Paul S. Szczygiel

Barings LLC is a SEC-registered investment advisor headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. Founded in 1940, the firm is direct subsidiary of MM Asset Management Holding LLC and their ultimate parent is Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. (MassMutual). MassMutual?s affiliated companies include financial services companies that provide investment management services and individual protection insurance to clients worldwide. Barings provides a broad range of investment advisory and management services to institutional clients, registered investment companies, and other pooled investment vehicles.

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.

Columbia Management Investment Advisers LLC (CMIA) is a registered investment advisor and mutual fund manager headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. The firm is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE: AMP). The firm was formed in 2010 as the result of Ameriprise Financial Services' (AFS) acquisition of the long-term asset management business of Columbia Management Group (CMG) from Bank of America. AFS merged CMG's long-term asset management business with their subsidiary, RiverSource Investments LLC, under the name Columbia Management Investment Advisors. CMIA offers equity and fixed-income retail and institutional investment products for various types of clients.

Standard & Poor's Investment Advisory Services LLC (SPIAS) is investment research firm and registered investment advisor headquartered in New York City. The firm is a wholly-owned subsidiary of S&P Global, Inc. (NYSE: SPGI), formerly McGraw Hill Financial, Inc. SPIAS’ advisory services are generally offered to institutions (e.g., broker-dealers, investment advisers, investment companies and other financial institutions). SPIAS does not generally provide its advisory services directly to retail clients, but its services may be used by its clients in advising their own underlying clients, which may include retail clients. SPIAS also provides advisory consulting services to institutional clients and investment managers-of-investment funds, and investment sub-advisory services for registered investment companies, including open-end mutual funds and other institutions. S&P Global's operations consist of three reportable segments: S&P Global Ratings, S&P Global Platts, and S&P Dow Jones Indices. S&P Global Ratings is an independent provider of credit ratings, research and analytics to investors, issuers and market participants. It includes the NRSRO and certain other ratings-related businesses. S&P Global Platts provides essential price data, analytics, and industry insight that enable commodities markets to perform with greater transparency and efficiency. S&P Dow Jones Indices is a global index provider that maintains a wide variety of indices to meet an array of investor needs. In 2016, CFRA acquired S&P Global Market Intelligence’s Equity and Fund Research business (formerly known as S&P Capital IQ and SNL) from S&P Global, Inc.