Jeff Laverty

Founded in 1947 by Oscar Gruss and Emanuel Gruss, Oscar Gruss & Son, Inc. is a full-service broker/dealer located in New York City. The firm offers focused independent research and trading and execution services focusing particularly on special situations and convertibles. They conduct business with major Israeli institutional clients who execute trades in U.S. equities and options. Oscar Gruss & Son also maintains a trading desk in New York solely dedicated to European investors. The firm is a member of the NYSE and the SIPC.

Founded in 1988, McMahan Securities Co. LP is a broker-dealer located in Greenwich, Connecticut. They uncover companies early in their growth curve and create new and substantial investment opportunities for their clients. They focus their research solely on companies issuing convertibles. The companies they follow are often young, strong, growing firms. They tend to be those in need of capital that are properly positioned in their markets. Sometimes, they are companies that are not well known or recognized, making it difficult for them to successfully market an initial fixed-income offering. Instead, they issue convertibles, which are attractive to purchasers for their ability to be converted into equity, allowing participation in the company's rapid growth. Strategically, they look for securities with favorable risk/reward characteristics, those with a limited downside risk but a real opportunity to participate in the upside if the stock moves positively. Convertible securities can achieve both fixed income and equity type returns. They are a member of the NASD and the SIPC.

Founded in 2000, Midtown Partners & Co. LLC is a broker/dealer located in Tampa, Florida with additional offices in Boca Raton, Florida and New York City. They firm is a subsidiary of Apogee Financial Investments, Inc. Midtown Partners & Co. offers a full array of investment services including assisting private and public companies with advisory and financial services such as venture, expansion and LBOs, mergers and acquisitions, valuation services and professional document preparation and review. They cover a variety of industries including healthcare, technology/media/telecommunications (TMT), alternative energy, natural resources, aerospace and defense, consumer/retail, special situations and emerging markets. The firm is a member of the NASD and the SIPC.

Founded by James Giordano in 1999, J. Giordano Securities Group, Inc. is an independent, privately-owned full-service investment banking and brokerage firm headquartered in New York City. The firm is also known as NewOak Capital Markets LLC. They provide a range of investment banking services for small-cap and middle-market companies including private capital, initial and follow-on public equity offerings, convertible debt and preferred stock offerings, high yield offerings and M&A advisory services. J. Giordano Securities Group also provides equity and fixed-income research to institutional clients. The firm's research focuses on the following sectors: (1) industrial services (2) conventional energy (3) regional and special situations (4) shipping (5) healthcare (6) homeland defense and (7) business services. J. Giordano Securities Group is a member of the NASD and SIPC.

Founded in 2005 by Jeff Wallace, Highview Capital Management LLC is a hedge fund manager located in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois. They manage the Highview Avenue Energy Trading Ltd.

Value Line Publishing, Inc. is a research firm located in New York City. The firm is a subsidiary of Value Line, Inc. and their ultimate parent is Arnold Bernhard & Co., Inc. The firm publishes investment periodicals and related publications. They produce investment-related periodical publications covering various investments, including stocks, mutual funds, options, convertible securities and ETFs. Value Line's periodicals include The Value Line Investment Survey, The Value Line Mutual Fund Survey, The Value Line No-Load Fund Advisor, The Value Line Special Situations Service, The Value Line Options Survey, The Value Line Convertibles Survey, Value Line Select and The Value Line 600