News and analysis
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People moves: Cummins powers up IR team with appointment of James Hopkins
Power solutions firm Cummins has amped up its IR team with the appointment of James Hopkins, formerly of its engine business finance and strategy team, into the role of vice president – financial planning, capital management and investor relations.
Published 39 minutes ago -
How Prologis and The Williams Companies are turning proxy clutter into shareholder clarity
What does it take to turn a proxy statement from a regulatory requirement into a document that investors want to read? For Prologis, the answer has been to listen closely to shareholders, then use that feedback to reshape the document around the issues they care about.
Published 22 hours ago -
Is ‘quiet dissent’ growing in your shareholder base?
At the IR Impact Think Tank – Europe 2026, Maria Siano, general manager, corporate governance data and insights at Broadridge Financial Solutions, described a current challenge to IROs as activism becoming ‘broader, more sophisticated’ and ‘less visible at the onset’. She also warned that ‘shareholder pressure begins much more quietly’ than many companies may expect.
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People moves: IR Impact Hall of Fame honoree Paul Surdez joins Ionetix as former head of IR becomes Sallie Mae’s deputy CFO
Medical technology company Ionetix has brought in an IR Impact Hall of Fame honoree to lead its investor relations function ahead of a planned public float.
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SEC steps back as proxy referee as regulator ends involvement in Rule 14a-8 no-action process
The SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance has ended its involvement in the Rule 14a-8 no-action process, announcing late last week that it will no longer respond to no-action requests of any kind, effective immediately.
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‘We start every earnings Q&A with retail shareholders’: inside IR at Robinhood
When Jack Riehemann, director and head of international investor relations at online broker-dealer Robinhood, talks about the biggest challenge of his career, he’s also talking about his biggest achievement: the turnaround in sentiment of a company that launched to democratize investing before finding itself in something of a post-Covid slump.
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People moves: Emily Chieng joins Barrick Mining as IR Impact award-winner Dennis Walsh leaves Udemy
Dennis Walsh has announced that he is stepping down from his role as vice president of investor relations at Udemy, following its acquisition by fellow online learning platform Coursera.
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‘It’s a great way for your CFO to bring AI into the storyline’: how NSI’s AI avatars represent the future of earnings calls
You’d be forgiven for thinking earnings calls tended to be a bit predictable. Management runs through the numbers, analysts lob in their questions and the format barely shifts whether you’re dialing in from London, New York or Sydney.
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CLARITY Act vote pushed to September as expectations build for SEC’s crypto and blockchain rules overhaul
Senate majority leader John Thune has filed cloture – which forces a final vote on a bill – on the proposed CLARITY Act for September 15, setting up a key procedural vote when lawmakers return. The bill needs 60 votes to pass, meaning Republicans will need to secure support from Democrats who, according to Reuters, remain opposed to parts of the legislation.
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London’s listing dilemma: Wise, SpaceX and the fight for control
The FCA’s 2024 listing reforms resulted in a faster rulebook, a lower eligibility bar and more flexible dual-class structures. And yet the steady flow of high-quality listings the City had hoped for still hasn’t shown up in the numbers. I want to step back from the mechanics and ask a harder question, one that goes to the heart of what London is actually for: does our market need to bend to keep pace with the world’s largest, fastest-growing companies, and if it does, what exactly are we trading away? And what are the implications from an IR perspective?
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People moves: Smart ring maker Oura brings in ex-DraftKings IRO Michael DeLalio as former CIRI chair Brian Ector retires
Brian Ector, former chair of CIRI and long-serving head of IR at Baytex Energy, has retired after a 32-year career in the Canadian capital markets.
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Why – and how – you should be building a meaningful relationship with retail shareholders
Ninety seven percent. That is number of retail investors who say dedicated communications from management would make them more likely to buy additional shares. It is also just one statistic in a new playbook looking at how to build a long-term relationship with retail. As well as looking at the current state how retail communications, data also explores what drives buying and selling, where loyalty comes into the mix and the ways in which retail shareholders are engaging with their holdings. The findings offer a clear message: what companies are doing at the moment is falling short. Click to read…
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If AI cannot understand your equity story, then neither can the market
For decades, investor relations focused on one overarching objective: shaping market perception. Companies invested in perception studies to understand how investors, analysts and the financial media viewed their strategy, competitive positioning, and long-term value creation.
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Why your company’s brand is an undervalued asset on your balance sheet
All listed companies’ communications exist under the same constraint: say enough to be understood but not so much that you over-claim. RNS rules, disclosure obligations, prospectus rules, nominated advisors (NOMADs), all of them act as guardrails against saying more than is true, which is vital.
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People moves: Quest Diagnostics tests positive for Damini Chokshi as its new head of IR
Fortune 500 laboratory testing company Quest Diagnostics has brought in experienced hire Damini Chokshi as its new vice president, investor relations.
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Your hardworking legal colleagues deserve recognition – why not enter the Corporate Governance Awards?
We spend a lot of time championing the IR profession here at IR Impact: between interviews with top executives, open discussions with practitioners and our annual awards recognizing the top performers, we think it’s crucial to highlight the hard work done by IR folk around the world.
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The risk in silence: what the Gulf’s IR teams learned from war, volatility and uncertainty
It’s hard to imagine a more intense start to the lead role at an IR association than Reza Eftekhari has had as CEO of Dubai-headquartered Meira. Joining the Middle East’s IR association in October last year, he had just a few months of normality before the region – along with its stable, reliable capital markets – were plunged into uncertainty. ‘It’s been an eventful introduction, but in many ways it’s also reinforced exactly why organizations like us exist,’ says Eftekhari. ‘While the circumstances have been challenging, they’ve also accelerated important conversations about resilience, communication and the evolving role of IR.’…
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‘Know your movers and shakers’: How IR teams are anticipating sentiment, tackling engagement and driving support in their shareholder bases
Between the emergence of passive investment strategies, the uptake of pass-through voting and the dwindling influence of proxy advisors, investor engagement is an increasingly complex undertaking.
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People moves: Macy’s snaps up Caitlin Howe as its new vice president, investor relations
Department store chain Macy’s has announced the appointment of Caitlin Howe as its new vice president, investor relations. In a move effective from July 20, Howe will report to Tom Edwards, Macy’s chief operating officer and CFO, and lead the company’s IR efforts as it continues to executive its ‘Bold New Chapter’ strategy.
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How Anta Sports broadened its investor reach – and took home three IR Impact trophies in the process
Multiple factors – from geopolitics to regulatory changes and capital movements – have been reshaping the Hong Kong equity market in recent years, driving companies like Hong-Kong-listed Anta Sports to shift their IR strategies to better focus on long-term institutional investors, strengthened ESG credentials and expanded engagement with global fund managers. Suki Wong, vice president of IR at the sportswear firm, talks to IR Impact about her award-winning IR strategy and how she has been attracting shareholders with that coveted long investment horizon. At the IR Impact Awards – Greater China 2025, Anta Sports took home the trophies for best…
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‘It strengthens your credibility, reinforces you as a trusted source and makes you a go-to person internally’: Technip Energies’ Phillip Lindsay on winning two IR Impact awards
Vice president of investor relations at engineering and technology firm says that the key is to focus less on reporting activity and more on explaining the impact to investors For many IR teams, reaching the top of their profession can be a long process. For Phillip Lindsay, vice president of investor relations, Technip Energies. But for those who follow IR Impact, the ascent of Technip Energies – a French, Euronext Paris-listed engineering and technology company that services the energy industry and chemicals sector – to IR excellence has been a little swifter. Appearing on three shortlists at the IR Impact…
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‘Being able to teach, mentor and promote my team is the highlight of my career,’ says Pfizer’s Francesca DeMartino
In her almost three years as chief investor relations officer at Pfizer, Francesca DeMartino has already racked up two IR Impact trophies and a nomination. In an exclusive interview with IR Impact, she talks about the way the team is set up, the support that IR gets from Pfizer management and other functions across the firm – all of which comes together to allow DeMartino to implement ambitious projects beyond the bread and butter of IR. Still, it is the Street-facing side of the role – the lunches that let you get inside the minds of investors and analysts, the…
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People moves: British Land brings in former Numis equity research chief Max Nimmo as head of IR
UK-listed property development and investment company British Land has appointed Max Nimmo as its new head of investor relations and strategy.
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SEC chief signals fresh scrutiny of reporting regime
Chair Paul Atkins says the SEC will push to return public company reporting to a materiality-based disclosure regime, warning that expanding obligations risk burying investors in less useful information Set against a backdrop of balmy heat, cowboy boots and country music in Nashville, SEC chairman Paul Atkins used his keynote address at the Society for Corporate Governance’s 2026 National Conference to deliver a clear message to governance professionals: responsibility ultimately rests with corporate leaders. Atkins opened by outlining his broader philosophy for government and regulation. ‘Government must be limited; its purpose is to set the conditions for prosperity, not engineer…
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‘AI tools helped us shave a week off the earnings process,’ says Lear Corporation IR leader
The earnings call process is one of the biggest placeholders on the IR calendar. Research by IR Impact from last year shows that IR professionals are spending 25 percent of their time on earnings preparation – notably more than the next biggest time sink, roadshows and investor meetings (19 percent), even though corporate access is the bread and butter of the role. Technology is rapidly reshaping many elements of the IR function. And the biggest changes are in those areas where tasks are time consuming and often repetitive, where regulation leaves no wiggle room – and where many other people,…
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People moves: Stefany Flegal uploaded into Box’s IR team as Christian Audi pulls up at Enerpac
Cloud-based content management company Box has brought in Stefany Flegal to serve as its new director of investor relations. Prior to joining the San Francisco firm, she ran her own consultancy – Flegal Consultancy Services – launched in April 2025. Before that, Flegal held various IR roles at Smartsheet and Fastly, as well as serving in treasury and FP&A positions at fellow cloud data storage firm Dropbox.
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The CFO: ‘Tokenization is becoming an important part of how people invest,’ says Streamex’s finance chief Christine Plummer
Few forces on the markets threaten to change the day-to-day working of IROs as much as the tokenization of securities. With some exchanges already experimenting with tracking share trades on blockchain, the technology has the potential to transform ownership practices and how shareholder engagement takes place at a fundamental level.
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Governance proposals surge as SEC overhaul and anti-ESG pivot reshape 2026 proxy season, research shows
What does a surge in governance proposals mean for shareholder engagement? A sharp rise in governance-focused shareholder proposals, a big shift in the SEC’s proposal exclusion process and growing support for corporate moves out of Delaware are becoming the defining trends of the 2026 proxy season, according to Georgeson Advisory. While overall shareholder proposal activity continues to decline across Russell 3000 companies, early data suggest the season is being shaped less by the number of proposals and more by structural changes that could have long term implications for issuers, investors and corporate governance practices. According to Georgeson’s 2026 Early Proxy Season…
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People moves: Mikaela Krama swaps Kinnevik for Mentimeter as NXP Semiconductors’ Jeff Palmer retires
Mikaela Kramer, who served as head of investor relations at Swedish investment manager Kinnevik for a decade, has joined presentation software company Mentimeter ahead of its expected IPO.
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