Jodi M. Stern

Womble Bond Dickinson (US) LLP provides legal services. The firm provides services to the manufacturing, transportation and energy, financial services, insurance, health care, education, and technology industries. The company was founded in 1876 and is headquartered in Winston-Salem, NC.

In 1915 Charles Edward Merrill founded Merrill Lynch & Co. (NYSE: MER) with Edmund C. Lynch in Baltimore, Maryland. The modern Merrill Lynch was formed in 1940 through mergers with E.A. Pierce & Cassatt and, soon after, Fenner & Beane. In 1973, Merrill Lynch adopted a holding company format, with Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. as the parent and Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith as the operating subsidiary. Merrill Lynch Asset Management, Inc. (MLAM) was created as an integral business unit in the Merrill Lynch family in 1976. Fund Asset Management, doing business as Mercury Asset Management, was acquired in December 1997. In 2000, MLAM and Mercury were combined under the name Merrill Lynch Investment Managers. MLAM manages the Merrill Lynch family of mutual funds, as and acts as sub-advisor to other mutual funds.

Sterling Capital Management LLC (Sterling) is a SEC-registered investment advisor headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. The firm was founded by George de Garmo in 1970 and is an independently operated subsidiary of Truist Financial Corp. (NYSE: TFC). Sterling provides investment management services to a diverse group of clients ranging from retail to corporations and non-profits.