Board Communications
A Cybersecurity Conversation with Prince Lobel
Global cybercrime damages are expected to exceed $6 trillion annually by 2021. From hacks of mobile payment and other non-traditional payment systems to data manipulation and sabotage, the external threats to operations and customer and investor perception seem to increase daily. We recently sat down with cybersecurity expert William S. Rogers Jr. of Prince Lobel…
How Innovative Design and Communication is Changing the Proxy Landscape
In the once cut-and-dry world of proxy statements, colorful communication matters more than ever before. With shareholder activism still on the rise, and institutional investors like BlackRock and State Street, and collectives like the Investor Stewardship Group, sharpening their focus on corporate governance issues, the tick-the-box approach to proxy statements is quickly becoming a thing…
10 Tips for Dealing with Shareholder Activism
By Maureen Wolff, President and Partner, Sharon Merrill Associates For many companies, a looming activist shareholder is no longer the exception – it’s the rule. One reason is that an increasing number of hedge funds are using activism as a standalone strategy. Assets managed by activist hedge funds increased 42% in 2013 to $93 billion from $65.5…
Getting Investors Ready For Your New CEO
By Maureen Wolff, President and Partner When The Men’s Wearhouse dismissed George Zimmer, the company’s high-profile pitchman and executive chairman, this summer, observers were left wondering what had caused the split. The company announced it had parted ways with Zimmer, who founded The Men’s Wearhouse in 1973, on June 19, five hours before its annual…
Is the Annual Report a Thing of the Past?
By Maureen Wolff, President and Partner Annual reports are so 1997. When the National Investor Relations Institute recently asked me for my thoughts on the public company practice of producing a glossy annual report, the premise of the question was not, “How can companies do this better?” or “Please provide some helpful tips for designing…
Notes from a NIRI Annual Conference Attendee
By Dennis Walsh, Senior Consultant & Director of Social Media Last week, I attended the NIRI Annual Conference. It was very educational and an incredible opportunity to meet and exchange ideas with many of the approximately 1,300 investor relations professionals from more than 20 countries that attended the event in Seattle. NIRI organized more than…
Investor Relations for the New CFO – Six Steps for IR Success
By David Calusdian, Executive Vice President & Partner *Originally appeared on Samuel’s CFO Blog. Samuel Dergel is Director and Search Consultant at Stanton Chase International. Mr. Dergel specializes in Executive Search for Chief Financial Officers. As the new CFO of a publicly held company, somewhere on your extensive “to do” list is implementing an effective…
What’s In/What’s Out for Investor Relations in 2012
By Jim Buckley To kick off the New Year, we decided to renew an old Sharon Merrill tradition and take a lighthearted look at what’s in and what’s out in investor relations and related areas in 2012. Hope you enjoy, and have a happy and successful 2012.
Is Your Investor Relations Plan Fit? Consider These 5 Steps.
By Dennis Walsh, Senior Consultant & Director of Social Media As another year comes to a close, two things are probably on every IRO’s mind: New Year’s resolutions and next year’s investor relations plan. Every year, one of the most common resolutions is to get fit. People spend a tremendous amount of time and money…
Investor Relations: How May I Serve You?
“View from the C-Suite: What Management Wants from Investor Relations” was the theme for NIRI Boston’s April event. For a chance to listen to a panel of C-level executives speak candidly to a room full of investor relations professionals, I quickly reserved a car and “zipped” over to the meeting. The panel featured three esteemed…