Paul Berkman

Founded by James Giordano in 1999, J. Giordano Securities Group, Inc. is an independent, privately-owned full-service investment banking and brokerage firm headquartered in New York City. The firm is also known as NewOak Capital Markets LLC. They provide a range of investment banking services for small-cap and middle-market companies including private capital, initial and follow-on public equity offerings, convertible debt and preferred stock offerings, high yield offerings and M&A advisory services. J. Giordano Securities Group also provides equity and fixed-income research to institutional clients. The firm's research focuses on the following sectors: (1) industrial services (2) conventional energy (3) regional and special situations (4) shipping (5) healthcare (6) homeland defense and (7) business services. J. Giordano Securities Group is a member of the NASD and SIPC.

Triborough Partners provides investment advice.

Oppenheimer & Co., Inc. (Broker) (Oppenheimer-Broker) is the global full-service brokerage division of Oppenheimer & Co., Inc., an investment boutique headquartered in New York City with additional offices nationwide. Founded in 1975, the firm is owned directly by Viner Finance Inc., an indirect subsidiary of Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. (NYSE: OPY). Oppenheimer-Broker offers a full array of brokerage services to retail, institutional, and corporate clients.

Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc. (MLPFS) is the SEC-registered broker/dealer subsidiary of Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., ultimately held by Charlotte-based Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC). The firm was founded in 1958 and is headquartered in New York City. In 2010, Banc of America Securities LLC merged with MLPFS and the firm uses the trade name Bank of America Merrill Lynch. MLPFS's global strategy and economics team serves institutional and individual investors using a wide range of macroeconomic disciplines. Their analysis of global issues provides clients with investment ideas, market forecasts, macro overviews and specific sector recommendations across asset classes, regions and disciplines. Their equity research team conducts fundamental analysis on companies globally and provides institutional and retail clients with industry-specific and in-depth research and analysis on numerous industries. The firm's global fixed-income and equity-linked research focuses on fixed-income and equity derivatives, fixed-income strategy, convertibles, commodities, high-yield, mortgages, municipals and global foreign exchange.