Todd Burnside, Director and research analyst, is a member of the Fundamental Equity division of BlackRock's Alpha Strategies Group. He is a member of BlackRock's U.S. Large Cap Series equity team and is responsible for fundamental research coverage of U.S. large cap equities, with a focus on the Consumer Discretionary, Financials and Telecommunications sectors.

Mr. Burnside joined BlackRock in 2008. Previously, he was an analyst with Morgan Stanley Investment Management from 2003 to 2008, where he was responsible for covering U.S. large cap industrials and consumer stocks. Prior to that, he was a software equity analyst with Prudential Securities from 1999 to 2001. He began his career as an analyst with Nasdaq-Amex in 1997.

Mr. Burnside earned a BS degree in Finance from Penn State University in 1997 and an MBA degree in Finance from New York University in 2003.

Kyle G. McClements, CFA, Managing Director, is Head of the Equity Derivatives team within BlackRock's Fundamental Active Equity division. He is a portfolio manager for equity derivatives overlay and hedging assignments, including BlackRock's equity closed end funds.

Mr. McClement's' service with the firm dates back to 2004, including his years with State Street Research & Management (SSRM), which merged with BlackRock in 2005. At SSRM, Mr. McClement's was a Vice President and senior derivatives strategist responsible for equity derivative strategy and trading in the Quantitative Equity Group at State Street Research. Prior to joining State Street Research in 2004, Mr. McClement's was a senior trader/analyst at Deutsche Asset Management, responsible for derivatives, equity program, technology and energy sector, and foreign exchange trading Mr. McClement's began his career in 1994 as a derivatives analyst with Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette responsible for pricing and performance analytics for the derivatives trading desk.

Mr. McClements earned a BA degree in economics and political science from the University of Pennsylvania in 1993 and an MBA degree in finance and corporate accounting from the University of Rochester in 1998.

Christopher M. Accettella, Director, is a member of the Equity Derivatives team within BlackRock's Fundamental Active Equity division. He is a portfolio manager for equity derivatives overlay and hedging assignments, including BlackRock's equity closed end funds.

Prior to joining BlackRock in 2005, Mr. Accettella was an institutional sales trader with American Technology Research. From 2001 to 2003, he was with Deutsche Asset Management where he was responsible for derivatives and program trading. Prior to that, he was a senior associate in the Pacific Basin Equity Group at Scudder Investments Singapore Limited. Mr. Accettella began his investment career in 1997 as a portfolio analyst in the European Equity group of Scudder Kemper Investments, Inc.

Mr. Accettella earned a BA degree in economics and Asian studies from Colgate University in 1997.