Mr. Howard F. Ward, CFA,joined Gabelli Funds, LLC in 1995 and currently serves as GBL’s Chief Investment Officer of Growth Products. Mr. Ward is also a portfolio manager. Previously, he was managing director with Scudder, Stevens & Clark from 1982 to 1995. Prior to that, Ward was an investment officer in the institutional-investment department for four years with Brown Brothers, Harriman & Company. He is a member of the Investment Council Association of America and the New York Society of Security Analysts.