PLUS NIRI veteran joins tokenization firm Streamex and more
Materials technology and recycling firm Umicore has named Maxime Lopes as its new director of investor relations. Announcing his move on LinkedIn, Lopes posted a picture of a mystery, shiny nugget of…something. ‘What’s this shiny thing?’ he asked his network on the site. ‘It’s one of several critical raw materials refined as part of Umicore’s closed-loop activities and something you might be hearing more about soon. Brownie points to anyone who guesses.
‘In fact – it’s just one of the many fascinating topics I’ve been diving into since joining Umicore as director of investor relations in July. A big thank you to Caroline Kerremans [VP of IR], Bart Heylen [IR manager] and Florence De Coster [IR analyst] for the warm welcome and all the support I received to date – you know how thrilled I am to be part of the team and the business.’
Lopes also thanked former colleagues from FTI Consulting, where he spent the last four years, before adding a note on practicalities: ‘I’m still based in London and (very) regularly travelling to Brussels. Keen to connect and catch up on either side of the North Sea!’
Over in the world of tokenization, Streamex Corp has brought in Laura Kiernan as its new head of IR. Her appointment comes at what the company describes as a pivotal time, with Streamex seeking to translate its development of blockchain-based commodity infrastructure into a clearer public-market investment story.
We are at a pivotal moment, not only for Streamex but for the wider tokenization ecosystem
Co-founder and CEO Henry McPhie welcomed Kiernan to the company while also talking through some of the challenges that Streamex and the wider sector are facing. ‘We believe we are at a pivotal moment, not only for Streamex but for the wider tokenization ecosystem,’ he says, adding that the company needs to present its equity story to the market with the same rigor it has applied to developing its platform. He uses GLDY, Streamex’s gold-with-yield token, as an example, sharing how the company has ‘spent the past two quarters addressing barriers that could prevent institutional participation in the product and is now increasing its focus on communicating that work to investors’.
Keirnan boasts Fortune 500 experience, stints in IR at Ubiquiti and WWE, and also founded her own consultancy, High Touch Investor Relations. She has served on the NIRI New York board for more than eight years and has volunteered with NIRI National for 26 years.
‘My focus is on closing the gap between the value Streamex is building and the value the market currently reflects, by translating that work into a clear investment thesis and durable relationships with long-term shareholders and analysts,’ she says.
Streamex adds that Kiernan’s appointment gives the company a ‘dedicated executive responsible for narrowing the information gap between an emerging tokenization business model and the traditional public markets’.
In Montreal, Critical Elements Lithium has appointed Karl Mansour as director of investor relations and communications, bringing more than three decades of experience to the role.
‘We are very pleased to welcome [Karl] Mansour to our team,’ comments Sébastien Lavallée, company CEO, in a statement. ‘We are confident that the corporation will greatly benefit from his extensive experience, strong network of relationships and his long-term familiarity with the corporation.’
Critical Elements also takes the opportunity to reiterate its focus on the delivery of a project financing package for its Rose Lithium-Tantalum Project – seeking ‘neither excessive equity dilution nor burdens the Corporation with unnecessary financial risk.’
It describes the project as ‘one of the most advanced hardrock lithium projects in North America, with key major permits required for development, a formal agreement with its Cree neighbors, conditional C$20 mn in funding from the Canadian Critical Minerals Infrastructure Fund and a support letter from a leading Canadian financial institution stating its interest in providing long-term debt financing of up to USD$115 mn.’
Back on LinkedIn, Emilia Rannanniemi shared the news of her move to Nordic energy firm Fortum, writing this week that ‘Monday brought about an exciting new beginning, as I joined Fortum as director, investor relations and financial communications.
‘I was lucky enough to kick off my career at Fortum by attending the company’s Finance Leaders’ Days in beautiful surroundings in Porvoo. I met dozens of finance colleagues but, honestly, can only remember a handful of names. If you’re one of the people I met, please do send over an invite to connect on LinkedIn,’ she says, adding that ‘my tangible takeaways from the event consisted of Fortum branded items, such as socks and a water bottle, the latter being our team’s prize for winning the tricky but fun One Finance Race.’
Rannanniemi also writes about the team she has joined. ‘I feel privileged to be able to join the professional and experienced IR team led by Ingela Ulfves. Based on what I’ve learnt so far, this team has the most strategic role within their company I’ve seen during my IR career. Looking forward to an eventful journey and lots of learning opportunities ahead!’
Elsewhere on the professional social networking site, Rachel Masser shared the news of her move to Yorkshire-headquartered chemicals firm Croda. ‘Very excited to have joined such an interesting business, with great products and talented colleagues, at an important juncture in Croda’s equity story,’ she writes. ‘It’s great to be back in the chemicals space, and in Yorkshire… I genuinely can’t wait to get up and running.’
A flurry of other announcements were also made on LinkedIn, including John Walsh, who has joined Crane NXT, Zeke Rodriguez, who has moved to Gilead Sciences and Matthew Neisius, who shared the news of his new role at Conagra Brands.
Open IR positions
Each week, we will post a selection of IR jobs from around the internet that are currently recruiting.
If you have an open position in your IR team that you’d like us to feature here, please let us know at [email protected]
North America
In Atlanta, Georgia, ExamWorks is looking for a new head of IR
In New York, Nasdaq is hiring an investor relations specialist
Europe
In Lower Saxony, Germany, Ottobock is looking for an IR manager
If it’s the city of lights you’re after, Kering is looking for an IR manager to join the firm in Paris
In London, VWA Ltd is looking to fill an IR coordinator position Over in Basel, Switzerland, there is an opening to join the award-winning Roche team as investor relations officer
