Paul Gallant

Founded in 1932, Stanford Group Co. is a broker/dealer headquartered in Houston, Texas with offices nationwide. They are a subsidiary of Stanford Financial Services, Inc. and their ultimate parent is CBaySystems Holdings Ltd. The firm offers a full range of brokerage services for both domestic and international clients. They are a member of the NASD and the SIPC. Stanford's research includes both institutional equity research and Washington-focused policy research, offering a perspective on individual companies, sector-specific topics and national policy. Their equity analysts offer insight and opinions on companies in the consumer/retail, media, energy, financial institutions, healthcare, technology and water/environment sectors, targeting small- and mid-cap companies. Their policy analysts deliver investment relevant insights across a broad range of sectors, including geopolitics, international/trade, Federal Reserve board policy, health care (including services, medical devices and pharmaceuticals, telecom, media, financial services, water/environment, agribusiness/tobacco, energy) and technology (including information technology services, homeland security and biometrics/emerging technologies).

Cowen Prime Services LLC (CPS) is a broker-dealer headquartered in New York City. The firm is directly owned by Cowen PB Holdings LLC, which, in turn, is primarily owned by Cowen Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: COWN). CPS is registered as a broker-dealer with the SEC and FINRA, and as a an introducing broker with the Commodities Futures Trading Commission and the National Futures Association. CPS was formed in 2015 following Cowen Group’s acquisition of Concept Capital Markets LLC. Concept Capital was established in 2010 following the spin-off of the Concept Capital division of Sanders Morris Harris Inc., whose origins date back to 1995. CPS' offering includes world-class custody and clearing options, multi asset class capabilities, leading execution and order management systems, a seasoned execution desk, a range of financing options, a highly professional operations and customer support team, comprehensive portfolio reporting capabilities, capital introduction, and live, intraday and post-trade risk and performance analytics.

Guggenheim Securities LLC is a SEC-registered broker-dealer headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1999 and is a subsidiary of Links Holdings LLC, ultimately held by Guggenheim Partners LLC. Guggenheim Securities’ specializations include the sales and trading of fixed-income securities and sophisticated structured products. The firm offers in-depth analysis and expert execution of trading opportunities to large institutional investors and asset originators. They offer sales and trading services relating to a wide range of instruments.

Founded in 2001, MF Global, Inc., formerly Man Securities, Inc., is a broker/dealer located in Chicago with an additional office in New York City. The firm is a subsidiary of MF Global Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: MF). MF Global Holdings Ltd. is an independent broker of exchange-traded futures and options and an intermediary in the markets for foreign exchange, securities and other major financial instruments around the world. MF Global Securities is a member of the NASD and the SIPC. The firm provides coverage for the following sectors: capital goods, automobiles, telecommunications, food manufacturing, retail food, industrials, insurance, construction, mining, media, general retail/luxury goods, communications equipment, banks and specialty financial companies, specialty sales, oil, construction and pharmaceuticals. In the US, MF Global Securities provides buy-side institutions, sell-side institutions and retail clients with voice and electronic access to major securities markets through execution and clearing services. Their clients include hedge funds, pension funds, asset management firms, bulge bracket investment banks and other broker dealers.

SMH Capital, Inc. (SMH) is the primary broker subsidiary of Sander Morris Harris Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: SMHG). The firm is headquartered in Houston, Texas with additional offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco. SMH provides a full range of asset and wealth management and investment banking services. The firm also offers institutional equity sales, trading, and research, as well as prime brokerage services for hedge funds and fixed-income securities sales and trading. SMH's research effort is attuned to the Southwest, yet takes a broad, global perspective. The analysts cover companies in six broad sectors, including business services, energy, entertainment and media, financial services, specialty retail-softlines, and technology. They look at industries in a bottom-up way, and get to know company managements in depth, to understand their growth philosophy and their views of how their company fits within their group. SMH's growth strategy is to expand asset management and fiduciary activities and related business by increasing assets under management through acquisitions, internal growth and better coordination between their subsidiaries.

Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. is a FINRA-registered broker/dealer headquartered in San Francisco. The firm is a subsidiary of the Charles Schwab Corp. (NYSE: SCHW). They are members of the Chicago Board Options Exchange, NASDAQ and NYSE Arca, Inc. Charles Schwab & Co. is an exchange member engaged in exchange commission business other than floor activities. They also retail mutual funds and OTC corporate equity securities. In addition, the firm underwrites and/or sells corporate securities, underwrites and/or sponsors mutual funds, is a put and call broker/dealer and/or option writer and provides investment advisory services

Cowen & Co. LLC is a SEC-registered broker/dealer headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 2004 and is a subsidiary of Cowen Holdings, Inc., ultimately owned by The Toronto-Dominion Bank (TSE: TD) in Canada. Cowen & Co. offers industry-focused investment banking for growth-oriented companies, domain knowledge-driven research and a sales and trading platform for institutional investors. Their institutional sales and trading business serves both equity and fixed-income clients. Sales and trading execution platform is structured around the following key verticals: (1) healthcare (2) technology, telecommunications and media (TMT) (3) REITs and financials (4) aerospace and defense (5) consumer and (6) alternative energy.