RICE SECURITIES - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• Engineer
• Chairman and Chief Executive Officer / Rice Financial Products Company
• Fortune Magazine, June 14, 2004

Mr. Rice's career in investment banking began at Merrill Lynch, where he focused on applying taxable fixed income interest rate swap concepts to the municipal markets. His many accomplishments while at Merrill Lynch include a large, complex swap-based refunding of 200 separate municipal loans for the District of Columbia, which was an Institutional Investor Deal of the Year. After forming Rice Financial as a municipal derivatives boutique, Mr. Rice transitioned the firm's focus to municipal bond underwriting in the wake of the financial crisis, then successfully launched several new businesses, each one narrowly focused around the core principle of achieving a comparative advantage based on analytical talent rather than simply firm scale. Mr. Rice has built an equity trade execution business, a short duration secondary fixed income business, an educational lending practice providing direct loans to Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and a private equity asset management business focused on investment in U.S. infrastructure projects. Mr. Rice received an MBA with Distinction from Harvard Business School and a bachelor's degree in engineering with honors from Kettering University. He has received honorary doctoral degrees from both the University of Arkansas and Arkansas Baptist University. Mr. Rice was appointed by the Governor of New York and confirmed by the State Senate to serve on the Board of Directors for the New York State Thruway Authority, where he serves as Chair of the Audit Committee. In recent years, Mr. Rice served on the Board of Directors for Kettering University, New York City's Head Start Program and New York City's United Neighborhood Houses. His FINRA registrations include Series 7, 24, 50, 52, 53 and 63. Mr. Rice has been featured in numerous business publications, including the Wall Street Journal, the Bond Buyer, and Fortune Magazine, and has received several notable awards, including Entrepreneur of the Year by the National Association of Securities Professionals (NASP). In 2022, Mr. Rice was named among New York's Notable Black Leaders in Crain's. From the beginning, Rice Financial has been a firm with a technical focus. Founder Don Rice, an engineer by training who later received an MBA from Harvard Business School, began his career in investment banking at Merrill Lynch in the 1980s, applying taxable fixed income interest rate swap concepts to the municipal markets. Don left Merrill in 1993 to form Rice Financial Products Company as a municipal derivatives boutique, and the new firm quickly became recognized among the most technically innovative companies in municipal finance, executing derivative transactions totaling nearly $30 billion in aggregate notional amount, none of which ever resulted in an unfavorable outcome for the client. In the wake of the financial crisis, Rice Financial shifted its business model to focus on municipal bond underwriting, bringing many existing municipal swap clients into the business, then successfully launched several additional businesses, each one narrowly focused around the core principle of achieving a comparative advantage based on analytical talent rather than simply firm scale. This approach to growth has served Rice Financial, and our clients, well. Today, Rice Financial is a participant in more than 10% of all infrastructure bond financings completed in the United States. Our institutional fixed income trading desk averages $10 billion in fixed income sales annually. Our service as a direct lender to HBCUs has extended to more than 40 schools, with many loans exceeding $100 million. Our institutional equity practice trades as much as 120 million shares a month. The firm's Infrastructure Finance business has already made more than $1 billion available for investment in U.S. infrastructure projects. And our experience underwriting corporate bonds has grown to include bond financings for major clients like American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Diageo USVI and Convergys.

Job Titles:

• Controller / FINOP

Karen Nazzareno has 26 years of experience in financial services, including 10 years in the Controller/FINOP role. At Rice Financial, Ms. Nazzareno's responsibilities include accounting and financial reporting, audit coordination and fiscal compliance. She also manages payroll at the firm. Ms. Nazzareno joined Rice Financial in 2019. Previous positions included working as a corporate controller, CPA and audit supervisor. Ms. Nazzareno graduated magna cum laude from Dowling College. In addition to her CPA certification, she holds a Series 27 registration (Broker Dealer FINOP) from FINRA.

Job Titles:

• Chief Administrative Officer
• General Counsel
• Internal Legal Counsel for Rice Financial Products Company

Lisa-Sheri Torrence serves as internal legal counsel for Rice Financial Products Company as well as Chief Administrative Officer and Head of Information Technology. Before joining the firm in 2010, Ms. Torrence gained a broad range of experience in several business sectors, including positions with Citibank, Chase Bank, Hertz, SFX Entertainment/Clear Channel and EMI Music Group. Ms. Torrence was a Judicial Intern for the Honorable Justice Charles E. Ramos, New York State Supreme Court, Commercial Division, and a Legal Fellow of the 15th Congressional District for Congressman Charles B. Rangel, former Chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means. Ms. Torrence received her Juris Doctor degree from Fordham University School of Law and her Bachelor of Arts degree from Hofstra University. She is admitted to practice in the State of New York and is a member of the American Bar Association, New York State Bar Association, New York County Bar Association and Queens County Bar Association. She holds a Series 7 registration from FINRA.

Job Titles:

• Managing Director, Head of Equity Sales and Trading

Job Titles:

• Managing Director, Head of Fixed Income Sales and Trading

Tim Barbera has 26 years of municipal bond trading experience, including institutional sales and brokering. In the past 10 years, he has provided underwriting services on more than 1,000 debt financings totaling $220 billion. As Head of Fixed Income Underwriting, Sales and Trading at Rice Financial, Mr. Barbera manages all of Rice Financial's fixed income sales, trading and underwriting activity and serves as the firm's senior underwriter. Mr. Barbera received an MBA and a bachelor's degree from Seton Hall University, where he currently serves as an Adjunct Professor of Finance. He is pursuing his PhD from Drexel University. He holds Series 7, 52, 53 and 63 FINRA registrations.

Job Titles:

• Vice Chairman, Rice Financial Products Company

Will Fisher joined Rice Financial 16 years ago. Since 2009, he has served as CEO of Rice Capital Access Program, LLC, a division of the firm providing direct loans to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education. Mr. Fisher has more than 30 years of investment banking experience. In addition to his role completing HBCU loans, he provides investment banking services to clients throughout the southeastern United States and to education clients nationwide. Issuers he has served as senior managing underwriter include the City of Atlanta (GA), the City of Atlanta and Fulton County Recreation Authority, Hinds County (MS), Jackson Public Schools (MS), Morgan State University (MD), Morehouse College (GA), Tuskegee University (AL), Howard University (DC) and Hampton University (VA). He has also provided financial advisory services to the Atlanta Botanical Garden (GA), Jackson State University (MS), Grambling State University (LA) and the University Financing Foundation (a Georgia Tech related entity). Mr. Fisher currently leads the firm's engagement as the Designated Bonding Authority for the U.S. Department of Education HBCU Capital Financing Program, providing loan origination and servicing services to a billion dollar portfolio. Since September 2009, he has closed more than 50 loans through the Program totaling $2.3 billion. In an earlier role as Interim Executive Director of the City of Atlanta and Fulton County Recreation Authority, Mr. Fisher was responsible for ongoing maintenance, renovation and upkeep of Turner Field Stadium, Philips Arena, the Atlanta Zoo and the John A. White Park. Other previous positions include serving as an advisor in the higher education practice at Public Financial Management (PFM) and a manager at M. R. Beal & Company. Mr. Fisher received his JD from Emory University School of Law and holds a BBA from Howard University. He currently serves on the boards for Jarvis Christian College, TX (Vice Chairman); Baltimore Polytechnic Institute Foundation, MD (Trustee); and American Opportunity Foundation, an affordable housing not-for-profit (Trustee). Mr. Fisher is on the active roster of arbitrators for FINRA. His FINRA registrations include Series 7, 50, 53 and 63.