Andrew S. Duff is chairman and chief executive officer of Piper Jaffray Companies, a position he has held since the completion of our spin-off from U.S. Bancorp on December 31, 2003. He has also served as chairman of Piper Jaffray & Co., our primary broker-dealer subsidiary since 2003, and as chief executive officer since 2000. Duff has been at Piper Jaffray since 1980, when he joined the institutional fixed income sales department. He was later promoted to manager of institutional sales and trading in 1994, and then served as president of the individual investor services and capital markets areas until 1996. During the time period that Piper Jaffray was owned by U.S Bancorp (1996 through 2003), Duff served as president of Piper Jaffray and vice chair of U.S. Bancorp for the wealth management group.

Duff holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Tufts University in Medford, Mass., and attended the Advanced Executive Program at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Duff currently serves on the board of directors of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), the University of St. Thomas board of trustees and the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business strategic board of governors. He is a longstanding member of the Walker Art Center board of trustees, a member of the board of directors of Arctic Cat Inc. and an advisor to the board of directors of Great Clips, Inc.

Chad Abraham is the co-head of Piper Jaffray investment banking and capital markets. In this role, he chairs the investment banking commitment committee and actively manages the Piper Jaffray corporate capital raising activities. Abraham joined Piper Jaffray in 1991, and has extensive experience in public and private financing, as well as M&A and other strategic transactions.

Prior to leading the capital markets effort, Abraham spent his career at Piper Jaffray building a leading technology underwriting and M&A advisory practice. In 1996, he opened the Piper Jaffray office in Menlo Park, Calif., and was instrumental in establishing a large technology and healthcare presence in Silicon Valley, including more than 100 investment banking and research professionals.

Abraham graduated with a bachelor’s degree in economics and political science from Northwestern University.

Chris Crawshaw is president and CEO of Advisory Research, Inc. (ARI), Piper Jaffray’s primary asset management subsidiary. He has 23 years of investment experience, including 15 years’ experience in investment management and eight years’ experience in institutional investment consulting.

Prior to joining ARI in 2001, Crawshaw served as a senior client service officer for Pacific Income Advisers. He began his career in finance as an independent investment consultant.

Crawshaw is currently a member of an auxiliary board of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Crawshaw holds a bachelor's degree in finance from the University of Tulsa and a Master of Business Administration degree with a concentration in finance from DePaul University. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder.

Christine Esckilsen is the chief human capital officer at Piper Jaffray. She sits on the firm’s leadership team and oversees human capital, marketing and communications, meetings and events, community relations, travel and real estate. She focuses on strategic issues and works with chairman and CEO Andrew Duff and other members of the leadership team to further organizational effectiveness, employee development and the firm’s overall culture. Esckilsen also serves as the in-house employment lawyer.

Prior to joining Piper Jaffray in 2002, Esckilsen was in private practice at Littler Mendelson in California, where she was a management-side employment litigator for national corporations.

Esckilsen has served on the board of directors for MAP for Nonprofits since 2010 and served as the board chair in 2014.

Esckilsen received a bachelor's degree in English and Spanish from Michigan State University and a Juris doctorate from the University of Michigan. She is a member of the bar associations of the states of California and Minnesota.

Frank Fairman is head of Piper Jaffray public finance services where he oversees the firm’s public finance activities, as well as the municipal derivative business. He has held this position since 1991 and is a member of the firm’s executive leadership team. He joined Piper Jaffray in 1983 as an investment banker in public finance. Prior to that, Fairman started his career as a consultant at Arthur Andersen & Co.

Fairman holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Yale University and a Master of Business Administration degree with a concentration in finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Fairman is a member of the municipal executive committee of SIFMA. He is also a member of the board of directors for Landmark College in Putney, Vt.; a founding board member of Beyond Walls, a Minnesota-based nonprofit; and a former board member of the Twin Cities chapter of the American Red Cross.

John Geelan is general counsel and secretary of Piper Jaffray Companies, a position he has held since 2012. He serves on the firm’s executive leadership team, and is general counsel and secretary of Piper Jaffray & Co., the firm’s primary broker-dealer subsidiary. Geelan joined Piper Jaffray in 2005 as assistant general counsel, responsible for managing the corporate secretary function and working with the board of directors and senior management across a number of areas, including governance, public company reporting, corporate development and treasury.

Prior to joining Piper Jaffray, Geelan was in private practice at Faegre & Benson LLP, where he worked in the corporate finance group for four years.

Geelan is a member of the board of governors of the University of St. Thomas Law School. He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and music from the University of St. Thomas and a Juris doctorate from the University of Notre Dame Law School.

Jeff Klinefelter is a managing director and global head of the Piper Jaffray equities businesses, including equity research, equity institutional sales and trading. He joined Piper Jaffray in 1997 as a research analyst and served as head of equity research from 2010–2012.

Klinefelter was previously a senior research analyst where he focused on specialty retailing, youth and teens, mass merchandising, and apparel and footwear brands. He was ranked the No. 1 stock picker for 2005, 2006 and 2008 in textiles apparel and luxury goods by StarMine and the No. 2 stock picker in clothing and accessories for 2005 in The Wall Street Journal. Klinefelter also received The Wall Street Journal “Best on the Street” award for the clothing and accessories category in 2006, and was nationally recognized for conducting proprietary teen retail research with high schools across the country.

Prior to joining Piper Jaffray, Klinefelter worked for Universal Asset-Based Services, Inc. and Target Stores.

Klinefelter received a bachelor's degree from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn. and a Master of Business Administration degree from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota.

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Scott LaRue is the global co-head of investment banking and capital markets at Piper Jaffray. Prior to assuming his current responsibilities, LaRue was based in Hong Kong, where he served as global co-head of the consumer and industrials investment banking groups. LaRue joined Piper Jaffray in 2003 and has spent much of his career covering the consumer sector, ultimately serving as co-head of Piper Jaffray consumer investment banking. LaRue was also a founding member and continues to serve on the investment committee for Piper Jaffray merchant banking group. In the course of LaRue’s 25 years in the investment banking industry, he has completed numerous transactions across a wide range of industries including packaged goods, food and beverage, agribusiness, retailing, real estate, gaming, lodging and diversified industrials. His extensive background in corporate finance includes mergers and acquisitions, public stock offerings, leveraged finance, asset securitizations and public and private debt offerings.

Prior to joining Piper Jaffray, LaRue led the food and beverage industry team at CSFB/DLJ, where he was the firm’s senior consumer product banker on the West Coast. Before that, he was a managing director at Bank of America Securities.

LaRue is a graduate of the University of Southern California.

Shawn Quant is the chief information officer for Piper Jaffray Companies and chief operating officer for Piper Jaffray Investment Management. He is responsible for the strategic direction and management of the firm’s business information systems, trading and technology infrastructure, global securities clearance and settlement, and middle office. Quant also serves as chief operating officer for Piper Jaffray Investment Management.

Prior to joining Piper Jaffray in 2004, Quant was a consultant working with financial services clients on system conversions, operations efficiency assessments, technology platform selection and strategic planning. He has also held positions in operations and information technology with American Express Financial Advisors, Norwest Investment Services and Wells Fargo Brokerage Services, and was chief information officer for a regional broker dealer providing retail, institutional and correspondent clearing services.

Quant earned a bachelor’s degree from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn.

Tom Schnettler is vice chairman of Piper Jaffray Companies, and managing director in the merchant banking group. In his merchant banking role, Schnettler serves as co-CEO of PJC Capital Partners LLC, the registered investment adviser to the Piper Jaffray merchant banking private funds. He initiated the merchant banking business at Piper Jaffray in 2008 and has overseen the division since that time. Schnettler also served as president and chief operating officer of Piper Jaffray from 2008 to 2011, and as chief financial officer between 2006 and 2008. Prior to that, Schnettler served as head of the Piper Jaffray corporate and institutional services business beginning in 2002, and as head/co-head of investment banking beginning in 2000. From 1989 to 2000, he co-founded and led the healthcare investment banking group. Schnettler joined the Piper Jaffray investment banking group in 1986.

Schnettler has served on the board of, or held board observation responsibility for the following portfolio companies: Torax Medical, Vitals, OrthoAccel and Sport Ngin. Over the course of his career he has served many not-for-profit organizations including Saint John’s University, The Lillehei Heart Institute at the University of Minnesota, Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the American Heart Association.

Schnettler graduated from Saint John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota and holds a Juris doctorate from Harvard Law School.

Debbra L. Schoneman is the chief financial officer for Piper Jaffray Companies. She joined Piper Jaffray in 1990 in the firm’s accounting department, and has held several senior finance management positions, including finance director of both equity and fixed income capital markets and, most recently, treasurer.

Schoneman is on the Allina Health board, serving as chair of the finance committee and a member of the audit committee. She is on the board of BestPrep, a nonprofit organization focused on business, career and financial literacy skills, having served as chair for two years. She has completed two mission trips to Haiti through the organization, Healing Haiti, and was awarded CFO of the Year by the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal in 2014.

Schoneman earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from Minnesota State University Mankato and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis.

Tom Smith is the chief strategy officer of Piper Jaffray, responsible for overseeing corporate development and investor relations. In his role, he leads corporate strategic planning and execution of development initiatives. Smith joined Piper Jaffray in 1998, covering software, internet & media, and semiconductors as an investment banker in the technology group.

Prior to Piper Jaffray, Smith was vice president of business development at Waste Management International, where he led its entry into the Asian markets. Before joining Waste Management, Smith was with Santa Fe International, where he engaged in M&A, joint venture formation and new market development.

Smith is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and the American Graduate School of International Management.

Brad Winges serves in a number of roles, including head of Piper Jaffray fixed income services, head of Piper Jaffray firm investments and trading, and president of Piper Jaffray Investment Management, LLC. In these separate roles, Winges is responsible for overseeing fixed income institutional sales, trading and underwriting; the firm’s portfolio management, trading and investment strategies; and the execution of advisory strategies and services performed by Piper Jaffray Investment Management, LLC (“PJIM”), a Piper Jaffray-registered investment advisory affiliate.

Winges joined Piper Jaffray in 1991 in municipal institutional sales and was appointed head of municipal sales, trading and underwriting in 2003. He has served in his current role as head of Piper Jaffray fixed income services since 2005. In 2011, Winges assumed the additional role as president of PJIM and also became head of Piper Jaffray firm investments in 2015.

Winges currently serves on the executive committee for the Bond Dealers of America and is also a board member for Gillette Children’s Specialty Care. Prior to joining Piper Jaffray, he was a member of the Chicago Board of Trade and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

Winges graduated from the University of Wisconsin Madison with a bachelor’s degree in economics.

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