 Annual Consumer Bankruptcy Demographics Report", "Aging and Bankruptcy: Are Older Americans Truly Afforded an Economic Fresh Start?" and "Proposed Rebates in 2008: How will Americans Spend Their Tax Rebate Checks?"

A published author, her work has been covered in the New York Times, Newsweek, Time Magazine, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Portland Press Herald and SmartMoney. Ms. Linfield is also a contributing editor for the American Bankruptcy Institute Journal and regularly appears on television as a personal finance expert. She serves on two committees of the American Bankruptcy Institute and on the Advisory Board for the Center for Consumer Financial Services at R.I.T. Ms. Linfield is a graduate of Charter Oak State College in Connecticut and New England School of Law in Boston.

The colloquium is sponsored by the
L.L. Bean/Lee Surace Endowed Chair in Accounting.
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USM Professor Jeffrey Gramlich was appointed the first L.L. Bean/Lee Surace Chair in Accounting in the USM School of Business in 2003. His appointment was made possible by a $1 million gift from L.L. Bean, Inc., its board chair, Leon Gorman, his wife Lisa, Jim and Maureen Gorman, and Tom Gorman, who established the chair in memory of L.L. Bean CFO Lee Surace '73, '81, who died in March of 2001. Surace was chair of the USM School of Business' Advisory Council and was a frequent guest lecturer.

The USM School of Business is accredited by the prestigious AACSB International. For students seeking the finest education and companies seeking the highest caliber talent, partnership, and educational opportunities, AACSB International accreditation is one of the most important affirmations of sustained quality in the word. For more information about School of Business programs, call 780-4020.

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University of Southern Maine