Paul Dircks

William Blair & Co. LLC (William Blair) is a SEC-registered broker/dealer firm headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The firm was founded by William McCormick Blair in 1935 and is a subsidiary of WBC Holdings LP. Until 1941, they were known as Blair, Bonner & Co. William Blair provides broking services to individual, institutional and issuing clients.

Founded in 1964, Sterne, Agee & Leach, Inc. is a full service investment firm and registered broker/dealer headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. The firm's expertise includes retail and institutional brokerage services, investment banking and underwriting, secondary trading of corporate, municipal, and government securities and market making in over-the-counter stocks. The firm is a member of the NYSE and FINRA.

Founded in 2009, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC (MSSB) is a registered investment adviser, a registered broker-dealer, a registered futures commission merchant, and a member of the New York Stock Exchange. Headquartered in Purchase, New York, MSSB is one of the largest financial services firms in the US with branch offices in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The firm was initially owned by a joint venture company which was indirectly owned 65% by Morgan Stanley and 35% by Citigroup, Inc. On June 28, 2013, Morgan Stanley purchased Citi’s 35% interest in MSSB. As such, the firm is now a direct subsidiary of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney Holdings LLC and they are a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS).