Ruben Roy

Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc. (Stifel) is a dual-registered broker-dealer and investment adviser headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1890, the firm is a subsidiary of Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE: SF), a financial service holding company. Stifel provides full-service brokerage and investment advisory services to individuals and their families, institutions and businesses, and financial advisors.

WestPark Capital, Inc. (Securities) (WPC-Broker) is the securities brokerage division of WestPark Capital, Inc., a full-service investment banking firm headquartered in Los Angeles, California. The firm was founded in 1999 and is principally owned by Westpark Capital Group LLC. WPC-Broker provides a full array of trading and execution services to serve the needs of both private and public companies worldwide, as well as individual and institutional investors.

Founded in 1988 by Richard Messina, the Benchmark Co. LLC is a full-service broker/dealer headquartered in New York City. The firm provides equity research, sales and trading services for institutional and private clients. They focus on the media, energy, enterprise software, infrastructure software, biotechnology, specialty pharmaceuticals, REITs, Internet and communications sectors. The Benchmark Co.'s clearing agent is JP Morgan Clearing Corp.

MKM Partners LLC (MKM) is a premier institutional equity trading, sales, and research firm headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut. The firm was founded by Thomas G. Messina in 2002. They were acquired in 2023 by ROTH Capital Partners LLC, a subsidiary of CR Financial Holdings LLC. MKM provides timely, insightful, and actionable proprietary research to hedge funds, mutual funds, family offices, endowments, corporates, private equity, pension plans, RIAs, etc. The firm combines high-impact fundamental analysis with macroeconomics, technical insights, derivatives strategies, event-driven commentary, alternative research, and first-rate execution. They take a client-centric approach to the trading desk and utilize both a top-down and bottom-up approach.

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.

Mizuho Securities USA LLC is the US-based securities broker/dealer and futures commission merchant arm of Mizuho Americas LLC, ultimately held by Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. (TYO: 8411, NYSE: MFG) in Japan. Headquartered in New York City, the firm was founded in 1994 and provides institutional and corporate clients access to commodity and financial markets around the world. Mizuho Securities USA covers the following industries: Consumer, Energy, Financial Institutions, Financial Sponsors, Healthcare, Industrial & Diversified Industries, Power, Utilities & Infrastructure, Real Estate, and Technology, Media & Telecom (TMT). The firm and their affiliates hold memberships on all major futures and options exchanges worldwide.

Founded in 1990, Pacific Crest Securities LLC is an independent investment bank and SEC-registered broker/dealer headquartered in Portland, Oregon. The firm is a subsidiary of KeyCorp. (NYSE: KEY). Pacific Crest Securities participates in the following types of business: (1) making inter-dealer markets in corporate securities over-the-counter (2) retailing corporate equity securities over-the-counter (3) underwriting and selling group participant securities (4) retailing mutual funds (5) dealing in U.S. government securities (6) trading securities for their own account and (7) private placements of securities. The firm does not engage in transactions involving commodities, commodity futures or commodity options. Their investment banking activities include providing advisory services related to M&A transactions. Pacific Crest Securities focuses exclusively on the technology sector. They seek to identify emerging trends and provide insight and solutions to institutional investors, venture capitalists and technology companies in North America and Europe. Pacific Crest Securities provides equity research, institutional sales and trading, merger and acquisition advisory services, public company financings, private company financings and corporate services. Within the technology sector, Pacific Crest Securities targets a variety of industries including: (1) government policy regulation (2) clean technology (3) Internet and digital media (4) software and systems (5) communications technologies and (6) semiconductor technologies.

Founded in 1998, Thomas Weisel Partners (TWP) is a broker/dealer headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York City, Boston, Denver, Colorado and Palo Alto, California. The firm is a subsidiary of Thomas Weisel Partners Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: TWPG), a San Francisco-based investment banking firm. Their ultimate parent is Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE: SF). TWP's investment banking, brokerage and equity research divisions serve emerging growth companies and institutional investors around the world. They are a member of the NYSE, the SIPC and FINRA. TWP specializes in the growth sectors of the economy with a particular focus on the consumer, energy, healthcare, Internet, media/telecommunications, metals/mining and technology sectors. Within the consumer sector, the firm focuses on: financial products, gaming/lodging, interactive market services, lifestyles/sports retailers, restaurants and hardlines and softlines retailing. TWP's global energy research is provided by analysts in three countries and covers the following trends: (1) fast-growing oil and natural gas producers in North America and worldwide (2) domestic and international energy service companies and (3) alternative energy technology and resource developers. Within the healthcare sector, TWP focuses on: biotechnology, diagnostics, healthcare information technology, pharmaceutical services, life science technology, medical devices and specialty pharmaceuticals. The firm's interest in the Internet, media and telecommunications sector include: Internet services, media, broadcasting and telecommunications services. Their focus within the metals and mining sector include: base metals, gold, precious metals and uranium. TWP's technology research focuses on: (1) applied technologies (2) communications components (3) core and wireless communications equipment (4) IP networking communications equipment (5) electronic supply chain (6) enterprise hardware (7) information and financial technology services (8) semiconductor capital equipment (9) broadline and specialty semiconductors (10) applications and communications software and (11) infrastructure software. TWP also provides value-added equities analysis across a variety of sectors including: industrials, financials, consumer, technology and healthcare.