Mark P. Picard

Schroder Investment Management North America, Inc. (SIMNA) is a SEC-registered investment advisor headquartered in New York City. The firm is a subsidiary of Schroder US Holdings, Inc., ultimately held by Schroders Plc (LON: SDR) in Great Britain. SIMNA manages separate accounts on a discretionary basis for institutions, endowments, foundations, pension funds, government retirement plans, and insurance companies and, as sub-adviser, to registered investment companies sponsored by other advisers. The firm also acts as the investment adviser to the Schroder Funds, which are sold in the US predominantly to institutional clients. They also serve as the manager and general partner of private investment partnerships or funds.

Citizens JMP Securities LLC (Citizens JMP) is a full-service investment bank and broker/dealer headquartered in San Francisco, California. The firm was founded by Joseph Jolson in 2002 and was formerly JMP Securities LLC. The firm is a subsidiary of JMP Holding LLC, ultimately held by Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: CFG). Citizens JMP provides equity research, institutional brokerage, and investment banking services to public and private growth companies and their investors. They are a research-driven, growth-oriented firm that provides services to small- and mid-sized companies and the institutions that invest in them. The firm specializes in four high-growth sectors of the economy: technology, healthcare, financial services, and real estate.

Cowen Investment Management LLC (Cowen Investment Management) is a venture capital subsidiary of Cowen, Inc. founded in 1997. The firm is headquartered in New York.

FIG LLC, operates as Fortress Investment Group (Fortress), is a hedge fund manager headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1998 and is a subsidiary of Fortress Operating Entity I LP, ultimately owned by SoftBank Group Corp. (TYO: 9984) in Japan. Fortress manages assets on behalf of institutional clients and private investors worldwide across a range of credit and real estate, private equity and permanent capital investment strategies.

Citadel Advisors LLC is a SEC-registered investment advisor and hedge fund manager headquartered in Miami, Florida. The firm was founded in 1990 by Kenneth Griffin and is wholly-owned by Citadel Advisors Holdings LP, ultimately held by GFH HFEVA LLC. Citadel Advisors manages private investment funds that are offered exclusively to sophisticated investors.

A.G.P. / Alliance Global Partners Corp. (AGP) is a FINRA-registered broker-dealer headquartered in Westport, Connecticut. Formerly known as Euro Pacific Capital, Inc., the firm was founded by Peter Schiff in 1997 and is a subsidiary of Alliance Global LLC. AGP provides prime brokerage services to hedge funds, family offices, professional traders and top tier small/mid-cap investment funds. It offers multi-clearing, cloud based, high-touch client service solutions tailored to each client’s business needs.

AllianceBernstein LP (AB) is a SEC-registered investment advisor and mutual fund manager headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 2000, the firm is owned by Equitable Financial Life Insurance Co., ultimately held by Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: EQH). AB provides investment advice to investment companies, pension and profit-sharing plans, banks and thrift institutions, trusts, estates, government agencies, charitable organizations, individuals, corporations and other business entities.

Jefferies LLC is a global investment bank and institutional securities firm headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1962 and is a subsidiary of Jefferies Group LLC, ultimately held by Jefferies Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: JEF). Jefferies provides corporate clients with research and execution services in equity, fixed income, and foreign exchange markets, as well as a full range of investment banking services such as underwriting, mergers and acquisitions, restructuring and recapitalization, and other advisory services, with all businesses operating in the Americas, Europe and Asia.

Cornell University is an educational institution that offers undergraduate and post graduate programs. It was founded in 1865 and is based in Ithaca, NY.

Hamlin Capital Management LLC (Hamlin) is an independent, SEC-registered investment advisor and wealth management firm headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded by Mark Stitzer in 2001. Hamlin provides customized investment advisory services to separately managed accounts, pooled investment vehicles, and the Hamlin High Dividend Equity Fund, an open-end management investment company.

Part of Deutsche Bank AG, Bankers Trust & Co. is a company that provides trust services. The company is based in New York, NY.

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC (GS&Co.) is a securities brokerage firm headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1927, the firm is a subsidiary of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS). GS&Co. provides services to help hedge funds manage risk, monitor portfolios, maintain liquidity and build their businesses. They offer clients access to global equity and derivatives markets, as well as foreign exchange, commodities, European Lefts, rates and credit across the Americas, Europe and Asia. The firm proactively monitors capital markets, searching for pockets of liquidity and news that may require changes to those strategies. Integration with the Goldman Sachs network gives clients access to the firm's sectored block trades and their insights into price discovery. Their electronic trading program provides clients with tools to manage their trades from pre-trade analytics to post-trade analysis.

RBC Capital Markets LLC is a full-service brokerage and financial services firm headquartered in New York City. They are a direct subsidiary of RBC USA Holdco Corp. and a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of Royal Bank of Canada (TSE, NYSE: RY). Founded in 2010, the firm is comprised of 3 major business lines: the Private Client Group, the Fixed-Income Group and the Clearing and Execution Services Group. The Private Client Group serves individual investors, while the Fixed-Income Group provides services to institutions, municipalities and non-profit organizations. The Clearing and Execution Services Group is a provider of clearing and execution services to independent brokers/dealers throughout the US. RBC Capital Markets focuses on the following sectors: communications, media, consumer/retail, diversified industries, energy, financial institutions, forest products, healthcare, infrastructure finance, mining & metals, real estate, social infrastructure, technology and the US municipal markets.

Three Bridges Capital LP is an independent, SEC-registered investment advisor and hedge fund manager headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded by Eugene “Gene” Salamon in 2011. Three Bridges Capital serves as the investment adviser with discretionary trading authority and provides investment supervisory and management services on a discretionary basis to pooled investment vehicles, the securities of which are offered to investors on a private placement basis.

Indus Capital Partners LLC (Indus) is an independent, SEC-registered investment advisor and hedge fund manager headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 2000 by David Kowitz, Sheldon Kasowitz and Byron Gill. Indus provides investment supervisory and management services on a discretionary basis primarily to commingled private investments funds and institutional clients.

Cressey & Co. LP (Cressey & Co) is a private equity firm. The firm is founded in the year 2008 by Bryan Charles Cressey and it is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois and Nashville, Tennessee.

Barclays Capital, Inc. is a registered broker/dealer headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1997 and is a subsidiary of Barclays Group US, Inc., ultimately owned by Barclays plc (LON: BARC) in Great Britain. Barclays Capital provides large corporate, government and institutional clients a full spectrum of prime brokerage services which includes equities and fixed income financing, OTC Clearing, Futures and Foreign Exchange Prime Brokerage and access to industry insights and analytics from their Strategic Consulting team.

Bank of Ireland provides banking and financial services. It operates through the following segments: Retail Ireland, Bank of Ireland Life, Retail UK, Corporate & Treasury and Group Centre and Other. The Retail Ireland segment offers a comprehensive range of banking products and related financial services to the personal and business markets including deposits, mortgages, consumer and business lending, credit cards, current accounts, money transmission services, commercial finance, asset finance and general insurance. It serves customers through a distribution network of branches, central support teams, ATMs and through direct channels. The Bank of Ireland Life segment includes the wholly owned subsidiary, New Ireland Assurance Co., through which the group offers a wide range of pension and life products, including life assurance, life protection, pensions and investment products to the Irish market. The Retail UK segment comprises consumer and business banking via a branch network in Northern Ireland, its UK residential mortgage business, and the business partnerships with the UK Post Office. The Corporate & Treasury segment comprises the group's corporate banking and global markets activities across the Republic of Ireland, UK and international jurisdictions. The Group Centre and Other segment is responsible for delivering services to each division and includes group manufacturing, group finance, group credit and market risk, group governance risk, and group human resources. The company was founded in 1783 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.

Founded in 1958, Merrill Lynch Piece Fenner & Smith, Inc. is an SEC registered broker/dealer located in New York City. The firm is a subsidiary of BAC North America Holding Co. and their ultimate parent is Bank of America Corp. (NYSE BAC).

Brean Capital is an independent investment bank and registered broker/dealer headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1973 and provides equity research, corporate finance and advisory investment banking, equity institutional sales and trading, and asset management to institutional investors and corporate clients. Their fixed income business provides sales, trading, research and banking services on a wide range of mortgage and asset-backed, US Treasury and government agency securities, structured products, corporate bonds, and municipal debt. The fixed income sales team employs a highly analytical approach to bond selection, trade execution, and overall bond portfolio management. Under the guidance of fixed income strategists, the fixed income team uses a combination of qualitative and quantitative analyses to create custom investment portfolios and develop targeted, executable bond trading strategies to complement their clients? balance sheets.