Women's Forum Fall Luncheon

Ms. Bernatova has a proven track record of entrepreneurial leadership and broad range of corporate finance, capital markets and transactional expertise within the oil and gas industry. Most recently, Ms. Bernatova was the CFO at Goodnight Midstream, one of the biggest water infrastructure companies.  Prior to Goodnight,  Ms. Bernatova was co-founder, EVP and CFO of Core Midstream and served as Vice President of Finance and Investor Relations at PennTex Midstream Partners, where she was part of the management team which started the company, took PennTex public in 2015 and ultimately successfully sold the business to Energy Transfer Partners and Eagle Claw in 2016. Prior to her corporate and entrepreneurial experiences, Ms. Bernatova was investment banker at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse in New York and Houston and served in investment roles at The Blackstone Group in New York and at Mubadala Development Company, Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, based in the United Arab Emirates. Ms. Bernatova also worked at the World Bank in Washington DC and as a member of the advisory team for the President of the Czech Republic. Ms. Bernatova received her A.B. in Government from Harvard University.

Andrejka serves on the Board of Directors of Arms Wide, a Houston based Adoption and Foster Care agency and is on the Board of Directors of Friends of Aiglon College, Inc., a Swiss boarding school from where she graduated.  In addition, Andrejka founded the Houston Chapter of the Global Shapers Community of the World Economic Forum. She is a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors, the Harvard Club of Houston, the Houston Producers Forum, Independent Petroleum Association of America, and Harvard College Class of 2005's Gift Committee.

Andrejka  was selected as an Honoree 40 Under 40 by Houston Business Journal (2018), she was selected by The Business Journals as one of The Influencers: Rising Stars (2018), recognized by Oil & Gas Investor’s Thirty under 40 honoree (2016), is the winner of the 7th Annual Emerging Leaders Award selected by The M&A Advisors (2016), and was recognized as one of the Top Businesswomen in Texas for 2016. Andrejka is a frequent speaker at industry conferences in Texas as well as nationally and globally. 

Demetra L. Liggins is a Partner in Thompson & Knight’s Bankruptcy and Restructuring Practice in the Firm’s Houston office. She has nearly two decades of experience in business finance and restructuring for a variety of large and small public and private companies. As a trusted business advisor, Demetra partners with her clients to identify and achieve their goals in the bankruptcy process, navigating through complex corporate reorganizations and distressed acquisitions.

Demetra has led many of Thompson & Knight’s representations of bankruptcy clients, working on both in-court and out-of-court restructurings. A thoughtful and creative problem solver, she is highly regarded for her ability to quickly and efficiently help clients assess the effects of a bankruptcy on their corporate and financial transactions. Her clients include health care systems, retail corporations, financial institutions, oil and gas companies, partnerships, and private-equity funds, among others.

Demetra received a J.D., cum laude, from the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University in 2000 and a B.S. in Business Administration, cum laude, from Christian Brothers University in 1997. Following law school, she clerked for the Honorable U.W. Clemon, Chief Judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.

Demetra is licensed to practice in both Texas and New York. Demetra is a frequent speaker on bankruptcy and finance-related topics, in addition to speaking on career goals, branding, and mentorship to minority and female audiences ranging from established professionals to students. She is actively involved in numerous organizations, including serving as Southern Regional Director and a former Fellow of Leadership Council on Legal Diversity; Immediate Past Houston Network Chair of the International Women’s Insolvency and Restructuring Confederation (IWIRC); a member of the Women’s Business Alliance, Greater Houston Partnership; a member and former Chair of the Bankruptcy Section of the Houston Bar Association; a member of the Cumberland Law School Advisory Board; a member of the Women’s Energy Network; and a Fellow of the American Bar Association, Houston Young Lawyers Foundation, and Texas Bar Foundation.

Her accolades include being named to The Best Lawyers in America© by Woodward/White Inc., Texas Super
Lawyers® and Texas Rising Stars® by Thomson Reuters, as a Law Firm Rainmaker by Diversity & the Bar, and to
Houston’s “Top Lawyers” by H Texas magazine. She has also been featured in Law360’s Minority Powerbroker Q&A series.