The best and brightest of the US IR community gathered around their computers, rather than dining tables, as the winners of the IR Magazine Awards – US 2020 were announced in a virtual ceremony yesterday.
GE and Microsoft led the pack with three awards each. GE picked up awards for best overall investor relations (large cap), best investor relations officer (large cap) for Steve Winoker and best in sector for industrials. Microsoft won best financial reporting, best use of technology for IR and best in sector for technology.
Etsy won two awards in the nominated categories, taking home the best ESG reporting trophy and the rising star award for Gabriel Ratcliff. JPMorgan Chase also won two awards: best IR by a senior management team (large cap) and best in sector for financials.
This year 21 awards were presented based on an independent survey of the investment community, and five awards were presented based on nominations submitted either by companies themselves or by their peers and service providers. Nominations for these categories – best ESG reporting, best investor event, best IR during a corporate transaction, best IR website and rising star – were reviewed by the IR Magazine editorial staff to produce the short lists.
From there, our judging panel selected the winners. This year’s judges were:
• Ben Ashwell, editor, IR Magazine
• Gary LaBranche, president and CEO, NIRI
• Robbie Miles, ESG analyst, Allianz Global Advisors
• Carol Murray-Negron, president, Equanimity
Click here to view a full list of the winners.
Lifetime achievement
Carol DiRaimo was recognized with this year’s lifetime achievement award. DiRaimo retired as the chief IR and communications officer at Jack in the Box last year. She joined Jack in the Box in July 2008 as vice president of investor relations and corporate communications, before being promoted to her current role in April 2017. Before Jack in the Box, she spent 14 years at Applebee’s International, where she held a variety of positions including vice president of investor relations between February 2004 and November 2007.
DiRaimo is a serial IR Magazine Award winner, having taken home the best investor relations officer (small to mid-cap) trophy in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2011 and 2017 (shared with Wright Medical’s Julie Dewey). The IR programs at Applebee’s and Jack in the Box were also recognized numerous times during her tenure with both companies.
In the coming days, IR Magazine will release two reports that explore why the winners won. The IR Magazine Investor Perception Study – US 2020 publishes the findings from the researched awards, as well as an overall ranking of the top companies for IR in the US.
In addition this year, IR Magazine is releasing an interactive publication containing video interviews with each of the winners, telling the stories behind their award-winning IR programs.
