Ash Mehta

The Vanguard Group, Inc. (VGI) is an independent, SEC-registered investment advisor and mutual fund manager headquartered in Malvern, Pennsylvania. The firm was founded in 1975 by John Bogle. In 1976, they introduced the first indexed mutual fund, the First Index Investment Trust (now known as the Vanguard 500 Index Fund), to individual investors. VGI provides investment advisory services to Vanguard family of funds and Vanguard's non-US clients, which are comprised of funds established as trusts under the laws of the Province of Ontario in Canada and separate account clients of Vanguard's international subsidiaries.

Founded in 1996, GARP Research Corp. is an independent equity research firm for U.S. mid-cap and small-cap growth companies. Their investment philosophy is focused on growth, quality, and control of risk. They have a long-term orientation, but they also believe short-term results benefit from their discipline of waiting for catalysts to emerge and their ability to identify valid long-term growth drivers. They search for high quality as determined by competitive advantages, and potential or actual high return on capital employed. Companies recommend typically generate cash, grow organically, and are well financed. They control risk by technical analysis of long-term stock charts and proprietary valuation methodology. They typically recommend a stock after it has declined significantly and then based-out over many quarters. They avoid momentum stocks. GARP Research is located in Baltimore, Maryland.