Karl Ackerman

UBS Securities LLC is an investment bank and registered broker/dealer headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1998 as UBS Warburg LLC. They are a subsidiary of UBS Americas Holding LLC, ultimately held by UBS Group AG (SWX: UBSG, NYSE: UBS) in Switzerland. UBS Securities is a primary dealer in US Government securities and provides a full range of investment banking services which includes corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, trading and sales, fixed-income, equity research, private banking, underwriting and prime brokerage operations. The firm also provides advisory services and access to capital markets for corporate, institutional, intermediary and alternative asset management clients.

Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC (Credit Suisse Securities USA) is the broker/dealer division of Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, an investment banking company headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1998 and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Credit Suisse (USA), Inc., ultimately owned by Credit Suisse Group AG (SWX: CSGN) in Switzerland. Credit Suisse Securities USA offers a suite of equities, solutions and credit products and services which includes global securities sales, trading and execution, prime brokerage and comprehensive investment research. Their clients include financial institutions, corporations, governments, institutional investors, such as pension funds and hedge funds, and private individuals around the world.

Deutsche Bank Securities, Inc. (DBSI) is a SEC-registered broker/dealer headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1971 and is a wholly-owned investment banking and brokerage arm of DB U.S. Financial Markets Holding Corp., ultimately held by Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE: DB, FRA: DBK) in Germany. DBSI provides securities brokerage and investment advisory services to domestic and international private clients and institutions. They are also a primary dealer in US government securities as designated by the Federal Reserve.

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.

JPMorgan Securities LLC (JPMS) is a securities brokerage firm headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1985 and is a subsidiary of JPMorgan Broker-Dealer Holdings, Inc., ultimately held by JPMorgan Chase & Co., Inc. (NYSE: JPM). JPMS provides research on fixed income, credit, derivatives, emerging markets, foreign exchange, structured finance, technical analysis and bond indices. Their equity analysts cover equities throughout North America, EMEA, Asia/Pacific and the emerging markets. The firm's fixed income team formulates trading and portfolio recommendations for investors in global bonds and other fixed-income markets based on valuations, analytics and market dynamics.

Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC is a registered broker-dealer subsidiary of Morgan Stanley Domestic Holdings, Inc., ultimately owned by Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) in the US. Headquartered in New York City, the firm was founded in 1987 and provides debt and equity services including underwriting, M&A advice, securities dealing and brokerage and trade execution. Their client base ranges from large global institutional investors to hedge funds at the cutting edge of innovation in the industry.

Founded in 2001, Macquarie Capital (USA), Inc. is a registered broker/dealer located in New York City. The firm is a subsidiary of Macquarie Bank Ltd. (ASX: MBL). They provide coverage of the following industries: resources, healthcare, security/defense, transportation, financial services, retail/consumer products, TMET (telecommunications, media, entertainment and technology), oil & gas, diversified manufacturing/distribution and infrastructure/utilities. Macquarie Capital (USA), Inc. is a member of FINRA.

Citigroup Global Markets, Inc. (Broker) (CGMI-Broker) is the broker/dealer division of Citigroup Global Markets, Inc., an investment bank headquartered in New York City with additional offices across the US. The firm was founded in 2004 and is a subsidiary of Citigroup Financial Products, Inc., ultimately held by Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C). CGMI-Broker covers all market capitalizations of the major global indices and provides macro and quantitative analysis of global markets and sector trends. Their core focus of the group is to help investing clients make informed decisions by providing value-added, independent, insightful analysis.

Nomura Securities International, Inc. (NSI) is a registered broker/dealer headquartered in New York City and was founded in 1969. The firm is a division of Nomura Holding America, Inc. and their ultimate parent is Nomura Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: NMR, TYO: 8604, AMS: 8604). NSI provides securities brokerage services, as well as asset management, domestic retail, global markets, global investment banking and global merchant banking services. The firm's fixed-income business consists of bond sales and trading, origination and product supply for securitization deals and real estate-focused asset finance operations (in cooperation with Investment Banking). In the equity markets, NSI offers sales and trading of domestic and foreign stocks on a global basis, primarily for institutional investors.

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.

Founded in 2004, TD Securities (USA) LLC is a broker/dealer located in New York City with additional offices in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Vancouver, London, Singapore, Tokyo and Sydney. The firm is a subsidiary of Toronto Dominion Holdings (USA), Inc. and their ultimate parent is Toronto-Dominion Bank (NYSE: TD). TD Securities (USA) provides a wide range of capital market products and services to corporate, government and institutional clients in five areas of finance including: investment banking, debt capital markets, institutional equities, foreign exchange and money markets. Their services include the underwriting and distribution of new debt and equity issues, providing advice on strategic acquisitions and divestitures and executing daily trading and investment needs. The equity group provides research coverage of media and communications, technology, financial services, oil and gas, mining and metals, industrial products, forest products, technology, utilities and power, real estate, biotechnology, consumer products and merchandising and quantitative analysis strategy. The fixed-income group provides a full range of underwriting sales and trading products for Canadian, U.S. and European debt issuers and investors.

Berenberg Capital Markets LLC (BCM) is a broker-dealer firm headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 2011 and is a subsidiary of Berenberg Americas LLC, ultimately held by Joh. Berenberg, Gossler & Co. KG in Germany. BCM provides equity execution services to institutional and corporate clients.

Citigroup Global Markets Ltd. (CGML) is an international broker-dealer firm headquartered in London, UK. The firm was founded in 1983 and is a subsidiary of Citigroup Global Markets Holdings Bahamas Ltd., ultimately held by Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) in the US. CGML has a major presence in the international financial markets as a dealer, market-maker and underwriter in equity and fixed income securities and offers risk-based solutions to producers and investors in commodity markets. They also provide corporate finance services to a wide range of corporate, institutional and government clients. Their trading activities encompass cash, exchange traded and OTC derivative markets.

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC provides assurance, tax and advisory services. Its services include audit and assurance, consulting, deals, human resources, legal, tax, and family business. The firm also offers accountability, risk management, structuring, mergers and acquisitions, and performance and process improvement. The company was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Buffalo, NY.

Fordham University provides college and university. It offers undergraduate colleges and graduate & professional schools. The company was founded in 1841 and is headquartered in Bronx, NY.

Longbow Research LLC is an independent investment research firm headquartered in Independence, Ohio. The firm was founded by David S. MacGregor in 2003 to provide the institutional equity research market with a high quality, independent product, free from the many conflicts of interest that plague bulge-bracket research. Longbow Research provides insights and research coverage on publicly-traded mid-cap companies in the industrial/basic materials, consumer and technology sectors.

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.

Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc. (Stifel) is a dual-registered broker-dealer and investment adviser headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1890, the firm is a subsidiary of Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE: SF), a financial service holding company. Stifel provides full-service brokerage and investment advisory services to individuals and their families, institutions and businesses, and financial advisors.

Moody's Investors Service, Inc. is a credit rating and investment research firm headquartered in New York City. They are a subsidiary of Moody's Corp. (NYSE: MCO). The firm performs international financial research and analysis on commercial and government entities and provides a variety of analytic tools for assessing credit risk. Their clients include creditors, investment banks and commercial banks.

UBS Investment Bank provides investment banking and securities brokerage services. Its clients include institutional and corporate clients, intermediaries, governments, and hedge funds. The firm also provides merger and acquisition advisory, private placement, investment research, foreign exchange, equity, and leverage finance advisory services. The firm is headquartered in San Francisco, CA.

Harvard University engages in the provision of teaching and research. It has twelve degree-granting Schools in addition to the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, offering a global education. The university was founded in 1636 and is headquartered in Cambridge, MA.

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc. (KBW) is a full-service investment bank and broker/dealer headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1962 and is a subsidiary of Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE: SF). KBW offers sales and trading in equities securities of financial services companies.

Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute conducts and translates biological research programs. The firm offers tumor initiation and maintenance, cancer metabolism and signaling network, tumor microenvironment and cancer immunology, degenerative disease, development/aging/regeneration, immunity and pathogenesis, human genetic, cardiovascular metabolism, integrative metabolism, metabolism genomic control, bioinformatics and structural biology programs. The company was founded by William Fishman and Lillian Fishman in 1976 and is headquartered in La Jolla, CA.

Piper Sandler & Co. (Broker) (PSC-Broker) is the full-service brokerage division of Piper Sandler & Co., a financial service firm headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They are a subsidiary of Piper Sandler Companies (NYSE: PIPR). The firm was founded in 1969 and previously known as Piper Jaffray & Co. They became Piper Sandler & Co. when Piper Jaffray Companies and Sandler O’Neill & Partners, L.P. merged to become Piper Sandler Companies in 2020. PSC-Broker provides brokerage and investment banking services to financial institutions, corporations and other financial investors. Their core focus sectors are Agriculture, renewables & cannabis, Business services, Chemicals & Materials, Consumer, Diversified industrials & services, Energy, Financial services, financial sponsors, Healthcare, and Technology.

Champlain Investment Partners LLC (CIP) is a SEC-registered investment advisor headquartered in Burlington, Vermont. The firm was founded by Scott Brayman, Judith O’Connell, Wendy Nunez, and Mary Michel in 2004. They are a subsidiary of CIP Management Holdings LP. CIP provides investment advice to investment companies, pooled investment vehicles, corporate and public pension plans, health care and religious organizations, endowments and foundations, Taft-Harley plans, colleges and universities, family offices, private banks and corporations and other businesses.

Invesco Advisers, Inc. is a SEC-registered investment advisor headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. They are a subsidiary of Invesco Group Services, Inc., ultimately held by Invesco Ltd. (NYSE: IVZ). The firm was founded in 1986 and previously known as Invesco Institutional NA, Inc. until April 2010 when Invesco Ltd. consolidated the businesses of their US investment advisors (Invesco AIM Advisors, Inc., Invesco AIM Capital Management, Inc., Invesco AIM Private Asset Management, Inc. and Invesco Global Asset Management NA, Inc.) under the name Invesco Advisers, Inc. They provide discretionary and non-discretionary investment advisory services to individuals, institutional and high net-worth clients through separate accounts, wrap fee programs and US registered investment companies and other Commingled Funds.