Registration Opens for Midwest Investment Conference 2014

Registration is now open for Midwest Investment Conference 2014, taking place at the Cleveland Convention Center in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2014.

The conference is hosted by CFA Society Cleveland, a non-profit professional organization dedicated to providing investment-related programs and services to area investment experts.

Senior management teams from publicly-traded companies will make presentations in general sessions, and host one-on-one and small group breakout meetings with qualified institutional analysts and portfolio managers during the event. The general sessions will be organized into specific industry tracks and conducted concurrently in three auditoriums. Pre-arranged breakout meetings will be held in private rooms throughout the venue.

Midwest Investment Conference 2014 is an opportunity for public companies to save time and enhance the quality of their non-deal roadshow meetings in a proximate and economical setting. It also provides a way for them to update shareholders, and introduce their investment merits to prospective portfolio managers and buy-side analysts who represent leading investment managers across the country.

“Our Society’s mission is to provide professional development opportunities for investment experts, consistent with the ideals of excellence, integrity and education as set forth by CFA Institute. This event, which is open to all professional investors, offers a great opportunity for due diligence and direct corporate access with public companies,” said Wayne Chamberlain, CFA, president of CFA Society Cleveland.

Latest Roster of Attending Companies:

• Allegheny Technologies Inc. (NYSE: ATI)
• AmTrust Financial (Nasdaq: AFSI)
• Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE: AIT)
• CBIZ (Nasdaq: CBIZ)
• Cliffs Natural Resources (NYSE: CLF)
• DDR Corp. (NYSE: DDR)
• EQT Corp. (NYSE: EQT)
• Farmer’s National Banc (Nasdaq: FMNB)
• Hyster-Yale (NYSE: HY)
• Lancaster Colony (Nasdaq: LANC)
• Materion Corporation (Nasdaq: MTRN)
• National Interstate Corporation (Nasdaq: NATL)
• Nordson Corporation (Nasdaq: NDSN)
• Olympic Steel (Nasdaq: ZEUS)
• RPM International (NYSE: RPM)
• Stepan Co. (NYSE: SCL)
• Universal Stainless & Alloy Products (Nasdaq: USAP)

The conference is open to institutional portfolio managers, equity analysts and other qualified financial and investment professionals. The standard attendance fee of $199 is waived for CFA Institute members, who register before October 31, 2014. Investor attendees who register before October 31, 2014, and are not a member of CFA Institute, will pay the standard attendance fee of $199. After October 31, all registrants (including CFA Institute members) will be required to pay the late registration fee of $399.

To register, please visit the conference website at: http://midwestinvestmentconference.org/registration.html

“This conference model was developed based on several years of soliciting input from both public issuers and institutional investors. Our objective was to address specific concerns being expressed on both sides of the table and genuinely advance capital markets and the free-enterprise system,” said Matthew J. Dennis, CFA, Midwest Investment Conference organizer.

Institutional investors and analysts heavily influence the flow and allocation of capital in society, and require direct access to senior management teams to properly conduct company and industry-specific due diligence, according to Dennis.

“At some sell-side conferences, preferential treatment is given to investors who generate the greatest commissions for the trading desk,” he said. “Public company executives, who are the custodians of substantial assets, indicate that relatively higher-commission-generating institutions tend to have higher-than-average portfolio turnover and thus shorter-than-average investment horizons. With our model, corporate access is not predicated on coverage lists, trading volume, commission levels, or assets under management.”

The inaugural conference took place in 2013, and drew institutional investors from around the country, Dennis said.

“Public companies were able to meet with money managers, independent research analysts, and multiple sell-side analysts, some with buy-side clients in-tow, at the same venue,” he said.

Financial support for Midwest Investment Conference 2014 comes from a supplemental fee paid by the presenting companies and from industry sponsors. This year’s sponsors include Platinum Sponsor, Business Wire, a global market leader in commercial press release distribution; and Silver Sponsor, RR Donnelley, a global provider of integrated communications. Contributing sponsors are Clear Perspective Group, LLC, an investor relations consulting boutique; Morningstar Inc., a provider of extensive products and services for individual investors, financial advisors, asset managers, and retirement plan providers and sponsors; and the NIRI Cleveland/Northern Ohio Chapter, a non-profit organization promoting common interests of individuals engaged in the investor relations profession.

Sponsoring the conference offers a touch-point with decision-makers at public companies as well as investment and asset-management firms. Sponsorships help defray costs associated with hosting the event, and showcase a commitment to corporate transparency and the capital markets.

To learn more about sponsorship opportunities or how an organization can register to present, please visit www.midwestinvestmentconference.org or www.go2mic.org or contact conference administration at 216-255-6290.

About the Midwest Investment Conference

The Midwest Investment Conference model was created in 2011 to conduct institutional investment conferences addressing the needs of both publicly-held companies and professional investors. The unique model provides a conflict-free and cost effective means of enhancing corporate transparency and investor relations initiatives for companies while providing direct corporate access for institutional investors and analysts. For more information on this year’s conference, please visit the event online at www.midwestinvestmentconference.org, follow conference updates on Twitter @MWInvConference and use the hashtag #MWIC14.

About CFA Society Cleveland

CFA Society Cleveland was founded in 1950 and provides investment-related programs and services to its Northeast Ohio-based membership. The society has 480 members and is a member society of CFA Institute, which currently represents 109,000 members including the world’s 100,000 CFA Charterholders in more than 130 countries.