Elliot Eisenberg is the father of a Navy doctor, a college student, and an eighth grader. He holds a BA in economics from DePaul and an MA in econometrics from UMass. After a stint as an award-winning journalist, he became a market research analyst for Fairchild Publications in NY. The son of a used car dealer and grandson of a scrap dealer, he was always interested in buying and selling and joined Merrill Lynch. There, he arranged for clients to sponsor proxy resolutions at Stop & Shop Cos., seeking appraisals of the firm's real estate, disposition of its Bradlees discount stores, and sale of its MediMart drug stores. At Merrill, he developed an interest in securities of troubled companies, leaving after five years to publish Red Ink Report. That led to a position with legendary bankruptcy trader Randy Smith and a partnership in the group which bought out Smith's brokerage interests, renaming it BDS (for bankrupt, distressed & special). Since leaving BDS, Elliot has been a salesman with several institutional firms, and now operates a fireworks company at Exit 11 on Route 75 in Monroe, Michigan.