Rick Govern

Nicholas Co., Inc. is a privately-owned, SEC-registered investment advisor headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The firm was founded by Albert Nicholas in 1967 and they provide investment advice to individuals, institutions, trusts, estates and charitable organizations, corporations and other business entities, pensions and profit sharing plans, and investment companies.

Metavante Corp. provides account processing services. The firm offers outsourced account processing, electronic bill payment, online banking and mortgage services, customer relationship management and consulting services. It also provides solutions that drive customer relationship management, electronic banking, electronic funds transfer and card solutions, electronic presentment and payment, financial account processing, investment technology and retirement plan services. The company is headquartered in Milwaukee, WI.

Founded in 1997, Imperial Capital LLC is a full-service investment banking firm and broker/dealer headquartered in Los Angeles. The firm is a subsidiary of Imperial Capital Group LLC and their ultimate parent is Imperial Capital Group Holdings LLC. Imperial Capital offers a range of proprietary products and services to institutional investors, middle-market companies and private equity firms. The firm provides institutional clients research and sales and trading of high yield and distressed debt securities, bank debt, convertible bonds, preferred stocks, and equities. They also provide middle-market companies and financial sponsors with capital markets, M&A, capital structure, restructuring and recapitalization advisory services. For their institutional clients, Imperial Capital offers a variety of research products including bank debt, investment grade debt, high yield, distressed and special situations, convertibles and busted convertibles, equities, preferred securities and industry analysis. Imperial Capital's research focuses on the following sectors: aerospace, defense and government services; airlines/transportation; business services; clean energy; consumer; energy; financial services; gaming and leisure; general industrials; healthcare; homebuilding and real estate; media and telecommunications; security and homeland security; and technology.

Barclays Capital, Inc. is a registered broker/dealer headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1997 and is a subsidiary of Barclays Group US, Inc., ultimately owned by Barclays plc (LON: BARC) in Great Britain. Barclays Capital provides large corporate, government and institutional clients a full spectrum of prime brokerage services which includes equities and fixed income financing, OTC Clearing, Futures and Foreign Exchange Prime Brokerage and access to industry insights and analytics from their Strategic Consulting team.

Northland Securities, Inc. (NSI) is a dually registered, full-service broker dealer and investment advisor headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The firm was founded in 2002 and is owned by Northland Capital Holdings, Inc., which was acquired by First National of Nebraska, Inc. (OTCMKTS: FINN) in 2023. NSI is actively engaged in buying and selling securities for its own account as well as for clients.

Annex Advisory Services LLC, do-business-as Annex Wealth Management (Annex), is an independent, SEC-registered investment advisor headquartered in Elm Grove, Wisconsin. The firm was founded by David "Dave" Spano in 2003. Annex offers a wide range of advisory services to individual investors, high net worth individuals, pension and profit-sharing plans, charitable organizations, trusts, small businesses, partnerships, corporations, and other similar entities.

21st Century Equity Research is a research firm located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The firm provides independent, institutional-quality, sell-side equity research on unique, under-followed, small-cap publicly-traded companies

Founded by Len Zacks in 1978, Zacks Investment Research, Inc. is an SEC-registered broker/dealer and investment research firm headquartered in Chicago, Illinois with an office in Irvine, California. The firm is principally owned by The Greenwood Trust. Zacks makes both short-term and long-term investment recommendations using the following investment styles: aggressive growth, growth/income, momentum, value, technicals and options. Zack Investment Research employs the Zacks Rank, a 100% a peerless stock rating system that is based on a quantitative model that includes the use of four factors including as earnings estimate revisions and earnings surprises. Stocks are classified into five groups, ranging from 'Strong Buy' to 'Strong Sell.' Zacks Rank is completely mathematical and focuses only on the math and whether the math predicts that a stock's price will rise. It is a short-term indicator of stock performance that is effective for 1 to 3 months. The Zacks Recommendation process begins with a new quantitative model that employs the Zacks Rank. The firm then utilizes qualitative insights to develop a unique recommendation based on a 6 month time horizon. Zacks Investment Research provides coverage primarily on the following sectors: (1) manufacturers of electrical components (2) photo optics/lasers (3) HPC computing platforms (4) manufacturers and distributors of textiles (5) information technology (6) independent oil and gas companies involved in the exploration, development and acquisition of crude oil and natural gas (6) providers of docking, manipulator and wafer probing interface products for semiconductor and ATE manufacturers (7) companies that design and manufacture oscilloscopes, serial data analyzers and protocol analyzers to test, measure and analyze electronic signals (8) manufacturers of branded toys, collectibles, hobby or infant products and (9) financial services companies.

Part of State Street Corp., State Street Bank & Trust Co. of California, NA is a nationally chartered commercial bank providing trust services. The company is based in Los Angeles, CA.

B.C. Ziegler & Co. is a broker/dealer headquartered in Mequon, Wisconsin. The firm is a subsidiary of Ziegler Cos., Inc. The firm offers investment banking, investment advisory, retail brokerage, fixed-income institutional sales and trading and related financial services. These services are provided to institutions, businesses and individuals with a particular focus on the not-for-profit sectors of healthcare, senior living, churches and schools. They do not provide internal research. B.C. Ziegler & Co. is a member of FINRA and the SIPC.

Aroya Capital LP is a hedge fund manager located in New York City

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.

Ellington Income Opportunities Fund operates as non-diversified, closed-end management company. The Fund’s investment objective is to seek total return, including capital gains and current income. The company was founded on November 13, 2018 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, MN.