Harry G. Katica

Cowen & Co. LLC is a SEC-registered broker/dealer headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 2004 and is a subsidiary of Cowen Holdings, Inc., ultimately owned by The Toronto-Dominion Bank (TSE: TD) in Canada. Cowen & Co. offers industry-focused investment banking for growth-oriented companies, domain knowledge-driven research and a sales and trading platform for institutional investors. Their institutional sales and trading business serves both equity and fixed-income clients. Sales and trading execution platform is structured around the following key verticals: (1) healthcare (2) technology, telecommunications and media (TMT) (3) REITs and financials (4) aerospace and defense (5) consumer and (6) alternative energy.

Wedbush Securities, Inc. is a full-service investment bank and brokerage firm headquartered in Los Angeles, California. The firm was founded in 1955 as Wedbush Morgan Securities, Inc. They are a subsidiary of Wedbush Financial Services LLC, which is owned by Wedbush, Inc. Wedbush Securities provides a wide range of securities brokerage, wealth management, and investment banking services to private and institutional clients. Their research focuses on providing coverage of small and mid-sized companies in the following industries: (1) consumer products and services (2) technology (3) entertainment and media (4) life sciences and (5) industrial growth and clean technology.

Founded in 2001, American Capital Partners LLC (ACP) is a broker/dealer located in Hauppauge, New York. The firm has affiliated offices in New York City, Baldwin, New York, East Meadow, New York, Fairfield, Connecticut, Farmingdale, New York, Huntington, New York, Medford, New York and Scottsdale, Arizona. ACP serves the needs of experienced investors and traders who are willing and able to incur higher degrees of risk. They generally recommend securities listed on the NYSE and NASDAQ but they may also recommend other investments such as mutual funds and short sale and/or options strategies. ACP provides independent research. They are generalists that are opportunistic and employ a long/short investment philosophy. On the long side, ACP utilizes bottom-up, fundamental research to identify undervalued and under-followed companies without regard for market-cap or sector. In general, the firm does not invest in biotechnology or biopharmaceuticals. When recommending a long position, ACP looks for companies with low p/e, low price/cash flow, low price/book value and strong balance sheets, which generate cash and are profitable or will generate profit in the near term. On the short side, they position portfolios in order to hedge against economic or market downturns. In this instance, ACP looks for companies with high p/e or cash flow multiples, deteriorating business model or franchise value, poor or weakening cash flow and earnings and/or a change that undermines the business model.

Dorado Network Systems Corp. provides enterprise lending automation solutions. It is a provider of software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions and platform-as-a-service (PaaS) architecture to the financial services industry. The firm offers banks an automated cloud computing-based system for managing and tracking the consumer lending process from point-of-sale through funding. The company was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in San Mateo, CA.

Founded in 2009, ABN AMRO Securities (USA) LLC is an SEC-registered broker/dealer located in New York City. The firm is a subsidiary of ABN AMRO Holding USA LLC and their ultimate parent in Netherlands-based ABN AMRO Group NV. ABN AMRO Securities (USA) LLC is a member of FINRA.

Southern Methodist University is a private university near the center of Dallas, SMU offers undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs through seven schools in the humanities and sciences, business, the performing, visual, and communication arts, engineering, education and human development, law, and theology.

Needham & Co. LLC (Needham) is a registered investment advisor and broker/dealer headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1985 and is a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of The Needham Group, Inc. Needham provides corporate and institutional clients with high quality research, corporate access, capital markets and trading execution services in both the public and private markets, with an emphasis on growth companies.

Founded in 1999 by the late Thomas Watson, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC (JMS) is a full-service financial services firm and registered broker/dealer headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The firm is a subsidiary of Independence Square Properties LLC, itself a subsidiary of Penn Mutual Insurance Co. Their ultimate parent is Harleysville Mutual Insurance Co. JMS is a member of the NYSE, the SIPC and FINRA. The firm provides comprehensive financial advice and services to individual, corporate and institutional investors. Their primary coverage verticals include the consumer, technology, financials and infrastructure sectors.

Morgan Keegan & Co. LLC is a broker/dealer headquartered in St. Petersburg, Florida. The firm was founded in 1969 and is a subsidiary of Raymond James Financial, Inc. (NYSE: RJF). Morgan Keegan & Co. provides securities brokerage services to various types of clients.

Founded in 1962, Raymond James Financial, Inc. (NYSE: RJF) is a diversified holding company headquartered in St. Petersburg, Florida. The firm provides services to individuals, corporations and municipalities through their wholly-owned subsidiaries: Raymond James & Associates, Raymond James Financial Services and Raymond James Ltd. Raymond James operates through eight segments: Private Client Group (PCG); Capital Markets; Asset Management; Raymond James Bank (RJ Bank); Emerging Markets; Securities Lending; Proprietary Capital; and Other. The Private Client Group segment provides securities transaction and financial planning services to client accounts through the branch office systems of the company's subsidiaries. The Capital Markets segment's activities consist primarily of equity and fixed income products and services. The Asset Management segment provides asset management services for individual investment portfolios and mutual funds. The RJ Bank segment provides corporate, residential and consumer loans, as well as Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. insured deposit accounts, to clients of the company's broker-dealer subsidiaries and to the general public. The Emerging Markets segment operates securities brokerage, investment banking, asset management and equity research businesses. The Securities Lending segment conducts its business through the borrowing and lending of securities from and to other broker-dealers, financial institutions and other counterparties. The Proprietary Capital segment consists of the company's principal capital and private equity activities, including various direct and third-party private equity and merchant banking investments. Raymond James' capital markets reach within the financial institutions segment focuses on community and regional banks and thrifts including equity research, sales, trading and investment banking resources and services. Raymond James is one of the largest research organizations in the brokerage industry and serves institutional investors domestically and abroad. The firm's capital markets activities are based on insightful, timely and comprehensive equity research. They publish research on over 1,000 companies in their core industries. Raymond James seeks attractive niches within broader industries and then covers these sectors deeply to develop differentiated sector expertise and relationships. Although their focus is mid- and small-cap companies, their coverage includes large, medium and small companies across each sector. Raymond James' Institutional Trading division is organized into 3 specialty departments: Sales Trading, Principal trading and Agency Trading. Their Sales Trading division covers over 800 domestic and 1,300 international financial institutions throughout North America and Europe. The firm's Principal Trading division consists of industry-focused teams and their OTC Principal Trading department makes markets in over 680 domestic stocks, 85% of which are covered by Raymond James Institutional Research department. Their Agency Trading department services the trading needs of over 5,500 financial advisors located in 2,500 retail offices across the US.

University of Miami (Florida) is a private research university with students from around the world that is focused on teaching and learning, the discovery of new knowledge, and service to the South Florida region and beyond. The university was founded in 1925 and it is headquartered in Coral Gables, FL.

Cornell University is an educational institution that offers undergraduate and post graduate programs. It was founded in 1865 and is based in Ithaca, NY.

FIAM LLC (do-business-as Fidelity Institutional Asset Management) is a SEC-registered investment advisor headquartered in Smithfield, Rhode Island. The firm was founded in 2006 and formerly known as Pyramis Global Advisors LLC. They are wholly-owned by FIAM Holdings LLC, which in turn is owned by FMR LLC, aka Fidelity Investments. FIAM provides discretionary investment management services to institutional accounts. The firm also sub-advices funds or accounts for affiliated advisers and unaffiliated advisers.

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.

Oppenheimer & Co., Inc. (Broker) (Oppenheimer-Broker) is the global full-service brokerage division of Oppenheimer & Co., Inc., an investment boutique headquartered in New York City with additional offices nationwide. Founded in 1975, the firm is owned directly by Viner Finance Inc., an indirect subsidiary of Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. (NYSE: OPY). Oppenheimer-Broker offers a full array of brokerage services to retail, institutional, and corporate clients.

State Farm Bank, FSB provides banking services. provides insurance, checking and savings, credit cards, loans, estate planning, and small business finances. The company was founded by G.J. Mecherle in 1922 and is headquartered in Bloomington, IL.

Florida Bankers Association operates as a non-profit organization which promotes the banking industry in the state. It offers capitol insights, leadership events and report, webinars, and event budget planning tool. The company was founded in 1888 and is headquartered in Tallahassee, FL.

Sam Houston Area Council provides scouting programs for boys and young adults. It prepares young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetime by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law. The company is headquartered in Houston, TX.

Founded in 1974, LaSalle Street Securities LLC is a privately owned broker/dealer headquartered in Elmhurst, Illinois. The firm's product line includes access to individual securities, options, wrap programs, syndicate offerings/IPOs, mutual funds and insurance. LaSalle Street Securities clears through National Financial Services LLC. The firm provides a full array of trading and execution services for their clients. They do not provide any internal research. LaSalle Street Securities is a member of FINRA, the NASD and the SIPC. They are affiliated with Tilden Loucks & Woodnorth LLC and LaSalle Street Investment Advisors LLC.

The Illinois State Board of Investment (ISBI) is a pension fund manager headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. They manage the defined benefit assets of the State Employees’ Retirement System, the General Assembly Retirement System, the Judges’ Retirement System of Illinois, the Illinois Power Agency, as well as the State of Illinois Deferred Compensation Plan.