Brian Edward Franc

General Electric Capital Corp. provides financial products and services. Its services include commercial loans and leases, fleet management, financial programs, credit cards, personal loans, and other financial services. The firm’s solutions include energy finance and aviation finance. The company was founded in 1943 and is headquartered in Norwalk, CT.

Heller Financial, Inc. provided mercantile financing. It was acquired by GE Capital Corp. The company was located in Chicago, IL

Transamerica Corp. provides financial planning and insurance services. It offers life insurance, long term care, dental insurance, medicare solutions, commercial lending, retirement planning, leasing, annuities, and real estate services. The company was founded by Amadeo P. Giannini in 1904 and is headquartered in Cedar Rapids, IA.

Columbia Wanger Asset Management LLC (CWAM) is a SEC-registered investment advisor headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The firm is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Columbia Management Investment Advisers LLC, ultimately held by Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE: AMP). CWAM serves as the investment advisor to a variety of open-end mutual funds that are series or portfolios of Columbia Acorn Trust and Wanger Advisors Trust, two registered investment companies sponsored by the firm and other institutional accounts.

Merrill Lynch Capital Corp. provides various financing services. The company is headquartered in New York, NY.

Jackson Capital Management LLC (JCM) is an independent hedge fund manager headquartered in Evergreen Park, Illinois. The firm was founded by Paul J. Duggan in 1993 as Jackson Boulevard Capital Management Ltd. JCM provides investment advice to high-net worth individuals.

KeyBanc Capital Markets, Inc. is a registered investment bank and broker/dealer headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio. The firm was founded in 1983 and is a subsidiary of KeyCorp. (NYSE: KEY). KeyBanc Capital Markets provides investment banking, commercial lending, treasury management, derivatives, foreign exchange, equity and debt underwriting and trading and syndicated finance products and services to large corporations and middle-market companies.

Pekin Hardy Strauss, Inc. (Pekin Hardy) is an independent, SEC-registered investment adviser headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The firm was founded by Rick Singer in 1990 as Pekin Singer Strauss Asset Management, Inc. Pekin Hardy serves as the investment manager to the Appleseed Fund, a mutual fund registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, and provides investment management services to separately managed accounts, retirement plans, and other client accounts.

P&M Corporate Finance LLC is a middle market investment bank that provides merger and acquisition advisory services to private, public, and private equity owned companies worldwide. The private company is based in Southfield, MI. The company has dedicated professionals focused on various industries such as plastics & packaging, business & technology services, industrials, healthcare, and consumer & retail industries. The company has offices in multiple locations, including internationally through its CFI partner firms. P&M Corporate Finance is also an affiliate of Plante Moran, one of the nation's largest professional services firms. The company's services include sale advisory, acquisition advisory, capital raising, transaction planning, and strategic advisory.

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.

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.

Hammond Kennedy Whitney & Co., Inc. (HKW) is an independent private equity firm founded in 1903. The firm is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Moody's Investors Service, Inc. is a credit rating and investment research firm headquartered in New York City. They are a subsidiary of Moody's Corp. (NYSE: MCO). The firm performs international financial research and analysis on commercial and government entities and provides a variety of analytic tools for assessing credit risk. Their clients include creditors, investment banks and commercial banks.

Fitch Ratings, Inc. is a global rating agency and investment research firm headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded by John Knowles in 1913 as Fitch Publishing Co. They are a subsidiary of Fitch Group, Inc., ultimately owned by The Hearst Family Trust. Fitch Ratings seeks to provide independent and prospective credit opinions, research and data to the world's credit markets. Their approach is based on a foundation of local market experience that covers capital markets in over 150 countries. The firm's ratings analysis and rating decisions are based on established criteria, methodologies and ratings definitions which they apply in a consistent manner. Fitch Ratings provides coverage of the following markets: Economics, Banks, Insurance, Sovereigns, Corporates, Structured Finance, Public Finance – International, Public Finance – US, Infrastructure & Project, and Finance.

Goulston & Storrs PC provides legal services. It offers banking and finance, bankruptcy and restructuring, capital markets, litigation, data privacy, hospitality and recreational, innovation development and licensing, real estate, and public law and partnership solutions. The company was founded in 1900 and is headquartered in Boston, MA.

Part of Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP, Shefsky & Froelich Ltd. provides legal services. The company is based in Chicago, IL. Shefsky & Froelich was acquired by Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP on January 02, 2014.

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP provides legal advisory services. Its practice areas include mergers and acquisitions, finance, litigation, corporate finance, insurance, tax, labor and employment, political law, private equity, corporate, antitrust, white collar crime, international, regulatory, and legislation. The company was founded by Marshall Skadden, John Slate, and Les Arps in 1948 and is headquartered in New York, NY.

Founded in 2011. NXT Capital Investment Advisers LLC /Private Equity/ (NXT Capital) is a private equity division of NXT Capital Investment Advisers LLC located in Chicago, Illinois.

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

Crowe LLP provides accounting services. The firm offers audit, tax, advisory, risk, and performance services. It serves banking, manufacturing, media and telecommunication, construction, real estate, financial, food, commodities and healthcare industries. The company was founded by Fred P. Crowe Sr. and Cletus F. Chizek in 1942 and is headquartered in South Bend, IN.

Wabash College is an independent, liberal arts college for men. It offers qualified young men a superior education, fostering, in particular, independent intellectual inquiry, critical thought, and clear written and oral expression. The College educates its students broadly in the traditional curriculum of the liberal arts, while also requiring them to pursue concentrated study in one or more disciplines

BofA Securities, Inc. is a registered broker-dealer subsidiary of NB Holdings Corp., ultimately held by Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC). Headquartered in New York, the firm was founded in 2015 and offers trade execution, trading or brokerage services to institutional clients.

Part of WBC Holdings LP, William Blair & Co provides investment banking and asset management services.

Founded in 2006, CastleOak Securities LP is a minority-owned broker/dealer located in New York City with additional offices in Atlanta and Chicago. CastleOak engages in sales and trading, capital markets and financial advisory services. The firm offers expertise in primary and secondary market transactions and is structured to handle mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, valuations and general strategic assessments. Their clients range from Fortune 500 to middle-market corporations, institutional investors and financial sponsors. CastleOak is in partnership with Cantor Fitzgerald. They do not provide any internal research.

Deerpath Capital Management LP (Deerpath Capital Management) is a private equity firm founded by Gary C. Wendt, James Kirby and John Fitzgibbons in 2007. The firm is headquartered in New York.

Nuveen Asset Management LLC (NAM) is a SEC-registered investment advisor headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The firm was founded in 2011 and is a subsidiary of Nuveen Fund Advisors LLC, which is ultimately owned by TIAA Board of Governors. NAM provides investment advisory and sub-advisory services to a broad range of individual and institutional clients, such as open-end and closed-end investment companies and other pooled investment vehicles.

Abacus Finance Group LLC (Abacus Finance) is a private equity firm founded in 2011 by Tim Clifford and Sean McKeever. The firm is headquartered in New York.

Velocity Financial Group, Inc. engages in the provision of financing solutions. The company is headquartered in Chicago, IL.