Alex Markarian

UBS Financial Services, Inc. is a registered investment advisor and wealth management firm headquartered in Weehawken, New Jersey. The firm is a wholly-owned subsidiary of UBS Americas Inc., ultimately held by UBS Group AG (SWX: UBSG; NYSE: UBS) in Switzerland. Founded in 1969, UBS Financial Services provides investment advisory services to individuals, banks, thrift institutions, mutual funds and other investment companies, pension and employee benefit plans, trusts, estates, charities, corporations and other business and government entities.

Yacktman Asset Management LP (Yacktman) is a SEC-registered investment advisor headquartered in Austin, Texas. The firm was founded in April 2012 to succeed to the business of Yacktman Asset Management Co., which had served long-term oriented investors since 1992. They are a subsidiary of Gotham Acquisition LP LLC, ultimately owned by Affiliated Managers Group, Inc. (NYSE: AMG). Yacktman provides investment management and supervisory services on a discretionary basis and, for a limited number of clients, on a non-discretionary basis. Their clients include high net-worth individuals, investment companies, pooled investment vehicles, pension and profit-sharing plans, estates, trusts, or charitable organizations, and corporations or business entities.

Asset Alliance Corp. provides investment management services. It offers private equity, mutual, and hedge funds and advisory services. The company was founded by Bruce Howard Lipnick and Arnold Lawrence Mintz on May 15, 1996 and is headquartered in New York, NY.

Wilshire Advisors LLC (Wilshire) is a privately-held investment technology and advisory firm headquartered in Santa Monica, California. The firm was founded by Dennis Tito in 1972 as Wilshire Associates, Inc. Wilshire provides innovative investment solutions, consulting services and multi-asset analytics to institutional and intermediary clients worldwide.

Shepherd Kaplan Krochuk LLC (SKK) is an independent, SEC-registered investment advisor and hedge fund manager headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. The firm was originally founded in 2001 by Gregory Fraser, Rudolph Kluiber and Timothy Krochuk as GRT Capital Partners LLC. In 2017, Shepherd Kaplan LLC, a Boston-based registered investment advisor, combined their business with GRT Capital Partners. The transaction resulted in Shepherd Kaplan LLC becoming a majority-owned and wholly-controlled subsidiary of GRT Capital Partners. GRT Capital Partners' name was changed to Shepherd Kaplan Krochuk LLC. SKK offers regular and continuous advisory services for private investment funds, pension plans, investment companies, institutions, endowments & foundations, private clients, family offices, and high net worth individuals.

Part of State Street Corp., State Street Global Markets LLC is a company that provides brokerage services. The company is based in Boston, MA.

The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (Investment Management) (BNY Mellon) is the investment management arm of The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (NYSE: BK), an American investment banking services holding company headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 2007 due to the merger of The Bank of New York Company, Inc. and Mellon Financial Corporation. BNY Mellon is the umbrella organization for BNY Mellon's affiliated investment management firms and global distribution companies. They provide investment management services to financial institutions, corporations, government entities, endowments/foundations and high-net-worth individuals.

SSgA Funds Management, Inc. (SSgA FM) is a SEC-registered investment advisor and mutual fund manager headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. The firm was founded in 1978 and is a subsidiary of State Street Global Advisors, Inc., ultimately held by State Street Corp. (NYSE: STT). SSgA FM provides investment advisory services to US investment companies and certain pooled investment vehicles.

Part of Ascend Wellness Holdings, Inc., Maryland Health Management LLC is a company that operates medical cannabis stores. The company is based in Baltimore, MD. The CEO of the company is Jigar H. Patel.

Ropes Wealth Advisors LLC (RWA) is a SEC-registered investment advisor and wealth management firm headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. The firm was founded in 2013 and became a wholly owned subsidiary of Adviser Investments LLC in 2023. RWA provides continuous and regular investment advisory services to individuals, families and their related entities, which includes trusts and estates, charitable organizations, and business entities. The firm also provides continuous and regular investment advisory services to retirement profit-sharing plans.

Northwestern University is a private institution founded in 1851 to serve the Northwest Territory, an area that now includes the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and parts of Minnesota. Northwestern has three campuses

Kidder, Peabody & Co., Inc. provides security brokerage services. The private company is based in Buffalo, NY and has subsidiaries in Switzerland. The company was founded by Thomas W. Ostrander.

Standard & Poor's Investment Advisory Services LLC (SPIAS) is investment research firm and registered investment advisor headquartered in New York City. The firm is a wholly-owned subsidiary of S&P Global, Inc. (NYSE: SPGI), formerly McGraw Hill Financial, Inc. SPIAS’ advisory services are generally offered to institutions (e.g., broker-dealers, investment advisers, investment companies and other financial institutions). SPIAS does not generally provide its advisory services directly to retail clients, but its services may be used by its clients in advising their own underlying clients, which may include retail clients. SPIAS also provides advisory consulting services to institutional clients and investment managers-of-investment funds, and investment sub-advisory services for registered investment companies, including open-end mutual funds and other institutions. S&P Global's operations consist of three reportable segments: S&P Global Ratings, S&P Global Platts, and S&P Dow Jones Indices. S&P Global Ratings is an independent provider of credit ratings, research and analytics to investors, issuers and market participants. It includes the NRSRO and certain other ratings-related businesses. S&P Global Platts provides essential price data, analytics, and industry insight that enable commodities markets to perform with greater transparency and efficiency. S&P Dow Jones Indices is a global index provider that maintains a wide variety of indices to meet an array of investor needs. In 2016, CFRA acquired S&P Global Market Intelligence’s Equity and Fund Research business (formerly known as S&P Capital IQ and SNL) from S&P Global, Inc.

Capgemini America, Inc. engages in the provision of software solutions. It offers outsourcing, consulting, and digital transformation. The company is headquartered in New York, NY.

BB&T Securities LLC, doing business as BB&T Capital Markets, is the broker/dealer subsidiary of BB&T Corp. (NYSE: BBT). The firm is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. They offer a full array of investment, trading and execution services to middle-market companies. BB&T Capital Markets' sales and trading arm is comprised of 2 groups: Debt Securities Sales & Trading and Equity Sales & Trading. The Debt Securities Sales & Trading group focuses on: (1) Government and agency securities (2) corporate bonds (3) municipal bonds (4) asset-backed securities (5) mortgage-backed securities (6) preferred securities and (7) money market desk (short-term securities including BB&T funding). The Equity Sales & Trading group focuses on: (1) institutional block execution services (2) institutional distribution of proprietary research (3) providing proprietary access to industry leading conferences and management teams (4) serving as a NASDAQ market maker for over 250 securities (5) stock buybacks including 10b-18 and 10b5-1 trading plans and (6) 144 stock sales, individual 10b5-1 trading plans (buy and sell) and employee cashless stock option programs. BB&T Capital Markets provides research coverage of the communications, defense and government services, energy, financial services, furnishings and consumer durables, healthcare, industrial services, retail/consumer durables and transportation services sectors.