Virtual
The Global IR Forum brought together investor relations officers from different sectors, markets and regions to learn how to adapt their IR program at a time when markets are rapidly evolving and shareholder bases are changing. During our three-day forum we held over 30 sessions and brought together over 350 attendees across 39 countries.
WHAT WAS NEW FOR 2020?
Unique to challenges in your sector: Economic downturns impact sectors in different ways and on different timescales. Our sector-specific discussions allowed attendees to learn from peers, understand analyst outlook on the future risks and opportunities, benchmark their IR performance and discover what makes investors select one company over another in the same sector.
Flexible and personalized: Aligned with global time zones and providing access to more than 35 sessions, attendees had the choice to engage with the most relevant topics at the time that suited their working day.
Global and interactive: Attendees took advantage of the chance to interact with investor relations officers and investors from across the globe through breakout discussions and live video conversations as part of the largest virtual gathering of international IR professionals.
The global pandemic has accelerated digitalization, increased awareness on health practices and had a significant impact on the global economy. The nature of your industry and how it reacts to macro cycles presents unique challenges for your business and investor base. This year, the Global IR Forum featured sector-focused sessions, so whether you’re managing risk or maximizing opportunity you can hear from leading heads of IR at public companies, investors and analysts in the following sectors:
07:00 AM
Spotlight on Asia Pacific: Outlook for markets and investor relations
This session will examine how regional and international investors are interpreting political risk and trade tensions in the Asia Pacific markets and how IR teams can capitalize on the reduced need for in-person roadshows.
Moderator: Laurie Havelock, editor-at-large, IR Magazine
Camilla Ayling, Equity analyst, Legal and General Investment Management
Jessica Jook, Chief strategy officer and vice president for group investor relations, Canvest Environmental Protection Group
Simon Weston, Fund manager, AXA Investment Management
Joshua Lee, Senior portfolio manager, Bank of Singapore
08:00 AM
Networking break
08:30 AM
Investor relations in the Technology, Media and Telecoms sector
Outlook for the sector, a view from the top and operational excellence in IR
IR in Technology, Media and Telecoms: Outlook for the sector, a view from the top and operational excellence in IR
In this session, you will hear a CFO’s perspective on the outlook for the TMT sector, understand her views on the value of investor relations and discuss operational excellence in investor relations.
Moderator: Laurie Havelock, editor-at-large, IR Magazine
Inger Folkeson, Chief financial officer, Digi
09:15 AM
IR in the basic materials sector: Communication and compensation in commodities
Communication and compensation in commodities
IROs in commodities are facing price volatility in the face of plunges in demand, as well as raw material risk during periods of supply chain disruption.
During the basic materials session, we examine the future of commodities with the scale of passive investments in the sector, and discuss how IR can communicate about employee safety, raw material sustainability and remuneration.
Moderator: Laurie Havelock, editor-at-large, IR Magazine
Yulia Chekunaeva, Director of capital markets and strategic initiatives, EN+ Group
Eline Hilal, Director of investor relations, insurance and corporate secretary, Aluminium Bahrain
10:00 AM
Expo break
11:00 AM
Spotlight on EMEA: Outlook for markets and investor relations
This session aims to provide insight into the speed and magnitude of the recession and consequent recovery, specifically looking at how interest rates impact debt and equity markets and the issues impacting fund flows in the EMEA region.
Moderator: Laurie Havelock, editor-at-large, IR Magazine
Rosanna Burcheri, Fund manager, Artemis Funds
Shaunak Mazumder, Global equities portfolio manager, Legal and General Investment Management
Martin Ziegenbalg, Executive vice president and head of investor relations, Deutsche Post DHL Group
12:00 PM
Networking break
12:30 PM
Investor relations in the Consumer Cyclical sector
Adapting messaging for a cyclical investor base
Discuss how to balance the long-term and short-term dynamics in your messaging to attract value investors but maintain trust with growth and GARP investors.
Moderator: Laurie Havelock, editor-at-large, IR Magazine
Kristin Kohler, Global head of investor relations, Dufry
Lili Huang, Vice president of investor relations, NagaCorp
13:15 PM
IR in the utilities sector
In conversation with award winning Utilities IROs
Join this session to hear interviews with the utilities sector award winners from the 2020 IR Magazine Awards in Europe and the US. Award winners will discuss the impact of Covid-19 on the sector and how they ran their investor relations programs during these past 6-months.
Moderator: Laurie Havelock, editor-at-large, IR Magazine
Monica Girardi, Head of group investor relations, Enel
Sri Maddipati, Vice president of investor relations, CMS Energy
14:00 PM
Expo Break
15:00 PM
Spotlight on the Americas: Outlook for markets and investor relations
In this session, which examines the key points for investor relations and capital markets in the Americas we examine the impact that the US election is likely to have on the region and discuss the future of equity markets given the rise of alternative sources of funding for companies.
Moderator: Ben Ashwell, editor, IR Magazine
Mike Coffey, Vice president of strategy, Q4
Aaron Howald, Head of investor relations, Louisiana Pacific Corporation
Michael Spencer, General manager of investor relations, Microsoft
16:00 PM
Networking break
16:30 PM
Investor relations in the Financial sector
Social responsibility and shareholder requirements after the pandemic
Understand the buyside’s concerns and perspective on the sector and how to communicate with your shareholders during tough times.
At a time when financial services firms need to find the delicate balance between financial health and shareholder returns we look at how IR teams can manage expectations with their shareholders and broaden their investor base by engaging and reporting around material ESG issues in the finance sector.
Moderator: Ben Ashwell, editor, IR Magazine
Brooke Carillo, Head of strategy and corporate development, Annaly
Chad Reed, Head of investor relations, Hannon Armstrong
17:15 PM
Investor relations in the Healthcare sector
Build credibility and understand how healthcare policies will impact IR
The global pandemic has had a significant impact on health policies and the healthcare sector globally. During this session we look at what IR can do to build management’s credibility with investors at a time of increased interest.
We examine how IR teams can help onboard new investors that may need bringing up to speed on the scientific details of the businesses and examine what lies ahead for M&A activity in the sector.
Moderator: Ben Ashwell, editor, IR Magazine
Myesha Lacy, Vice president of investor relations and corporate communication, Adverum
18:00 PM
End of day 1
07:00 AM
Rethinking IR budgets
Re-assign or reduce?
The reduction in travel has saved many companies a large proportion of their IR budget, but there is still pressure on companies to look for efficiencies in how they operate. Join the debate around how IR budgets should look in the short and medium-term, and which areas need to be prioritized.
Moderator: Laurie Havelock, editor-at-large, IR Magazine
Saravanan Desigamanie, Head of strategy and communications, Malakoff
David Nicol, Executive vice president and chief financial officer, Metro Pacific Investments
08:00 AM
Networking break
08:30 AM
[Interactive session] Remote working and reporting in 2020: How to pandemic-proof your reporting processes
Social distancing policies have disrupted how we collaborate, communicate and how we report. If the work-from-home trend continues throughout the next reporting cycles, changes need to be made to your processes to maintain quality reporting. Join this interactive session to share views and opinions on:
• Your top reporting challenges resulting from remote working and the pandemic
• How to collaborate around reporting, while ensuring the security of information while your teams are separated
• Protecting your team’s mental health with the intense workload during the reporting period
Moderator: Laurie Havelock, editor, IR Magazine
Richard Fosbury, Client relations, CtrlPrint
Luke Newton, Client relations, CtrlPrint
09:15 AM
Covid-19 and climate: Lessons learned from the pandemic that you can apply to your whole ESG program
The pandemic has bought into focus social and human capital however climate action is still a big factor for investor engagement and decision making. In this session we discuss how to balance the focus on ESG challenges that relate directly to the pandemic with other material issues.
In this session we also look to discuss how the pandemic has highlighted changes that IR teams can make to their systems and processes for a more robust ESG program as we head into 2021.
Moderator: Steven Wade, Head of event content, IR Magazine
Marco Masip, Head of ESG investors, Telefonica
10:00 AM
Expo break
11:00 AM
How will Mifid II and Covid-19 change the nature of corporate access?
Mifid II focused attentions on the cost of corporate access and Covid-19 opened eyes to the expanded reach of virtual meetings, but how will access to management evolve?
During this session we look at how to manage investors’ increased expectation around the availability of management and examine how to improve engagement during virtual group meetings. Finally, this session will provide advice on how to start new relationships over a virtual setting at a time when investor bases are in flux.
Moderator: Wim Allegaert, Chair, BelIR
Victor Drozdov, Director of business communications and head of investor relations, Polyus
Patrick Kofler, Head of investor relations, Zalando
12:00 PM
Networking break
12:30 PM
Investor relations in the Financial sector
Social responsibility and shareholder requirements after the pandemic
Understand the buyside’s concerns and perspective on the sector and how to communicate with your shareholders during tough times.
At a time when financial services firms need to find the delicate balance between financial health and shareholder returns we look at how IR teams can manage expectations with their shareholders and broaden their investor base by engaging and reporting around material ESG issues in the finance sector.
Moderator: Laurie Havelock, editor-at-large, IR Magazine
Rob Gurner, Head of investor relations, Plus500
Richard O’Connor, Global head of investor relations, HSBC
13:15 PM
Investor relations in the Consumer Non-cyclical sector
Managing short-horizon investors and showcasing the tangible digitally
Discuss the best way to showcase tangible products and operations for investors in a virtual setting.
Learn how the accelerated shift to e-commerce and changes in consumer behavior have changed investor thinking on consumer staples and what IR can do to manage an increased focus in the sector from short-horizon investors.
Moderator: Laurie Havelock, editor-at-large, IR Magazine
Phil Terpolilli, Director of investor relations, Presitge consumer healthcare
14:00 PM
Expo break
15:00 PM
What’s the best way to engage new investors these days?
Targeting is significantly more crucial and difficult during periods of disruption, both to markets and the IR meeting schedule.
During this session we examine the best ways to build new relationships remotely. We will specifically advise on the best ways to use alternative methods of engaging with investors and how to change your messaging and approach in a bid to enhance visibility.
Ben Ashwell, editor, IR Magazine
Michael Becker, Executive vice president of strategic partnerships and initiatives, Business Wire
Mark Kinarney, Senior director of investor relations, Lantheus Medical Imaging
Clare-Marie Hill, Corporate access, Fidelity Investments
16:00 PM
Networking break
16:30 PM
Investor relations in the Technology, Media and Telecoms sector
Educating generalist investors and demonstrating your human capital efforts
The global pandemic and subsequent government advice has accelerated many of the trends in accelerating growth in TMT. As a result, there has been an increase of generalist investors in the space and IR teams need to adapt their messaging accordingly. This is happening at a time when human capital, a key asset for technology firms, is gaining focus from society and investors alike.
This session will discuss the necessary changes IROs should make in their investor engagement, messaging and ESG reporting as a result.
Moderator: Ben Ashwell, editor, IR Magazine
Elena Rosman, Vice president of investor relations, Aptiv
Lucy Rutishauser, Executive vice president and chief financial officer, Sinclair Broadcast Group
17:15 PM
Investor relations in the Energy sector
How has covid-19 affected the energy sector, investor engagement and the energy transition?
In this session we will look into the challenges that the energy sector has faced this year and learn how companies can create better liquidity and improve their access to capital through their investor relations efforts.
Hear about how companies and investors are communicating during turbulent and socially distant times.
We will discuss the impact that the oil price has had on energy companies and investors in the sector and look into how the energy transition and ESG engagement have evolved as a result of the macro environment in 2020.
Moderator: Ben Ashwell, editor, IR Magazine
Sean Brown, Chief financial officer, Gibson Energy
Brian Rice, Investment officer, CalSTRS
18:00 PM
End of day 2
07:00 AM
Active vs. passive in the coronavirus context
Will Covid-19 result in a snap-back to active management, or will the trend to passive continue?
During this session we debate the impact that Covid-19 has had on market structure and the future of passive investing.
We will also explore how IR can manage their passive investor base going forward, including looking at the governance efforts as passive investors apply more pressure on ESG and what IR teams can do if they are suddenly included or excluded from an index.
Moderator: Laurie Havelock, editor-at-large, IR Magazine
Michael Green, Partner chief strategist and portfolio manager, Logica Funds
Henrik von Lukowicz, Senior investor relations manager, Befesa
08:00 AM
Networking break
08:30 AM
Investor relations in the Consumer Non-cyclical sector
Managing short-horizon investors and showcasing the tangible digitally
Discuss the best way to showcase tangible products and operations for investors in a virtual setting.
Learn how the accelerated shift to e-commerce and changes in consumer behavior have changed investor thinking on consumer staples and what IR can do to manage an increased focus in the sector from short-horizon investors.
Laurie Havelock, editor-at-large, IR Magazine
David Akers, Head of investor relations, The a2 Milk Company
09:15 AM
Investor relations in the Financial sector
Social responsibility and shareholder requirements after the pandemic
Understand the buyside’s concerns and perspective on the sector and how to communicate with your shareholders during tough times.
At a time when financial services firms need to find the delicate balance between financial health and shareholder returns we look at how IR teams can manage expectations with their shareholders and broaden their investor base by engaging and reporting around material ESG issues in the finance sector.
Moderator: Laurie Havelock, editor-at-large, IR Magazine
Walid Mourad, Director portfolio manager and analyst, Lazard Gulf
10:00 AM
Expo break
11:00 AM
How to meet and manage investor expectations: A live investor Q&A
Back by popular demand, Lorenzo Crispoltoni will be sharing his views about how public companies can better help investors make informed decisions and will be answering all of your questions on the big issues of the day.
Moderator: Laurie Havelock, editor-at-large, IR Magazine
Lorenzo Crispoltoni, Head of equity and alternative investments, Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo
11:30 AM
A view from the top: Talking business trends and the investor narrative with Voya’s Chief Financial Officer
A CFO plays a lead role in making a company’s strategy and performance clear to a multitude of external stakeholders, including shareholders and buy and sell-side analysts. To get a perspective into how the CFO viewpoint can help guide the company and its investor narrative – particularly in times when economic and other trends are impacting businesses around the globe – we sit down with Mike Smith to learn more about his perspective on all of this and how IR plays an important role in fostering strong external relationships.
Moderator: Ben Ashwell, editor, IR Magazine
Mike Smith, Chief financial officer and interim chief risk officer, Voya Financial
12:00 PM
Networking break
12:30 PM
Investor relations in the Industrials sector
Storytelling, Sustainability & Supply chains
With the Covid-19-driven economic slowdown, many industrials firms will be adversely affected by halted activities and lower commercial usage.
Regain comfort in the industry by learning how to communicate around supply chain resilience and operational risk, and understand how the influx of passive investors in the sector impacts your IR and ESG program.
Moderator: Laurie Havelock, editor-at-large, IR Magazine
Adam Borgatti, Senior vice president of corporate development and investor relations, Aecon
13:15 PM
Investor relations in the Healthcare sector
Build credibility and understand how healthcare policies will impact IR
The global pandemic has had a significant impact on health policies and the healthcare sector globally. During this session we look at what IR can do to build management’s credibility with investors at a time of increased interest.
We examine how IR teams can help onboard new investors that may need bringing up to speed on the scientific details of the businesses and examine what lies ahead for M&A activity in the sector.
Moderator: Laurie Havelock, editor-at-large, IR Magazine
Josie Afolabi, Director of investor relations, AstraZeneca
Andrew Swift, Head of investor relations, Smith-Nephew
Tom Waldron, Director of investor relations, AstraZeneca
14:00 PM
Expo break
15:00 PM
How issuers and investors are applying new technologies
How is technology changing investing and investor relations?
There has been much talk around how the buyside are developing artificial intelligence to assist investment decisions and how that would impact the role of IR.
Technology is also making the stock market more accessible for retail investors, and we have recently seen a rising trend of retail investors.
We debate whether the application of these technologies are going to have an impact on investor relations in the next decade and ask if IR teams are at risk of falling behind in terms of their technology use.
Moderator: Gary LaBranche, President and CEO, National Investor Relations Institute
John Londono, Vice president of technology for issuer solutions, IHS Markit
Greg Secord, Vice president of investor relations, OpenText
Vladimir Zluzhsky, Head of communications and investor relations, Severstal
16:00 PM
Networking break
16:30 PM
Investor relations in the Consumer Cyclical sector
Adapting messaging for a cyclical investor base
IR in the consumer cyclical sector: Adapting messaging for a cyclical investor base
Discuss how to balance the long-term and short-term dynamics in your messaging to attract value investors but maintain trust with growth and GARP investors.
Moderator: Ben Ashwell, editor, IR Magazine
Debbie Hancock, Senior vice president of investor relations, Hasbro
Lori Keith, Portfolio manager and director of research, Parnassus Investments
17:15 PM
The newly emerging IRO: Predictions for 2021 and beyond
In our final session, we look to take stock of the changes in 2020, how permanently it will affect the IR profession and what lessons can be learned. We then look to the year ahead and review the skills required and challenges facing IROs over the coming 12 months.
Smooch Repovich Reynolds, Managing director and partner, ZRG Partners
17:30 PM
End of conference
Over 2,150 investor relations professionals from 33+ countries have engaged with our virtual events to date in 2020. Below is a snapshot of who attends our virtual events.
This year’s attendees included:
Attendees are senior-level IR practitioners from across the globe. Each participant is someone with an established track record and a strategic IR role within his or her company. We had over 350 IR professionals attend this year.
Job title | Company | Job title | Company | |
Associate vice president, IR | Canadian Tire Corporation | Head of IR | Deutsche EuroShop | |
Chief IR officer | Grenergy Renovables | Head of IR | Dogus Otomotiv | |
Director of finance & investor relations | Semtech Corporation | Head of IR | IG Group | |
Director of investor relations | AstraZeneca | Head, investor relations | PETRONAS Gas Berhad | |
Director of investor relations | Prestige Consumer Healthcare | IR director | 3SBio | |
Director of investor relations | Virtu Investments | IR director | Sabancı Holding | |
Director, investor relations | Atara Bio | IR director | UNIMOT | |
Director, investor relations | Cheniere Energy | Managing director, head of investor relations | Annaly | |
Director, investor relations | Flex | Senior director IR | ASM International | |
Director, investor relations | HP | Senior director IR & corporate affairs | DCP Midstream | |
Director, investor relations | Indeed | Senior director of investor relations | Lantheus Medical Imaging | |
Director, investor relations | Olin Corporation | Senior vice president of investor relations | Hasbro | |
Director, investor relations | PNM Resources | Senior vice president, investor relations | Eaton | |
Director, investor relations | TC Transcontinental | SVP corporate communications and IR | Thule Group | |
Director, investor relations | Trimble | SVP IR | Wyndham Destinations | |
Director, IR | Universal Display Corporation | SVP, IR | Constellation Brands | |
EVP, investor relations | Sagicor Financial Company | Vice president investor relations | Fresh Del Monte Produce | |
Executive vice president and head of investor relations | Deutsche Post DHL Group | Vice president of investor relations | Aptiv | |
Global head of investor relations | Dufry | Vice president of investor relations | Berli Jucker | |
Global head of investor relations | HSBC Holdings | Vice president of investor relations | CMS Energy | |
Head IR & sustainability | Cembra | Vice president of investor relations | NagaCorp | |
Head of communications and investor relations | Severstal | Vice president of investor relations | Opentext | |
Head of group investor relations | Enel | Vice president-strategic planning and investor relations | Indorama Ventures | |
Head of investor relations | AllianceBernstein | VP head of investor relations | Nexans | |
Head of investor relations | Hannon Armstrong | VP investor relations | e.l.f. Beauty | |
Head of investor relations | Louisiana Pacific Corporation | VP IR | JBT Corporation | |
Head of investor relations | Plus500 | VP of IR | Recruit Holdings | |
Head of investor relations | SES | VP, investor relations | G-iii Apparel Group | |
Head of investor relations | Smith-Nephew | VP, investor relations & market analytics | KLA | |
Head of investor relations | The a2 Milk Company | VP, IR | Henry Schein | |
Head of investor relations | Zalando | VP, strategy, planning & investor relations | Gibson Energy | |
Head of investor relations and business development | KLCC Property Holdings Berhad | VP-investor relations | Wabtec |
Our most senior speaker line-up to date shared expert opinions from across the global capital markets
Michael Smith
Chief financial officer and interim chief risk officer
Voya Financial
Michael S. Smith is chief financial officer (CFO) and interim chief risk officer (CRO) of Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), which helps Americans plan, invest and protect their savings — to get ready to retire better.
Smith — who became CFO in November 2016, interim CRO in April 2019, and also serves on Voya’s Executive Committee — is responsible for strategic finance, risk, capital management, actuarial, tax, insurance investments, controllership, financial reporting, procurement operations, expense management, treasury and investor relations. Smith also oversees Voya’s legacy individual life insurance and annuities businesses, which generate approximately 20% of Voya’s adjusted operating earnings.
Smith has held several leadership roles during his tenure at Voya. From January 2014 to September 2016, he served as chief executive officer (CEO) of Insurance Solutions. In this role, he led Voya’s Individual Life and Employee Benefits businesses to achieve higher returns on capital, introduce new technologies and generate greater value for Voya’s customers, distribution partners and shareholders. Under Smith’s leadership, both the Individual Life and Employee Benefits businesses generated higher returns on capital. He also oversaw significant in-force premium growth in Employee Benefits and successfully shifted the company’s Individual Life sales to indexed life insurance products.
From May 2012 to January 2014, Smith served as Voya’s CRO, and was responsible for overseeing the enterprise-wide and business-level risk monitoring and management program for the company. He joined Voya in 2009 as CFO and CRO of Annuities, and subsequently served as CEO of Annuities. In addition to his other roles at Voya, Smith continued to oversee Voya’s legacy variable annuity business until its sale in June 2018.
Prior to joining Voya, Smith held several leadership positions at Lincoln Financial Group, where he ultimately served as head of profitability and risk management of the company’s Retirement Solutions business. He also served as CFO and CRO of Lincoln Life and Annuities, from 2004 to 2006, and as CFO for Lincoln Financial Distributors, from 2003 to 2004.
Smith holds bachelor’s degrees in economics and Russian studies from the University of Michigan and attained Fellowship in the Society of Actuaries in 1990. He is a member of the American Academy of Actuaries and has been a CFA® Charterholder since 2003. Smith serves on the boards of The Actuarial Foundation as well as People’s Light & Theatre Company.
Serving the financial needs of approximately 13.8 million individual and institutional customers in the United States, Voya is a Fortune 500 company that had $7.5 billion in revenue in 2019. The company had $606 billion in total assets under management and administration as of June 30, 2020.
Greg Secord
Vice president of investor relations
OpenText
Greg Secord is Vice President, Investor Relations for Open Text Corporation with responsibility for relations with sell-side analysts and institutional investors. Mr. Secord has 20 years of IR experience in both North American and European capital markets, and has managed IR through over 50 acquisitions. He has consulted, advised and counseled many industry leaders including some of the largest technology and insurance companies in Canada. He has created presentation materials for the Toronto Stock Exchange to educate executives of newly listed companies on the fundamentals of best practices IR. He has also been quoted in industry trade publications and is a published contributor to post-secondary text books on business and accounting. He is the recipient of numerous IR Magazine Awards in Canada including for Best Investor Relations Officer, Best Overall Investor Relations, Best Use of Technology and Best Investment Community Meetings. Mr. Secord is incoming chair of NIRI’s Senior Roundtable, and is a past board member for NIRI’s Virtual Chapter, and the Canadian Investor Relations Institute (Ontario).
Camilla Ayling
Equity analyst
Legal & General Investment Management
Camilla is an equity analyst for the Asian active equity portfolios at LGIM. Camilla joined LGIM in 2019 from Rathbones where she was responsible for stock selection across UK, European and US markets for the private client business. Prior to that, she worked at Barclays focusing on global distribution of the 3rd party and proprietary funds platform. Camilla was featured in Citywire’s 2019 ‘Top 30 under 30’ list and has been named as a finalist for various categories at the Women in Investment Awards ceremony three years running. Camilla graduated from the University of Bath with a BSc (Hons) degree in Economics. Camilla also holds the Investment Management Certificate, the Foundations in Responsible Investment qualification and is a CFA charterholder.
Tom Waldron
Director of investor relations
AstraZeneca
Henrik von Lukowicz
Senior investor relations manager
Befesa
Elena Rosman
Vice president of investor relations
Aptiv
Elena Rosman is vice president of Investor Relations for Aptiv. She has global responsibility for all initiatives related to communicating the company’s strategy, growth prospects and financial performance to the investment community.
Prior to joining Delphi in January 2016, Ms. Rosman was Managing Partner of Corbin Perception Group, a strategic investor relations advisory firm.
Prior to that, she led Honeywell’s investor relations efforts from 2009 to 2014, communicating Honeywell’s strategy, financial results and outlook to the investment community.
Prior to 2009, she served as director, corporate development and M&A where she provided oversight and execution of acquisition, divestiture and joint venture activities across the company, including target identification, strategic fit assessment, valuation, due diligence, negotiations and integration strategy.
She has also held roles in operational finance and corporate treasury.
Ms. Rosman began her career as an associate at Arthur Andersen focused on International Tax Consulting.
Ms. Rosman has a bachelor’s degree in International Business from Loyola Marymount University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Notre Dame.
Mark Kinarney
Director of investor relations
Lantheus Medical Imaging
Michael Spencer
General manager of investor relations
Microsoft
Gary LaBranche
President and CEO
National Investor Relations Institute
Gary LaBranche, FASAE, CAE, is the President & CEO of the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI). As CEO, LaBranche provides strategic executive leadership to advance the NIRI’s mission and goals. He represents NIRI to regulators, lawmakers, the media and other audiences.
Before joining NIRI in March 2017, he was CEO of the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG). ACG serves 90,000 investors, lenders, executives and advisors to middle market companies, including 1,000 private equity firms.
An association professional for 37+ years, LaBranche has served as CEO for three other organizations and as a senior executive at the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Prior to joining ACG, LaBranche was CEO for the Association Forum of Chicagoland. At the Forum and ASAE he was responsible for identifying, developing and sharing best practices, models and innovation in association management, professional development and meeting planning. At ASAE he was responsible for the 6,000 attendee “Super Bowl of Conventions,” launch of e-learning and modernization of the Certified Association Executive (CAE) program.
He was named an ASAE Fellow (FASAE) in 1995. He was the ASAE Key Award winner for 2007, the highest award in the profession. ASSOCIATION TRENDS named him the 2012 Association Executive of the Year. He is a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Association Committee of 100 and is past chairman of the Chamber’s Institute of Organization Management. LaBranche has served on ASAE’s 4 governing boards and continues to serve on the board of ASAE’s for-profit subsidiary, ASAE Business Services, Inc. of which he is past chairman. He serves on the Advisory Board of the Kogod Cybersecurity Governance Center at American University.
He is the author of 300+ articles, podcasts and columns, including “The Association CEO Succession Toolkit” published by ASAE in 2018. He authored the chapter, “Managing the Complex Association Enterprise” in ASAE’s Handbook on Professional Practices in Association Management, 3rd edition. He has consulted/presented to 300+ associations.
LaBranche was profiled as an innovative leader in the book, Hope: How Triumphant Leaders Create the Future, by Andrew Razeghi. He has also been featured in Strategic Transformation: How Boards Achieve Extraordinary Change.
Aaron Howald
Head of investor relations
Louisiana Pacific Corporation
Lili Huang
Vice president of investor relations
NagaCorp
Martin Ziegenbalg
Executive vice president and head of investor relations
Deutsche Post DHL
Shaunak Mazumder
Global equities portfolio manager
Legal and General Investment Management
Shaunak is a Fund Manager at LGIM for the Real Capital Builder (RCB) strategy within the Global Equity team. At LGIM he focuses on understanding and identifying long-term themes impacting global industries or companies undergoing change. His sector specialism includes Technology, Telecoms, Autos and Consumer. Shaunak joined LGIM from Asian Century Quest; a multi-billion dollar fundamental focused long/short equity Hedge Fund based in New York with offices in Tokyo and Hong Kong. While at ACQ, he covered the European Consumer sectors, Global Autos and Pan Asian Consumer sectors. Prior to this, Shaunak started his career in Investment Banking at Morgan Stanley, where he advised clients on Mergers & Acquisitions, equity and debt restructurings. Shaunak is able to bring a global perspective towards investing by having grown up in Asia, worked in North America and now living in Europe.
Shaunak has a BComm from Queen’s University Kingston, Canada. Languages: English, Hindi, Bengali & Indonesian.
Rosanna Burcheri
Portfolio manager
Artemis Investment Management
Rosanna manages the Artemis Global Select Fund and Mid Wynd International Investment Trust with Simon Edelsten and Alex Illingworth. After graduating in economics from Bocconi University in 1996, she joined Paribas Asset Management as a junior fund manager. In 2000, she moved to M&G as a fund manager and director responsible for pan-European equity portfolios. As a senior European portfolio manager at Shell Pension Management Service from 2004, she controlled £710m of assets. Then, in 2006, Rosanna became a partner and pan-European fund manager for FrontPoint Management (UK). She came to Artemis in 2011 and is an Ambassador of the Diversity Project.
Yulia Chekunaeva
Director of capital markets and strategic initiatives
EN+ Group
Yulia Chekunaeva is Director for Capital Markets and Strategic Initiatives of En+ Group. She is responsible for capital markets, investor relations, non-financial reporting, international strategic partnerships, stakeholder management and sustainability activities,
including business Sustainability and Climate change strategy in the context of the UN SDGs and WEF Mission Possible project for Aluminium. Yulia joined the Company in September 2016 and successfully led the execution team to completing En+ Group’s IPO on the London Stock Exchange in November 2017.
Before joining the Group, Yulia was Executive Director of Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research. Prior to Goldman Sachs, she was Head of Metals and Mining Corporate lending at Sberbank CIB – Largest Corporate Clients department.
She holds an MSc from Warwick Business School (University of Warwick) in Economics and Finance. She completed her undergraduate studies at International College of Economics and Finance, which allowed her to graduate with two degrees: a BSc in Economics with honours from State University – Higher School of Economics, and a BSc in Banking and Finance from The London School of Economics and Political Sciences.
Eline Hilal
Director of investor relations, insurance and company secretary
Aluminium Bahrain
Ms. Eline Hilal was appointed as the Director – Investor Relations, Insurance and Co. Secretary in February 2020.
Ms. Hilal has been part of Alba for 9+ years and brings with her years of honed experience across matrixed functions namely Investor Relations, Corporate Communications, Co. Secretariat, Insurance as well as Strategy & Business Development.
Ms. Hilal joined Alba as Manager – Investor Relations (IR) since March 2011 to build the IR function from scratch, develop & lead the IR team. During her time at Alba, she also held on top of her IR role, Public Relations for 5 years and was acting as Strategy and Business Development Manager since July 2018.
Ms. Hilal’s financial acumen and keen understanding of capital markets has enabled her to quickly get to grips with business fundamentals and understand what information analysts and portfolio managers require; she also played an instrumental role in the financing of Alba’s Line 6 Expansion Project [US$ 3 billion]. She has a well-versed experience in corporate governance, compliance and regulatory skills for working in Debt and Equity markets, especially on Emerging Markets and in particular the Middle East. Eline is recognized as a media relator as well as financial communication advisor for C-levels in the region.
Ms. Hilal started her professional career as a financial analyst at the Middle East mobile operator Zain Group in early 2007, moving on to an Investor Relations role for the Company for 4 years.
Eline holds a Master in Business Administration from ESSEC, Master in International Finance from University of New South Wales (UNSW) and a Bachelor of Science in Banking & Finance from Lebanese American University (LAU).
Brian Rice
Portfolio manager
CalSTRS
Mr. Rice is a Portfolio Manager in the CalSTRS Corporate Governance Department and has been working in the governance group at CalSTRS for over 13 years. His main areas of focus are integrating sustainability considerations into CalSTRS investment processes and overseeing the CalSTRS sustainable manager portfolio, a $750 million externally managed public equity strategy that employs fund managers incorporating environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into their investment analysis. Mr. Rice’s sustainability integration duties include reviewing ESG themed investment opportunities, analyzing potential ESG related risks, and developing and implementing appropriate risk mitigation strategies. Mr. Rice also leads CalSTRS sustainability related engagement efforts and is the staff lead for the CalSTRS Green Initiative Task Force, a multi asset class team charged with identifying, implementing and reporting on environmental investment opportunities and risk management strategies. Mr. Rice received an MBA from the U.C. Davis Graduate School of Management and a bachelor’s degree in Economics-Business from U.C.L.A.
Joshua Lee
Senior portfolio manager
Bank of Singapore
Joshua Lee is currently a Senior Portfolio Manager with Bank of Singapore. He has more than a decade of multi-asset investment experience in both sell-side and buy-side roles.
Prior to joining Bank of Singapore, he worked as an equity research analyst for Deutsche Bank covering multiple sectors in Singapore and Malaysia. He was also a portfolio manager at Magenta Advisors and Blue Rice Investment Management, two hedge funds with a focus on fixed income investments.
Joshua holds a Bachelor of Accounting degree with a major in Law from Singapore Management University. He is also a CFA charterholder and Chartered Accountant of Singapore.
Clare-Marie Hill
Corporate Access
Fidelity Investments
Clare-Marie has working in the Corporate Access team the London office at Fidelity Investments since 2014. Fidelity Investments is a leading provider of investment management, retirement planning, portfolio guidance, brokerage, benefits outsourcing, and other financial products and services to more than 26 million individuals, institutions, and financial intermediaries.
In this role Clare-Marie is responsible for connecting the Investment Professionals to the Investor Relations and Management teams of the companies that Fidelity invest in already or are looking to invest in, and maintaining relationships with those teams thereafter.
Prior to joining Fidelity Investments in 2014, Clare-Marie worked on the sell side in Asia for CLSA as part of the Event Marketing team providing the same interactions between Corporate representatives and buy side Investment Professionals.
Miss Hill earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in History and International Relations at the University of Exeter. She has an Advanced Certificate in Public Relations and Communications and is currently studying a Masters in Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability and the University of Birkbeck.
Brooke Carillo
Head of strategy and corporate development
Annaly
Brooke E. Carillo is Head of Strategy at Annaly. Ms. Carillo has served in various corporate strategy, investment and capital markets roles since joining Annaly in 2010. Previously, Ms. Carillo worked in investment banking within the Financial Institutions Group at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Ms. Carillo holds a B.S. in Economics, with minors in Spanish and Psychology, from Duke University.
Mike Coffey
Vice president of strategy
Q4
Mike Coffey is an experienced capital markets intelligence professional with over 20 years of service in the industry. In his current role as Vice President, Strategy Mike is instrumental in product innovation and growing Q4’s highly-respected market intelligence business. Prior to joining Q4 in 2015, Mike held senior roles in the investor relations space including Managing Partner and EVP of Oxford Intelligence Partners, Managing Director of NASDAQ’s Global Corporate Services Group and VP of Thomson Reuters’ Corporate Client Group.
Walid Mourad
Director portfolio manager and analyst
Lazard Gulf
Walid Mourad is a Portfolio Manager/Analyst on the Middle East North African Equity team. He began working in the investment field in 2003. Prior to joining Lazard in 2014, he was a Portfolio Manager and Senior Investment Analyst at ING Investment Management Middle East, co-managing the ING MENA Fund. Previously, Walid was a regional equity analyst at NBD Investment Bank’s Asset Management division, responsible for the coverage of KSA, UAE, Qatar, Jordan and Lebanon. Prior to that, Walid worked as a management consultant for one of the top consulting companies in Lebanon, where he assessed and valued several companies in several industries and regions. In addition, he worked on the strategy formulation and organizational restructuring tasks related to these regional companies. He holds a Masters Honors Degree in Economics from the Saint Joseph University in Lebanon.
Lucy Rutishauser
Executive vice president and chief financial officer
Sinclair Broadcast Group
Lucy Motsay Rutishauser is Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc., a diversified media company located in Hunt Valley, MD. She is a finance expert with over 30 years of experience with companies at differing stages in their life cycle, including growth through mergers & acquisitions, downsizing, and diversification. She is involved in transformation across multiple disciplines such as sales, technology, digital, business development, risk management, and finance and sits on multiple steering committees including disclosure, communications, and technology/cyber, among others. Ms. Rutishauser has helped lead companies through complex financial and capital markets transactions, various economic cycles and the more recent pandemic. She frequently participates on industry panels, was recognized as Cynopsis’ ‘2020 Top Women in Media,’ Radio & TV Business Report’s 2019 ‘Best Finance Leaders,’ Media Financial Management’s 2018 ‘People to Watch,’ and Variety Magazine’s 2019 and 2017 ‘Dealmaker Elite’ list. Ms. Rutishauser graduated magna cum laude from Towson University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics and Finance and received her M.B.A., with honors from the University of Baltimore. Ms. Rutishauser is a member of the National Institute of Investor Relations and the Association of Finance Professionals.
Lori Keith
Director of research and portfolio manager
Parnassus Investments
Lori Keith is the Director of Research and Portfolio Manager of the Parnassus Mid Cap Fund with responsibility for portfolio management for the firm’s Mid Cap strategy. She joined Parnassus Investments in 2005 after serving as a Parnassus research intern. Before joining the firm, Ms. Keith was a Vice President of Investment Banking at Deloitte & Touche Corporate Finance LLC and was a Senior Associate in Robertson Stephens & Company’s investment banking division. Prior to that, she worked in the management consulting practice at Ernst & Young. Ms. Keith received her bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles and her master’s degree in business administration from Harvard Business School.
Sean Brown
Chief financial officer
Gibson Energy
Sean Brown is Gibson’s Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer. In his role, he oversees the financial management of the company including, finance, accounting, tax, treasury and capital market financings as well as corporate planning and development, investor relations and enterprise risk management. Prior to joining Gibsons, Sean spent fifteen years in investment banking where he provided strategic, financial and capital raising advice to companies in the energy infrastructure sector across North America. Most recently he was a Managing Director in the Power & Energy Infrastructure Group at BMO Capital Markets, based in Calgary, and prior to that was with J.P. Morgan Securities Inc., based in New York. Sean holds a Business degree from Acadia University, an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business and is a CFA charterholder.
Richard Fosbury
Client relations
CTRLPrint
After more than 20 years in the creative industries with several leading agencies delivering a multitude of digital and print projects including many financial and corporate reports Richard joined CtrlPrint in 2018. He now enjoys helping others discover a new way of working to deliver their complex and intensive reports.
Richard is passionate about the annual reporting process and facilitating project teams to be able to work more effectively in the production phase of an annual or corporate report. He enjoys working with teams to help deliver a solution through CtrlPrint that can realise saving substantial project hours, achieve more control over the content, and reducing both bottlenecks and stress in the process.
CtrlPrint is Europe’s leading collaborative service used for the production of designed corporate and regulatory reports – it allows users to edit texts and tables in a design-ready document, when they need to and always in the latest version.
Inger Folkeson
Chief financial officer
Digi
Inger was appointed Chief Financial Officer on 1 March 2019. Prior to this, she was instrumental in building strong financial standings for several of Telenor Group’s adjacent and non-telco assets globally as Chief Financial Officer, namely for Norkring AS (part of Telenor Broadcast Holding), Telenor Digital Businesses, and Telenor Group Holdings. She has been with Telenor for over 11 years and has held several research and strategy roles where she developed her experience in business modeling, portfolio development and project management.
Inger holds a Master of Science, Institute of Industrial Economics and Technology Management from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
Debbie Hancock
Senior vice president of investor relations
Hasbro
Debbie is Senior Vice President, Investor Relations for Hasbro.
Debbie has 25 years of experience in investor relations. During her career, she has been a key contributor to corporate and business messaging and a trusted advisor to senior management for strategic communications, corporate events, M&A and crises.
Debbie has a BS in Business Administration from the University of Vermont and a Certificate in Investor Relations from Bentley College. She has been a member of the National Investors Relations Institute (NIRI) since the mid-90s and currently serves on the NIRI National Board of Directors. She also served as a subject matter expert on the IRC Question Writing Committee for the inaugural IRC exam and subsequently on the NIRI Certification Council. She previously sat on the NIRI Senior Round Table Steering Committee and has been a speaker at NIRI and IR-focused conferences.
Debbie’s and her companies’ IR programs have been recognized over the years by IR Magazine and Institutional Investor Magazine.
Phil Terpolilli
Director of investor relations
Prestige Consumer Healthcare
Phil Terpolilli was appointed Director of Investor Relations at Prestige Consumer Healthcare in 2016. Prior to Prestige, Mr. Terpolilli spent over 8 years in sell-side equity research in positions of increasing responsibility including as Vice President, Equity Research at Wedbush Securities covering consumer healthy lifestyle companies and at Longbow Research covering the food, food retail & packaging sectors. He holds a B.S. in Management from John Carroll University and is a CFA charterholder.
Simon Weston
Fund manager
Axa Investment Management
Jessica Jook
Chief strategy officer and vice president for group investor relations
Canvest Environmental Protection Group
Ms. Jessica Jook is the Chief Strategy Officer of Canvest Environmental Protection Group Company Limited (1381.HK). She joined Canvest in 2014 and was in charge of the Company’s pre-IPO fund raising and a key member in leading the Company’s IPO. She is currently responsible for assisting the Chairlady in management, business strategy formation and investor relations. Prior to joining Canvest, Ms. Jook had over 15 years of direct investment experience.
Ms. Jook has been serving on various committees for the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, including the Advisory Committee of the Sustainable Fisheries Development Fund since 2020, the Research Projects Vetting Subcommittee and Investment Committee of the Environment and Conservation Fund since 2016, the Advisory Committee of the Recycling Fund since 2015, the Enterprise Support Scheme (ESS) Assessment Panel since 2015, and the Project Assessment Panel of Small Entrepreneur Research Assistance Programme (SERAP) from 2010-2016.
Ms. Jook holds an MBA degree from the Simon Fraser University, a Master of Science degree in Information System Management from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance and Risk Management from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is a CFA charterholder and a certified public accountant, and is currently attending the EMBA programme of City University of Hong Kong.
David Nicol
Executive vice president and chief financial officer
Metro Pacific Investments
David J. Nicol, 60, is the incumbent Executive Vice President and Chief Finance Officer of the Metro Pacific Investments Corporation.
Prior to joining the MPIC group, he was with PricewaterhouseCoopers for 10 years. He joined First Pacific in 1991, then moved to its Thai affiliate, Berli Jucker PCL, in 1994 to assume the positions of CFO until 1998 and Group CEO until 2002.
He also held other top management positions in various companies in Europe and Asia, including CEO for SIRVA Incorporated, CEO for Pinnacle Regeneration Group, and Director for Reconomy Limited. With such wealth of experience, he brings to the company his expertise in operational improvement, restructuring, mergers and acquisitions, and entering new markets.
Mr. Nicol was voted by the Institutional Investor as the top Conglomerate CFO in Asia in 2012 and as the top CFO in the Philippines in 2016.
David Akers
Head of investor relations
The a2 Milk Company
Andrew Swift
Head of investor relations
Smith & Nephew
Josie Afolabi
Director of investor relations
AstraZeneca
Victor Drozdov
Head of investor relations
Polyus
Adam Borgatti
Senior vice president of corporate development and investor relations
Aecon
Adam Borgatti is Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Investor Relations, responsible for leading Aecon’s Investor Relations program and supporting the executive team with developing long-term business plans, evaluating strategic initiatives, and leading the assessment and execution of Aecon’s acquisition opportunities. Mr. Borgatti brings a depth of experience and knowledge of both capital markets and the construction industry.
Prior to joining Aecon in 2009, Mr. Borgatti held leadership roles in the financial services industry, including Vice President, RBC Capital Markets, and Vice President, National Bank Financial. Before assuming his current position at Aecon in 2017-18, he served as Vice President, Investor Relations, at Scotiabank and was responsible for leading all aspects of investor relations, providing strategic direction, leadership and oversight for the company’s investor relations portfolio globally.
Over his career at Aecon, Mr. Borgatti has held leadership roles in the Energy and Infrastructure segments, Strategic Finance division, and previously served as Vice President, Corporate Development and Investor Relations. Mr. Borgatti holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Finance and Entrepreneurship from McGill University as well as the CFA and CPIR designations. He is a member of the Board of Directors for the Canadian Investor Relations Institute (CIRI) and serves as Audit Committee Chair.
Lorenzo Crispoltoni
Senior portfolio manager and head of equity & alternative investments
Fideuram
Lorenzo has more than 20 years of experience in asset management. He has always worked for the same financial group that has succeeded in two mergers. He started as a portfolio manager of the Asian desk and Japan in Sige Consulenza (IMI Group). Subsequently, after two mergers, first with the San Paolo Bank Institute and then with Gruppo Intesa, he became the Head of the Asia & Japan Equity Desk. He then had the opportunity to switch from the Management of Mutual Funds to the Management of Life Insurance Funds as a Senior Portfolio Manager with responsibility for the stock and alternative investments in Fideuram of the Intesa San Paolo Group. Previously he was an officer in the Guardia di Finanza as Instructor of the young student departments, then a brief experience as a financial journalist of Milano Finanza as well as, as Credit Analyst at Gerling Ag, a German credit risk company. He has an international education having studied beyond that in Italy, his country of origin, in Ireland and the United States. He is a chess player.
Michael Becker
Executive vice president of strategic partnerships and initiatives
Business Wire
Michael Becker was named Executive Vice President, International Business Strategy in January 2016. Previously, he had served as Senior Vice President, Financial Product Strategy. Prior to that he was Vice President, Global Disclosure and Financial Reporting Services. Michael oversees Business Wire’s eight international offices, international sales partnerships, global disclosure services, partnerships within the broader financial community, and is responsible for identifying revenue-generating opportunities for Business Wire.
Under Becker’s guidance, Business Wire today offers a comprehensive suite of services for the investor relations community, including: sophisticated investor relations sites, webcasting, corporate social responsibility and venture capital press release distributions, XBRL services, and Business Wire’s in-house EDGAR Desk, consistently ranking among the top SEC filers. Becker also worked closely with Business Wire’s European team, setting up more than a dozen disclosure networks throughout the European Union, keyed to the January 2007 implementation of the EU’s Transparency Obligations Directive [TOD].
Michael was a member of the Board for CoreFiling, the Business Wire-DecisionSoft joint venture company formed to create XBRL solutions. He currently serves on the XBRL-U.S. Board of Directors, and is a board member and past-president of NIRI-New York, NIRI’s largest chapter with some 400 members. Becker joined Business Wire in 1999 as Financial Information Services Specialist. Prior to joining the company he worked for Capital Link, Inc., where he created and implemented comprehensive media and investor relations programs for high profile clients, including SBF-Paris Bourse and the Athens Stock Exchange.
Becker holds an Executive MBA from Baruch College and is currently an Adjunct Professor of Management and member of the Dean’s Advisory Council at the school.
Luke Newton
Client relations
CtrlPrint
Luke has been working at CtrlPrint for only a short while but prior to his appointment he played an instrumental role in managing the creation and delivery of a number of FTSE listed companies at both Emperor and Superunion. Prior to this he worked at a range of world class agencies such as Leo Burnett, Cheil and Gyro where he project managed the delivery of numerous ABL campaigns, POS roll-outs and integrated campaigns for the likes of Orange, Oracle and Samsung to name but a few. Luke has a great understanding of agency practises when delivering on ARA reports and has great empathy for those stakeholders who are part of the development and delivery process.
Rob Gurner
Head of investor relations
Plus500
Saravanan Desigamanie
Head of strategy and communications
Malakoff
Saravanan, aged 38, male, a Malaysian, holds a Master of Business Administration (Finance) and a Bachelor of Information Technology (Hons.) (Software Engineering) from Multimedia University, Cyberjaya. He also holds a Certificate in Investor Relations (“CIR”) of the Investor Relations (“IR”) Society (United Kingdom) and is a certified innovation practitioner.
A recipient of the Sime Darby Foundation Scholarship award, Saravanan began his career in Sime Darby Berhad in 2004 as a software analyst before being appointed to the role of Special Officer to the Executive Vice President, Group Strategy & Business Development of Sime Darby in 2008. In 2010, he was assigned as the Special Officer to the Managing Director (“MD”) of Sime Darby Energy & Utilities, while serving under the MD’s Office as well as the Project Management Office.
In 2012, Saravanan was appointed as Assistant Vice President, IR. As part of the IR unit of Sime Darby, Saravanan was a key pioneering member who was instrumental in engaging the ESG investors, particularly in Europe. In 2017, he assumed the role of Strategy & Innovation Manager of Sime Darby Plantation Berhad, working closely with the Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer to build innovation culture andcarry out innovation capability building programmes across the corporation.
Richard O’Connor
Global head of investor relations
HSBC
He previously occupied the position of Head-Investor Relations at NatWest Markets Plc and Head-Investor Relations at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc.
Wim Allegaert
Chair
BelIR
Patrick Kofler
Head of investor relations
Zalando
Patrick Kofler is Head of Investor Relations at Zalando SE. Together with his team, he is responsible for the communication with institutional and private investors as well analysts, and the organization of the AGM. Prior to joining Zalando in 2017, Patrick worked for more than a decade in several IR roles in Germany, lately as Senior IR Manager at K+S AG. His work is recognized by several external surveys, most recently by Institutional Investors 2020 among others as Best IR professional in Retailing General.
He studied at Nuertingen University and Ajou University in South Korea and graduated in International Finance.
Myesha Lacy
Vice president of investor relations and corporate communication
Adverum
Myesha Lacy is Adverum’s vice president of investor relations and corporate communications and joined the Company in August 2019. Ms. Lacy has 25 years of experience as a communicator, providing strategy, development, and execution of communications programs, both internally and externally, for publicly traded pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Prior to joining Adverum, she was vice president, investor relations and corporate communications at Global Blood Therapeutics, Inc., a $3 billion market capitalization company. Previously, she led this function at ZS Pharma, Inc. (acquired by AstraZeneca PLC), Hyperion Therapeutics, Inc. (acquired by Horizon Pharma), and other publicly-traded biotechnology companies. Ms. Lacy earned a B.A. in Business from Holy Names University.
Chad Reed
Head of investor relations
Hannon Armstrong
Chad leads investor relations and ESG strategy for Hannon Armstrong (NYSE: HASI), a leading investor in climate change solutions.
Previously, he served in various roles, including structured finance, risk management, and investor relations, with TerraForm Power – an integrated renewable energy company now owned by Brookfield Asset Management. Chad is also a co-founder of and current Board member with Blue Forest Finance, a non-profit focused on harnessing financial innovation to design sustainable solutions to systemic climate resilience challenges. Chad started his career as an intelligence officer operating primarily in the Middle East.
Chad holds degrees from the University of California at Berkeley, the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and the George Washington University.
Kristin Kohler
Global head of investor relations
Dufry
Smooch Repovich Reynolds
Managing director of the global IR and chief commmunications officer practice group
ZRG Partners
Smooch Repovich Reynolds joined ZRG Partners at the end of 2017, bringing with her a career that spans more than 25 years of executive search consulting, specifically focused in the Global Investor Relations Officer and Chief Communications Officer functional areas. Smooch pioneered IR executive search as a direct result of her affinity for the capital markets, and has partnered with CEOs and CFOs to address corporate valuation issues and financial market expectations throughout her career. As the profession and financial markets have evolved dramatically the last two decades, she has served as a key influencer of the direction of the Investor Relations profession through her stewardship with client management teams.
In addition, her thought leadership in the Corporate Communications functional niche has been framed by her tenure as a former Chief Communications Officer and her broad participation in the global communications community. Smooch has leveraged this first-hand experience to partner with leadership teams providing guidance by framing corporate communications functions, and by serving as a gateway to exceptional talent whose corporate brand innovation experience has elevated her client companies to new heights of success.
She is considered a leading authority on the intangible leadership traits that define talent who are recognized as part of the top 10% of Investor Relations and Chief Communications Officers globally. Her executive search experience has spanned partnerships with management teams and Boards at organizations ranging in size from pre-IPO entities to global, multinational Fortune 500 market leaders, across all industry sectors.
Having completed approximately 300 Investor Relations Officer searches, one consideration to note about Smooch’s work is the increase in her clients’ share valuation during her tenure as a recruitment management team advisor – nearly $500B in increased valuation that she has contributed to as a direct result of her commitment to clients on the topic of recruiting the right talent.
Smooch has authored numerous thought leadership articles about the CEO-CFO-IRO triumvirate and the impact of their interlocked relationship as it relates to the investment community and valuation. She has been the featured expert on IRO and CCO careers across traditional media and social/digital media, and is called upon by numerous professional groups to speak on wide ranging talent and leadership topics. Smooch has her own website: www.smoochunplugged.com, where she regularly shares her insights about corporate talent initiatives and the competitive advantages of smart, strategic recruitment partnerships. Smooch is also book author.
Prior to joining ZRG Partners, Smooch served at two multinational executive search firms as the Managing Director of each firm’s respective Global Investor Relations and Communications Officer practice groups. In addition, she served as the Chief Communications Officer for The Irvine Company, a recognized national privately-held real estate development company. And, prior to that she was the Founder and CEO of The Repovich-Reynolds Group, a North American focused executive search firm specializing in IRO and CCO search assignments which she led for nearly 20 years. Smooch has served as a Chief of Staff to the CEO of a global public relations agency and started her career in politics as a Press Deputy.
She is a long-time member of the National Investor Relations Institute and a Lifetime member of the International Association of Business Communicators. Smooch has served on several non-profit boards, including serving as Board Chair for two of those entities: American Cancer Society of Los Angeles and Westridge School in Pasadena, CA.
Vladimir Zluzhsky
Head of communications and investor relations
Severstal
Michael Green
Partner, chief strategist and portfolio manager
Logica Capital Advisors
Steven Wade
Head of event content
IR Magazine
Steve Wade is a content researcher and conference producer at IR Magazine where he is responsible for crowd-sourcing intelligence on the big global issues facing investor relations. Steve also creates events where the IROs and the wider financial community can discuss, debate and learn about ways to develop the IR function.
Prior to IR Magazine, Steven’s background has been in corporate social responsibility and responsible investment. During his time at Ethical Corporation (now Reuters Events), Steve launched the ESG symposium, an event focused on connecting the socially responsible investment community with corporate sustainability leaders at listed companies. Steve was a judge for the Deloitte Green Frog Awards, celebrating the best corporate reporting in Eastern Europe. Steve also presented research at the Global Sustainable Event Summit in London and has spoken about extra-financial reporting with the United Nations Global Compact, the World Bank and the Polish Ministry of Finance.
Steve has a Bachelors degree in Event Management and enjoys playing rugby in his spare time.
Laurie Havelock
editor-at-large
IR Magazine
Laurie Havelock is a freelance journalist, writer and podcaster who has been working on financial titles for more than 5 years, dabbling with commercial property finance, responsible investment and investor relations as his main areas of focus.
Outside of that he also writes about music, with a predilection for independent and emerging artists, has worked on a number of comedy projects, including a podcast he makes with musical comedian Paddy Gervers called Podshambles, and hosts a weekly show on Shoreditch Radio.
Laurie has been published in the Independent, the Guardian and Q Magazine.
Ben Ashwell
Editor
IR Magazine
Different governments have approached the Covid-19 crisis in contrasting ways, and the speed at which restrictions have been easing is equally different. This creates a variety of scenarios for business, regulators and investors alike. The Global IR Forum was structured to focus on the most relevant challenges facing investor relations in your region. We covered the following regions throughout the forum:
Partners
Business Wire, a Berkshire Hathaway company, is the global leader in news release distribution and regulatory disclosure. Public relations, investor relations, public policy, and marketing professionals rely on Business Wire for secure and accurate distribution of market-moving news and multimedia. Founded in 1961, Business Wire is a trusted source for news organizations, journalists, investment professionals, and regulatory authorities, delivering news directly into editorial systems and leading online news sources via its multi-patented NX Network. Business Wire’s worldwide newsrooms are available to meet the needs of communications professionals and news media globally.
For more information, visit us online at www.BusinessWire.com.
CtrlPrint was founded in 1995 in Stockholm, Sweden with the main aim of providing key solutions to optimize performance and output quality for Adobe InDesign and InCopy documents. The company has grown steadily since then, with operations in Sweden, the UK and Australia. Its clientele varies across the EMEA and comprises more than 400 listed companies.
Currently, CtrlPrint’s main products and services are:
For more information, please visit www.ctrlprint.net
IHS Markit (NYSE: INFO) is a world leader in critical information, analytics and solutions for the major industries and markets that drive economies worldwide. IHS Markit’s private markets division is a premier choice for the private capital industry to address growing pressures for transparency and regulatory compliance. Our full range of products offers solutions for portfolio management, valuations, investor reporting, operating metrics, or investor performance.
For more information, visit ihsmarkit.com
About Q4 Inc.
Q4 is a leading global provider of cloud-based investor relations and capital market solutions. Q4 empowers customers to be leaders in IR through innovative technology and exceptional customer service. Our comprehensive portfolio of communications and intelligence solutions, including websites, webcasting, stock surveillance, and IR Desktop arm industry professionals with the tools and insights required to run award-winning IR programs, make more effective decisions, and better engage with the investors. Q4 has offices in New York, Chicago, Toronto, Copenhagen, and London.
For more information visit www.q4websystems.com
ZRG Partners’ mission is to bring talented candidates to leading companies. We adhere to a set of core values that allows us to fulfill our clients’ needs on an optimal scale. We take pride and care to ensure that the core values we instill in our staff help our clients acquire strong leadership within their company.
For more information, please visit www.zrgpartners.com
Supported by
Association of Bulgarian Investor Relations Directors /ABIRD/
For 12 years now, the Association of Bulgarian Investor Relations Directors /ABIRD/ has been actively working to unite the interests and improve the qualification of local Investor Relations Directors – members of the organization, to improve the investment climate in Bulgaria and introduce high standards for presentation of the Bulgarian public companies to investors in the country and abroad.
We unite more than 110 Investor Relations Directors of public companies and other issuers of securities, and in 2016 we opened the doors of ABIRD for all colleagues who disclose information in accordance with the Bulgarian and European legislation, and communicate with institutions such as the Financial Supervision Commission, BSE – Sofia and the Central Depository.
ABIRD is an active participant in the Bulgarian capital market, a basic corrective in terms of amendments to the regulation and implementation of the European legislation. Our activities are focused on enhancing the professional qualification of Investor Relations Directors and all of the other officials engaged with investor communication and communication with the institutions on the capital market with the purpose to improve the best disclosure and transparency practices in the activities of public companies and other issuers of securities. We actively cooperate with all institutions and participants in the Bulgarian capital market.
The Association of Bulgarian Investor Relations Directors is a collective member the National Corporate Governance Commission, the Capital Market Development Council in Bulgaria, the Corporate Social Responsibility Council to the Minister of Labor and Social Policy, the Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association. Together with our national partners we strive to make Bulgaria a more attractive place for investments.
Contacts: +359 2 9882413 and [email protected]
Web: www.abird.info
Since 1991, AERI has been bringing together the most relevant IR professionals and other stakeholders in Spain, focusing on the development of best practices, but also on providing the best possible options for networking. AERI Members are well known for their top performance in the capital markets, always developing the highest standards in the Investor Relations world.
For more information, please visit www.aeri.es
For more information, please visit www.ir-romania.ro
Supporting the Investors Relations in Belgium. We are a community that actively exchanges experiences and ideas around investor relations. We help people grow active in investor relations by networking, knowledge exchange & meetings.
For more information, please visit www.belgian-ir.be
Created in 1987, the Cliff is the French association of financial communication professionals and is a recognized voice for the profession in France. With an active programme fostering the sharing of experiences, of expertise and of evolving topics, a successful education training programme in partnership with a renowned French University (Paris-Dauphine) and its contribution to the annual publication of the “Financial Communications: Framework and Practices” together with the OCF, the Cliff helps promote the status of Investor Relations professionals.
For more information, please visit www.cliff.asso.fr/en/
About DIRF
The Danish Investor Relations Society (DIRF) was established by investor relations officers, financial and communications executives in a few Danish companies in 1988. The objective was and still is to promote communication between listed companies and their investors thereby increasing investor interest in Danish shares and company bonds.
DIRF represents some 270 members from approximately 100 companies. Members are primarily listed companies, and the member base represents about 95 per cent of the Danish market cap. However, also not-listed companies, organisations, service providers and consultants working with financial communications are represented, cf. DIRF members list.
DIRF activities
The DIRF network seeks to meet its objectives by arranging members’ meetings and conferences dealing with current IR-topics, sessions with academics researching in IR-related areas, trends and new ways of performing the IR-profession, new media developments, new evaluation methods, and once a year the Copenhagen Stock Exchange hosts a network meeting etc. Members’ meetings normally take place 5-6 times a year.
For more information, please visit www.dirf.dk.
For more information, please visit www.dirk.org
The Finnish Investor Relations Society brings together the IR professionals of companies that are publicly listed, have announced plans for a listing, or offer other publicly tradable securities, as well as dedicated IR consultants. About 200 IR professionals from all around Finland are members of the Society.
The objective of FIRS is to promote the professional skills of its members. Topical matters are covered in presentations, panel discussions, workshops and training sessions. You can also gain valuable knowledge in member get-togethers by exchanging views on best practices and current IR trends with senior IR colleagues and gathering fresh opinions from newcomers.
The Finnish Investor Relations Society is a channel for interaction and networking. We cooperate with financial analysts, the media and other communication specialists. By joining FIRS you can access members-only information on the website.
Find out more by visiting www.firs.fi.
HKIRA is a non-profit professional association comprising investor relations practitioners and corporate officers responsible for communications between corporate management and the investment community. HKIRA advocates the setting of international standards in IR education, advances the best IR practices and meets the professional development needs of those interested in pursuing the investor relations profession.
For more information, please visit: www.hkira.com
IBRI (Brazilian Investor Relations Institute) was founded on June 5, 1997, for enhancing the role of the community of Investor Relations professionals in the Brazilian Capital Markets and to contribute to its strengthening and improvement.
IBRI’s philosophy of work includes raising the profile of partnerships with entities in the domestic and international markets which have common objectives with the IR area. In this context, IBRI believes that the partnerships which have been established have generated value for the members as well as contributed to enriching the technical discussions with official bodies – with which IBRI has signed agreements – such as the CVM (Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission).
On June 20 and 21, 2018, the 20th International Meeting on Investor Relations and Capital Market took place in São Paulo. The annual event is the largest in Latin America and brings together more than 700 professionals.
IR Club is a well-established investor relations community that allows IR professionals to network with peers from all over the world.
IR Club was formed in 2011, to address the need for an online investor relations community. Since then, it has become an overwhelming success and has around 1,400 members!
The main objectives of IR Club include the promotion of networking, communication, exchange and transfer of knowledge among investor relations professionals – we are particularly interested in the use of social media in investor relations.
IR Club is open to anyone interested in investor relations such as scientists, students and those wishing to make a career change. For the opportunity to mingle with practising IROs at all levels, as well consultants and service providers. Colleagues from the areas of private equity, open-end and closed-end funds, unlisted companies and of course all those who deal with the communication with lenders (creditor relations / fixed income) are welcome, too – we are all one ecosystem.
It takes no time to register as a member and it’s free of charge!
IR Club
Patrick Kiss
Email: [email protected]
Tel.: +49 177 232 0001
The IR club Schweiz was founded 1992 to promote the interests of the IR profession among Switzerland’s publicly-quoted companies. It is an interactive forum for the exchange of ideas, the discussion of current IR issues and the development of practical solutions.
For more information, please visit www.irclub.ch
Run by IROs for IROs, IRPAS is a voluntary commitment by a team of IR veterans united by the same dedication to build a community for fellow IR practitioners. It aims to empower members through education, professional development and networking initiatives, and to promote the sharing of IR knowledge and practices through internal research and partnerships with leading institutions and IR societies around the world.
IRPAS was established in 2006 by leading IROs, supported by the Singapore Exchange (SGX), with the primary objectives of championing IR best practice, enhancing professional competencies and elevating the overall standard of the IR profession in Singapore.
IRPAS has 235 members comprising representatives from companies across sectors listed on the Mainboard and Catalist of the SGX, as well as private organisations, financial communications advisors and service providers from around the region. IRPAS seeks to represent the views of its members and provide the platform to facilitate dialogue between IROs, regulators and the wider investment community.
For more information, please visit www.irpas.com.
The IR Society of South Africa was formed in 2015 to represent the interests and provide a voice for professional Investor Relations practitioners. It has eight primary objectives:
1. Promote high ethical and professional standards in Investor Relations
2. Contribute to and promote best practice
3. Support professional Investor Relations development
4. Provide a platform for engagement and sharing
5. Broaden the understanding of Investor Relations
6. Provide Investor Relations practitioners with a voice
7. Working together to improve communication between companies & relevant stakeholders
8. Promote Investor Relations as a strategic function
For more information, please visit www.irsociety.co.za
The Middle East Investor Relations Association (MEIRA or ‘the Association’) is an independent, non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting the Investor Relations (IR) profession and international standards in corporate governance. The mission of MEIRA is to enhance the reputation, efficiency and attractiveness of the Middle East capital markets.
This is delivered by fostering increased dialogue among members and encouraging the IR community to share the global benchmark in best practice within the field of IR. In partnership with stock exchanges, regulators and other market participants, MEIRA supports companies through its professional development and certification programmes as well as its membership community and network of country Chapters.
For more information, please visit www.meira.me
NEVIR, the Netherlands Association for Investor Relations, is the professional representative body and advocacy organisation for investor relations officers and consultants at Dutch public companies. Our mission is to back members in facilitating these firms’ access to the Dutch and international capital markets. More than two-thirds of the listed companies at Euronext Amsterdam are a member of the NEVIR . In addition, a number of companies with listed debt are member. We seek to represent and support them in all aspects of professional investor relations.
For more information, visit www.nevir.nl
Founded in 1969, NIRI is the professional association of corporate officers and investor relations consultants responsible for communication among corporate management, shareholders, securities analysts and other financial community constituents. NIRI is the largest professional investor relations association in the world with more than 3,300 members representing over 1,600 publicly held companies and $9 trillion in stock market capitalization.
For more information, please visit www.NIRI.org
Located in the world’s financial center, NIRI New York is the largest and most diverse chapter in the national NIRI network. With membership totaling over $2.2 trillion in combined market cap, our chapter benefits from close proximity to many Fortune 500 companies and a unique access to capital markets. NIRI NY takes pride in delivering cutting edge programs featuring respected finance, legal and communications leaders, and unparalleled peer-to-peer and mentoring networking opportunities. www.niriny.org
The NIRI Silicon Valley Chapter was formed to advance the practice of investor relations within the local business environment. In keeping with this mission, the Chapter focuses on IR education, mentoring, and networking with the broad professional community. Our goal is to further the skills of our members, to expand their business opportunities, to increase Chapter membership, and to foster an environment that promotes IR learning for all.
For more information, visit nirisv.org.
The Virtual Chapter is the second largest chapter in the NIRI ecosystem, with over 230 members representing 160+ publicly traded companies from a wide range of professional experiences, industries, geographies and market caps. The Virtual Chapter has been providing online educational, professional development and networking opportunities for its members and the broader IR community for more than 16 years, and is the only NIRI chapter to offer CPE credits in addition to IRC PDUs. For more information, please contact [email protected].
Turkish Investor Relations Society – TUYID, founded in 2009, is designed to foster collaborative ties among investor relations professionals and the constituencies which they serve such as management, shareholders, bondholders, private investors, analysts, employees, government, corporate customers and media, at both the corporate and personal levels, with a view to develop professional know-how, to be a reference center and to elevate Turkish investor relations applications on a par with global standards.
Our mission is to contribute to the promotion of the Turkish markets, provide assistance for Turkish companies to achieve fair market value for their capital market instruments and to support Turkish capital markets to gain depth and resilience.
For more information, please visit www.tuyid.org/en
The Global IR Forum brings together some of the most influential people in the international investor relations community at a time of great change for the profession. The unique content and interaction created at our virtual events afford our partners exceptional opportunities to engage with a global audience of IR professionals on a subject that reflects their expertise.
Becoming a partner means you will:
All our partnerships are created using a mix of branding, thought leadership, lead generation and meetings with your target audience. You tell us your objectives and we will work with you to tailor a package based on your requirements.
To find out more about how we can help, contact Sebastien Dutrieu or call on +44 77315 33165.
Holders of the NIRI IRC® credential can earn up to 4 professional development units (PDUs) at this event. IRC-credentialed speakers may also earn PDUs. Find out more information at www.niri.org/certification.
This flash sale will expire on Friday, November 13, 2020
If you have any questions, please contact Priscilla Lim at [email protected] or +44 20 8004 4989.
For agenda inquiries
+44 20 3865 8103
For partnership inquiries
+44 77 3153 3165
For all other inquiries
+44 20 8004 4989