Nancy E. Price

Cushing Asset Management LP is a SEC-registered investment advisor headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The firm was founded by Jerry Swank in 2003 and they are a wholly-owned subsidiary of Swank Capital LLC. Cushing Asset Management provides investment management services on a discretionary basis to high net-worth individuals and institutional investors through Private Funds, Mutual Funds, ETFs, Closed-End Funds and Managed Accounts. They also offer discretionary investment management services as part of various wrap fee programs offered by investment advisers/broker-dealers.

Carlson Capital LP is an independent, SEC-registered investment advisor and alternative asset management firm headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The firm was founded by Clinton Carlson in 1993. Carlson Capital provides discretionary investment advisory services to privately-offered pooled investment vehicles and certain managed accounts.

Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Banc of America Securities (BAS) is the investment banking subsidiary of Bank of America Corp (NYSE: BAC). The firm provides both the domestic and international equity and investment banking markets, and pursues a strategy pioneered by Citigroup that combines corporate lending with investment banking advice and services. They provide high-yield debt underwriting and leveraged finance, in addition to industry coverage groups such as healthcare, media and telecom, financial institutions, real estate and gaming. BAS also does a significant amount of work for Financial Sponsors, or private equity firms, often financing leveraged transactions. Following the strategy of Goldman Sachs, the firm lacks a standalone mergers and acquisitions department, instead employing mergers and acquisitions senior bankers throughout the industry coverage groups. The firm is registered as a broker/dealer with the SEC, is a member of the NYSE, and the NASD. The use of Banc in the BAS's name is indicative of the fact that the company is not a bank, and their deposits and other holdings are not insured by the FDIC.

Founded in 1999 by Malcolm Fairbairn, Ascend Capital LLC is a registered investment advisor and hedge fund manager located in Orinda, California. The firm generally provides investment advice to private investment funds and institutional separate accounts. Investors in the funds include: pension and profit sharing plans; trusts, estates and charitable organizations; funds-of hedge-funds (whether organized as partnerships, corporations or other entity types); and high net-worth individuals and family offices.

Westwood Management Corp. (Westwood) is a SEC-registered investment advisor headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The firm was founded by Susan Byrne in 1983 and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Westwood Holdings Group, Inc. (NYSE: WHG). Westwood provides portfolio management services to individuals, investment companies, pension and profit-sharing plans, trusts, estates, charitable organizations, corporations, state and municipal government entities, and pooled investment vehicles.