Domain 1:
IR strategy and formulation
Domain 3:
Corporate messaging and development
Domain 10:
Corporate governance
New York Stock Exchange, 11 Wall Street
8:15-9:00 am – Registration, breakfast & networking
9:00 am-12:00 pm – Workshop sessions – Three 1-hour sessions
12:00 pm-1:00 pm – Networking lunch
Register Now
Advance registration is required for admission to NYSE!
IRO Teach-In: Thought Leadership and Peer-to-Peer Learning
Taking a cue from one of the best-attended events at NIRI National two years running, NIRI NY has created an interactive three-hour IR boot-camp tailored for our IRO and consultant members. This case study format session will be focused on formulating and executing IR programs, including activities that many of us have or will face in our careers.
We have an all-star line up of IR thought leaders – top consultants and IR officers – experienced in C-suite transitions, M&A communications, investor days, strategic messaging, reputation management and governance.
This event is the last in our “Strategic IRO” series so mark your calendars!
Learning Objectives:
- Learn how to build and evolve your strategies and plans in various scenarios that regularly impact IROs;
- Hear the latest thought leadership from top consultants on challenging special situations facing IROs today – specifically C-suite transitions; investor days and governance engagement;
- Gain insights from "fireside chats" with three senior IROs who will review their situations, how they planned their strategies for success, what worked, lessons learned;
- Ask questions and get answers from peers who have faced a variety of IR and corporate challenges.
Topic #1: C-Suite Transitions led by Edelman Financial Communications and featuring Gary Weitman, Tribune Media
Topic #2: Best-in-class Investor Days led by Arbor Advisory and featuring Katie Royce, Cognizant
Topic #3: Emerging trends in Governance Engagement led by PJT Camberview and featuring Catherine Creswell, Vornado Realty Trust
Background on our “Thought Leaders”:
Topic #1: Edelman Financial Communications: C-Suite Transitions
Edelman’s Financial Communications team helps public and private companies navigate complex financial transactions and situations. We provide strategic communications counsel, investor relations support, and comprehensive execution across a full range of financial events, including mergers and acquisitions, initial public offerings, spin-offs, divestitures, bankruptcies and restructuring, shareholder activism, litigation, crises, and financially material events. As part of the world’s largest communications firm, we have unmatched scale and capabilities to help clients internationally and to deliver integrated support across public relations, public affairs, employee engagement, crisis management, digital, creative, research, analytics, and more.
Speakers from Edelman will include:
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Lex Suvanto, Global Managing Director
Lex advises the senior management of public and private companies on strategic communications including transaction communications, financial and corporate public relations, and investor relations. Lex has extensive expertise working with the C-suite and Boards of Directors to formulate strategic reputation and communications programs during sensitive situations. Lex also has extensive expertise helping companies refine and strengthen their financial communications and investor relations programs. Lex has helped a wide variety of companies manage communications around transformational and/or challenging corporate announcements and events. He is an expert in transactions, IPOs/Spin-Offs, Activism Defense, C-Suite transitions, as well as litigation. Prior to joining Edelman, Lex was Managing Director at Abernathy MacGregor. Prior to that he held various strategy and client service roles within Havas in New York, Paris and London. Lex holds both undergraduate and MBA degrees from Harvard University.
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Ted McHugh, EVP, U.S. Investor Relations Practice Lead
Ted advises the senior management and boards of public companies on strategic communications including investor relations, financial and corporate public relations, transaction communications, crisis communications and leadership positioning. Prior to joining Edelman in 2015, Ted was Director, Investor Relations for Parkway Properties, Inc. (NYSE: PKY; $2.0 billion market cap real estate investment trust). Ted helped execute an IR strategy to support Parkway’s $1.2 billion acquisition of Thomas Properties Group (NYSE:TPGI) in September 2013 as well as the completion of two secondary equity offerings that generated approximately $350 million in net proceeds. Ted is also currently an Adjunct Professor at Fordham University Graduate School of Business where he originated and instructs a class on financial communications and its impact on the capital markets. Prior to joining Parkway, Ted was Head of Investor Relations Advisory Development, Americas at NASDAQ OMX. Ted has a BA in Economics from Lafayette College and an MBA in Finance from Fordham University.
In addition, the Edelman session will feature a fireside chat with:
- Gary Weitman, Senior VP, Corporate Relations, Tribune Media
Gary was named senior vice president/corporate relations in 2008, and he has served as Tribune Media’s chief communication officer since late 2007. He is responsible for the company’s internal and external communications, including investor relations, media relations, employee communications, company publications, speechwriting, the company’s intranet site and the tribunemedia.com website. Gary was named Chicago’s “Public Relations Professional of the Year” in 2013 by the Public Relations Society of America. He joined Tribune in October 2000 as vice president/corporate communications. Previously, he was executive director/corporate communications at Allied Riser Communications Corp., and from 1997 through 1999 he served as senior vice president/media relations at Hill and Knowlton in Chicago, where he was responsible for all aspects of communication strategies for Fortune 100 clients. Gary served 11 years in broadcast journalism at WBBM-TV, Chicago. A native of St. Louis, born January 19, 1957, Gary holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Washington University in St. Louis and a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. He was a William Benton Fellow in broadcast journalism at the University of Chicago from 1989 to 1990.
Topic #2: Best-in-class Investor Days
Arbor Advisory Group
We are a trusted advisor to companies seeking to build enduring relationships with investors who support their strategic goals and business plans.
We are a different type of investor relations and corporate communications advisory firm. We are veteran investor relations executives with deep expertise in capital markets, finance and corporate communications. We make a serious and thoughtful commitment to our clients and engage deeply in their businesses.
We design, develop and help implement actionable strategies that are grounded in decades of experience. We are passionate about helping our clients succeed. Our dedication goes far beyond investor relations; it’s Invested RelationsTM.
Speakers from Arbor will include:
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Sam Levenson - Chief Executive Officer
Sam is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Arbor Advisory Group. In April 2015, he was named a Fellow to the National Investor Relations Institute, an honor bestowed to “distinguished investor relations professionals.” Prior to Arbor, Sam’s experience included overseeing North American investor relations for Sony Corporation, managing global IR and communications in the wake of fraud found at Cendant Corporation and implementing the first IR program at Staples, Inc. He has served on the Board of the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI), as Chair of its Senior Roundtable, as Chair of its External Affairs Committee, as Co-Chair of its Annual Conference as well as on its Subject Matter Expert Committee. For the Investor Relations Association, Sam served in each of the officer roles, including President, as well as a Director. Sam previously served on the FASB’s Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Committee as well as the Client Advisory Board of IPREO LLC. He is also the recipient of numerous awards from IR Magazine and Institutional Investor Magazine, a guest lecturer at universities and a frequent speaker at professional conferences. Sam holds a BS in Business Administration degree from Boston University with a concentration in Accounting.
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Idalia Rodriguez, Partner, Senior Advisor
Idalia is a senior investor relations and corporate communications advisor. Idalia works with companies which were among the largest Initial Public Offerings on the NASDAQ and NYSE markets in the past few years. Her client engagements span industries which include Industrials, Beauty, Financial Services and Asset Management, Leisure and Entertainment, Technology and REITs. Credited by her clients for her immersive style and extraordinary commitment to their success, she is viewed as being “completely engaged” in their business and she has gained their trust as a strategic advisor. Idalia’s expertise spans the complete spectrum of the investor relations function. Her practice areas also include public offerings, M&A, crisis communications, proxy advisory and other strategic and financial transactions. Having also served as an officer and president of the Philadelphia Chapter of the National Investor Relations Institute, Idalia is recognized as a leader in her profession. She is Chair of the NIRI Senior Roundtable Steering Committee and a member of New York Women in Communications and 100 Women in Finance. Idalia is fully bilingual in Spanish.
In addition, the Arbor Advisory session will feature a fireside chat with:
- Katie Royce, AVP, Investor Relations at Cognizant and President of NIRI NY Chapter
As part of the global IR team at at Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ: CTSH), Katie is responsible for developing and executing all aspects of the company’s investor relations program. Prior to joining Cognizant, Katie was Director of Investor Relations at Cantor Commercial Real Estate (CCRE) where she was responsible for private institutional investor relationships as well as corporate bond holders and rating agencies. Previously, she was the Investor Relations Manager at Selective Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: SIGI). At Selective she focused on shareholder targeting efforts, quarterly reporting requirements and overall investor relations strategy. Katie began her career on the buy-side, first managing the investment operations and then as an equity research analyst covering European retail and consumer goods companies. Katie holds a BS in Business Administration from the University of Richmond. She earned the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and a professional Certificate in Investor Relations from New York University. Katie serves on the Board of Directors for the NIRI-NY chapter as EVP of Programs. She is a member of the CFA Institute, New York Society of Security Analysts (NYSSA) and the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI).
Topic #3: PJT Camberview: Emerging Trends in Governance Engagement
PJT Camberview, a business group of PJT Partners LP, is a leading provider of investor-led advice to public companies on engagement and shareholder relations, activism and contested situations, sustainability and complex corporate governance matters. PJT Camberview helps its clients succeed by providing unique insight into investors’ perspectives on long-term value creation, interpreting the evolving governance landscape and creating proactive strategies to stay ahead of investor challenges.
Speakers from PJT Camberview will include:
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Allie Rutherford, Managing Director
Before joining PJT Camberview, Allie served as a Director at EY (Ernst & Young, LLP) helping to establish the Center for Board Matters and engaging boards, management teams and investors on governance, environmental and corporate responsibility topics. In this role, she served as an advisor and thought leader on corporate governance trends and the impact of governance decisions on investor actions and proxy voting. Prior to that, Allie advised investors on proxy voting and governance matters as Vice President of Research for Proxy Governance. Earlier in her career, she served as Deputy Director of Governance Research at the Investor Responsibility Research Center (now Institutional Shareholder Services). Allie is a member of the Council of Institutional Investors’ Markets Advisory Council, serves on the Advisory Board of the University of Delaware’s Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance and in 2014 was named by the National Association of Corporate Directors and Directorship Magazine as one of the 100 most influential leaders in corporate governance. Allie holds a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies in social science, international studies from Michigan State University.
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Lauren D. Gojkovich, Director
Before joining PJT Camberview, Lauren was a Vice President, Assistant General Counsel in the corporate governance group in the legal division of Goldman Sachs, focusing on the corporate governance of the Goldman Sachs board of directors. Prior to that, she worked as a corporate attorney at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, where she specialized in mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, proxy fights and takeover defense. Lauren began her career as an analyst in the equities trading division of Goldman Sachs. She is a member of the State Bar of New York and Massachusetts. She holds a JD from Columbia Law School, where she was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, and a bachelor’s degree in public policy studies from Duke University.
In addition,the PJT Camberview session will feature a fireside chat with:
- Catherine Creswell, SVP/ Director of IR for Vornado Realty Trust
Catherine is Senior Vice President – Director of Investor Relations for Vornado Realty Trust. She is responsible for working with senior management on the company’s investor communication and outreach. Catherine joined Vornado Realty Trust in 2003. Prior to Vornado, she was a Director at Prudential Real Estate Securities from 1998- 2002; and was a Principal of Real Estate Securities Research at Alex Brown & Sons from 1987-1997.