Brad Summers

Stephens, Inc. is a full-service investment bank and brokerage firm headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. The firm was founded in 1933 and is a subsidiary of Susi Holdings, Inc., which is owned by Stephens Financial Services LLC. Stephens provides comprehensive securities sales and trading services, including customized solutions for clients in North America and abroad.

HarbourVest Partners LLC (HarbourVest Partners) is a private equity & venture capital firm founded in 1982 by David Brooks Zug. The firm is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts with additional offices around the world.

MML Investors Services, Inc. (MMLIS) is a SEC-registered broker-dealer and investment advisor headquartered in Springfield, Massachusetts. The firm was founded in 1981 and is principally owned by MassMutual Holding LLC, itself a subsidiary of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. MMLIS generally provides advice to individuals, high net worth individuals, trusts, estates, endowments and foundations, Fidelity Charitable donor-advised accounts, business entities and/or qualified plans.

Proffitt & Goodson, Inc. (ProffittGoodson) is an independent financial planning and wealth management firm headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee. The firm was founded by Jim Proffitt and David Goodson in 1986. ProffittGoodson develops customized investment solutions for families, endowments, high-net-worth investors, and foundations.

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.

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.

H. C. Wainwright & Co. LLC (H. C. Wainwright) is a full-service broker/dealer headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1868 and is a subsidiary of HCWHC, Inc. H. C. Wainwright delivers industry insights and real-time execution to both public and private small and middle-sized global emerging market companies. With a focus on identifying buyers and sellers in illiquid and difficult to trade equities, the firm specializes in block trading and providing liquidity in these securities with as little market impact as possible.

Leerink Partners LLC is a full-service brokerage and investment banking firm headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. The firm was founded by Jeffrey Leerink in 1995 and formerly known as SVB Securities LLC. They rebranded as Leerink Partners in 2023. The firm is a subsidiary of SVB Securities LLC. Leerink Partners provides institutional sales, equity research, institutional trading, and corporate finance and asset management services to the healthcare and technology industries. They offer superior execution capabilities in common stock, convertibles and derivatives with a singular focus on healthcare and a knowledge-led approach.

Denark Construction, Inc. is a full-service construction management firm that has been providing superior execution in all aspects of the construction process for over four decades. The private company is based in Knoxville, TN and was founded by Raja J. Jubran, who has been the CEO since incorporation. The company has built a diverse portfolio of high-profile projects across the southeast, consistently delivering successful projects on time and on budget with a focus on quality, safety, and integrity. Denark offers preconstruction services, delivery methods, and a commitment to sustainability.

FirstBank engages in the provision of banking services. The firm offers personal and commercial banking, investment solution, insurance services, online services, and mobile banking solutions. The company was founded in 1906 and is headquartered in Nashville, TN.

Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, Inc. operates as a Orchestra, musical performance and education programs. It offers live symphonic music program services. The company is headquartered in Knoxville, TN.

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.

StepStone Group LP (StepStone) is a private equity firm founded in 2006 by Monte M. Brem, Tom Porter Keck and Jose A. Fernandez. The firm is headquartered in New York.

University of Houston System offers higher education degrees and job training or vocational study programs. It offers about 280 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in fields such as business, education, humanities and law. It was founded in 1927 and is headquartered in Houston, TX.

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.

Nippon Wealth Life Insurance Co., Ltd. engages in life insurance business that provides long-term care insurance, annuities, retirement plans, savings products and mutual funds to individual and institutional customers. It operates through a network of independent brokers and franchised agents. The company was founded in 1907 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

Clayton Foundation for Research is non-profit medical research organization in Houston, Texas established in 1933 ny Benjamin Clayton. The organizations principal activity is to research the cause, prevention and cure of differet diseases.

The Greater Knoxville Chamber of Commerce is an organization that aims to make Knoxville a premier location for businesses to operate and expand. The non-profit company is based in Knoxville, TN. The company connects businesses in the region with resources and services to meet their unique growth needs, which fuels a sustainable regional economic ecosystem. The Chamber also provides a monthly economic conditions outlook report called ECO, which offers insight into how data and information may impact the region. The organization is dedicated to helping businesses of all sizes grow.

TCP Management LLC (TCP Management) is a private equity firm founded in 2017 by Alex Western and Phil Trench. The firm is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

Carbon Direct Capital Management LLC (Carbon Direct) is a venture capital firm founded in 2020 by Jonathan Goldberg. The firm is headquartered in New York.

One Rock Capital Partners LLC (One Rock Capital) is a private equity firm founded in 2010 by Tony W. Lee and R. Scott Spielvogel. The firm is headquartered in New York.

Good Growth Capital Management LLC (Good Growth Capital) is a venture capital subsidiary of Capital A Partners LLC founded in 2017 by Amy Salzhauer and Maureen Stancik Boyce. The firm is headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina.

Tennessee Community Ventures LLC (Tennessee Community Ventures) is a venture capital firm founded in 2009 by Eric Satz. The firm is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee.

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.