el Prado Hotel, Palo Alto, CA
The IR Magazine Think Tank – West Coast took place on Wednesday, March 20 as an invitation-only event exclusively for senior IR officers. Our think tanks are free to attend and our unique format enables participants to network extensively, discuss, debate and dissect topical issues affecting today’s IROs.
What makes our format so unique?
Our think tanks are far removed from the traditional conference set-up as the event consists of a series of panel sessions followed by roundtable discussions on select IR issues. These interactive sessions are an opportunity to share experiences with and learn from other top-rated IROs. All table discussions are confidential, and none of the participants’ comments is attributed. This allows attendees to talk freely and have frank, open discussions.
How do our roundtable discussions work?
Industry experts, top-rated IROs and members of the investment community set the agenda on a panel discussion by sharing their thoughts on session topics.
Small round tables of IROs discuss these issues face to face.
Each table gives feedback from its discussion and shares ideas with the group as a whole.
Holders of the NIRI IRC® certification can earn up to 4 professional development units (PDUs) per day. IRC-certified speakers may also earn PDUs. For more information about the Investor Relations Charter (IRC)®, please visit www.niri.org/certification.
08:15 AM
Registration, refreshments and networking
08:55 AM
Welcome to the IR Magazine Think Tank
Steven Wade, Head of content, IR Magazine
09:00 AM
Keynote panel: Management expectations of IR in 2024
Moderator: Steven Wade, Head of content, IR Magazine
Kate Scolnik, Chief financial officer, Owlet Baby Care
09:30 AM
The analyst view: The impact on macro uncertainty on corporate access
• Hear directly from the sell side about the impact of macro uncertainty on consumer behaviour, investment flows and shareholder bases
• Discover how IR teams can work with their analysts to better inform the investment community around the equity story
• Understand the impact of Learn how to calibrate your guidance and messaging in uncertain times
• Discuss how to approach corporate access in an uncertain economy
Moderator: Lauren McDonald, conference producer, IR Magazine
RJ Pellegrino, Managing director of global equities, TD Cowen
10:00 AM
Roundtables: Navigating uncertainty and sector-specific discussions
10:30 AM
Coffee break
11:00 AM
Practical uses of AI in IR: How has the conversation progressed?
• An overview of the key applications of AI currently in use by IR teams
• Best practices around implementing AI processes: From identifying a use-case to selecting the right provider
• Overcoming challenges: Learn the key obstacles to AI adoption by IR teams and understand the evolving risk landscape
• Looking ahead: Discuss where AI could add the most value to IR functions as technologies evolve
Moderator: Lauren McDonald, conference producer, IR Magazine
Erik Carlson, CFO & COO, Notified
11:30 AM
Best-in-class earnings calls: Preparation, execution and measuring success
• In advance: How and when to pre-announce results
• On the lead up: Preparing your management team and anticipating analyst queries
• On the day: Discuss tactics and formats to ensure a smooth presentation and Q&A
• After the call: Learn the best ways to measure success and gather analyst feedback
Moderator: Steven Wade, Head of content, IR Magazine
Giuseppe Montefinese, Manager of contributor relations – US, Visible Alpha
Jason Schmidt, Head of investor relations, Upstart
12:00 PM
Roundtables: Tools and technologies to drive efficiency in investor relations
12:30 PM
Lunch
13:30 PM
Tailoring your outreach to a range of investment styles
• Get creative with the datasets you use to identify compatible investors
• Next steps: Best practices around initial outreach and ensuring meaningful engagement
• Learn strategies to maximize the productivity of yours and management’s time
• Retail investors: Identify, manage and cultivate your retail shareholder base
• Domestic vs global outreach: Factors to consider when approaching international investors
Moderator: Steven Wade, Head of content, IR Magazine
Loren Kalm, Head of investor relations, North America, Genentech/Roche
David Whyte, Co-Founder and CEO, Irwin
14:00 PM
Taking an updated look at investor days: Messaging, cadence and execution
• Set the right message: Knowing when (and when not) to host an investor day
• Get the cadence right: Ensuring a consistent investor day schedule without fatiguing participants
• Who to have involved: Ensuring the right people are in the room and preparing speakers effectively
• Discuss the best investor day formats in a hybrid world
• After the event: Share solutions to measuring the value and impact of your investor day
Moderator: Lauren McDonald, Conference producer, IR Magazine
Rob Lockerman, Vice president of advisory, Corbin Advisors
Chip Newcom, Head of investor relations, Equinix
14:30 PM
Roundtables: Novel ways to engage investors
15:00 PM
Investor Q&A: Buy-side perspectives on how IR can do better in 2024
• Hear directly from the buy-side on the key macro trends likely to shape investment decisions in 2024
• Discuss how different investors are reacting to current market conditions and what this means for IR teams
• Learn the best ways to communicate information to investors in the context of ongoing uncertainty
• Understand investors’ red flags when it comes to engaging with IR teams
Moderator: Steven Wade, Head of content, IR Magazine
Stephen Perkins, Founder and portfolio manager, Toronado Capital Management
15:30 PM
The IR Situation Room
A carefully structured, collaborative session that gives attendees an opportunity to work together to solve each other’s real-life IR challenges in a consultation-style setting
• Get real solutions from IR peers on a particular challenge you are facing
• Understand the challenges that other IR professionals are facing
• Benefit from the collective discussions that result
Moderator: Victoria Hyde-Dunn, Vice president of investor relations, Informatica
16:15 PM
Closing remarks and networking drinks
Steven Wade, Head of content, IR Magazine
To inquire about speaking opportunities, contact [email protected] or +44 7804 740 172
Kate Scolnik
Chief financial officer
Owlet Baby Care
Kate Scolnick is Chief Financial Officer at Owlet. Ms. Scolnick brings three decades of global financial management experience to Owlet. She previously served as Vice President of Finance at enterprise cloud software company Anaplan. She has an extensive tech background from her other previous positions at Seagate Technology, Intel, McAfee, and EMC. Kate holds a bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University.
Chip Newcom
Head of investor relations
Equinix
Victoria Hyde-Dunn
Vice president of investor relations
Informatica
Victoria is the Vice President of Investor Relations at Informatica Inc. Victoria brings over 20 years of IR experience focusing on financial services and software-as-a-service (SaaS) industries across high-growth private equity ownership structures to established companies undergoing a transition. Prior to joining Informatica, she held IR roles at 8×8, Visa, McAfee, and Providian Financial. Victoria is an active NIRI member since 2002 and currently serves as President of the NIRI San Francisco Chapter.
Stephen Perkins
Founder and portfolio manager
Toronado Capital Management
Loren Kalm
Head of investor relations, North America
Genentech/Roche
Erik Carlson
Chief operating officer and chief financial officer
Notified
Erik Carlson is chief operating officer and chief financial officer at Notified, a technology partner for investor relations, public relations and marketing professionals. He brings over 10 years of M&A, strategic finance and business transformation experience across private equity portfolio companies in technology, media, pharmaceuticals and consumer products. Prior to Notified, he was senior vice president of M&A integration at Intrado and director of M&A and strategy advisory at PwC.
RJ Pellegrino
Managing director of global equities
TD Cowen
Rob Lockerman
Vice president of advisory
Corbin Advisors
Rob Lockerman is a VP in the Investor Day advisory practice at Corbin Advisors, an Investor Relations research and advisory firm assisting public companies with unlocking their full market potential through perception studies, investor presentations, ESG, and other related services.
Rob is responsible for guiding senior executives in all facets of developing and communicating a compelling investment thesis to buy-side and sell-side investors.
Jason Schmidt
Head of investor relations
Upstart
Jason Schmidt is the Head of Investor Relations at Upstart. Prior to joining Upstart in 2021, Jason was a Director of investor relations at AMD where he helped to manage the stock from small cap to well over $100B in market cap. Previously Jason was a Director of investor relations at Hewlett-Packard Enterprise where he helped to manage one of the largest corporate restructuring/spin offs. Jason holds an MBA from Cornell and a BA in Economics from UCDavis.
Giuseppe Montefinese
Manager of contributor relations - US
Visible Alpha
Giuseppe is currently Manager of Contributor Relations at Visible Alpha overseeing the relationship of US and LATAM brokers, and has over 10 years experience in capital markets and corporate investor relations. Prior to joining Visible Alpha, Giuseppe was Director and Head of Investor Relations for Startek, Inc., a technology-enabled business process outsourcing company. Prior to Startek, Giuseppe’s IR experience spanned across both mid and large-cap financials, predominately in the Property & Casualty Insurance sector. Prior to his career in investor relations, Giuseppe worked on the Corporate Actions and Market Watch desk at the New York Stock Exchange. He has a degree in economics from Rutgers University.
David Whyte
Co-founder and CEO
Irwin
David Whyte is the co-founder and CEO of Irwin, a capital markets technology company built for public companies and their advisors. He is responsible for driving its mission to seamlessly connect the world’s capital seekers and allocators to make them more productive, innovative and successful.
Before founding Irwin, David spent a decade working in capital markets, holding positions in investment banking and sales and trading for both global and boutique banks. David’s time on the institutional equity and event-driven sales team at Credit Suisse gave him a first-hand view of the complex challenges facing public companies and their advisors in an ever-evolving regulatory landscape. His domain expertise results in product ideas that rethink traditional ways of doing things, helping Irwin clients and capital markets professionals navigate ongoing industry transformation.
Lauren McDonald
Conference producer
IR Magazine
Lauren McDonald is a conference producer at IR Magazine and Governance Intelligence. She brings a wealth of experience from her past roles in campaign organising for The Labour Party in Leeds and Tower Hamlets.
Lauren holds a Masters degree in the History of Race & Resistance and a Bachelors degree in American History & Politics, both from prestigious universities. She uses her expertise and knowledge to inform her current work and ensure high quality outcomes.
In her free time, Lauren is actively involved in a number of charitable causes. She has volunteered with the Girl Guides, the Los Angeles LGBT Centre, and regularly donates her time to political campaigns in and around London.
In her role as conference producer at IR Magazine and Governance Intelligence, Lauren is passionate about providing the best experience to all stakeholders and ensuring all events she produces are of the highest quality.
Steven Wade
Head of content
IR Magazine
Steve Wade is head of content for IR Magazine and Corporate Secretary. In his role, Steve and his team are responsible for researching and producing insightful content that helps the investor relations and governance communities stay up-to-date on the latest trends and best practices in their fields.
Steve curates content across multiple platforms, including conferences, workshops, think tanks, podcasts, best practice guides, videos and websites. Steve guides editorial coverage and research to ensure they fulfill the needs of our communities and is responsible for hosting our conferences and presenting research at industry events.
Prior to joining IR Magazine and Corporate Secretary, Steve’s experience has been in ESG and sustainability research, producing conferences for Ethical Corporation (now Reuters Events.) During this time, Steve was a judge for the Deloitte Green Frog Awards and presented research at the Global Sustainable Events Summit and United Nations Global Compact, World Bank & Polish Ministry of Finance events.
Our attendees are leading IR practitioners with an established track record and strategic IR role within their company.
Below is a sample list of attendees who joined us at the event:
Job title | Company | Job title | Company | |
Deputy CFO | Fortinet | Senior director, IR | ThredUP | |
Director | PG&E | SVP, corporate development, IR | Expedia Group | |
Director | Airbnb | SVP, IR & corporate development | Genasys | |
Director, IR | Splunk | SVP, IR & corporate development | Workiva | |
Director, IR | Knife River Corporation | SVP, IR, communications | Cadiz | |
Director, IR | BioMarin | VP | Vector Capital | |
Global head, IR | HP | VP, IR | BILL | |
Global VP | 8×8 | VP, corporate development & IR | e.l.f. Beauty | |
Head, IR | Affirm Holdings | VP, finance, IR | Freshworks | |
Head, IR | Joby Aviation | VP, industry analyst relations | Cambium Networks | |
Head, IR | American Well | VP, IR | Intuit | |
Head, IR | Aspen Aerogels | VP, IR | OpenText | |
Head, IR | Newmark Group | VP, IR | Elastic | |
Head, IR | Diodes | VP, IR | Central Garden & Pet | |
IR | Beckman | VP, IR | Informatica | |
IR director | Applied Materials | VP, IR | Infinera | |
Senior director, IR | Seagate | VP, IR | Xometry | |
Senior director, IR | Gilead | VP, IR & corp comms | Adagene | |
Senior director, IR | Aristocrat Technologies | VP, IR & risk management | CooperCompanies |
Why partner with us?
Our events provide a unique opportunity to get in front of some of the most influential people in the IR community globally. As a partner, you will gain an extensive amount of exposure through a wide range of print and digital marketing materials, both pre and post event, as well as on the day itself. Additionally, you can use the event to align yourself with industry excellence and network with key decision makers from across the region.
Being a partner will provide:
We’d love to have a chat with you about how you can get in front of a truly engaged and motivated audience at the IR Magazine Think Tank – West Coast. Get in touch with Ian Richman or call on +1 212 430 6865.
Partners
Corbin was founded on the idea that insights-driven advice is a powerful catalyst for unlocking value. Leveraging proprietary research and analytics, a best-practice mindset, executional excellence, and a deep understanding of what influences sentiment, we deploy a proven model to realize value. We work with organizations globally, across all sectors and sizes, as our knowledge and insights drive breakthrough thinking and impact. We collaborate with our clients to execute sound, effective communication, and engagement strategies.
For more information, please visit corbinadvisors.com.
Build, innovate, and grow your business with Irwin, the only investor relations platform designed with automation and reduced time-to-insight at its core. Irwin unlocks and enhances investor and shareholder relationships for your business—for various use cases, market caps, and industries—whether you have an established IR program or are just getting started.
At Irwin, we’re building a better way to manage investor relations. Legacy tools and companies in capital markets often grow stagnant, and the capacity to innovate wanes over time. This has left the majority of IR teams with two to five inefficient tools to manage their program and workflows—over time; we hope to reduce that to one. Our full-service tool suite includes powerful investor targeting, comprehensive shareholder monitoring, an intuitive CRM (with built-in email and engagement tools), timely research, estimates, and transcripts, and IR website intelligence.
To learn more, please visit www.getirwin.com.
Notified makes it easy for brands to create and share powerful stories with the world. Our suite of world-class, award-winning solutions and our dedicated customer service team are relied upon by more than 10,000 global customers, from growing businesses and public companies to some of the world’s most recognizable brands.
Notified’s solutions help businesses effectively share and amplify their stories to customers, investors, employees, and the media. From press release distribution via GlobeNewswire to earnings calls, IR websites, social listening, media engagement tools, webinars and virtual events, Notified has you covered.
Learn more at www.notified.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, or our Blog.
TD Securities offers a wide range of capital markets products and services to corporate, government, and institutional clients who choose us for our innovation, execution, and experience. With more than 7,200 professionals operating out of 39 cities across the globe, we help clients meet their needs today and prepare for tomorrow. Our services include underwriting and distributing new issues, providing trusted advice and industry-leading insight, extending access to global markets, and delivering integrated transactionbanking solutions. In 2023, we acquired Cowen Inc., offering our clients access to a premier U.S. equities business and highly-diverse equity research franchise, while growing our strong, diversified investment bank. We are growth-oriented, people-focused, and community-minded. As a team, we work to deliver value for our clients every day.
For more information please visit www.tdcowen.com.
Visible Alpha helps corporations of all sizes and geographies understand the market’s view of their companies. Our flagship product, Visible Alpha Insights, offers three levels of data: analyst data, company data and industry data. We capture the forecasts, assumptions and logic from full working sell-side models and integrate them into comparable views across analysts and across companies within an industry. Not only are the Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Cash Flow Statement standardized across all covering analysts, but Visible Alpha also creates detailed forecasts on all revenue drivers, growth metrics and supplemental data that analysts use to better understand the factors impacting company performance.
With robust charting, visualization and analytics tools, you can extract more valuable insights from analyst estimates and consensus forecasts, and instantly discover analyst outliers, identify trends, visualize analyst revisions and compare broker estimates. Use our pre-built comp tables to quantify and compare companies across your industry. This deep consensus data enables investor relations professionals to uncover and explore the market’s view of your company, competitors and suppliers at a level of granularity, timeliness and interactivity that has never before been possible.
For more information visit www.visiblealpha.com.
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+1 212 430 6865
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+44 7804 740 172
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