Alan J. Brochstein

Founded in 2007, AB Analytical Services is an investment research firm located in Bellaire, Texas. The firm provides custom research and analysis to money managers, hedge-funds and financial consultants. They offer customized buy-side oriented analysis and consulting. AB Analytical Services is best positioned to serve small to medium-sized Registered Investment Advisors.

Management CV, Inc. is a research firm located in Bethesda, Maryland, founded in 2007. The firm provides clear, unbiased information about the CEOs and other senior executives that run major public companies. Clients include equity investors and commercial lenders. Their research centers on the executives' prior track records, current performance relative to direct competitors in the industry and diligence on any important issues that might affect executive performance and motivation. They do not select stocks or predict stock market movement. They do analyze relative performance versus industry competitors.

Founded in 1993 by S. Peter Hidalgo II, Piedra Capital Ltd. is a registered investment advisor headquartered in Houston, Texas with additional offices in Austin, Texas and Albuquerque, New Mexico. The firm absorbed Palladium Capital Management in May of 2003. They provide investment management services to high net-worth individuals, public funds, corporate pension plans and foundations

Criterion Research Group LLC is an independent research firm headquartered in New York City. They provide research based on their proprietary earnings quality accrual model and additional quantitative and qualitative screens developed by Criterion and Wharton accounting Professor Scott Richardson. Accruals are management's estimates of future cash flows and expenses that increase earnings and often turn out to be wrong due to error or management's prerogative to increase earnings. Criterion's accrual model quantifies the accrual component of the earnings of more than 5,000 public US companies (the CRG 5000) and sorts these companies into ten accrual categories within the CRG 5000 and the S&P 500. Companies in the 10th accrual decile have the highest accrual and lowest cash components to their earnings, and companies in the 1st accrual decile have the lowest accrual and highest cash components to their earnings

Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC (Credit Suisse Securities USA) is the broker/dealer division of Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, an investment banking company headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1998 and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Credit Suisse (USA), Inc., ultimately owned by Credit Suisse Group AG (SWX: CSGN) in Switzerland. Credit Suisse Securities USA offers a suite of equities, solutions and credit products and services which includes global securities sales, trading and execution, prime brokerage and comprehensive investment research. Their clients include financial institutions, corporations, governments, institutional investors, such as pension funds and hedge funds, and private individuals around the world.

Kidder, Peabody & Co., Inc. provides security brokerage services. The private company is based in Buffalo, NY and has subsidiaries in Switzerland. The company was founded by Thomas W. Ostrander.