A message to our clients from Co-Founder, Troy Bute, regarding Capstone’s business continuity plan during the Coronavirus pandemic.

These are certainly trying times. It goes without saying that the COVID-19 virus has had an enormous impact on the way we all go about our daily lives. We first want to say that we hope every one of you is safe and healthy. By now, you most likely heard all the recommendations on how we can protect ourselves from the COVID-19 virus. If you want a good refresher, please see the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) recommended guidelines on how best to do so.

As the general level of anxiety over the global spread of COVID-19 continues to increase, we thought it important to make sure that you are aware of the measures we have taken as a business to ensure our partnership with you remains uninterrupted by these events. We have a strong and tested business continuity plan that we developed for situations like this.

We have consistently invested heavily in technology. While there have been many components to our investments over the years, there are two that stand out today that are critical:

• The first is security – our highest priority with technology is using it to protect your information as much as we possibly can. This protection comes in the form of the secure network environment we have designed; the hardware and software tools we purchase and maintain; the vendors we choose to partner with; the business practices we employ; and the employee education we conduct.

• The second important component of our technology investment has been the flexible network architecture we have created. We designed our network using a virtual desktop structure, which permits anyone in our organization to securely access their in-office technology from anywhere. We have supported our team’s ability to work from home by providing all team members with the proper hardware to perform all their core responsibilities remotely. Basically, almost everything we do in the office, we can also do outside the office. We expect no disruptions in our ability to continue to proactively serve you.

Our most valuable resource is our people and we place the highest priority on their safety and well-being, as well as that of our clients and other visitors. We are closely monitoring updates from the CDC, the World Health Organization, and the Illinois Department of Public Health.

We have asked our team to adhere to all guidelines to reduce the transmission of viruses and communicable diseases both in the office and at home. We have asked team members to be aware of who they come into contact with outside out of the office and to take proper measures to self-quarantine if appropriate. We are being attentive to social distancing measures when in the office, including minimizing in-person meetings, not congregating in small groups, and relying more on teleconferencing. And we anticipate increasing the amount of our work hours that we perform remotely in the coming days and weeks.

Effective Friday March 20th, our entire team will be working remotely, almost exclusively. Each one of our team members is an important part of our Capstone family and we will continue to do everything possible to keep them safe while also ensuring that our responsibilities to you meet all needs and expectations.

While the duration of current events is unknowable right now, please recognize that we continue to be here for you throughout this time. We will continue to provide you with our thoughts on the impact of this virus on the economy and capital markets. In the meantime, you are important to us and we want to make sure you all remain safe. If there is anything we can do for you, please do not hesitate to lean on us. We will do our best to work through this together.

Sincerely,

Troy Bute, Co-Founder