Alan J. Blackburn

GulfStar Group, Inc. operates as a middle market investment banking firm that provides advisory services. Its services include mergers and acquisitions, private placements, and financial advisory services. The firm serves entrepreneurs, family-owned businesses, corporations and private equity firms. The company was founded by Stephen A. Lasher, Thomas M. Hargrove and G. Kent Kahle in 1990 and is headquartered in Houston, TX.

Founded in 1992 by John T. Nabb II, Growth Capital Partners LP is a merchant/investment banking and private equity firm headquartered in Houston, Texas. The firm works with both private and public middle-market companies that are based in North America. Their services include: company sales, private equity, recapitalizations, subordinated debt, MBOs, work-outs, restructurings, senior debt and valuations services

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.

CIBC World Markets is a full-service investment bank headquartered in New York City. CIBC provides an internationally integrated research product through three primary strategies. In the US, the firm provides research coverage available in areas of focus, including technology, telecommunications, healthcare, energy, power generation and technology, financial institutions, consumer growth, real estate and media. In Canada, the firm offers the full spectrum of coverage for all of the sectors that form the TSE 300 Index. Their broad investment grade analysis of return bond Indices provides daily performance of the Canadian bond market. The sectors covered are: government of Canada bonds, provincial and municipal bonds and corporate bonds rated AAA/AA, A and BBB. Also available is a monthly ABS/MBS market report that provides information on ABS market conditions, market summary data and monthly performance reports on outstanding transactions. This report includes information about the MBS market, including key statistics on MBS spreads and prepayments. Another report contains MBS trading data, cash flows and other key data. A separate monthly Portfolio Valuation Report provides month end pricing for ABS and MBS transactions. Corporate debt research produces highly targeted credit analysis and research for investment grade and high yield debt securities. The corporate bond review covers bond market action, new issues, price/yield movements, rating changes, and buy/sell recommendations. The fixed-income research group produces actionable fundamental and technical analysis, strategies, products, and runs bond indexes and quantitative models relating specifically to fixed income markets, bond portfolios, and individual securities. CIBC provides risk management solutions to corporations, investors, financial institutions, and governments across all asset classes: interest rates, equities, credit, currency, and commodities. CIBC World Markets is a subsidiary of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.

McKinsey & Co., Inc. provides management consulting services. It specializes in design, marketing and sales, analytics, operations, transformation and restructuring, risk, strategy and corporate finance, and sustainability and resource productivity. The company was founded by James O. McKinsey in 1926 and is headquartered in New York, NY.