Howard Ma

Founded by Darren Caris in 2002, Caris & Co., Inc. is a broker/dealer headquartered in Del Mar, California. The firm is a subsidiary of B. Riley & Co. They offer research that is independent of their investment banking activities, as well as a full array of trading and execution services. Caris & Co.'s coverage includes large-, mid- and small-cap companies in the healthcare, technology, energy and consumer sectors. Their research is written for the longer-term investor with an investment horizon of at least 12 months. Caris & Co., Inc. is a member of the NASD and the SIPC.

B. Riley Securities, Inc. is a registered broker/dealer headquartered in Los Angeles, California. The firm is a subsidiary of B. Riley Securities Holdings LLC, ultimately owned by B. Riley Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ: RILY). The firm was formed in 2017, when B. Riley Financial, Inc. merged two of their brokers, B. Riley & Co. (founded in 1997) and FBR Capital Markets & Co. (founded in 1989), under the name of B. Riley FBR, Inc. B. Riley Securities provides research and trading ideas to institutional clients and high net-worth individuals. They provide investment banking services to a wide range of middle-market private and public companies.

Founded in 1992, Investors Capital Corp. is an independent SEC-registered broker/dealer headquartered in Lynnfield, Massachusetts. The firm is a subsidiary of Investors Capital Holdings Ltd. They provide a full array of trading and execution services for their clients. The firm does not provide any internal research. Investors Capital Corp. is a member FINRA, NASD and SIPC.

FM Partners Holdings LLC is a broker/dealer headquartered in New York City. The firm was formerly known as Lazard Capital Markets LLC.. They are a subsidiary of LFCM Holdings LLC.

Founded in 1989, FBR Capital Markets & Co., formerly Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co., is a broker/dealer headquartered in Arlington, Virginia with additional offices throughout the US. The firm is a subsidiary of FBR Capital Markets Holdings, Inc.. and their ultimate parent is FBR & Co. (NASDAQ: FBRC). In 2007, FBR Capital Markets Corp. was spun out from FBR Group as an independent investment bank, of which FBR Group retained majority ownership. FBR Capital Markets is registered with the SEC and is a member of FINRA, Nasdaq and the SIPC. FBR Capital Markets' Equity Sales & Trading Group provides institutional sales and trading services to over 1300 institutional accounts in the US, Canada, Europe, Australia and Asia. Their clients include mutual funds, hedge funds, money managers, endowments, foundations, banks, insurance companies and pension and profit sharing plans. They actively trade on behalf of clients and make markets in almost 1000 stocks traded on the NYSE, listed and OTC markets and trade more than $100 billion of securities on a per annum basis. In 2009, FBR Capital Markets began making markets in selected stocks traded on the London Stock Exchange and Euronext. In addition to agency trading in listed securities markets, they act as market-maker in Nasdaq and other OTC securities. They are one of the largest distributors of the shares of small- and mid-cap companies in public and private securities offerings and have deep trading expertise in the vertical industry groups in which the firm's investment banking and research teams specialize. These sectors include: (1) consumer (2) diversified industrials (3) energy and natural resources (4) financial institutions (5) healthcare (6) insurance (7) real estate (8) Washington policy analysis and (0) technology, media and telecommunications. The firm's analytical coverage includes a large number of small- and mid-cap companies in addition to large companies. Research is provided by FBR Capital Markets' research department, which is independent from the firm's investment banking department and has the sole authority to determine which companies receive research coverage and the recommendation contained in the coverage.

StepStone Group LP (StepStone) is a private equity firm founded in 2006 by Monte M. Brem, Tom Porter Keck and Jose A. Fernandez. The firm is headquartered in New York.

Jefferies LLC is a global investment bank and institutional securities firm headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1962 and is a subsidiary of Jefferies Group LLC, ultimately held by Jefferies Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: JEF). Jefferies provides corporate clients with research and execution services in equity, fixed income, and foreign exchange markets, as well as a full range of investment banking services such as underwriting, mergers and acquisitions, restructuring and recapitalization, and other advisory services, with all businesses operating in the Americas, Europe and Asia.