Stanger Elected to the American Bankruptcy Institute’s Board of Directors

Nyemaster attorney Kristina M. Stanger has been elected to the Board of Directors of the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI) for a three-year term.

With nearly 10,000 members, ABI is the largest multi-disciplinary, nonpartisan organization dedicated to research and education on matters related to insolvency.

Stanger is an experienced commercial litigator with a practice focused on creditor rights and bankruptcy. Her litigation experience spans many industries including retail, grocery, real estate, agriculture, health care, construction, transportation, and manufacturing. She appears in both federal and state courts for secured and unsecured creditors in a variety of contexts, including commercial and contract claims, preference actions, business disputes, property damage, construction, and real estate litigation.

“It is an honor to be elected to serve the nation’s premiere bankruptcy organization,” Stanger said. “ABI’s work to bring a broad coalition of bankruptcy professionals together to exchange ideas and information plays an important role in our economy, communities, and the evolution of the insolvency practice. These efforts are all the more relevant given the challenges facing our economy today.”

Stanger joined ABI in 2012 and has served as a member of the Veteran’s Task Force, the 40 Under 40 Selection Committee, the ABI Midwest Institute Board, and the Strategic Planning Committee.

In 2018 she was honored as one of ABI’s 40 under 40 Emerging Leaders and in 2020 she received ABI’s Service to Veterans Award, an award presented annually to an outstanding individual who contributed to the betterment of the lives of Veterans during the previous year. Stanger was recognized for her efforts on behalf of the Honoring American Veterans in Extreme Need (HAVEN) Act of 2019.  She was part of an ABI team that worked to change the bankruptcy code to give Veterans and service members equal treatment under the law. The Act corrected an oversight in the bankruptcy code whereby Veterans’ disability benefits were included as income during consideration for bankruptcy relief, while Social Security disability benefits were exempt. 

In addition to her legal practice, Stanger is a retired combat-tested Lieutenant Colonel from the Iowa Army National Guard. She has served as a Commander and planner for state, national, and international operations and resides in the Des Moines area with her husband and children.