Kerry A. Pierce

LPL Financial LLC is a SEC-registered investment advisor and wealth management firm headquartered in Fort Mill, South Carolina. The firm was founded in 1989 as Linsco/Private Ledger Corp. They are a direct subsidiary of LPL Holdings, Inc., owned by LPL Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: LPLA). LPL Financial offers various types of advisory services and programs to individual and institutional clients.

Bear, Stearns & Co., Inc. is a global investment banking, securities trading and brokerage firm located in New York City with additional offices in Dallas, Boston and San Francisco. The firm is a subsidiary Bear Sterns Cos., Inc. (NYSE: BSC). Their equity research team consists of senior analysts located throughout the world. In addition to domestic coverage, they have research teams focusing on Latin America, Asia and Europe. The analysts use a bottom-up approach to stock selection. The Bear Stearns fixed-income research department provides coverage of every sector of the fixed-income universe. The financial analytics and structured transactions group (F.A.S.T) provides investment research, fixed-income portfolio management and analytical systems, trading technology and general financial expertise. The group also provides a broad range of services to financial institutions including asset-liability management, balance sheet restructuring, receivables-based financing analysis, security and portfolio analysis, peer analysis, and historical and real-time market-based information.