PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release
May 17, 2002

NANCY J. GARGULA APPOINTED U.S. TRUSTEE FOR
INDIANA, CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN ILLINOIS

  WASHINGTON, D.C.-Nancy J. Gargula has been appointed United States Trustee for Indiana and central and southern Illinois, it was announced today by Lawrence Friedman, Director of the Executive Office for United States Trustees. Gargula's appointment takes effect June 3, 2002.

  "I am delighted to welcome Nancy Gargula to the United States Trustee Program," Friedman stated in announcing the appointment. "Nancy is a leading bankruptcy practitioner in Indiana who will bring energy, prodigious legal skill, and dedication to improving the bankruptcy system in Region 10."

  "After working as in-house counsel and in private practice for many years, I look forward to this opportunity for public service," Gargula stated. "It is a great honor to be appointed by Attorney General Ashcroft as United States Trustee, and I am pleased to be working for Director Friedman along with the talented people in the United States Trustees' offices in Region 10. Together, I am confident we will improve the bankruptcy system by rooting out fraud and abuse and promoting fairness for all who are affected by the bankruptcy laws."

  Before her appointment, Gargula was a partner in the Indianapolis office of Baker & Daniels, where her practice included banking, commercial law, financial transactions, consumer lending, bankruptcy, creditors' and debtors' rights, and related litigation. She joined Baker & Daniels in 1997, after working for 12 years as in-house counsel for Bank One, Indiana, National Association. In 1996 Gargula assumed the role of state general counsel for the bank and served as Secretary to the Board of Directors of the bank and its holding company. Prior to that appointment, she managed the Legal Division's Consumer and Litigation Group, with responsibility for all legal services relating to consumer lending, deposit operations, branch support, retail product development, compliance, and litigation in Indiana.

  Gargula is a frequent speaker and panelist, participating in many seminars on a wide variety of banking and commercial law topics. She also is active in many professional, community, and charitable organizations. She is a Distinguished Fellow of the Indianapolis Bar Foundation and a Fellow of the Indiana Bar Foundation, and she received the Indianapolis Bar Association Board of Managers' Award in 1996 and President's Award in 1999. At the request of the Indiana Supreme Court, she served from 1995 to 1998 on the Interest On Lawyers Trust Account (IOLTA) Technical Committee, which developed a program through which the interest earned on lawyers' mandatory trust accounts is used to fund pro bono initiatives. In its first two years, Indiana's IOLTA program generated more than $1 million in revenue.

  Gargula received her law degree from the University of Notre Dame Law School in Notre Dame, Ind., in 1981, and her undergraduate degree summa cum laude from Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., in 1977.

  The United States Trustee Program is a component of the Justice Department that protects the integrity of the bankruptcy system by overseeing case administration and litigating to enforce the bankruptcy laws.

  The Program has 21 regions and 95 field offices. Region 10, which consists of the Northern and Southern Districts of Indiana and the Central and Southern Districts of Illinois, is headquartered in Indianapolis with additional offices in South Bend, Ind., and Peoria, Ill. Upon the appointment of Gargula, Kevin Dempsey, who has served as Acting United States Trustee for Region 10 since April 2001, will resume his duties as Assistant United States Trustee for the Indianapolis office.

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