Stephen A. Erickson

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.

EnablePay Direct, Inc. provides merchant services which helps to make card transactions. It provides smart savings, plus personal service for debit and credit card payment transactions, credit card processing, electronic benefits transfer, electronic gift card programs and electronic loyalty card programs, electronic check processing, wireless processing programs, petroleum programs, eCommerce gateway solutions and supermarket incentive program. The company is headquartered in Effingham, IL.

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC (GS&Co.) is a securities brokerage firm headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1927, the firm is a subsidiary of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS). GS&Co. provides services to help hedge funds manage risk, monitor portfolios, maintain liquidity and build their businesses. They offer clients access to global equity and derivatives markets, as well as foreign exchange, commodities, European Lefts, rates and credit across the Americas, Europe and Asia. The firm proactively monitors capital markets, searching for pockets of liquidity and news that may require changes to those strategies. Integration with the Goldman Sachs network gives clients access to the firm's sectored block trades and their insights into price discovery. Their electronic trading program provides clients with tools to manage their trades from pre-trade analytics to post-trade analysis.

Pure Vanilla Exchange, Inc. provides anonymous online payment services. The company provides its products and services utilizing both its own network and other networks owned and operated by third parties. It is an electronic payment processing facilitator that provides products and services that enable customers to pay for, and merchants to receive payment for goods and services. The company was founded on August 11, 2004 and is headquartered in New York, NY.

EVO Payments International LLC engages in the provision of payment processing solutions. The company was founded by Ray Sidhom and Jeff Rosenblatt in 1989 and is headquartered in Nyack, NY.

Midland States Bank operates as a state commercial bank. Its banking solutions include checking, savings and CD’s, online banking, bill paying, bank by phone and debit card. The firm's invest services include asset management, brokerage services, trust and estate and financial planning. Its manage services include online banking, credit cards and reorder checks. Its borrow services include home equity, credit cards, mortgage and vehicle loans. The company was founded in 1881 and is headquartered in Effingham, IL.