Eric Assaraf

Founded in 1932, Stanford Group Co. is a broker/dealer headquartered in Houston, Texas with offices nationwide. They are a subsidiary of Stanford Financial Services, Inc. and their ultimate parent is CBaySystems Holdings Ltd. The firm offers a full range of brokerage services for both domestic and international clients. They are a member of the NASD and the SIPC. Stanford's research includes both institutional equity research and Washington-focused policy research, offering a perspective on individual companies, sector-specific topics and national policy. Their equity analysts offer insight and opinions on companies in the consumer/retail, media, energy, financial institutions, healthcare, technology and water/environment sectors, targeting small- and mid-cap companies. Their policy analysts deliver investment relevant insights across a broad range of sectors, including geopolitics, international/trade, Federal Reserve board policy, health care (including services, medical devices and pharmaceuticals, telecom, media, financial services, water/environment, agribusiness/tobacco, energy) and technology (including information technology services, homeland security and biometrics/emerging technologies).

Guggenheim Securities LLC is a SEC-registered broker-dealer headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1999 and is a subsidiary of Links Holdings LLC, ultimately held by Guggenheim Partners LLC. Guggenheim Securities’ specializations include the sales and trading of fixed-income securities and sophisticated structured products. The firm offers in-depth analysis and expert execution of trading opportunities to large institutional investors and asset originators. They offer sales and trading services relating to a wide range of instruments.

Founded in 2001, MF Global, Inc., formerly Man Securities, Inc., is a broker/dealer located in Chicago with an additional office in New York City. The firm is a subsidiary of MF Global Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: MF). MF Global Holdings Ltd. is an independent broker of exchange-traded futures and options and an intermediary in the markets for foreign exchange, securities and other major financial instruments around the world. MF Global Securities is a member of the NASD and the SIPC. The firm provides coverage for the following sectors: capital goods, automobiles, telecommunications, food manufacturing, retail food, industrials, insurance, construction, mining, media, general retail/luxury goods, communications equipment, banks and specialty financial companies, specialty sales, oil, construction and pharmaceuticals. In the US, MF Global Securities provides buy-side institutions, sell-side institutions and retail clients with voice and electronic access to major securities markets through execution and clearing services. Their clients include hedge funds, pension funds, asset management firms, bulge bracket investment banks and other broker dealers.

Cowen Prime Services LLC (CPS) is a broker-dealer headquartered in New York City. The firm is directly owned by Cowen PB Holdings LLC, which, in turn, is primarily owned by Cowen Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: COWN). CPS is registered as a broker-dealer with the SEC and FINRA, and as a an introducing broker with the Commodities Futures Trading Commission and the National Futures Association. CPS was formed in 2015 following Cowen Group’s acquisition of Concept Capital Markets LLC. Concept Capital was established in 2010 following the spin-off of the Concept Capital division of Sanders Morris Harris Inc., whose origins date back to 1995. CPS' offering includes world-class custody and clearing options, multi asset class capabilities, leading execution and order management systems, a seasoned execution desk, a range of financing options, a highly professional operations and customer support team, comprehensive portfolio reporting capabilities, capital introduction, and live, intraday and post-trade risk and performance analytics.

Cowen & Co. LLC is a SEC-registered broker/dealer headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 2004 and is a subsidiary of Cowen Holdings, Inc., ultimately owned by The Toronto-Dominion Bank (TSE: TD) in Canada. Cowen & Co. offers industry-focused investment banking for growth-oriented companies, domain knowledge-driven research and a sales and trading platform for institutional investors. Their institutional sales and trading business serves both equity and fixed-income clients. Sales and trading execution platform is structured around the following key verticals: (1) healthcare (2) technology, telecommunications and media (TMT) (3) REITs and financials (4) aerospace and defense (5) consumer and (6) alternative energy.

Founded in 1974, Washington Research Group is an investment research firm located in Washington, DC. The firm is a subsidiary of MF Global Ltd. (NYQ: MF), a cash and derivatives broker/dealer headquartered in New York City. MF Global Ltd. acquired the firm from Concept Capital in October 2010. Washington Research Group is a policy-focused research firm that provides institutional equity investors with insights and analysis on the impact of government policy on investment opportunities. The firm provides coverage of a broad range of sectors including healthcare, financial services, defense, national security, international trade, media/telecommunications, agribusiness, biofuels, tobacco and corporate tax.

Founded in 2004, TD Securities (USA) LLC is a broker/dealer located in New York City with additional offices in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Vancouver, London, Singapore, Tokyo and Sydney. The firm is a subsidiary of Toronto Dominion Holdings (USA), Inc. and their ultimate parent is Toronto-Dominion Bank (NYSE: TD). TD Securities (USA) provides a wide range of capital market products and services to corporate, government and institutional clients in five areas of finance including: investment banking, debt capital markets, institutional equities, foreign exchange and money markets. Their services include the underwriting and distribution of new debt and equity issues, providing advice on strategic acquisitions and divestitures and executing daily trading and investment needs. The equity group provides research coverage of media and communications, technology, financial services, oil and gas, mining and metals, industrial products, forest products, technology, utilities and power, real estate, biotechnology, consumer products and merchandising and quantitative analysis strategy. The fixed-income group provides a full range of underwriting sales and trading products for Canadian, U.S. and European debt issuers and investors.