Kathryn Gernert

Lord Abbett & Co. LLC (Lord Abbett) is an independent, SEC-registered investment advisor and mutual fund manager headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey. Founded in 1929, Lord Abbett provides advisory services to a variety of institutional clients, the Lord Abbett Funds and other registered investment companies sponsored by third parties, the Lord Abbett UCITS Funds, the Lord Abbett Luxembourg Fund, other foreign funds, privately offered commingled funds and various separately managed accounts.

Soros Fund Management LLC (SFM) is a privately-held investment management firm now structured as a family office, but which was once a hedge fund manager. The firm was founded in 1969 and is headquartered in New York City. SFM serves as the principal asset manager for the Open Society Foundations (Open Society) – a private funder of independent groups that works for justice, democratic governance, and human rights.

DWS Investment Management Americas, Inc. (DIMA) is a SEC-registered investment advisor headquartered in New York City. The firm is a subsidiary of DWS USA Corp., ultimately held by Deutsche Bank AG (ETR: DBK) in Germany. The firm was founded in 1984 and formerly known as Deutsche Investment Management Americas Inc. In 2018, they changed their name into DWS as part of the rebranding of Deutsche Asset Management. DIMA provides discretionary and non-discretionary investment advisory services to various institutional clients. They also provide investment advisory services for its municipal bond strategies through wrap fee programs.

Lone Pine Capital LLC (LPC) is an independent, SEC-registered investment advisor and hedge fund management firm headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut. The firm was founded in 1997 by Stephen F. Mandel, Jr. LPC provides investment advisory services to private investment funds offered to investors on a private placement basis (LPC Funds). Investors in the funds include high net-worth individuals, corporations, trusts, charitable institutions, foundations, endowments, funds-of-funds and other US and international institutional investors.

Cowen Investment Management LLC (Cowen Investment Management) is a venture capital subsidiary of Cowen, Inc. founded in 1997. The firm is headquartered in New York.

Schwab Charles & Co., Inc. engages in the provision of investment products and services to retirement and other benefit participants. It offers trading, banking, small business solutions, investment tools and research. The company was founded in 1971 and is headquartered in San Francisco, CA.

Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Inc. (MSIM) is an investment management firm headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1975 and is a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley Domestic Holdings, Inc., ultimately held by Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS). MSIM provides discretionary and non-discretionary investment management services and products to institutional clients and individual investors. The firm also advises clients as to the appropriate allocation of assets among multiple separate accounts and/or investment companies or other pooled vehicles that the firm advises.

Janus Index & Calculation Services LLC develops and distributes exchange traded products. Its products include volatility strategy, volatility tactical, metals and energy. The company was founded by Nicholas Cherney, Richard Hoge and Gregory King in 2009 and is headquartered in Darien, CT.

Deloitte & Touche LLP engages in the provision of audit, advisory, financial advisory, tax, and consulting services. The company was founded on March 7, 1995 and is headquartered in New York, NY.

Moody's Investors Service, Inc. is a credit rating and investment research firm headquartered in New York City. They are a subsidiary of Moody's Corp. (NYSE: MCO). The firm performs international financial research and analysis on commercial and government entities and provides a variety of analytic tools for assessing credit risk. Their clients include creditors, investment banks and commercial banks.

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. is a broker/dealer located in New York City. The firm provides a comprehensive range of equity execution services exclusively to institutional clients worldwide. Their clients include private banks, mutual funds, hedge funds, independent asset managers and investment advisors and other brokers.

Fordham University provides college and university. It offers undergraduate colleges and graduate & professional schools. The company was founded in 1841 and is headquartered in Bronx, NY.

Fitch Ratings, Inc. is a global rating agency and investment research firm headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded by John Knowles in 1913 as Fitch Publishing Co. They are a subsidiary of Fitch Group, Inc., ultimately owned by The Hearst Family Trust. Fitch Ratings seeks to provide independent and prospective credit opinions, research and data to the world's credit markets. Their approach is based on a foundation of local market experience that covers capital markets in over 150 countries. The firm's ratings analysis and rating decisions are based on established criteria, methodologies and ratings definitions which they apply in a consistent manner. Fitch Ratings provides coverage of the following markets: Economics, Banks, Insurance, Sovereigns, Corporates, Structured Finance, Public Finance – International, Public Finance – US, Infrastructure & Project, and Finance.

Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. (Investment Portfolio) (MetLife-IM) is the insurance management division of Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., which is owned by MetLife, Inc. (NYSE: MET), a global provider of insurance, annuities and employee benefit programs. The firm is headquartered in New York City with additional office in Morristown, New Jersey. MetLife-IM offers group dental benefit plans for individuals, employees, retirees and their families and provides dental plan administration for over 20 million people. The firm provides disability products for individuals, as well as employee and association groups who receive them through their employer.

SWS Capital Management LLC (SWSCM) is a SEC-registered investment advisor headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded by Christopher Williams in 2002 as Williams Capital Management LLC. They are a wholly owned subsidiary of Shank Williams Cisneros LLC. SWSCM provides discretionary fixed-income investment advisory services to institutional clients through separate accounts.

Baker Avenue Asset Management LP (dba BakerAvenue) is an independent, SEC-registered investment advisor headquartered in San Francisco, California. The firm was founded by Simon Baker in 2004. BakerAvenue provides investment advisory services to individuals, high net-worth individuals, corporate pension and profit-sharing plans, charitable institutions, foundations, trusts, and other US institutions.

FMR LLC engages in the provision of financial and investment services. It offers financial planning and advice, wealth management, retirement plans, trading and brokerage services, and investment products. The company was founded by Edward C. Johnson II in 1946 and is headquartered in Boston, MA.

AIG Financial Products Corp. provides corporate finance, investment and financial risk management solutions. The company was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Wilton, CT.

QS Investors LLC (QSI) is a SEC-registered investment advisor headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded and formed in August 2010 through an MBO of the Quantitative Strategies Group within DB Advisors, the institutional asset management division of Deutsche Asset Management. QSI is a wholly-owned subsidiary of QS Investors Holdings LLC, ultimately owned by Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE: BEN). The firm provides investment advisory and sub-advisory services to a diverse array of institutional and retail clients and funds.

Morningstar, Inc. (Research) is the investment research arm of Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: MORN), an American financial services firm headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The firm was founded by Joseph Mansueto in 1984 and provides independent portfolio information offering star ratings and analysis of managed funds. They also provide economic commentary and asset allocation information based on qualitative research.

CreditSights, Inc. is an independent investment research firm headquartered in New York City. The firm was co-founded by Paul Ciasullo, Reena Mithal, Glenn Reynolds and Peter Petas in 2000. They are a subsidiary of Fitch Group, Inc., ultimately owned by The Hearst Family Trust. CreditSights provides fundamental, in-depth credit research for buy-side decisionmakers, sell-side intermediaries and wealth managers and private banks globally. The firm actively covers more than 5,000 companies in North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific representing over 56 countries.

Standard & Poor's Investment Advisory Services LLC (SPIAS) is investment research firm and registered investment advisor headquartered in New York City. The firm is a wholly-owned subsidiary of S&P Global, Inc. (NYSE: SPGI), formerly McGraw Hill Financial, Inc. SPIAS’ advisory services are generally offered to institutions (e.g., broker-dealers, investment advisers, investment companies and other financial institutions). SPIAS does not generally provide its advisory services directly to retail clients, but its services may be used by its clients in advising their own underlying clients, which may include retail clients. SPIAS also provides advisory consulting services to institutional clients and investment managers-of-investment funds, and investment sub-advisory services for registered investment companies, including open-end mutual funds and other institutions. S&P Global's operations consist of three reportable segments: S&P Global Ratings, S&P Global Platts, and S&P Dow Jones Indices. S&P Global Ratings is an independent provider of credit ratings, research and analytics to investors, issuers and market participants. It includes the NRSRO and certain other ratings-related businesses. S&P Global Platts provides essential price data, analytics, and industry insight that enable commodities markets to perform with greater transparency and efficiency. S&P Dow Jones Indices is a global index provider that maintains a wide variety of indices to meet an array of investor needs. In 2016, CFRA acquired S&P Global Market Intelligence’s Equity and Fund Research business (formerly known as S&P Capital IQ and SNL) from S&P Global, Inc.

Founded in 1962, Raymond James Financial, Inc. (NYSE: RJF) is a diversified holding company headquartered in St. Petersburg, Florida. The firm provides services to individuals, corporations and municipalities through their wholly-owned subsidiaries: Raymond James & Associates, Raymond James Financial Services and Raymond James Ltd. Raymond James operates through eight segments: Private Client Group (PCG); Capital Markets; Asset Management; Raymond James Bank (RJ Bank); Emerging Markets; Securities Lending; Proprietary Capital; and Other. The Private Client Group segment provides securities transaction and financial planning services to client accounts through the branch office systems of the company's subsidiaries. The Capital Markets segment's activities consist primarily of equity and fixed income products and services. The Asset Management segment provides asset management services for individual investment portfolios and mutual funds. The RJ Bank segment provides corporate, residential and consumer loans, as well as Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. insured deposit accounts, to clients of the company's broker-dealer subsidiaries and to the general public. The Emerging Markets segment operates securities brokerage, investment banking, asset management and equity research businesses. The Securities Lending segment conducts its business through the borrowing and lending of securities from and to other broker-dealers, financial institutions and other counterparties. The Proprietary Capital segment consists of the company's principal capital and private equity activities, including various direct and third-party private equity and merchant banking investments. Raymond James' capital markets reach within the financial institutions segment focuses on community and regional banks and thrifts including equity research, sales, trading and investment banking resources and services. Raymond James is one of the largest research organizations in the brokerage industry and serves institutional investors domestically and abroad. The firm's capital markets activities are based on insightful, timely and comprehensive equity research. They publish research on over 1,000 companies in their core industries. Raymond James seeks attractive niches within broader industries and then covers these sectors deeply to develop differentiated sector expertise and relationships. Although their focus is mid- and small-cap companies, their coverage includes large, medium and small companies across each sector. Raymond James' Institutional Trading division is organized into 3 specialty departments: Sales Trading, Principal trading and Agency Trading. Their Sales Trading division covers over 800 domestic and 1,300 international financial institutions throughout North America and Europe. The firm's Principal Trading division consists of industry-focused teams and their OTC Principal Trading department makes markets in over 680 domestic stocks, 85% of which are covered by Raymond James Institutional Research department. Their Agency Trading department services the trading needs of over 5,500 financial advisors located in 2,500 retail offices across the US.