Deep Dives
-
‘You grow up pretty quickly, because it’s real money at the end of the day’: TPXimpact’s Luke Murphy on how profit warnings shaped his IR career
Profit warnings are – for most IROs – a once-in-a-career phenomenon. For Luke Murphy, TPXimpact’s head of IR and chief of staff, it’s been two so far, despite it still being relatively early in his IR life.
Published 16 hours ago -
‘The federal referee would disappear’: SEC’s Rule 14a-8 proposal threatens to reshape shareholder activism
Governance experts have warned that the SEC’s proposal to rescind Rule 14a-8 would replace a standardized federal process for shareholder proposals with a more fragmented mix of state law, company preference and potential litigation.
-
The CFO: One side of our business is easy to understand; the other requires a lot of investor education, says Paysign finance chief
Paysign, the Nasdaq-listed financial technology company that provides prepaid card programs, digital banking services and integrated payment processing, has both an easy-to-tell story and a more complex side. Jeff Baker, finance chief at the Nasdaq Capital Market-listed firm, says he does the most investor education around the latter aspect. The differences between the company’s plasma collection and copay sides are just one part of our latest deep dive conversation for The CFO series. Below, Baker also discusses his approach to shareholder communication as CFO and investor relations lead, how AI is shaping his messaging to the Street and why he…
-
Seeing the difference: how site visits bring ANTA Sports’ multi-brand portfolio to life
For a multi-brand business, a slide deck can explain the scale of a portfolio and strategy can describe how brands are positioned, but seeing the products and stores first-hand brings a more immersive perspective. It brings those numbers to life. That is the thinking behind the multiple site visits the IR-Impact-Award-winning ANTA Sports’ IR team puts on each year. The Chinese sports equipment company uses a mix of both store visits and tours at its headquarters to give investors a closer look at its brands and how its multi-brand strategy works in practice. Read more about how companies measure site…
-
The joys and challenges of explaining beauty products to portfolio managers: Ulta Beauty’s Kiley Rawlins reflects on a 30-year IR career
Kiley Rawlins, SVP of investor relations of Ulta Beauty, is an IR veteran with more than 30 years’ experience. She joined Ulta Beauty as a VP of IR in May 2019, becoming SVP IR in January 2025. She has also worked at the Michaels Companies, Family Dollar and Dollar General.
-
Are companies still writing disclosures for humans? How AI is reshaping information in the capital markets
For a long time, the IR ecosystem was built around narratives crafted for human readers. Lengthy executive meetings were convened to debate the nuance of an adjective in a Notice to the Market or a Material Fact, the precise tone of an explanatory paragraph in the annual report or the emphasis the CEO should place on certain points during earnings calls.
-
‘Learning from those who came before you is instrumental to success’: FedEx’s Matt DeBerry on becoming an IR Impact rising star
It’s often said that IR is always a team sport. Even for solo IROs, who somehow manage to juggle all their responsibilities alone, the profession is always about making connections both internal and external, getting up to speed with your company, your market and your wider ecosystem.
-
Measuring site tour success: what it takes to get people out of offices and into yours – and why these events remain as important as ever
‘One of the biggest benefits of getting investors on the ground with us is that they get to experience the culture of Tractor Supply,’ explains Mary Winn Pilkington, the firm’s senior vice president, investor relations and public relations, talking about some of the drivers behind bringing analysts and investors out of their financial centers and into the real world of Tractor Supply Company. ‘You can talk about culture on an earnings call or put it on a slide, but it is very different when you see it firsthand. When investors spend time with our store managers, meet our vendor partners,…
-
‘Our goal is to automate as much of the surrounding work as possible, so we can spend more time talking with investors’: how Block’s IR team made an AI bot
How much time do IR teams spend answering very similar questions from investors? Probably more than they’d like to publicly disclose. But for the team at US payments company Block, freeing up that time was the focus of developing a first-of-its-kind AI tool.
-
The CFO: ‘The biggest lesson is not to overcommit; that’s a surefire way to lose credibility,’ says Hut 8 finance chief
Mark Eidelman, who joined energy infrastructure firm Hut 8’s IR team from NextEra Energy in June 2026, isn’t the first person to hold the head of IR position at the company. But, as CFO Sean Glennan explains, there was something of a gap between Sue Ennis’ leaving in March 2026 and Eidelman’s appointment. That’s because of how important IR is to the company, explains Glennan: management wanted to take their time to make sure the hire was just right. In the interim, Glennan himself dived right into the IR work. Here, he talks to IR Impact about taking the conservative…
-
‘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.
-
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.’…
-
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…
-
‘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…
-
‘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…
-
‘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,…
-
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.
-
How pass-through voting is rewriting the rules of corporate influence
As investor choice continues to grow so are concerns over transparency and control Pass-through voting has moved from a niche governance concept to one of the most closely watched developments in the US proxy ecosystem. As asset managers, issuers, regulators and technology providers grapple with questions around voting power, accountability and investor participation, the conversation has moved beyond the mechanics of proxy voting itself. At its core, pass-through voting seeks to give underlying investors a greater say in how shares held through pooled investment vehicles are voted. Supporters view it as a natural extension of shareholder democracy, while . .…
-
The CFO: ‘IR must have a strong reputation in the market. If there is trust, information flows’ says Iberdrola finance chief
Iberdrola is arguably one of Europe’s most successful companies when it comes to IR Impact trophy hauls. Ignacio Cuenca, the energy firm’s long-running head of IR, was one of IR Impact’s 30 IR stars in 30 days series – back in 2018 when we celebrated 30 years of diving into IR and recognizing the highest achievers in the profession. Fast-forward to 2026 and the Spanish energy giant is once again leading the shortlists for the IR Impact Awards 2026, nominated in five categories, as is Swiss-based office operator International Workplace Group. As we approach finding out which of Europe’s companies…
-
‘We’ve made a point of finding unique and creative IR experiences to meet user-investors,’ says Reddit’s Jesse Rose
Jesse Rose moved from FP&A to IR at Reddit ahead of the firm’s $748 mn IPO in 2024 – an event that brought many of the social network’s loyal users in as shareholders. The company went on to win the IR Impact Award for best shareholder innovation a year later, with Rose taking the Rising Star trophy as well. Here, he talks to IR Impact about how the firm engages with its ‘user-investors’ and how its creative, open approach has become a model for other companies looking to build meaningful relationships with retail shareholders. He also talks about what he…
-
The language of the Street and the lab: What the CFO of Roche looks for from his head of IR
IR alumni from Roche – the 130-year-old Swiss pharmaceutical – include Dr Karl Mahler, Thomas Kudsk Larsen, Nina Goworek and Dr Gerard Tobin. Dr Bruno Eschli, the company’s IR lead for more than four years, delivers an impressive mix of capital markets and science – including an immunology PhD in the lab of Nobel laureate Rolf Zinkernagel and Hans Hengartner. Given this impressive list – and the many more high-IR achievers to come out of the Basel-headquartered firm, what does CFO Dr Alan Hippe look for from his head of IR? As Hippe explains in his profile for The CFO…
-
‘The markets are like a yo-yo: yesterday a huge rally, today it’s quiet’: State Street Investment Management’s Esther Baroudy on volatility
State Street Investment Management (formerly State Street Global Advisors) has $5.66 trn in AUM (of which $3.59 trn is in equities), making it the fourth largest asset manager globally. It runs active to index strategies across all asset classes and employs over 500 portfolio managers, researchers and strategists, working in 10 investment centers and offices in 30 cities worldwide.
-
‘Good disclosure does not replace good strategy’: Author and IR Impact Awards judge Nana Li on navigating ESG in Asia
From investor expectations to how companies should be talking ESG, Nana Li is all about sustainability. The author recently released her book titled Navigating sustainability in Asia: A practical guide for leaders and investors and has joined the judging panel for the IR Impact Awards – Greater China. In her day job, Li is head of sustainability and stewardship for Asia Pacific at London-headquartered Impax Asset Management, where she plays a key role in engagement, strategy and policy conversations between investee companies at the $29.5 bn manager. We talk to Li – while wearing her writing hat, speaking independently from…
-
The CFO: ‘The pipeline drives value; I rarely get questions on cash flow,’ says Roche finance chief Dr Alan Hippe
The pharmaceutical company’s CFO on an unconventional path to the C-suite, what it means when investors trust you can generate enough cash and why corporate purpose is part of the fabric of Roche When you’re the CFO of a 261.6bn Swiss franc ($333.5 bn) market cap pharmaceutical giant like Roche, you don’t necessarily have to be ‘the roadshow guy’. Instead, Dr Alan Hippe tells IR Impact that what he loves about the IR work he does are conferences – which are ‘super efficient’ – and investor one-on-ones, which allow you to make a real difference in investor opinion. In…
-
‘We turned our château into a shelter for refugees as the share price fell 48 percent:’ Eugeniu Baltag on the highs and lows of wine IR
If you follow Eugeniu Baltag, the engaging IR and M&A director at Purcari Wineries, on LinkedIn, you’ll know he’s been on a bit of a retrospective. From sticky-note IR to the latest M&A or a post on the double-whammy crisis of the pandemic and the Ukraine war, his musings are interesting, informative, funny and told with warmth. We caught up with Baltag to hear some of his tales from the front line of IR firsthand. While some are dramatic and some incredible, others might make other IROs green with envy (wine tasting château site visit, anyone?)
-
The CFO: ‘Nothing opens a presentation better than something from r/dadjokes,’ says Reddit finance chief
Drew Vollero, CFO at Reddit, is used to doing things a little differently. He oversees the finance function at the social media giant at a time when its investor relations team are receiving plaudits for their unique approach to shareholder communications. The firm took home two trophies at last year’s US IR Impact Awards – for best innovation in shareholder communications and the coveted rising star award for Jesse Rose. Ahead of this year’s event, Vollero talks about where recognition like this fits into Reddit’s measure of IR success, how his own approach to IR has evolved across a career…
-
‘I had four meetings, one in a restaurant with great Texas steaks’: Inside Infineon’s IR-only day in Dallas
If you’re going to travel from Germany to the US to roadshow, what’s a few extra miles here or there? For Alexander Foltin, head of IR and group treasurer at Infineon Technologies, it makes sense to try to maximize the return on a transatlantic travel – which is what brought him to Dallas and Denver last year. Foltin shares his wider thoughts on Dallas in the IR Impact Roadshow Report 2026, where you can also find tips, tricks and roadshow commentary from other leading IR professionals. ‘Dallas was first put on the map for us from the debt side,’ he…
-
‘We believe many ESG-driven decisions lack objectivity’: NLPC director Paul Chesser on why companies should shun culture-war activism
For more than two decades, the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) has positioned itself as a prominent conservative watchdog challenging what it sees as the growing politicization of corporate America. As director of the organization’s Corporate Integrity Project – an initiative that uses shareholder proposals and public campaigns to target corporations it believes are adopting excessively progressive policies – Paul Chesser embodies that mission.
-
‘We went public into a bear market’: Lithium Royalty Corp’s head of IR on the buy-side-into-IR learning curve
Lithium Royalty Corp’s IR lead didn’t come to the profession through the more typical paths of corporate finance or a transition from the sell side. As Jonida Zaganjori tells IR Impact, she took on her first IR role fresh from working at a Toronto money manager, an experience that has guided her approach to relationship building on the other side of the table. You can read more from Zaganjori in the IR Impact Global Roadshow Report 2026, where she shares her views on divvying up the CFO and the CEO’s time as well as her favorite city to visit. We…
