Our firm is a large investor in Bank of America common stock ("BAC") as a result of the sale of our family owned bank, Charter Bancshares, Inc. to NationsBank in 1996. As a result of our ownership in BAC, during 2009 we became active in working to change the corporate governance and culture of the company away from management's focus on size and market share towards a focus on risk - return tradeoffs and maximizing shareholder value.

During 2009, we were successful (along with others) in causing shareholders to vote to separate the Chairman and CEO position at Bank of America. This was (and is the only) the first time that a company in the Standard & Poors 500 index had been forced by shareholders to separate the chairman and CEO position. (see WSJ story dated 4/30/2009) In addition, we were successful in generating significant "against" votes for three directors, each of whom resigned within months of the 2009 shareholder meeting.

During our shareholder campaign, we communicated with shareholders through Exempt Solicitation filings made with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Links to our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission are set forth below. In addition, we utilized other methods of communicating with shareholders, including direct mail, interviews with various media, and television commercials in select markets.