For the last three years, IR Magazine has facilitated a discussion about gender equality in the IR profession. The campaign has included events in London, New York, San Francisco and Toronto, as well as research, articles, podcasts and a video series.
Through these media we were able to discuss issues of gender pay parity and examine why men outweigh women in senior IR positions, even though there’s a 50/50 gender split across all roles in IR. We continue to be committed to exploring these issues but, as we reflected on how to evolve the campaign, we acknowledged that in many parts of the world, IR is not very ethnically diverse. Further, we found our campaign had excellent interest from female IR professionals, but not as much interest from men. Perhaps that’s the downside of calling the campaign Women in IR.
Click here for a replay of the Equality in IR Forum.
So on July 22 this year we hosted the inaugural Equality in IR Forum. As the agenda came together, news of George Floyd’s murder swept across the world and ignited protest, riots and debate about racial equality and justice in society. That inevitably shaped part of the forum’s agenda, and rightly so.
During the event, we looked at how the investment community is taking steps to become more diverse, the important role companies need to play to create cultures where diversity and inclusion become a strength and the need for individual IR professionals to play an active role in managing their own career. This was a virtual event and, as such, here we present recordings of the sessions.
Addressing diversity within the investment community
Given that IROs are constantly pitching to the investment community, and members of the investment community often become IROs, it is crucial to begin the conversation with how we can address and increase diversity in the investment community as a whole.
The speakers on this panel were:
- Sandhya Douglas, senior managing director, partner and COO of investments, Wellington
- Tanya Rowntree, global head of client success for equity capital markets, TMX Group
- Mary Turnbull, managing director of corporate access, Raymond James
- Laurie Havelock, editor-at-large, IR Magazine (moderator)
What is the role of the company in leading cultural change?
The culture of a company plays a huge role in building an environment that promotes diversity and practices inclusion. This session looked at how to navigate unconscious bias, provided positive examples of actions companies can take to create more inclusive cultures and looked at the importance of diversity at all levels of an organization.
The speakers were:
- Lynn Antipas Tyson, executive director of investor relations, Ford Motor Company
- Betty Liu, chief experience officer, Intercontinental Exchange, and executive vice chairman, NYSE
- Ripa Rashid, managing director and head of inclusion and diversity, Cowen
- Laurie Havelock, editor-at-large, IR Magazine (moderator)
How can you build influence and drive your career forward?
In this session, our speakers discussed their routes into IR, how they’ve actively managed their careers and thought about how to provide strategic value, and how they’ve navigated new and different working cultures.
The speakers in the session were:
- Ilkay Demirdag, head of investor relations, Enerjisa
- Sri Maddipati, vice president of treasurer and IR, Consumers Energy
- Kate Scolnick, vice president of finance, Anaplan
- Ben Ashwell, editor, IR Magazine (moderator)
The global pivot: How influence and success are shifting
In a closing keynote address, Smooch Repovich Reynolds, managing partner of the global IR practice group at ZRG Partners, encouraged audience members to reflect on their career trajectory and the value they can provide to their organization. During immense uncertainty, leaders step up and IROs can play their part, Repovich Reynolds said.
This article appeared in the Fall 2020 issue of IR Magazine. Click here to open the full digital edition of IR Magazine
