Elizabeth A. Werner

Founded in 1988, Sandler O'Neill & Partners LP is a broker/dealer headquartered in New York City. The firm is a subsidiary of Sandler O'Neill & Partners Corp. and their ultimate parent is SOP Holdings LLC. Sandler O'Neill & Partners' Equity Sales & Trading team seeks to enhance liquidity, execute complex transactions, distribute securities and provide institutional investor exposure for hundreds of financial institutions. Sandler O'Neill is a market maker for over 425 NASDAQ financial stocks and trades equities on all active exchanges including the NYSE, NASDAQ, OTC Bulletin Board and Pink Sheets. They work with CEOs, CFOs and management teams on corporate buybacks, portfolio valuations, rebalancings and liquidations. Sandler O'Neill publishes detailed equity research on approximately 270 financial services companies. They primarily cover small- and mid-sized companies that are not widely followed by large Wall Street firms. Their research coverage focuses on the following industries: (1) banks and thrifts (2) specialty finance and credit card companies (3) asset management (4) e-Finance (5) investment banking firms and broker/dealers (6) REITS (7) mortgage REITs and (8) insurance.

Northington Partners, Inc. is an investment banking firm. The private company is based in Avon, CT and has subsidiaries in the United States.

NFP Corp. engages in the provision of insurance brokerage and consultancy services. It offers property and casualty, corporate benefits, estate planning, life insurance, international life insurance, long-term care insurance, personal insurance, and wealth management solutions. The company was founded by Robert L. Rosen in 1998 and is headquartered in New York, NY.

Founded in 1958, Merrill Lynch Piece Fenner & Smith, Inc. is an SEC registered broker/dealer located in New York City. The firm is a subsidiary of BAC North America Holding Co. and their ultimate parent is Bank of America Corp. (NYSE BAC).

Sandler O'Neill & Partners Corp. operates as a investment banking firm and broker dealer focused on the financial services sector. Its services include fixed income, capital raising, investment banking, equity research, equity sales and trading, strategy and mortgage finance. The company is headquartered in New York, NY.

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC (GS&Co.) is a securities brokerage firm headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1927, the firm is a subsidiary of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS). GS&Co. provides services to help hedge funds manage risk, monitor portfolios, maintain liquidity and build their businesses. They offer clients access to global equity and derivatives markets, as well as foreign exchange, commodities, European Lefts, rates and credit across the Americas, Europe and Asia. The firm proactively monitors capital markets, searching for pockets of liquidity and news that may require changes to those strategies. Integration with the Goldman Sachs network gives clients access to the firm's sectored block trades and their insights into price discovery. Their electronic trading program provides clients with tools to manage their trades from pre-trade analytics to post-trade analysis.