Ben Ashwell is the editor at IR Magazine and digital editor at Corporate Secretary, covering investor relations, governance, risk and compliance. Prior to this, he was the founder and editor of Executive Talent, the global quarterly magazine from the Association of Executive Search and Leadership Consultants. Before moving to the US, Ben was the vice president and editor at Executive Grapevine, overseeing a daily news website, ten annual supplements and HR Grapevine, the UK’s leading HR and talent management magazine. In his spare time, Ben writes fiction, poetry and arts and culture reviews. Eyewear Publishing recently named him in their list of the Best New British and Irish Poets.

As Senior VP of Product, Simon leads the webcasting and streaming business for Intrado Digital Media and is responsible for setting strategic direction and driving continued innovation across its product portfolio. Simon brings more than 25 years of experience in global technology and digital communications to his role, having previously held positions as Global Head of Digital Media Services at Nasdaq Corporate Solutions, and Global Head of Operations, Multimedia Delivery & Infrastructure at Thomson Reuters. He is a versatile and resourceful leader with a proven track record of success leading technology, service and operations teams in North America and Europe.

Mark Grant joined GoDaddy as the Vice President of Investor Relations in January of this year. Prior to his work at GoDaddy, Mark was a Vice President and Senior Equity Research Analyst on the sell-side at Goldman Sachs. During his tenure at Goldman Sachs, Mark focused on the software and internet industries, covering nearly 100 different companies and participating in all types of investor education.

Karen is an Investor Relations Partner at Q4, working closely with clients as an advisor. Bringing close to 30 years of experience as a senior executive overseeing investor relations and marketing communications for large to small cap and newly public companies, Karen has managed organizations through a wide range of hurdles, milestones and challenges. Karen’s career in Investor Relations includes time at CIGNA Insurance, Safeguard Scientifics, Internet Capital Group (rebranded to Actua), and Hamilton Lane.

Karen has demonstrated success in targeting and transforming the investor base of publicly traded companies, helping them gain a broader, more aligned following. She has also led IR teams through the IPO process, helping them establish IR plans, budgets and workflow required as a public company. Additionally, Karen brings first-hand knowledge and best practices for how to successfully navigate through a wide range of investor relations issues such as missed earnings guidance, M&A, activist activity, restructurings, strategic shifts, rebrands and corporate governance.

Karen has an MBA from Temple University Fox School of Business/Boston University School of Business and a BA in Economics and Political Science from the University of Rochester.

Laurie Havelock is a 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.

Todd Hicks is Intelligize’ s Chief Executive Officer. As CEO, he is dedicated to ensuring the company’s vision of delivering the most trusted solution for securities professionals. Hicks joined the firm in August 2010 as the Company’s Vice President of Sales & Marketing. He has extensive experience working with senior management teams to drive new business growth at both start-ups and established firms.

Prior to joining Intelligize, Hicks served as the Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales at Brainware. In addition, he served as Senior Director of Sales and Account Management at Westlaw Business and Global Securities Information. Prior to that, Hicks was a National Account Manager at CCH Incorporated. He has more than 20 years of experience delivering research solutions to the largest law firms and accounting firms. Hicks started his career working in public accounting delivering audit and review services for corporate clients.

Hicks earned a BBA in Accounting from at Eastern Michigan University and served in the United States Army from 1984 to 1987.

Colleen Johnston retired from TD Bank Group in 2018. Prior to this, she was Group Head Direct Channels, Technology, Marketing and Corporate & Public Affairs. Colleen also spent over ten years as Group Head Finance, Sourcing and Corporate Communications, and Chief Financial Officer, TD Bank Group.

Colleen began her career in 1982 with Price Waterhouse. She spent 15 years with Scotiabank in various senior positions, including CFO of Scotia Capital. She joined TD in March 2004 and in 2005 was named the Bank’s Chief Financial Officer. At TD, she was actively involved in promoting diversity and inclusion in the workplace as Chair of the Women in Leadership Committee for ten years.

Colleen graduated from York University in Toronto with a bachelor of business administration. She received her chartered accountant designation in 1984 and in 2006 was elected a Fellow Chartered Accountant (FCA), the highest designation conferred by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario, recognizing her outstanding career achievements and dedication to community activities.

Colleen has received numerous top industry honours as a senior finance executive including Canada’s CFO of the Year in 2012. She was recognized by Women’s Executive Network as one of Canada’s Most Powerful Women three years in a row and inducted into Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Hall of Fame in 2007. In 2011, for the third year in a row, she was named one of the 25 Most Powerful Women in Banking by American Banker. In 2013, Colleen was awarded the Catalyst Canada Honours in the Business Leader Category.  Colleen has received honorary degrees from St. Mary’s University and York University.

Colleen is Chair of Unity Health Toronto, a hospital network that includes St. Michael’s Hospital, St. Joseph’s Health Centre and Providence Healthcare.  She’s also a member on the Board of the Shaw Festival and a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council at the Schulich School of Business.

Colleen currently resides in Toronto with her husband. She enjoys travelling, spending time with her family and an active lifestyle.

Rick Lacaille, Executive Vice President is Global Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of State Street Global Advisors and a member of the firm’s Executive Management Group. In his role as Chief Investment Officer Rick has responsibility for all investment management activity at State Street Global Advisors.

Prior to his current role, Rick was Head of Global Active Equities, and previously European CIO. Before joining State Street Global Advisors in 2000, he held a wide variety of posts in quantitative fund management and research at Gartmore Investment Management, including periods as Head of Quantitative Research and Head of Structured Equities.Rick has a BSc (Hons) in Operational Research from Lancaster University and MSc in Econometrics from London Guildhall University.
Rick is a member of the FTSE Russell Policy Advisory Board, the MSCI Advisory Council and the Asset Management Committee of the Investment Association. He is a regular writer and broadcaster on investment issues and speaks frequently at industry conferences.

Gregg Lampf’s over 25-year career in Investor Relations has been focused on the high technology industry.  During his career, Gregg’s responsibilities have also included media and public relations, corporate communications, industry analyst relations, and competitive and market intelligence.

He currently serves as Vice President of Investor Relations for Ciena Corporation, a mid-cap, global leader of next-gen telecommunications solutions and services.

Gregg has been voted as a top IR Professional in Institutional Investor (II)’s surveys several times as well as a member of the All-America Executive Team.  He enjoys sharing his experiences through a variety of means including authoring NIRI IRUpdate articles, participating in webinars as well as volunteering as Vice Chairman for the Howard County, Maryland Public Schools Applications and Research Lab Academy of Finance.

Jennifer is responsible for managing FMR’s bespoke corporate access efforts in the US & Canada. In this role, she works closely with the equity research sector teams and portfolio managers to design and execute thematic corporate field trips, deep dive headquarter visits, facility tours, and direct access to public and private company managements. Jennifer also works with the global team in the scheduling and managing of FMR’s attendance at sell-side events, as well as maintaining strong partnerships with both sell-side and corporate contacts.

Jennifer has been with FMR since 1998, beginning her career as an equity research coordinator for the Healthcare team and transitioning to Corporate Access in 2002. FMR was one of the first firms to capitalize on the benefit of an in-house corporate access team and has significantly expanded its process and footprint over the past decade. During her tenure, she assisted in building out FMR’s global corporate access platform adding counterparts in London, Hong Kong, & Tokyo.

Jennifer earned her B.A. in English & Communications from Assumption College.

Matt Latino is Vice President of Investor Relations at Xylem and has led the program since February 2017. He is responsible for providing the investment community with an accurate presentation of Xylem’s strategy, business performance and growth plans.

Mr. Latino and the Xylem Investor Relations program were named to the Institutional Investor All-America teams in 2019 and 2020, including the top award for ‘Most Honored Company’ in 2020 in the Electrical Equipment & Multi-Industry sector.

Mr. Latino joined Xylem in 2012 as Manager, Financial Reporting. He was named Manager, Investor Relations in 2015, and began leading the day-to-day Investor Relations operations in March 2017 prior to Xylem’s most recent Investor Day. Prior to joining Xylem, he worked as a Senior Auditor in the Audit Practice at Deloitte & Touche LLP. During that time, his main client was ITT Corporation, where he helped to complete the Spin-Off of Xylem from ITT.

Mr. Latino earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the State University of New York College at Oneonta in Professional Accounting.

Simon Leopold joined Raymond James in 2012 through the acquisition of Morgan Keegan & Co.  Mr. Leopold joined Morgan Keegan in 2004 as a communications equipment analyst.  Prior to joining Morgan Keegan he spent four years covering communications stocks for Merrill Lynch.  Mr. Leopold has been recognized in the StarMine Top Analyst survey numerous times for his work as a research analyst; in 2010, he was ranked number one across all sectors for estimate accuracy and in 2014 ranked first in the communications sector for stock picking. He has also been recognized as a runner-up in the Institutional Investor survey in 2018 for Telecom & Networking Equipment. Prior to becoming a research analyst, he worked for 12 years at Telcordia Technologies, now a unit of Ericsson, providing services to carriers and equipment vendors.  Mr. Leopold graduated cum laude from the University of Michigan with a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering and was a member of the electrical engineering honor society. In addition, he holds a master’s degree in engineering from Cornell University and an MBA from Rutgers University.

Elizabeth Librizzi is a Senior Vice President and Head of Corporate Access & Advisory Services.  In this capacity, she oversees the advisory and resourcing relationships for the investment teams, and manages the firm’s processes around corporate engagements. Prior to joining AB in 2019, Elizabeth spent 3 years at Credit Suisse as the head of US corporate access and 17 years at Morgan Stanley in a variety of advisory roles including commission management and institutional equity sales from 1998-2013.  In 2013 she was appointed head of corporate access in the Americas. She holds a BS in Economics from the University of Scranton.

Jason leads IHS Markit’s Global Corporate Solutions Advisory business, overseeing over $50M in revenue with a team of over 200 employees and analysts operating in multiple, international locations. This division has become the largest, organically grown investor relations service provider in the history of the industry. Jason’s organization services over 1,000 corporate clients, helping them help them turn investor relations into a competitive advantage by providing effective workflow solutions and critical market intelligence. Before being Acquired by IHS Markit in 2018, Jason joined Ipreo in November 2006 as a Director in the Global Markets Intelligence group, servicing a diverse mix of clients in several sectors, where he acted as a trusted adviser to senior management and investor relations departments. Before joining Ipreo, Jason was an Associate Director on Thomson Reuters’ market surveillance team, providing crucial ownership and investor intelligence to investor relations departments in both the Biotech and Energy sectors. Jason graduated from Fordham University’s Master’s program in International Political Economy, and earned a BS in Finance from the University of Rhode Island.

Dan Romito’s responsibilities include overseeing business development and product strategy for Nasdaq’s Corporate Services business. His background spans across Advisory’s Strategic Capital Intelligence team, Insight360 Analytics Platform and ESG consulting. His research on ESG, the effects of Index Ownership, Shareholder Activism and behavioral finance has been presented to a variety of capital markets panels in North America, Europe & APAC. Dan’s recommendations have also been adopted by a variety of Boards, including Nasdaq’s very own. His recent focus has centered on successfully commercializing a suite of advisory deliverables, most notably, Nasdaq’s Biotech & Small Cap Investor Analytics services and ESG Advisory. His Thought Leadership pieces on Activism, ESG and Index Investing has also been featured in a variety of periodicals, including Harvard Business Review, CNBC, Global Investor Magazine and IR Magazine

As President and CEO of Temin and Company – a boutique management consultancy that helps corporations and organizations create, enhance and save their reputations and coaches board directors and C-Suite executives – Davia Temin works with some of the most talented and impactful leaders in the world, helping them to refine and strengthen their vision, voice and market position in times of crisis and opportunity.

Temin and Company specializes in crisis, reputation, and culture management, and corporate governance for global companies, professional services firms, foundations, colleges and universities, and governments.  Davia serves as a spokesman during crises, strategist, and leadership and communications coach at the board, CEO and executive committee levels.

Temin and Company works with clients to create brand-distinguishing thought leadership and best practices in governance and corporate leadership, as well as to promote women’s leadership, provide socially responsible marketing, media and social media strategy and execution, and create cultures supportive of gender equity.

Davia is a frequent speaker around the world on crisis, reputation, and culture management, leadership, corporate governance, women’s leadership, resilience and what boards and leaders need to know about media, social media and artificial intelligence.  A nationally recognized writer, commentator and expert in her fields, she has appeared on CBS, CNN, NBC, Bloomberg, PBS, ABC, and in The Wall Street Journal, and numerous other publications and networks around the world.

Prior to founding the firm 22 years ago with the backing of GE, Davia headed Corporate Marketing for GE Capital, Schroders, Scudder, Citi Investment Bank and Columbia Business School.  An Honors graduate of Swarthmore College, she serves on their Board.  For nine years she served as First Vice Chair of the Board of Girl Scouts of the USA and Chair of their National Fund Development Committee – originating their $1 billion campaign for girls, the largest fundraising campaign for girls in the world.  She is Chair the of Board of Video Volunteers, an India-based investigative media nonprofit, and sits on the Boards or Advisory Boards of ProPublica, The Knight-Bagehot Fellowship, Committee for Economic Development, Harvard Women’s Leadership Board, WomenCorporateDirectors (WCD), Girl Scouts of Greater New York, WCD New York Leadership Council, and Predmore Holdings.  She is a member of Columbia’s Women Creating Change Leadership Council, and also serves as an advisor to AI startups Chinook.ai and Springboard.ai.

In 2018, Davia was named an Enterprising Woman of the Year by Enterprising Women magazine.  She was honored by the National Organization for Women, accepting their 2017 Woman of Power & Influence Award for forging new paths for the next generation of women leaders.  She received the Lifetime Achievement Award by Trust Across America-Trust Around the World and was named a “Top Thought Leader in Trust.”  She was awarded The Girl Scouts Pinnacle Award for Leadership in 2015 – their highest honor.  In 2014, Davia was chosen as a Delegate by the U.S. State Department to the Global Entrepreneurship Program in Greece.  She has also been honored as one of the “30 Outstanding Women” in the world by the National Council for Research on Women; and named by Girl Scouts as a Woman of Distinction.  Profiled in many business and leadership books – most recently Broad Influence: How Women Are Changing the Way America Works and Stiletto Network – she writes the “Reputation Matters” column for Forbes.com, is a contributor to Huffington Post, American Banker, Directors & Boards, Corporate Board Member, and Chief Executive Magazine and has written chapters on “Rebuilding Trust in the Financial Markets” for the book Trust, Inc., and on crisis leadership for Women on Board – Insider Secrets to Getting on a Board and Succeeding as a Director.

Mary serves as Managing Director and Head of Corporate Access at Raymond James with an emphasis on collaborating with Investor Relations professionals to develop strategies for investor outreach and targeting. In this role, Mary is also responsible for partnering with Capital Markets, Investment Banking and Research professionals to develop and source content for Raymond James hosted general and sector-specific conferences, summits, symposiums, non-deal roadshows, bespoke trips and industry experts. Prior to joining Raymond James, Mary served in various research, sales and management roles at Lehman Brothers, Deutsche Bank and Salomon Smith Barney.

An active NIRI member, she is currently on the Board of NIRI Silicon Valley, and previously served on the Annual Conference Committee and President of the Central Florida chapter.  She is founder and co-chair of The Women in Capital Markets Symposium (WICM), an annual event devoted to advancing the professional development of women at Raymond James.

Mary received a BA in economics from Mount Holyoke College, and an MBA in finance from Fordham University.

Christopher (Chris) Ward is the vice president of Client Solutions for EQ. In this role, Chris is responsible for ensuring customer satisfaction through implementation of stock transfer, corporate action, proxy services and equity compensation products. Chris joined EQ in 2009. Prior to his current role, Chris worked in relationship management supporting clients completing mergers, acquisitions, Initial Public Offerings, and other corporate events.

Chris has a bachelor of science in business administration from Drake University and resides in Minnesota with his wife and two children.

Deb Wasser currently serves as VP of Investor Relations for Etsy, Inc. (Nasdaq: ETSY), the global marketplace for unique and creative goods, with a market capitalization of approximately $8B. She is responsible for Etsy’s external shareholder relationships, with a heavy focus on corporate and financial reporting, driving increased analyst coverage and investor connectivity, effective corporate messaging, strategic investor targeting, and elevating the company’s ESG messaging with the financial community.
Prior to joining Etsy, Deb led Edelman’s Investor Relations practice in the U.S., and advised the senior management and boards of public companies on strategic communications including investor relations, financial and corporate public relations, transaction communications, crisis communications and leadership positioning.

Deb was the recipient of the IR Magazine Award for “Best IRO,” Small Cap Company; was top-Ranked sector “Institutional Investor” IRO, and was appointed to the NIRI Senior Roundtable. Deb is Board Member of NIRI National and NIRI New York. Deb is one of approximately 100 IR practitioners globally to have achieved the newly created “IRC” certification from NIRI.

Prior to joining Edelman in 2015, Deb was Senior Vice President, Investor Relations & Corporate Communications for Veeco Instruments (Nasdaq: VECO; multi-billion dollar market cap technology company) for over 15 years. While at Veeco, Deb created and implemented a global IR program to raise visibility and deepen ownership to reflect business trends: annual program included more than 25 IR conferences and NDRs including Europe and Asia outreach. Veeco’s analyst coverage grew from 5 to over 25. She led effective communications strategy through positive periods of growth, over a dozen M&A transactions, a highly successful secondary equity offering, new market opportunities, one CEO and two CFO transitions, an accounting review, as well as business declines and restructurings.

Prior to joining Veeco, Deb was Vice President of Dewe Rogerson Inc. in NY where she ran the firm’s U.S. IR client base, focused on healthcare/ biotech, high-tech, consumer products (food, apparel), financial services, publishing and general industry. During her tenure at the firm, Deb serviced clients across the globe and helped grow the firm from 4 to 80 employees. Deb also served for one year as Director of Investor Relations for Immunomedics, a biotechnology company. Deb has a BS in Communications and Business from The State University of New York at Albany.