Laurie Havelock
Laurie has been with IR Impact for over a decade, becoming editor in 2023 after roles as a reporter and research editor. He moderates events and serves as MC for global awards. Previously, he was acting business editor at the i newspaper and deputy business editor at The Daily Telegraph.
Authored articles
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People moves: new IROs join teams at Pennon, Cellnex and Austriacard
Spanish wireless telecommunications infrastructure and services firm Cellnex has brought in Maria Carrapato as its new group investor relations director. In her new role at the Madrid-listed company, she will lead the IR team and report to Raimon Trias, Cellnex’s CFO. She previously served as head of IR and sustainability at Portuguese telecoms company NOS, where she worked since 2007.
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Teddy bears, school reports and rising stars: what you said about the IR Impact Awards – Europe 2025
Now the confetti has been picked up and the hangovers are starting to clear, it’s a great time to reflect on last week’s celebrations at the IR Impact Awards – Europe 2025. More than 300 of Europe’s leading IROs joined us for a night of food, drink and connections at the swanky Peninsula London hotel, where eDreams ODIGEO, Iberdrola and Infineon Technology emerged as the big winners with three awards apiece.
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How Canada’s IROs are preparing for a storm on the horizon
CIRI’s annual conference brings together hundreds of IROs from across the ‘true north’, from Toronto-based multinationals through to tiny mining companies based in the wilds.
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People moves: William Houston steps down from BAT as Jordyn Eskijian joins Metronet
William Houston, formerly head of investor sustainability at British American Tobacco (BAT), has stepped down from his role after five years at the company.
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People moves: eToro promotes PR manager Ilaria Pattareeya Luca to IR role after IPO
Trading platform eToro has promoted its former global PR and communications manager Ilaria Pattareeya Luca to its IR team following its recent IPO.
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Spanish companies Iberdrola and Banco Santander lead the pack ahead of the IR Impact Awards – Europe 2025
Two listed Spanish companies – electricity utility Iberdrola and financial group Banco Santander – are top of the most shortlists ahead of the IR Impact Awards – Europe 2025. Iberdrola features across eight short lists, including the awards for best overall investor relations (large cap) and best investor relations officer (large cap) for Isabel Sanchez Herrero, the firm’s head of IR.
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Is your CEO getting too political? It might be driving lower stock returns
I’m sure everyone reading this has had some experience of a senior management figure saying something they shouldn’t have, to the wrong person or at the wrong time. I’m also sure that everyone worries that such off-color remarks could negatively impact their company’s share price.
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‘Best-in-class IR is about creating a clear vision’: Roy Wefuan at the IR Impact Awards – Canada 2025
What are the hallmarks of a best-in-class IRO? For Roy Wefuan, head of client success at TMX Group, it comes down to prioritizing clear, consistent and proactive communication with your various stakeholder audiences.
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People moves: Jutta Mikkola takes over at Stora Enso and Greer Aviv joins Cognex
US machine vision system maker Cognex has brought in Greer Aviv as its new head of investor relations. In a move effective from June 2, 2025, Aviv will join the Nasdaq-listed firm to serve as the ‘primary liaison between Cognex and the investment community,’ a press release states.
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What IR teams can learn about responding to a cyber attack from M&S
Our UK readers – and shoppers – will no doubt have been keeping up with the news that high-street stalwart Marks & Spencer has been targeted by a widespread cyber attack. It comes in the same week that fellow retailer Co-op, as well as London’s luxury department store Harrod’s, had been forced to shut down IT systems and restrict internet access to thwart similar attacks.
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People moves: Angela Catlin steps back from The Co-operative Bank as B&M’s head of IR David McCarthy retires
Angela Catlin, head of investor relations, corporate affairs and brand at The Co-operative Bank, has announced she is stepping back after two years at the company. Catlin, who has spoken at several IR Impact events about ESG and other topics in recent years, joined The Co-operative Bank in 2023 as its head of investor relations, adding corporate affairs and brand duties to her job in 2024.
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People moves: Linda Pazin joins Solventum and Mitch Haws moves to Semtech
Linda Pazin, formerly head of strategic communications at Sempra, has joined San Diego, California-based healthcare company Solventum, which was spun off from 3M in April 2024, as its new director of finance communications. Pazin has had a long and varied career in investor relations over the past few decades, including a stint as head of technology, global listings and west coast regional leader at Nasdaq alongside IR roles at Deckers Brands and Live Nation Entertainment. She also was the founder of her own IR and strategic communications consultancy, Pazin Strategies, for four years.
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‘The US markets are keeping all of our IROs on their toes’: NIRI New York’s Laura Kiernan on challenging times
Though the IR Impact Awards – US 2025 was a time for great celebration, it also came at a time of distinct market upheaval, with a combination of trade tariffs, ongoing conflict and political change weighing heavily on the markets. We spoke to Laura Kiernan, president for NIRI’s New York chapter as well as senior vice president at GuideLign, Rivel, about how members of the trade association were dealing with the fallout.
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‘You have to take investors on the journey with you’: Fiserv’s Julie Chariell on communicating through volatility
Given the landscape of trade disagreements, global conflict and ongoing political upheaval, communicating with investors requires a flexible and nuanced approach. At the recent IR Impact Awards – US 2025, we spoke to Julie Chariell, head of investor relations at payments company Fiserv, about how to manage investor outreach at a time when the markets are grappling with uncertainty.
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IR lessons from Warren Buffett as Berkshire Hathaway’s ‘Oracle of Omaha’ retires
Berkshire Hathaway’s charismatic chief executive Warren Buffett, the much-vaunted ‘Oracle of Omaha’, enjoyed two significant career milestones this week. The first was helming his 60th annual meeting for the fund, which shed light on where the trillion-dollar-investment manager will be focusing its attentions in the near future. Almost 20,000 people attended the event, which sees attendees spend hundreds of thousands at concession stands alone.
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Patrick Möller eyes new opportunity at optician Fielmann and Stephen Nightingale steps down from Britvic
Experienced German IRO Patrick Möller has taken up a new role at Hamburg-based optician group Fielmann as its new director of investor relations. He joins the company after 17 years as vice president of investor relations at New Work, formerly known as Xing, during which time he was nominated for the award for best overall IR – small cap at the IR Magazine Awards – Europe 2016. He left his role at New Work following the company’s delisting from the Frankfurt Stock Exchange earlier this year.
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‘I wanted to set a new standard for investor days’: Rebecca Gardy of Campbell’s on an award-winning event
At the recent IR Impact Awards – US 2025, we spoke to Rebecca Gardy, chief investor relations officer at Campbell’s, about how exactly they planned last year’s investor day
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People moves: High Roller goes all in on Seth Young as head of IR
Las Vegas-based online casino operator High Roller Technologies has appointed Seth Young as its new senior vice president of corporate strategy and investor relations. Prior to joining the NYSE-listed company, Young served as chief innovation officer at PointsBet, where he was responsible for strategic corporate development efforts including fundraising, new market development, government affairs and regulatory affairs. Before that he worked as chief operating officer at FSG Digital, executive director of online gaming at Foxwoods Resort Casino, chief operating officer at Flower City Gaming and director of strategy for TexasHoldem.com.
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What does Trump’s so-called ‘Liberation Day’ mean for IR?
After weeks of warnings, Donald Trump finally revealed his full suite of new industry tariffs from the White House Lawn on Wednesday. Announcing the slew of trade measures as ‘Liberation Day’, the US president said that the economic policies would mark the day American industry was ‘reborn’ and the day the country was ‘made wealthy again’. For many IROs, it will herald a period of volatility and uncertainty as they scramble to find out what the implications of those moves will be on their companies.
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Building from a baseline: how IR teams are using new data sources to unlock smarter decision-making
As any IR professional knows all too well, the market is awash with a wealth of data from myriad sources. Everything from earnings calls to websites to press releases – both from your company and from your peers – can help inform strategic IR work. But where do you start without becoming completely overwhelmed? This was what panelists Erik Carlson, chief operating officer at Notified, Glenn Schulman, founder and head of IR at Z3 BioCommunications, and Amanda Tang, head of IR at TMX Group, tackled in a recent IR Impact Webinar, held alongside Notified.
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‘Err on the side of transparency’: Dave Bezanson on how to execute a successful earnings
Ahead of our upcoming IR Impact Forum – Canada, set to be held in Toronto on April 3, we have caught up with some of the event’s leading speakers to understand their outlook for investor communications in Canada.
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People moves: Debbie Hancock joins Lamb Weston and Caroline Dawson moves to Reckitt
Debbie Hancock, the former senior vice president of investor relations at toy maker Hasbro, has taken up a new IR role at French fry producer Lamb Weston. Hancock, who left her position at Hasbro in February 2024 after 15 years at the company, has a career in investor relations that spans 30 years, including a 15-year stint as director of IR at APC by Schneider Electric. She has been a member of NIRI since the mid-90s.
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‘Driving sustainability means changing organizational culture’: Aecon’s Prabh Banga on the challenges of ESG
Ahead of our upcoming IR Impact Forum – Canada, set to be held in Toronto on April 3, we have caught up with some of the event’s leading speakers to understand their outlook for investor communications in Canada.
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The CFO: ‘You need to have a stomach of iron during times of volatility,’ says Block’s Amrita Ahuja
Many IROs hope that their time in the profession might set them up well for a C-suite position well one day. But for Amrita Ahuja, CFO and COO for payments company Block, the transition happened directly during her time as head of IR for interactive entertainment firm Activision Blizzard, where she was called upon to become finance chief of its video-game publishing wing Blizzard Entertainment in 2018. Fast forward a few years and she now holds the dual posts of CFO and – for the past two years – COO at Block, the financial technology company founded by Jack Dorsey,…
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Why finding your ‘Steve Jobs’ might be the key to successfully using AI for IR
Many IROs say they are still curious about how they can effectively implement AI into their IR programs. But where do you start? And how do you overcome the security concerns that are still rife around the technology? Earlier this month in London, IR Impact’s AI & Technology Forum – Europe aimed to answer some of those concerns and give attendees a place to start their experiments with the technology, with one eye on saving them time in the long run.
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CIBC and Calian Group lead the pack ahead of the IR Impact Awards – Canada 2025
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) and Calian Group will be the favorites ahead of the IR Impact Awards – Canada 2025, with both companies featuring on the short lists for seven awards apiece. The gala event, which will take place in Toronto this April, aims to recognize Canada’s leading publicly listed companies and IR practitioners across a wide range of categories.
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People moves: Jörg Friedemann to step down from IR at Brazil’s Nubank
Jörg Friedemann, the head of IR and global head of ESG and market intelligence at Brazilian financial services firm Nubank, is set to step down from his role by the end of April 2025.
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People moves: Darren Snellgrove to head Johnson & Johnson’s IR team as Jessica Moore takes CFO role
Plus new IROs at Essential Utilities and Liberty Latin America
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Concise content, capturing imagination and e-snowmobiles: How to engage the next generation of investors
Recent IR Impact and Totem webinar explored how to capture the interest of a younger investor audience
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