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Raymond Pirtle began his investment career at J.C. Bradford & Company in Nashville. For over 20 years while at Bradford, he was a registered institutional salesman and general partner. From 1989 until 2001, Raymond was a director of Equitable Securities (SunTrust Equitable) and co-manager of institutional sales. In 2001 Raymond, along with five partners, founded Avondale Partners, a firm dedicated to institutional research, sales and trading for small market cap companies. The other main focus of Avondale was investment banking for both private and public companies, representing numerous industry sectors such as healthcare, industrial and financial as well as various levels of corporate size and maturity. Since 1985 Mr. Pirtle has served at various times on the board of both public and private companies and is experienced in Sarbanes-Oxley Act and related 404 compliance regulations. Mr. Pirtle currently is the principal in Claridge Company providing investment-related services to small to mid-size companies.