NIRI’s incoming chairman Hulus Alpay views his diverse career path, which touches virtually every aspect of the public company and financial markets nexus, as a distinct advantage. ‘It’s an interesting dynamic; I’ve been in everyone’s shoes at some point,’ he says.
The current IRO at Medidata Solutions in New York City has been an IR consultant (at Makovsky & Company, Morgen-Walke Associates and his own firm, Alpay Balanced Communications), an IR services vendor (at Carson Group, now part of Thomson Reuters) and a research analyst (at Merrill Lynch Asset Management and for the retired chairman of the New York Mercantile Exchange). He’s also achieved Level I CFA certification.
That eclectic background will serve the new chairman well as he takes the reins next month at a time when conditions remain challenging for public companies and their IR teams.
‘IR has been hit hard since 2008,’ Alpay observes, with IPO volume, the traditional feeder for growth in the professional ranks, continuing to struggle for traction. The overall market turbulence and uncertain economy have been equally challenging as IROs ‘navigate change in their own businesses and the way they need to communicate.’
But Alpay sees the JOBS Act, which the US Congress passed earlier this year to loosen restrictions on IPOs for emerging growth companies, as one potential positive for the IR profession. ‘I don’t think anybody has a sense of the IR opportunity’ presented by the legislation, he says. But he sees a ‘hybrid opportunity for people with the right background… to flourish in that environment.’
He also sees ‘a re-acceleration’ of the profession in the current hard times as IR gets elevated to a more strategic level within modern corporations.
Alpay is excited about NIRI’s international growth opportunities, too, looking for member growth particularly in Asia and Latin America where IR is in its infancy. ‘They are hungry for more information and a community feeling,’ Alpay observes, highlighting China as a ‘major growth opportunity’ where the IR industry is ‘hungry for best practices’.
