Phil L. Dodge

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.

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).

Founded in 1984, Noble Financial Capital Markets is a broker/dealer headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida. The firm is a subsidiary of Noble Financial Group, Inc. Noble Financial Capital Markets' sales & trading team provides strategic insight and reliable solutions to nearly 500 of the dominant small-cap money managers in North America. They are members FINRA, SIPC and MSRB. Noble Financial Capital Markets offers a full array of investment services with a particular focus on under-followed, undervalued, out-of-favor small-cap emerging growth companies. Their research coverage universe includes healthcare, business services & software, defense/defense technology, energy, enterprise hardware, and media & entertainment.

Tuohy Brothers Investment Research, Inc. provides equity research, sales and trading services to a variety of institutional investors, and also offers investment banking services to sector companies. They focus on energy industry trends, commodity markets and individual company developments. Within the energy sector, the firm focuses on the U.S. natural gas industry. Within the commodities markets, Tuohy Brothers focuses on analysis of variables affecting natural gas supply and demand with the objective of forecasting prices. They offer opinions on crude oil prices related to global capacity, interaction with the U.S. dollar, asset class impact and other variables. The firm also provides analysis of coal prices as revealed in ongoing contracts and spot transactions. In addition, they analyze developments affecting a broad range of energy companies. They consider active communications related to company-specific events and information on companies found in periodic publications. The company was founded in 2004 and is located in New York City.

Founded in 2000, EarlyBirdCapital, Inc. is a broker/dealer headquartered in New York City. The firm provides a full array of trading and execution services for their clients. They do not provide any internal research. The firm is a subsidiary of EBC Holdings, Inc. and their ultimate parent is Firebrand Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: FFGI).

National Association of Petroleum Investment Analysts is a Non-Profit organization, which engages in education of its members in their knowledge of the petroleum industry. The company was founded in 1974 and is headquartered in Concord, MA.