IROs gathered in new york to discuss AI, the macroeconomy and how targeting is like dating
How can IR respond to an increasingly volatile, fractured and AI-driven market? This was the central question examined at the recent IR Impact Think Tank – East Coast, held on March 25 at the Bank of America offices in New York.
Between a series of panel discussions and open roundtable sessions, more than 100 IROs explored how companies can best respond to a ever-more complicated mix of macroeconomic factors and day-to-day challenges.
Below, we’ve rounded up four of the key takeaways from the day’s discussions.
AI as a middleman
As you might expect, discussions around AI and its use to IROs ran throughout the day. An early panel titled ‘How AI is reshaping IR and capital markets’ investigated the issue in more detail, with Bryan Kloster, investor relations manager at AutoNation, giving the audience a run-down of the ways in which he uses the technology to bolster his IR operations.
A key takeaway was the fact that large language models (LLMs) are becoming a new gatekeeper of financial narratives, forcing IR teams to rethink how press releases, earnings materials and websites are structured.
‘There’s now a middleman between what you’re communicating to the market and what people are interpreting – and that middleman is the LLM,’ said Erik Carlson, president and CEO of Notified, adding that his clients had reported that ‘people presenting alpha are proactively guessing what question is being asked and answering it.’
For Carrie Gillard, director, investor relations at Shopify, this has shaped how she thinks about her disclosures. For example, she relies far less on the written word in annual or quarterly reports. ‘We removed as many words as possible,’ she added. ‘We went to only tables, because bots can’t misinterpret a table.’
Thinking of targeting as wooing investors
In a session that examined how to find and engage the right investors, Lucia Dempsey, head of investor relations at Chesapeake Utilities and Stephanie Wissink, senior vice president and head of investor relations at Walmart, likened the process to one with romantic overtones.
For Wissink, it’s a case of thinking about the relationship that you form with a prospective investor on a long-term scale – a ‘three-year rather than three-month project’. Personnel changes can present a good opportunity to jump in and re-educate an investor about your story, but it’s important to think about the process as ‘like dating to marriage versus jumping right into something very quickly,’ she added.
Dempsey extended the imagery, saying that she wants to turn an investment opportunity ‘into a wedding invitation’ by tailoring messaging to prospective matches. ‘I think it’s truly valuable to identify a group of owners or investors, make them your owners, and then the art of making them fall in love with the company, not with the stock price,’ she added.
Being your own activist
In a session titled ‘IR’s evolving role, playing offense and defense: activism, M&A, governance and special situations’, a quartet of experts – Danielle Collins, head of investor relations at Southwest Airlines, Rebecca Corbin, founder and CEO at Corbin Advisors, Ron Schneider, director of corporate governance services at DFIN and Deb Wasser, vice president of investor relations, Etsy – laid out how IR teams can add value around their company’s larger, strategic moves.
A resounding chorus from this session came from Corbin, who led a quick run-down of current activism trends for attendees. As the trend for activist campaigns intensifies, IR teams should learn to be their ‘own best activist’ to understand any vulnerabilities – and opportunities to drive value. ‘Understand what the issues are, the weaknesses, the gaps and be able to effectively communicate that to the leadership team or the board,’ she added.
Each panelist agreed, with Wasser exploring how an Elliott Investment Management campaign led to a new board member at Etsy who has since helped drive further value. For Collins, activism – and other special situations – gives IR teams a chance to be the ‘outside-in voice’ for their companies. ‘Executives should drink their own Kool‑Aid, but we are the dose of reality,’ she added. ‘We’re here to look at the weaknesses in the stock day after day.’
Seeking ‘productive tension’
The day’s final session saw two award-winning IROs – Rebecca Gardy, the former senior vice president and chief investor relations officer at Campbell’s, and Chandni Luthra, executive vice president, global head of financial planning & analysis and investor relations for CBRE – explore how they had both elevated the IR function at their respective companies.
For Luthra, the key has been cultivating relationships, both internal and external, to ensure that IR can be at the nexus of the information flow. That needn’t be limited to your own sector, country or peer group, she added: ‘It can be about what’s changing the macro, the second or third order that might be impacting your company’.
Gardy, meanwhile, homed in on the need for ‘productive tension’ between IR teams and their C-suite or boards. ‘I think it’s our role to pressure test what the team is putting forth and making sure that we bring it back to reality,’ she explained. ‘Challenging the narrative is just as important as co-creating it. I think IR is really the truth-teller internally, and that means that sometimes you have to be okay with that tension.’
