Victor M. Pita

Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC (Credit Suisse Securities USA) is the broker/dealer division of Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, an investment banking company headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1998 and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Credit Suisse (USA), Inc., ultimately owned by Credit Suisse Group AG (SWX: CSGN) in Switzerland. Credit Suisse Securities USA offers a suite of equities, solutions and credit products and services which includes global securities sales, trading and execution, prime brokerage and comprehensive investment research. Their clients include financial institutions, corporations, governments, institutional investors, such as pension funds and hedge funds, and private individuals around the world.

JPMorgan Investment Management, Inc. (JPMIM) is a global, SEC-registered investment advisor headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 2000 as the result of Chase Manhattan's purchase of Robert Fleming Holdings and the subsequent merger of Chase and JPMorgan. In January 2010, JPMorgan Investment Advisors merged into JP Morgan Investment Management. JPMIM is a subsidiary of JPMorgan Asset Management Holdings, Inc., ultimately owned by JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM). The firm primarily provides investment advisory services to both US and non-US institutional and retail clients.

Kansas Public Employees Retirement System (KPERS) administers three statewide defined-benefit retirement plans for state and local public employees: Kansas Public Employees Retirement System; Kansas Police and Firemen's Retirement System; and Kansas Retirement System for Judges. The system also oversees the State's Deferred Compensation Plan, Tandem 457, a voluntary 457(b) savings plan. KPERS is headquartered in Topeka, Kansas.

Avondale Partners LLC is an independent broker/dealer headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee with additional offices across the US. The firm was founded by Robert Shepherd and Philip Krebs in 2001. Avondale Partners provides financial advisory services as well as equity and fixed income underwriting and private placement services to public and private companies throughout the US, Canada and Europe. They focus on middle-market companies in the healthcare sector.

Truist Securities, Inc. is a registered broker-dealer headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The firm was founded in 1894 as SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Inc. In 2020, the firm was renamed following the integration of SunTrust Robinson Humphrey and BB&T Capital Markets. The firm is a subsidiary of Truist Financial Corp. (NYSE: TFC) and is an active market maker in equity and fixed-income products. Truist Securities delivers a comprehensive range of strategic advisory, capital raising, risk management, and financing solutions, as well as a dynamic suite of sales, trading, and research services in both fixed-income and equity. Their strategies are carefully tailored to meet the needs and vision of their clients.

Dorado Network Systems Corp. provides enterprise lending automation solutions. It is a provider of software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions and platform-as-a-service (PaaS) architecture to the financial services industry. The firm offers banks an automated cloud computing-based system for managing and tracking the consumer lending process from point-of-sale through funding. The company was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in San Mateo, CA.

Southern Methodist University is a private university near the center of Dallas, SMU offers undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs through seven schools in the humanities and sciences, business, the performing, visual, and communication arts, engineering, education and human development, law, and theology.

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.

Morgan Keegan & Co. LLC is a broker/dealer headquartered in St. Petersburg, Florida. The firm was founded in 1969 and is a subsidiary of Raymond James Financial, Inc. (NYSE: RJF). Morgan Keegan & Co. provides securities brokerage services to various types of clients.

BB&T Securities LLC, doing business as BB&T Capital Markets, is the broker/dealer subsidiary of BB&T Corp. (NYSE: BBT). The firm is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. They offer a full array of investment, trading and execution services to middle-market companies. BB&T Capital Markets' sales and trading arm is comprised of 2 groups: Debt Securities Sales & Trading and Equity Sales & Trading. The Debt Securities Sales & Trading group focuses on: (1) Government and agency securities (2) corporate bonds (3) municipal bonds (4) asset-backed securities (5) mortgage-backed securities (6) preferred securities and (7) money market desk (short-term securities including BB&T funding). The Equity Sales & Trading group focuses on: (1) institutional block execution services (2) institutional distribution of proprietary research (3) providing proprietary access to industry leading conferences and management teams (4) serving as a NASDAQ market maker for over 250 securities (5) stock buybacks including 10b-18 and 10b5-1 trading plans and (6) 144 stock sales, individual 10b5-1 trading plans (buy and sell) and employee cashless stock option programs. BB&T Capital Markets provides research coverage of the communications, defense and government services, energy, financial services, furnishings and consumer durables, healthcare, industrial services, retail/consumer durables and transportation services sectors.

Founded in 1962, Raymond James Financial, Inc. (NYSE: RJF) is a diversified holding company headquartered in St. Petersburg, Florida. The firm provides services to individuals, corporations and municipalities through their wholly-owned subsidiaries: Raymond James & Associates, Raymond James Financial Services and Raymond James Ltd. Raymond James operates through eight segments: Private Client Group (PCG); Capital Markets; Asset Management; Raymond James Bank (RJ Bank); Emerging Markets; Securities Lending; Proprietary Capital; and Other. The Private Client Group segment provides securities transaction and financial planning services to client accounts through the branch office systems of the company's subsidiaries. The Capital Markets segment's activities consist primarily of equity and fixed income products and services. The Asset Management segment provides asset management services for individual investment portfolios and mutual funds. The RJ Bank segment provides corporate, residential and consumer loans, as well as Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. insured deposit accounts, to clients of the company's broker-dealer subsidiaries and to the general public. The Emerging Markets segment operates securities brokerage, investment banking, asset management and equity research businesses. The Securities Lending segment conducts its business through the borrowing and lending of securities from and to other broker-dealers, financial institutions and other counterparties. The Proprietary Capital segment consists of the company's principal capital and private equity activities, including various direct and third-party private equity and merchant banking investments. Raymond James' capital markets reach within the financial institutions segment focuses on community and regional banks and thrifts including equity research, sales, trading and investment banking resources and services. Raymond James is one of the largest research organizations in the brokerage industry and serves institutional investors domestically and abroad. The firm's capital markets activities are based on insightful, timely and comprehensive equity research. They publish research on over 1,000 companies in their core industries. Raymond James seeks attractive niches within broader industries and then covers these sectors deeply to develop differentiated sector expertise and relationships. Although their focus is mid- and small-cap companies, their coverage includes large, medium and small companies across each sector. Raymond James' Institutional Trading division is organized into 3 specialty departments: Sales Trading, Principal trading and Agency Trading. Their Sales Trading division covers over 800 domestic and 1,300 international financial institutions throughout North America and Europe. The firm's Principal Trading division consists of industry-focused teams and their OTC Principal Trading department makes markets in over 680 domestic stocks, 85% of which are covered by Raymond James Institutional Research department. Their Agency Trading department services the trading needs of over 5,500 financial advisors located in 2,500 retail offices across the US.

Citigroup Global Markets, Inc. (Investment Management) (CGMI-IM) is the investment management division of Citigroup Global Markets, Inc., a registered broker-dealer headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1964 and is a subsidiary of Citigroup Financial Products, Inc., ultimately held by Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C). CGMI provides a variety of services designed to meet the varying investment advisory and related needs of individual and institutional clients.

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.

Part of GE Aerospace, GE Capital Mortgage Corp. is a diversified manufacturer of high-tech products. The company is based in Raleigh, NC.

Part of Corebridge Financial, Inc., American General Investment Management LP is a company that provides investment management services. The company is based in Houston, TX.

Pedestal, Inc. operates a gift shop. The private company is based in New York, NY. The company was founded by Yung Chan Lim.