Runner-up to Schlumberger at the top of the energy sector this year, Anadarko rises from 111th in the US Top 100 in 2015 to its current ninth place. That’s its best spot for six years – but it has to be said that 2015 was the anomaly. In the four previous years it ranked between 17th and 34th.
The Anadarko team comprises John Colglazier, senior vice president of IR and communications, Jeremy Smith and Shandell Szabo, both directors of IR, and Juanita Newman, co-ordinator. Smith and Szabo are both on rotation in IR: Smith has spent time in corporate finance and corporate development at Anadarko; Szabo is from operations, the petro-tech side. Colglazier says the rotational approach works well; Smith concurs that he and Szabo can add color and ‘provide a fresh burst of energy’ at investor meetings.
The team has its work cut out with the current trials facing its sector, but sell-siders passing judgment seem pretty impressed with Anadarko’s investor relations. ‘There are smart people at Anadarko who give good disclosure and are easy to deal with,’ observes one.
Colglazier has been in the IR department since 2007, when he became vice president of IR. By then he had already been with the group for more than 25 years in a range of accounting, planning and IR roles. Seven years later he was promoted to senior vice president of IR.
Recent times have undoubtedly been tough, not least because of two major lawsuits, one relating to the BP oil spill, the other – one of the largest suits of the year in the US – on an environmental issue. These two matters were eventually settled for a total of around $9 bn but, as Colglazier explains, it made for a very busy time: ‘We were talking to investors 150 times a day,’ he reports.
Things are less hectic now, so it’s back to something closer to normal. And what does that mean? ‘We speak for management and we’re as forthright as possible,’ Colglazier says. ‘Every day we live the values of the company, two of which are communication and transparency.’
This profile first appeared in the IR Magazine Investor Perception Study – US 2016, which is available to professional subscribers of IR Magazine
