Michael W. Phillips

United Fire & Casualty Co. engages in the business of writing property and casualty insurance and life insurance and selling annuities through a network of independent agencies. The company operates through following business segments: Property and Casualty Insurance, and Life Insurance. The Property and Casualty Insurance segment includes commercial lines insurance, including surety bonds, personal lines insurance and assumed insurance. The Life Insurance segment is comprised of deferred and immediate annuities, universal life insurance products and traditional life insurance products. The company was founded in 1946 and is headquartered in Cedar Rapids, IA.

Paradigm Capital Management, Inc. (Paradigm) is a SEC-registered investment advisor and wealth management firm headquartered in Albany, New York. The firm was founded by Candace Weir in 1994 and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Paradigm Capital Holdings, Inc. Paradigm offers investment advisory services primarily to corporations, pension and profit-sharing plans, foundations, individuals, investment funds, trusts and individuals (which include high net-worth individuals), other separate accounts, and pooled investment vehicles such as private investment limited partnerships.

Cowen & Co. LLC is a SEC-registered broker/dealer headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 2004 and is a subsidiary of Cowen Holdings, Inc., ultimately owned by The Toronto-Dominion Bank (TSE: TD) in Canada. Cowen & Co. offers industry-focused investment banking for growth-oriented companies, domain knowledge-driven research and a sales and trading platform for institutional investors. Their institutional sales and trading business serves both equity and fixed-income clients. Sales and trading execution platform is structured around the following key verticals: (1) healthcare (2) technology, telecommunications and media (TMT) (3) REITs and financials (4) aerospace and defense (5) consumer and (6) alternative energy.

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.

Deutsche Bank Securities, Inc. (DBSI) is a SEC-registered broker/dealer headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1971 and is a wholly-owned investment banking and brokerage arm of DB U.S. Financial Markets Holding Corp., ultimately held by Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE: DB, FRA: DBK) in Germany. DBSI provides securities brokerage and investment advisory services to domestic and international private clients and institutions. They are also a primary dealer in US government securities as designated by the Federal Reserve.

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc. (KBW) is a full-service investment bank and broker/dealer headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1962 and is a subsidiary of Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE: SF). KBW offers sales and trading in equities securities of financial services companies.

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.

JPMorgan Securities LLC (JPMS) is a securities brokerage firm headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1985 and is a subsidiary of JPMorgan Broker-Dealer Holdings, Inc., ultimately held by JPMorgan Chase & Co., Inc. (NYSE: JPM). JPMS provides research on fixed income, credit, derivatives, emerging markets, foreign exchange, structured finance, technical analysis and bond indices. Their equity analysts cover equities throughout North America, EMEA, Asia/Pacific and the emerging markets. The firm's fixed income team formulates trading and portfolio recommendations for investors in global bonds and other fixed-income markets based on valuations, analytics and market dynamics.

Founded in 1999 by the late Thomas Watson, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC (JMS) is a full-service financial services firm and registered broker/dealer headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The firm is a subsidiary of Independence Square Properties LLC, itself a subsidiary of Penn Mutual Insurance Co. Their ultimate parent is Harleysville Mutual Insurance Co. JMS is a member of the NYSE, the SIPC and FINRA. The firm provides comprehensive financial advice and services to individual, corporate and institutional investors. Their primary coverage verticals include the consumer, technology, financials and infrastructure sectors.

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

Harvard University engages in the provision of teaching and research. It has twelve degree-granting Schools in addition to the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, offering a global education. The university was founded in 1636 and is headquartered in Cambridge, MA.

Northwestern University is a private institution founded in 1851 to serve the Northwest Territory, an area that now includes the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and parts of Minnesota. Northwestern has three campuses

Duke University is an academic university that offers undergraduate, graduate and professional programs. It also has publications and research services. The university was founded in 1838 and is headquartered in Durham, NC.

National Council on Compensation Insurance, Inc. provides risk management consulting services. It provides the workers compensation industry with such information and services as claims management, data reporting and underwriting tools, market evaluation, cost trend analysis and monitoring workers compensation, and employee injury legislation and regulations. The organization was founded in 1923 and is headquartered in Boca Raton, FL

Guggenheim Securities LLC is a SEC-registered broker-dealer headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1999 and is a subsidiary of Links Holdings LLC, ultimately held by Guggenheim Partners LLC. Guggenheim Securities’ specializations include the sales and trading of fixed-income securities and sophisticated structured products. The firm offers in-depth analysis and expert execution of trading opportunities to large institutional investors and asset originators. They offer sales and trading services relating to a wide range of instruments.

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.

Wolfe Research LLC is a FINRA-registered sell-side research firm headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded by Edward Wolfe in 2008 and is a subsidiary of Wolfe Holdco LLC. Wolfe Research provides bespoke research of various stocks in every major GIC sector for institutional clients. The firm has established a reputation for macro research underpinning coverage in Industrials, Utilities/Energy, Consumer/Retail, Financials/REITS, Healthcare and TMT.

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC (GS&Co.) is a securities brokerage firm headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1927, the firm is a subsidiary of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS). GS&Co. provides services to help hedge funds manage risk, monitor portfolios, maintain liquidity and build their businesses. They offer clients access to global equity and derivatives markets, as well as foreign exchange, commodities, European Lefts, rates and credit across the Americas, Europe and Asia. The firm proactively monitors capital markets, searching for pockets of liquidity and news that may require changes to those strategies. Integration with the Goldman Sachs network gives clients access to the firm's sectored block trades and their insights into price discovery. Their electronic trading program provides clients with tools to manage their trades from pre-trade analytics to post-trade analysis.

Mercy Medical Center (Iowa) operates as a not-for-profit Catholic health care provider. It offers cancer treatment, alcohol substance abuse treatment, endoscopy, general surgery, and heart center and services. The company was founded in 1893 and is headquartered in Des Moines, IA.

ROTH Capital Partners LLC is a broker/dealer headquartered in Newport Beach, California. The firm was founded in 2001 and is a subsidiary of CR Financial Holdings, Inc. They offer institutional sales and trading services. Their broad institutional coverage includes investors in North America, Canada, UK, Europe and other international territories.

Redwood Bioscience Inc. develops precision protein-chemical engineering technology to produce the next-generation of antibody-drug conjugates and other semi-synthetic biotherapeutics. It employs natural post translational modifications found in human cells to site specifically create one or more aldehyde tags on protein molecules, including monoclonal antibodies. The firm's platform is enabled with precision chemistries, payload positioning and defined stoichiometry of payload protein ratios. The company was founded by Carolyn R. Bertozzi, Mike Blank and David Rabuka in 2008 and is headquartered in Emeryville, CA.

H. C. Wainwright & Co. LLC (H. C. Wainwright) is a full-service broker/dealer headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1868 and is a subsidiary of HCWHC, Inc. H. C. Wainwright delivers industry insights and real-time execution to both public and private small and middle-sized global emerging market companies. With a focus on identifying buyers and sellers in illiquid and difficult to trade equities, the firm specializes in block trading and providing liquidity in these securities with as little market impact as possible.

Honeycomb Asset Management LP (Honeycomb) is an independent registered investment advisor and hedge fund manager headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded by David Fiszel in 2016. Honeycomb provides discretionary investment advisory services to clients that consist of Funds and their associated co-investment vehicles offered to investors on a private placement basis.

LSV Advisors LLC is an investment advisory company that provides investment advisory services. The private company is based in New York, NY and has subsidiaries in the United States. The company was founded in 2005 by David Tisch, who has been the CEO since 2005.

Employers Group, Inc. provides insurance services. The firm offers claims management, fraud prevention, loss control, managed care services, return to work program, safety promotion programs, worker's compensation insurance, and loss run report. The company is headquartered in Reno, NV.