Bill Ong

Originally founded in 2002 by Curt Snyder and Richard Prati as American Technology Research, Broadpoint.AmTech Equity Capital Markets is an independent research firm and broker/dealer headquartered in Greenwich with offices in Littleton, Colorado and San Francisco. The firm was acquired by Broadpoint Securities Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: BPSG) in 2008. Broadpoint.Am Tech seeks to generate profitable ideas through fundamental research. They offer timely and focused research on the information technology, clean energy and defense sectors for institutional investors including mutual funds and alternative asset managers. Broadpoint.AmTech covers the following industries: (1) aerospace and defense (2) analog semiconductors (3) broadband and media services (4) clean technology/biofuels (5) clean technology/energy generation and infrastructure (6) clean technology/coal (7) clean technology/solar (8) clean technology/wind (9) data networking and storage components (10) engineering and construction (11) financial technology (12) Internet (13) information technology hardware (13) LED industry (14) software (15) wireless communications and (16) wireless ICs.

Formerly Elijah Asset Management, AIC Asset Management LLC is a subsidiary of AIC, Ltd. A registered investment advisor, they are based in San Francisco.

Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Banc of America Securities (BAS) is the investment banking subsidiary of Bank of America Corp (NYSE: BAC). The firm provides both the domestic and international equity and investment banking markets, and pursues a strategy pioneered by Citigroup that combines corporate lending with investment banking advice and services. They provide high-yield debt underwriting and leveraged finance, in addition to industry coverage groups such as healthcare, media and telecom, financial institutions, real estate and gaming. BAS also does a significant amount of work for Financial Sponsors, or private equity firms, often financing leveraged transactions. Following the strategy of Goldman Sachs, the firm lacks a standalone mergers and acquisitions department, instead employing mergers and acquisitions senior bankers throughout the industry coverage groups. The firm is registered as a broker/dealer with the SEC, is a member of the NYSE, and the NASD. The use of Banc in the BAS's name is indicative of the fact that the company is not a bank, and their deposits and other holdings are not insured by the FDIC.

Founded in 1986, Merriman Capital, Inc. is an SEC-registered broker/dealer and investment banking firm headquartered in San Francisco. The firm is a subsidiary of Merriman Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: MERR), a financial services firm that focuses on fast-growing companies and their institutional investors. Merriman provides advisory and investment banking, equity research, institutional services, corporate services and venture services primarily to corporate clients. Merriman Capital provides research, brokerage and trading services primarily to institutional clients. The firm offers a full range of specialized and integrated services including: equity research, specialized trade execution, equity capital markets, corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, sales and trading, market making, corporate and venture services, restructurings and strategic advisory services. Merriman Capital employs bottom-up, fundamental analysis of small-cap companies in select industries including clean technology, healthcare, technology and consumer/Internet/media. The firm also has expertise in emerging markets, with emphasis on emerging markets in China. Merriman Capital is known to engage in shareholder activist investment strategies. Merriman Capital is a member of the NASD, the SIPC and FINRA. The firm serves as an introducing broker/dealer for Pershing LLC. They do not hold or maintain funds or securities or provide clearing services for other broker/dealers.

Founded in 1979 as Reynders Gray & Co., Inc., Ticonderoga Securities LLC is an SEC-registered broker/dealer headquartered in New York City. The firm is a subsidiary of GEROVA Financial Group Ltd. (NYSE: GFC), a specialty reinsurance company based in St. George, Cayman Islands. In May 2009, Ticonderoga Securities acquired Reynders, Gray & Co., Inc. and in May 2011, they acquired Soleil Securities Corp. Ticonderoga Securities focuses on domestic and international equities and with emphasis on high quality, order execution, as well as a differentiated research offering to support their execution capabilities. The firm's analysis focuses primarily on the following sectors: basic materials, capital goods/industrials, consumer, energy, financials, healthcare, strategy/policy, technology, transportation and utilities. The firm clears their equity business through National Financial Services Corp., a wholly-owned, guaranteed subsidiary of the Fidelity organization and their fixed-income business through Pershing LLC, a BNY Mellon company.

B. Riley Securities, Inc. is a registered broker/dealer headquartered in Los Angeles, California. The firm is a subsidiary of B. Riley Securities Holdings LLC, ultimately owned by B. Riley Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ: RILY). The firm was formed in 2017, when B. Riley Financial, Inc. merged two of their brokers, B. Riley & Co. (founded in 1997) and FBR Capital Markets & Co. (founded in 1989), under the name of B. Riley FBR, Inc. B. Riley Securities provides research and trading ideas to institutional clients and high net-worth individuals. They provide investment banking services to a wide range of middle-market private and public companies.