Jingzhi "JD" Dai

JINGZHI is a managing director in the Debt Advisory and Restructuring Group at Jefferies LLC in New York, where he advises debtors, creditors, official committees and other key stakeholders in the context of transaction advisory, special-situation financing and distressed mergers & acquisitions, out-of-court recapitalization, and chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring across a number of industries, including technology/media/ telecom, specialty finance, metals and mining, real estate/gaming, industrials, health care, consumer and retail. His notable transactions include Ebix, CURO, Rite Aid, Endo, Vewd Software, RR Donnelley, Hospitality Investors Trust, J.C. Penney, LSC Communications, OneWeb, McClatchy, Real Industry/Real Alloy, Westinghouse, Arch Coal, Peabody Energy, Alpha Natural Resources, Caesars Entertainment Operating Co., LDK Solar, Momentive, KV Pharma, MSR Golf Resort and DBSD. He also leads debt-advisory coverage at Jefferies for the Asia Pacific region, specifically China, and has executed a number of cross-border transactions, including the precedent-setting restructuring of LDK Solar’s offshore liabilities. The transaction received Cross Border Deal of the Year – U.S.-Asia Region recognition by The M&A Advisor.

Jingzhi immigrated to the U.S. with his family as a child and was taught the value of hard work and American capitalism. His introduction to bankruptcy occurred the day before he was to start his Wall Street investment banking job as an analyst with CIT Group: The company had announced that it had hired a bankruptcy adviser, and this altered his career trajectory. Shortly after starting his full-time position, he transferred into a newly formed centralized workout group at CIT, Problem Loan Management, where he helped to manage billions of dollars in nonperforming loans with distressed companies. The world of restructuring and insolvency has since fascinated him and prompted him to transition into the Restructuring Group at Jefferies in 2010.

Recalling his own journey of trying to find mentorship from other minorities, Jingzhi cofounded a restructuring professionals’ group, Restructuring Asians in New York (RAINY), to create a platform for Asian restructuring and bankruptcy professionals to exchange ideas and expand their professional networks. The organization has since grown to include many professionals across all fields of restructuring, including a number of New York-based restructuring law firms, investment banks and financial advisory firms. Within his firm, he is known as the educator, as he hosts firm-wide trainings on restructuring, leading the training of junior restructuring bankers and developing an internal training curriculum for new members of the group. As a way of giving back to Emory University, his alma mater, which he credits for launching him to New York to start his career, he’s been deeply committed to mentoring and guiding students through the recruiting process to break into investment banking. He has led campus recruiting for Jefferies at Emory for over a decade, which has added dozens of bankers in New York and designated Emory’s MBA program as one of Jefferies’ target schools.