Itron, a meter supplier for the energy and water industries, has brought in Barbara Doyle as vice president of investor relations. She takes over the role from Ranny Dwiggins.
Prior to joining Liberty Lake, Washington based-Itron, Doyle spent almost 10 years in IR and corporate communications at technology company Lawson Software.
She began her career at IBM in 1983, where she held numerous strategy and finance roles before joining the IR department in 2000.
Doyle holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from Pennsylvania State University. In addition, like many experienced IROs, she also holds an MBA, in this case from North Carolina’s Duke University.
‘I believe my experience in communicating with investors can be effective at Itron as we work to close a gap between investors’ perception of Itron’s growth and earnings potential and the opportunity we in the company see,’ says Doyle in an email.
She joins Itron at a time of significant management change for the company. Last week it was announced that Itron’s former chairman and CEO LeRoy Nosbaum was coming out of retirement and taking over the utilities supplier once again.
Nosbaum first joined Itron in 1996, became CEO in 2000, and then CEO-chairman between 2002 and 2009 during a period of strong growth for the company.
He takes over from Malcolm Unsworth, who has stepped down as Itron’s president and CEO, and also from his role on the board.
Doyle may have her work cut out selling the management change to Wall Street, as analysts reportedly had a mixed reaction to the executive change.
