Heather Broffman

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.

Citigroup Global Markets, Inc. (Broker) (CGMI-Broker) is the broker/dealer division of Citigroup Global Markets, Inc., an investment bank headquartered in New York City with additional offices across the US. The firm was founded in 2004 and is a subsidiary of Citigroup Financial Products, Inc., ultimately held by Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C). CGMI-Broker covers all market capitalizations of the major global indices and provides macro and quantitative analysis of global markets and sector trends. Their core focus of the group is to help investing clients make informed decisions by providing value-added, independent, insightful analysis.

Piper Sandler & Co. (Broker) (PSC-Broker) is the full-service brokerage division of Piper Sandler & Co., a financial service firm headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They are a subsidiary of Piper Sandler Companies (NYSE: PIPR). The firm was founded in 1969 and previously known as Piper Jaffray & Co. They became Piper Sandler & Co. when Piper Jaffray Companies and Sandler O’Neill & Partners, L.P. merged to become Piper Sandler Companies in 2020. PSC-Broker provides brokerage and investment banking services to financial institutions, corporations and other financial investors. Their core focus sectors are Agriculture, renewables & cannabis, Business services, Chemicals & Materials, Consumer, Diversified industrials & services, Energy, Financial services, financial sponsors, Healthcare, and Technology.

Instinet LLC is a SEC-registered broker-dealer headquartered in New York City. The firm is the equities execution services arm of the Nomura Group. The firm was founded in 1969 and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Instinet Holdings, Inc., which is ultimately owned by Nomura Holdings, Inc. (TYO: 8604) in Japan. Instinet offers the institutional investment community a suite of tailorable solutions, which includes market insights and commentary, full-service trading desks, advanced algorithmic trading strategies, access to unique and specialized liquidity via their array of crossing pools, and a set of workflow solutions.

Mizuho Securities USA LLC is the US-based securities broker/dealer and futures commission merchant arm of Mizuho Americas LLC, ultimately held by Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. (TYO: 8411, NYSE: MFG) in Japan. Headquartered in New York City, the firm was founded in 1994 and provides institutional and corporate clients access to commodity and financial markets around the world. Mizuho Securities USA covers the following industries: Consumer, Energy, Financial Institutions, Financial Sponsors, Healthcare, Industrial & Diversified Industries, Power, Utilities & Infrastructure, Real Estate, and Technology, Media & Telecom (TMT). The firm and their affiliates hold memberships on all major futures and options exchanges worldwide.

State Farm Insurance Cos. provides personal property and casualty insurance services. It also offers auto insurance quotes, auto, home, life and health policies. The firm also provides commercial auto insurance coverage for renters, business owners, boats and motorcycles. The company was founded by George Jacob Mecherle in 1922 and is headquartered in Bloomington, IL.

Strategas Securities LLC is a registered institutional brokerage firm headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 2008 by Jason DeSena Trennert, Nicholas Bohnsack, and Don Rissmiller. They are owned by Strategas Research Partners LLC. Strategas Securities provides macro research, corporate advisory and capital markets services to institutional managers and corporate executives in more than 20 countries across the globe.

Ellington Management Group LLC (Ellington) is a SEC-registered investment advisor and hedge fund manager headquartered in Old Greenwich, Connecticut. The firm was founded in 1994 and is primarily owned by Michael Vranos indirectly through his ownership interest in Ellington’s majority owner, EMG Holdings LP. Ellington provides investment advice to pooled investment vehicles and institutional managed accounts.

Nomura Securities International, Inc. (NSI) is a registered broker/dealer headquartered in New York City and was founded in 1969. The firm is a division of Nomura Holding America, Inc. and their ultimate parent is Nomura Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: NMR, TYO: 8604, AMS: 8604). NSI provides securities brokerage services, as well as asset management, domestic retail, global markets, global investment banking and global merchant banking services. The firm's fixed-income business consists of bond sales and trading, origination and product supply for securitization deals and real estate-focused asset finance operations (in cooperation with Investment Banking). In the equity markets, NSI offers sales and trading of domestic and foreign stocks on a global basis, primarily for institutional investors.

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

Founded in 1898, Northeastern University is a private research university located in the heart of Boston. Northeastern teaches worldwide experiential learning, urban engagement, and interdisciplinary research that meets global and societal needs. The University offers a range of undergraduate and graduate programs leading to degrees through the doctorate in nine colleges and schools.

BMO Capital Markets Corp. (Broker) is the broker/dealer division of BMO Capital Markets Corp., a full-service North American financial services provider headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1998 and is a subsidiary of BMO Financial Corp., which is owned by Bank of Montreal (NYSE, TSX: BMO) in Canada. BMO Capital Markets offers corporate, institutional and government clients access to a variety of products and services including equity and debt underwriting, corporate lending and project financing, merger and acquisitions advisory services, merchant banking, securitization, treasury and market risk management, debt and equity research and institutional sales and trading.

BTG Pactual (United States) is a broker/dealer located in New York City. The firm is a subsidiary of BTG Pactual SA, the largest independent investment bank in Latin America. BTG Pactual began their equity brokerage business in 2003. The firm provides sales and trading services across a variety of asset classes in both local and international markets. Their services include customized execution, DMA algorithms and a dedicated execution platform for equities and ETD products. The firm also offers an electronic trading platform that provides clients with both a tool for their BM&F Bovespa trades and the ability to customize and enhance trade execution. BTG Pactual offers a range of products, securities transactions and services through their Sales & Trading teams in fixed-income, currencies and commodities (FICC) and through their equities teams in Brazil, Latin America and international markets. The firm's Sales & Trading teams also provide high quality execution across the various market segments, as well as products including equities cash and derivatives, FX and interest rate derivatives, swap products, money markets and credit trading (sovereign and corporate debt). BTG Pactual's Sales & Trading teams work closely with the firm's product specialists to offer structured and tailored products in Brazilian FX, FI and credit markets.

BTG Pactual Chile SA Corredores de Bolsa (BTG Pactual Chile) is the Chile-based broker/dealer subsidiary of BTG Pactual Chile SA, ultimately held by Banco BTG Pactual SA (BVMF: BPAC11) in Brazil. The firm was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Santiago. BTG Pactual Chile offers trading services to institutional, corporate and high net worth clients.

CLSA Americas LLC is a FINRA registered broker-dealer headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 2012 and is a wholly owned subsidiary of CLSA Americas Holdings, Inc., which is ultimately owned by CITIC Securities Co., Ltd. (SHA: 600030) in China. CLSA Americas offers a full suite of execution services throughout North America and Latin America.

Founded in 2010 by Jeffrey Sprague, Michael Heffernan and Nicole Parent, Vertical Research Partners LLC is an independent equity research firm located in Stamford, Connecticut. The firm provides proprietary research and analysis that focuses on the industrial sector.

Masdar (Masdar) is a private equity subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Future Energy PJSC founded in 2006. The firm is headquartered in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

IFC Venture Capital (IFC Venture) is a venture capital firm, subsidiary of International Finance Corp, founded in 2010 and headquartered in Washington, District of Columbia.

Citigroup Global Markets Ltd. (Investment Management) (CGML-IM) is the investment management division of UK-based Citigroup Global Markets Ltd., ultimately held by Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) in the US. The firm was founded in 1983 as Stockrobe Ltd. Headquartered in London, CGML-IM provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial services and products.

Eldridge Industries LLC (Eldridge Industries) is a venture capital/private equity firm founded in 2015 by Duncan Bagshaw, Todd L. Boehly and Tony Minella. The firm is headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Evercore Group LLC is a SEC-registered broker/dealer headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1995 and is a subsidiary of Evercore BD Investco LLC, which is owned by Evercore, Inc. (NYSE: EVR). Evercore Group delivers equity research and equity sales and agency trading execution, in addition to providing wealth and investment management services to high net worth and institutional investors.

State Farm Guaranty Insurance Co. provides insurance services. The company is headquartered in Bloomington, IL.

Commodity Futures Trading Commission engages in protecting market users and the public from fraud, manipulation related to the sale of commodity and financial futures, and options market. The company was founded in 1974 and is headquartered in Washington, DC.