Gretchen J. Knoell

Bear, Stearns & Co., Inc. is a global investment banking, securities trading and brokerage firm located in New York City with additional offices in Dallas, Boston and San Francisco. The firm is a subsidiary Bear Sterns Cos., Inc. (NYSE: BSC). Their equity research team consists of senior analysts located throughout the world. In addition to domestic coverage, they have research teams focusing on Latin America, Asia and Europe. The analysts use a bottom-up approach to stock selection. The Bear Stearns fixed-income research department provides coverage of every sector of the fixed-income universe. The financial analytics and structured transactions group (F.A.S.T) provides investment research, fixed-income portfolio management and analytical systems, trading technology and general financial expertise. The group also provides a broad range of services to financial institutions including asset-liability management, balance sheet restructuring, receivables-based financing analysis, security and portfolio analysis, peer analysis, and historical and real-time market-based information.

Digital Island, Inc. provides network services for e-business applications. The company is based in San Francisco, CA and has subsidiaries in the United States.

Sequence Design, Inc. manufactured electronic design automation equipment. The company offered Power-Aware SoC Design Flow, which enables power-aware SoC design from system level to signoff; Power Theater, a set of power tools that creates power efficiency for SoC designs; Columbus-RLC Extraction for nanometer SoC designs; Columbus-Turbo, an extraction for nanometer standard-cell designs; Columbus-AMS, a RLC extraction for analogs; and CoolTime, a cell-based electrical integrity solution for concurrent analysis of voltage drop, power, electromigration, timing, and signal integrity for nanometer SoC designs. The company was founded in 1995 and was headquartered in Cupertino, CA.

Located in New York City, Punk, Ziegel & Co. is a specialty investment bank providing a full range of research, equity market making and corporate finance services focusing on high growth sectors within the healthcare technology, biotechnology and life sciences industries. Punk, Ziegel's, in-depth securities analysis begins with the identification of high-growth industries and timely investment ideas before they have been fully exploited by the investment community. Within these industry niches, their analysts pinpoint companies offering leadership potential and maximum investment opportunities. Issue-oriented, in-depth analysis is then generated on a continuing basis to insure that their investment and corporate finance advice remains accurate and up-to-date.

Nufern, Inc. manufactures and develops optical fibers. Its products and services include optical fibers, fiber lasers, fiber amplifiers, defense technology, coil winding services, educational components and test services. The company was founded in March 2000 and is headquartered in East Granby, CT.

Frictionless Commerce, Inc. provides supplier relationship management (SRM) software solutions. It enables large and mid-size enterprises to perform spend analysis, supplier profiling and performance management, sourcing, and contract management. The company was founded on June 11, 1998 and is headquartered in Cambridge, MA.

CureLauncher, Inc. operates a clinical trial matching website. It enables users find suitable medical treatments based on their conditions. The company website is a one-stop shop for people looking to participate in clinical trials. CureLauncher was founded by Stephen J. Goldner and David Fuehrer in June 2012 and is headquartered in Bloomfield Hills, MI.

Needham & Co. LLC (Needham) is a registered investment advisor and broker/dealer headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1985 and is a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of The Needham Group, Inc. Needham provides corporate and institutional clients with high quality research, corporate access, capital markets and trading execution services in both the public and private markets, with an emphasis on growth companies.