Manisha Paresh Thakkar

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP provides legal services. The firm's areas of practice includes appellate, litigation, business and commercial litigation, dispute resolution, government contracts, internal investigations, labor and employment, oil and gas patent, trademark and copyright infringement, product liability and toxic tort securities litigation. The company was founded in 1971 and is headquartered in Washington, DC.

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.

Founded in 1977, Capital Institutional Services, Inc. (CAPIS) is a broker/dealer located in Dallas, Texas. The firm is structured in distinct divisions including sales, trading, research, accounting, operations and compliance which work together to address the diverse needs of both money managers and fund managers. This approach allows CAPIS to present an array of global trading, transition management, commission recapture, independent research and bundled solutions to their clients.

Pier Capital LLC is an independent registered investment advisor headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut and a research/investment team office in Jersey City, New Jersey. The firm has been in business since 1987, when they were originally founded as ABB Investment Management. In 1998, the firm was acquired by and became SEB Asset Management America, Inc. Finally, in 2004, they became Pier Capital LLC as a result of the senior management buyout of all equity securities clients. Pier Capital offers discretionary portfolio management services to institutions and high-net-worth individuals.

McKinsey & Co., Inc. provides management consulting services. It specializes in design, marketing and sales, analytics, operations, transformation and restructuring, risk, strategy and corporate finance, and sustainability and resource productivity. The company was founded by James O. McKinsey in 1926 and is headquartered in New York, NY.

Duke University is an academic university that offers undergraduate, graduate and professional programs. It also has publications and research services. The university was founded in 1838 and is headquartered in Durham, NC.

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.

Hilltop Securities, Inc. (dba HilltopSecurities) is a broker/dealer firm headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The firm was founded in 1946 as Southwest Securities, Inc. and they a subsidiary of Hilltop Securities Holdings LLC. Hilltop Securities provides a full array of trading and execution services for their clients.

Stinson LLP engages in the provision of corporate, transaction, and litigation legal services. It offers banking and financial services, business litigation, employment and labor law, and Native American law and tribal governance. The company was founded on May 1, 2002 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, MN.

Vinson & Elkins LLP provides legal services. It maintains civil practice, covering areas such as litigation, public policy, transaction, and energy law. The firm serves the clients including companies from the aviation, energy, financial services, health care, and technology industries. The company was founded in 1917 and is headquartered in Houston, TX.

Global Factory, Inc. provides collaborative manufacturing execution systems. The firm's software gather, organize & analyze demand, production & quality data from various sources and monitor key indicators & execute business processes to control, manage & optimize distributed manufacturing operations. The company was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Santa Clara, CA.

State Bar of Texas provides legal educational programming services. The private company is based in Austin, TX.

American Bar Association provides legal services. It provides law school accreditation, continuing legal education, legal information and other services to assist legal professionals. The firm has members which include judges, court administrators, law professors, and non-practicing attorneys. The company was founded on August 21, 1878 and is headquartered in Chicago, IL.

Ben E. Keith Co. distributes food service products and alcoholic beverages. The Food Division supplies a full line of produce, frozen foods, meats, dry groceries, refrigerated foods, paper goods, equipment and supplies to restaurants, hospitals, schools, nursing homes, and other institutional businesses. The Beverage Division sells Anheuser-Busch InBev products as well as many well craft and imports brands including: Real Ale, Franconia, Alaskan, Brooklyn, Sierra Nevada, Paulaner, Chimay, and Spaten. The company was founded in 1906 and is headquartered in Fort Worth, TX.

First Equipment Co. providing flexible technology solutions. It provides help desk, data backup and recovery, cloud computing, VOIP and information technology consulting services. The company was founded in 1975 and is headquartered in Addison, TX.

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.

Virtus Fund Advisers LLC (VFA) is a SEC-registered investment advisor headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1985, the firm was originally named Trusco Capital Management, Inc. and later became RidgeWorth Capital Management, Inc. and RidgeWorth Capital Management LLC. They were formerly a majority-owned subsidiary of SunTrust Banks, Inc. (NYSE: STI). They became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Virtus Partners, Inc., which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRTS), when the latter acquired the firm in June 2017 and subsequently changed their name into Virtus Fund Advisers LLC. VFA provides discretionary and non-discretionary advisory services to institutional clients including pension and profit-sharing plans, endowments and foundations, governmental entities, and other corporate entities as well as high net-worth clients.

Commercial Real Estate Finance Council, Inc. is a trade association for the commercial real estate finance industry. The non-profit company is based in New York, NY and has subsidiaries in the United States. Its members include balance sheet and securitized lenders, loan and bond investors, private equity firms, servicers, and rating agencies. The council has been promoting liquidity, transparency, and efficiency in the commercial real estate finance markets for 30 years. It also acts as a legislative and regulatory advocate for the industry, setting market standards and best practices, and providing education for market participants.

Association for Corporate Growth, Inc. is a global organization founded in 1954 by Kenneth S. Berryman and David H. Brenner. The non-profit company is based in Chicago, IL and has subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Canada, and the United States. The company's mission is to drive middle-market growth and it serves 90,000 investors, executives, lenders, and advisers to growing middle-market companies. The company's core focus is on middle-market M&A, with more than 25 years of sell-side and buy-side advisory experience, closing more than 200 transactions with a combined value of more than $1 billion. The company also publishes Middle Market Growth, the official publication of the Association for Corporate Growth, which includes a print magazine, website, weekly e-newsletter, and daily newsfeed. The CEO of the company since 2019 is Brent A. Baxter.