Franco Francese

Spectrum Brands, Inc. engages in the manufacture and market alkaline, zinc carbon and hearing aid batteries, herbicides, insecticides and repellants and specialty pet supplies. It operates through the following segments: Global batteries and Appliance; Global Pet Supplies; and Home and Garden. The company was founded in 1906 and is headquartered in Middleton, WI.

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

The Ayco Co. LP (Goldman Sachs Ayco) is a SEC-registered investment advisor headquartered in Cohoes, New York. The firm was founded in 1971 by William Aydelotte and James Conway. They are a subsidiary of GS Ayco Holding LLC, owned by The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS), a publicly traded bank and financial holding company. Goldman Sachs Ayco provides financial planning services nationally to individuals, institutional clients and charitable organizations.

Edward D. Jones & Co. LP is a broker-dealer and registered investment advisor located in St. Louis, Missouri. The firm is a subsidiary of the Jones Financial Cos. LLLP. Edward Jones provides financial services for individual investors and businesses in the US, Canada and the United Kingdom. Edward Jones registered as a broker–dealer in 1941 and as an investment adviser in 1993. The firm offers a full array of investment services. They cover stocks that perform over the long-term, focusing on US, Canadian and Western European companies with long, stable, operating histories.

JPMorgan Securities LLC (JPMS) is a securities brokerage firm headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1985 and is a subsidiary of JPMorgan Broker-Dealer Holdings, Inc., ultimately held by JPMorgan Chase & Co., Inc. (NYSE: JPM). JPMS provides research on fixed income, credit, derivatives, emerging markets, foreign exchange, structured finance, technical analysis and bond indices. Their equity analysts cover equities throughout North America, EMEA, Asia/Pacific and the emerging markets. The firm's fixed income team formulates trading and portfolio recommendations for investors in global bonds and other fixed-income markets based on valuations, analytics and market dynamics.

Bow River Capital Management LLC (Bow River Capital) is a private equity firm founded in 2003 by Blair E. Richardson, Bruno Darré, and Eric B. Wolf. The firm is headquartered in Denver Colorado.

Double-Take Software, Inc. provides software solutions for accessible data protection with Microsoft Windows applications. Its Double-Take product offers data replication, enabling customers to protect business-critical data that resides throughout enterprise. The company was founded in 1991 is headquartered in Irvine, CA.

Sleep Science Partners, Inc. provides health care services. The company offers sleep technology and marketing techniques to educate, diagnose and treat people who suffer from sleep-related health issues. The company was founded by Noel Lindsay in 2005 and is headquartered in Larkspur, CA.

Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC is a registered broker-dealer subsidiary of Morgan Stanley Domestic Holdings, Inc., ultimately owned by Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) in the US. Headquartered in New York City, the firm was founded in 1987 and provides debt and equity services including underwriting, M&A advice, securities dealing and brokerage and trade execution. Their client base ranges from large global institutional investors to hedge funds at the cutting edge of innovation in the industry.

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.

Needham & Co. LLC (Needham) is a registered investment advisor and broker/dealer headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1985 and is a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of The Needham Group, Inc. Needham provides corporate and institutional clients with high quality research, corporate access, capital markets and trading execution services in both the public and private markets, with an emphasis on growth companies.

Wind Point Advisors LLC (Wind Point Advisors) is a private equity firm founded in 1984 by Rich Kracum and Bob Cummings. The firm is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. LLC is a registered broker-dealer headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1967 and is a subsidiary of Alliance Capital Management LLC, ultimately held by Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: EQH). Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. provides trading and executions services to their clients.

Balasa Dinverno Foltz LLC (BDF) is a wealth management firm headquartered in Itasca, Illinois. With origins dating to 1986, the firm was founded in 2001 when two Illinois firms, Balasa & Hoffman and Dinverno & Foltz Financial Group, merged to become Balasa Dinverno Foltz. They are a subsidiary of CI US Holdings, Inc., which is owned by CI Financial Corp. (TSE: CIX; NYSE: CIXX) in Canada. BDF provides advisory services to individuals, pension and profit-sharing plans, trusts, estates, charitable organizations, and other business entities.

Madison Capital Funding LLC (MCF) is a private equity subsidiary of New York Life Investment Management LLC and their ultimate parent is the New York Life Insurance Co founded in 2001. The firm is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

RBC Capital Markets LLC is a full-service brokerage and financial services firm headquartered in New York City. They are a direct subsidiary of RBC USA Holdco Corp. and a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of Royal Bank of Canada (TSE, NYSE: RY). Founded in 2010, the firm is comprised of 3 major business lines: the Private Client Group, the Fixed-Income Group and the Clearing and Execution Services Group. The Private Client Group serves individual investors, while the Fixed-Income Group provides services to institutions, municipalities and non-profit organizations. The Clearing and Execution Services Group is a provider of clearing and execution services to independent brokers/dealers throughout the US. RBC Capital Markets focuses on the following sectors: communications, media, consumer/retail, diversified industries, energy, financial institutions, forest products, healthcare, infrastructure finance, mining & metals, real estate, social infrastructure, technology and the US municipal markets.

SB/RH Holdings LLC operates as a consumer products company. It manufactures and markets alkaline, zinc carbon, nickel metal hydride rechargeable batteries rechargeable batteries, battery chargers, hearing aid batteries and battery-powered portable lighting products including flashlights and lanterns, and other specialty battery. It also designs, markets and distributes a broad range of branded small household appliances and personal care products, certain hardware, home improvement and plumbing products. The company was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in Middleton, WI.

Securities Industry & Financial Markets Association, Inc. (SIFMA) is an organization that represents the securities industry in the United States. The private company is based in New York, NY and has subsidiaries in the United States. The company's main focus is advocating for effective and resilient capital markets. The CEO of the company is Kenneth E. Bentsen.

High Road Capital Partners LLC (High Road Capital Partners) is a private equity firm founded in 2000 by Robert Joseph Fitzsimmons, William C. Connell and Jeffrey M. Goodrich. The firm is headquartered in New York, City.

Neverfail, Inc. provides data center solutions and services. Its solutions include vCenter high availability, backup, recovery and archive, cloud migration, continuous application availability, disaster recovery-as-a-service, and cloud backup. The firm offers business continuity, application delivery, and migration related products. The company was founded by Brian Hierholzer in 1993 and is headquartered in Austin, TX.

Neverfail Group Ltd. engages in the development and distribution of business continuity software solutions. The company was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Manchester, the United Kingdom.

Founded in 2009, Artisan Partners UK LLP is a subsidiary of Artisan Partners Asset Management, Inc. that provides investment advice. The company is based in Reading, UK.

Intermede Investment Partners Ltd. (IIPL) is an investment manager headquartered in London, UK. The firm was founded by Barry Dargan in 2013 and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Intermede Holdings Ltd., ultimately held by SCA Global Advisors Ltd. IIPL provides discretionary investment advisory services to separate account clients and private funds. The firm also provides non-discretionary investment advisory services to mutual funds and private funds.