The founder of Farmhouse Equity Research, LLC is J.P. Mark, a best-selling author and highly acclaimed equity research analyst. Until January 2002, he was Managing Director and Director of Research for Wells Fargo’s equity research department (now Wells Fargo Securities) in San Francisco. Mr. Mark created and managed the largest small-cap focused research team on the West Coast, and established new standards for quality of research and analyst integrity. He was broadly acknowledged by institutional investors as an advocate of systematic and continuous channel checking.

Concurrent to being Director of Research at Wells Fargo, J.P. Mark served as a Senior Equity Research Analyst covering the wireless telecommunications industry where he was widely quoted by national media including Bloomberg, AP and Reuters. He also served as a guest lecturer for Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business and Management.

Prior to joining Wells Fargo, Mr. Mark was a Vice President and Senior Equity Research Analyst at Dain Rauscher Wessels (now RBC Capital Markets) in Dallas and San Francisco. His coverage included a range of technology companies in data storage, PC peripherals and telecommunications. While at Dain, Mr. Mark was selected by Nokia Corporation to deliver the keynote address on capital markets at the Nokia Panorama in 1998. Mr. Mark previously worked in research at Montgomery Securities (now Banc of America Securities), where he co-covered five industry sectors, and at Robertson, Stephens & Co. as both a consultant and analyst.

Before joining the securities industry, Mr. Mark was the Chief Technology Analyst for Paul Kagan Associates where he wrote for seven cable TV newsletters. Before that he was a freelance writer and speechwriter in Boston and Los Angeles, and was published by The Wall Street Journal and Business Month. Mr. Mark also consulted with a number of corporate clients including Deloitte & Touche and McKinsey & Co. He was the co-author of two health/medical books published by Houghton Mifflin Co., and the author of the best-selling The Empire Builders, published by William Morrow & Co. Mr. Mark served on the staff of the Harvard Business School from 1984 to 1985 where he was a Research Associate/case writer for the General Management Department.

J.P. Mark received his MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business in 1983. He also received an MS in Environmental Health Engineering/Public Health from the Civil Engineering Department at Tufts University in 1982. He graduated, cum laude, from Tufts University in 1981. He is an NASD licensed securities principal, having successfully passed the Series 7, 63 and 24 exams.

Mr. Mark is happily married and resides on a small farm in Rhode Island with his wife and son.

C. Gregg Speicher, CFA, joined Farmhouse Equity Research, LLC as a Senior Analyst in April 2003. He is responsible for covering the enterprise software industry and related sectors. He has written research on the software industry for over four years, and is an advocate of the Farmhouse Equity Research investment philosophy driven by continuous and systematic channel checks.

Previously Mr. Speicher was Senior Vice President covering the software industry at Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. Before he joined Stifel, Nicolaus, he worked at Hoak Breedlove Wesneski & Co. in Dallas, Texas writing research on the software and telecommunications sectors. In his career, he has been published in the Wall Street Transcript and has been quoted by Bloomberg AP, Dow Jones, and Reuters. Before that he worked in the Portfolio Management division at H.D. Vest in Irving, Texas.

He received the Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 1998, and has also successfully passed the Series 7,63, and 24 exams. He graduated with a Bachelors of Science in Management from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1991.

Mr. Speicher lives with his wife and three children in McKinney, Texas.

Prior to entering the securities industry, Chuck spent five years with IBM Corp and IBM World Trade Corp. in Data Processing and Sales Management. He also spent four years working for Radio Free Europe in Munich, Germany as an Assistant Political Advisor providing guidance for the Czechoslovak Desk, and analysis of related political developments.

Chuck attended the Thacher School and Williams College, and received his BA from Stanford University in 1950 in Political Science. He served in the US Army in 1951, and did graduate work in Finance at New York University School of Business. Chuck lives in the Pacific Heights area of San Francisco, is married with two grown children, and in his spare time avidly pursues fly-fishing, wing-shooting, skiing and squash, as well as reading modern history.

Dr. Yong Zhu is the Chief of Health Care, Biotechnology and Medical Devices Research for Farmhouse Equity Research. Prior to joining the Firm, Dr.Zhu spent six years in clinical research at the University of Kentucky where he specialized in oncology and molecular pharmacology. He has been published numerous times in prestigious medical journals including Cancer Research and Oncogene, and was the discoverer of a molecule that can be used as a potential drug to treat several types of cancers.

Dr. Zhu’s other business experience includes stints as a Security Analyst for Eastwind Asset Management, and as an Associate for Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. He received an MBA in Finance from Pepperdine University, Graziadio School of Business, a BS in Biology from the University of Science and Technology of China, and a Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky, College of Medicine. Dr. Zhu resides in Woodland Hills, California

Disclosure

Our research does not represent a complete analysis of every material fact regarding any company, industry or security. The opinions expressed by our analysts reflect the judgments of the authors at the date published and are subject to change without notice. Facts have been obtained from sources considered reliable, but are not guaranteed. Farmhouse Equity Research, LLC, its directors and employees and their families are prohibited from having a position in the securities of the companies we cover. Farmhouse Equity Research, LLC is an independent research firm and is not affiliated with any investment bank. Farmhouse Equity Research, LLC does not act as placement agent for securities for which it has research coverage, and we do not attempt to raise capital for companies. Farmhouse Equity materials, including our logo and trademark, are copyrighted; reproduction or redistribution of our reports or other materials, either electronically or via hard copy, without express written permission, is prohibited. Additional information is available upon request.