Carole L. Christakis-Rayes

Calamos Investments LLC is a global investment firm headquartered in Naperville, Illinois. The firm was founded by John P. Calamos in 1977 and is a subsidiary of Calamos Partners LLC. Calamos Investments offers a range of global investment solutions through separately managed portfolios, mutual funds, closed-end funds, private funds, and UCITS funds. Their clients include major corporations, pension funds, endowments, foundations and individuals, as well as the financial advisors and consultants who serve them.

Digi-Key Corp. distributes electronic components. It also distributes semiconductors, discrete, electromechanical parts. Its products include audio products, batteries, cable assemblies, capacitors, computer & video accessories, connectors, crystals & oscillators, discrete semiconductor products and many more. The company was founded by Ronald A. Stordahl in 1972 and is headquartered in Thief River Falls, MN.

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

BMO Asset Management Corp. (BMO AM) is a SEC-registered investment advisor headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The firm was founded in 2012 and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BMO Financial Corp. (BMO), which is in turn a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bank of Montreal (TSX: BMO), a Canadian diversified financial services company. BMO AM provides discretionary investment advisory services for, or provides non-discretionary investment advice to, institutions, individuals, and third-party sponsors of and clients participating in wrap-fee programs, as well as common and collective portfolios for which BMO Harris Bank, an affiliate of BMO AM, acts as trustee. In addition, BMO AM provides investment advisory services to private pooled vehicles and to affiliates for the benefit of their clients.

Smead Capital Management, Inc. (SCM) is an independent, SEC-registered investment advisor headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. The firm was founded by Bill Smead in 2007. SCM provides investment management services to separate accounts, privately placed pooled investment vehicles, and mutual funds for advisors, family offices and institutions.

Keybank, NA (Investment Management), also known as Key Private Bank, is the asset management division of Keybank, NA, a regional bank headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio. The firm was founded in 1849 and is a subsidiary of KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY). Key Private Bank provides investment advisory services to individuals and institutional investors.

Geller Advisors LLC is a SEC-registered investment advisor and wealth management firm headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded by Martin Geller as Geller Family Office Services LLC in 2004. They are a wholly-owned subsidiary of Geller Holdings II LLC, which is further owned by Geller & Co. LLC. Geller Advisors provides integrated wealth management services to ultra-high-net worth individuals, families, their related entities, trusts, estates, charitable organizations, and other business entities as well as private funds (Geller Funds).

Chicago Theatre Group, Inc. encompasses a drama school and professional acting services. It produces classic and contemporary works which gives voice to wide range of artists and visions. The company was founded in July 1922 and is headquartered in Chicago, IL.

GMH Communities Trust provides real estate development services. It provides development, construction, renovation, and management services for its military housing privatization projects, and property management services for student housing properties. The company is headquartered in Newtown Square, PA.

Mason Street Advisors LLC (MSA) is a SEC-registered investment advisor headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The firm was founded in 2001 and is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. MSA provides professional portfolio management services for institutional investors by providing continuous investment advice and management based upon the individual needs and objectives of each client.

Part of Peoples Bancorp, Inc. (Ohio), Peoples Insurance Agency LLC is a company that provides personal and business insurance solutions. The company is based in Marietta, OH.

United Way of Palm Beach County, Inc. is a non profit organization that helps to improve the lives of individuals and families in Palm Beach County by uniting the resources of donors, volunteers, agencies and the community. The company was founded in 1928 and is headquartered in West Palm Beach, FL.

HH&A, Inc. is a local cooling service expert in the Naperville area. HH&A is based in Naperville, IL and has subsidiaries in the United States. The company specializes in spring AC tune-ups and heat pump installations. The company was founded in 2012 by Jeremy Hesselink, who has been the CEO since then.

Rush Street Capital LLC is a financial services company that specializes in capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, and special situations. The private company is based in Chicago, IL. The company provides debt and equity capital markets, mergers and acquisition, financial restructuring, and valuation services to private equity firms, private business owners, and some of the largest corporations in the country. The company has over 50 years of combined investment and commercial banking experience, which has given them significant industry expertise, deep relationships, and a keen understanding of how to address a company ’ s corporate finance and investment banking needs. Rush Street Capital provides their clients access to a robust and well-qualified market of equity, debt, and hybrid capital providers. The company navigates the capital markets for their clients, allowing them to focus on running their businesses, saving them valuable time and resources, and providing them financing options from which to choose.

Rush Street Ventures (Rush Street Ventures) is a private equity subsidiary of Rush Street Capital LLC founded in 2019 by Rick Lopez. The Firm is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

Spell Capital Partners LLC (Spell Capital Partners) is a private equity firm founded in 1988 by William Spell. The firm is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Exmarq Capital Partners, Inc. provides financial services. It focuses investments in the manufacturing, value-added distribution and business service industries. The company was founded by Ryan McKinney in 2011 and is headquartered in Minnetonka, MN.

Founded in 2001, Quantitative Services Group LLC (QSG) is a research firm located in Naperville, Illinois. The firm is a subsidiary of Markit Group Holdings Ltd. They seek to leverage the latest technology, construction techniques and specialty data to provide institutional investors a variety of global stock selection models focused on outperformance. QSG's Value Momentum Model provides a balanced approach to stock selection within the U.S. market. This model favors stocks with strong earnings quality, good valuation, strong balance sheets, positive momentum, and good earnings growth. The Value Momentum Model's approach is best for investors seeking broad exposure to a variety of proven stock selection methods and a core approach portfolio construction. The model is applied across all market-caps, investment styles and asset classes. The firm's Relative Value Model includes themes of price multiples, profitability, earnings expectations, intrinsic value and financial strength. This model is designed to avoid value traps, augment sector-relative and industry-relative viewpoints and provide a consistent source of value. QSG's Price Momentum Model provides a powerful, consistent 1- to 3-month investment signal. This model leverages put and call options and trading volume information to reduce the inherent risk-seeking nature of momentum-based strategies. The firm's GARP Model identifies growth stocks with strong value characteristics. The model consists of a proprietary combination of long-term earnings growth and relative value signals. It employs first-order partial correlation to create a blend of sustainable earnings growth and current cheapness. This model is best for strategies targeting stocks that demonstrate high long-term growth potential and the sustainability to realize that potential. QSG's Deep Value Model is a proven approach to selecting undervalued stocks across the broad US market. The Deep Value Model is designed to select future out performers over the next 9 to 12 months. The firm's Deep Value Model uses free-cash-flow, dividend yield and asset turnover to identify stocks that are currently trading at a deep discount to their intrinsic value. The Deep Value model provides discriminatory power for both long-only and long-short strategies and compliments more short term-oriented momentum and growth strategies. QSG's Earnings Momentum Model uses a proprietary search algorithm to combine analyst forecasts with the company's past earnings strength, along with several indicators of future earnings potential. The Earnings Momentum model has consistently outperformed in both pre- and post- Regulation FD environments. Utilizing a unique k-clustering factor selection technique, QSG's Historical Growth Model selects stocks with an above-average track-record of earnings growth, strong sales growth and high sustainable growth. This blended approach enables the model to identify traditional growth stocks, as well as value stocks on the verge of growth.

Citigroup Private Bank is the private banking subsidiary of Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) in the US. Headquartered in New York City, the firm serves worldly and wealthy individuals and their families with a customized private banking service that crosses borders. They also provide services to professional investors, family offices, and lawyers and law firms.

U.S. Bank NA (Cincinnati Ohio Investment Management) (USB-IM) is the investment management division of U.S. Bank NA, a commercial bank headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The firm is ultimately held by the US Bancorp (NYSE: USB). USB-IM provides tailored investment management services to individuals and institutional investors.

Junior Achievement of Chicago engages in the provision of educational services. Its programs are funded by businesses and individuals and are designed to be taught in the classroom by business, parent, and community volunteers. The company was founded in 1940 and is headquartered in Chicago, IL.

Rush-Copley Medical Center, Inc. provides healthcare services. Its services include emergency services, cancer care center, family birth, neuroscience, heart and vascular, joint reconstruction and replacement, cardiac care, women's services, and diagnostic imaging. The company was founded in 1886 and is headquartered in Aurora, IL.

Chicago Youth Centers provides educational, social, and personal care services. Its programs include learning centers, early childhood education, education support initiative, school-age child development, summer fun, and teen leadership development. The company was founded by Elliott Donnelley and Sidney Epstein in 1956 and is headquartered in Chicago, IL.