About us

The Investor Relations Society is run by a board of non-executive directors, each responsible for an aspect of the Society's activities.

These bodies are made up of volunteers of the senior members of the Society and are responsible for issues such as best practice and policy. The officers of the Investor Relations Society and the other members of the board are elected annually at the AGM.

Richard Davies is Managing Director of Richard Davies Investor Relations Limited ("RD:IR"), a leading UK independent investor relations research consultancy acting for over 500 UK and international companies and their advisors, which specialises in:

• Share register analysis & shareholder identification surveys
• Proxy vote & acceptance chasing
• Investor Relations CRM services
• Investor sentiment studies
• Targeting & roadshow services
• M&A support
• Financial market research

After gaining an Honours Degree in German from Sussex University, Richard worked as a freelance print journalist and television researcher before going into the City to build and manage one of the first UK share analysis services and edit the well-known City directory, “The Index of Nominees & their Beneficial Owners”. Building on his experience in stock analysis and related areas, Richard set up RD:IR in 2002 to offer full-service IR consultancy to UK and international companies, combining quantitative and qualitative research processes with insightful advisory skills.

As well as providing IR counsel, Richard has run many pioneering research projects across the global financial markets including surveys covering hedge funds, emerging markets, private equity, internet business and financial service marketing processes.

Richard is Chairman of the UK Investor Relations Society where he has been a Board member for nearly seven years and has contributed greatly to the development of the Society's education, events & social programmes. Richard is currently Chairman of the Nominations and Events Committees and also sits on the IRS’s Conference and Policy Committees. A member of the IR Society’s Examination Board, Richard helped set up the Society’s Certificate in Investor Relations and retains a keen interest in the Society’s education programme.

Richard is also a member of the following entities:

• All Party Parliamentary Corporate Governance Group
• Chartered Institute of Public Relations
• CIPR City & Financial Group
• Shareholder Voting Working Group
• Stewardship Code Monitoring Steering Group

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Michael qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1974 and worked in the retail and transport sectors. After various line positions in finance he moved into investor relations in 1986. From 1998 until 2004 he was Director of Corporate Communications with FirstGroup plc, before working on the renewal of the Group’s railway franchises.  Michael has been a Board member of The Investor Relations Society since early 2005 and became General Manager in January 2007.

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John was formerly Director of IR at Cadbury plc having joined in August 2008. Prior to this he was Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications for ICI, having joined the company in this role in August 2004. John graduated from the University of Cambridge in 1989 with an honours degree in Manufacturing Engineering and completed a Masters in Manufacturing Engineering and Management in 1990. Sponsored by TI Group through university, John joined its John Crane division in 1990 and qualified as a Management Accountant in 1992. Over the next eight years John worked overseas in Malta and Italy as well as in the UK for several of TI Group’s divisions, as well as at group centre, in a number of finance and strategy roles. In 2000 John joined Exel plc as their Director of Investor Relations and subsequently as Director of Corporate Affairs. At Exel he was responsible for the development of Exel's corporate reputation, including investor relations, media relations and marketing, as well as internal communications.

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Ian is part-time Finance Director of Gardner Watts Limited, a start-up research and development group in low-carbon renewable energy, and is also a consultant to two other organisations. He left Galiform Plc in August 2009 after completion of a significant corporate restructuring and turnaround programme. During over 20 years with the group he had been responsible for M&A, tax, treasury, management reporting, investor relations and insurance. He was educated at Merchant Taylors School and Exeter University, qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Price Waterhouse in London in 1980 and held various financial positions at Mothercare and Asda before joining Galiform. He joined the Board of the Investor Relations Society in 2005, becoming Treasurer in 2007.

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Emma is head of the IR practice at Maitland, the financial and corporate communications consultancy. She joined Maitland in 2004 after 14 years as an equity investment analyst in the City specialising in the retail sector, latterly at ABN Amro where she was a director of equity research. She has developed the IR advisory practice at Maitland so that it is now an integral part of Maitland's product offering across the full client base from unlisted to FTSE 100 companies. Emma studied at Bath University, where she obtained a BSc.

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Richard Carpenter is Managing Partner of corporate reporting consultants, Merchant.

Before joining Merchant, Richard was a board director and head of reporting at Radley Yeldar for three years. Prior to that he ran his own investor communications and reporting consultancy for six years.

He has also been a financial journalist including stints on the Mail on Sunday and as editor of Investor Relations magazine. He is author to several publications including the London Stock Exchange's Practical Guide to Investor Relations. He sat on the ICSA working group on electronic communications prior to the publication of its 2007 report.

He is currently a board director and member of the Policy Committee of the UK Investor Relations Society.

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Rebecca is a consultant with online corporate communication specialists, The Group, where she focuses on helping FTSE100 companies communicate effectively with investor relations audiences.

Previously she worked with Cable & Wireless, Jefferson Smurfit Group and Centrica where she variously managed marketing, PR, and reputation and investor communications.

Rebecca has a First Class degree in Physiology from King’s College London and post-graduate qualifications in communications, advertising, marketing and PR.

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Reg is a Managing Director of Hogarth, a leading Financial PR and IR consultancy. Reg joined Hogarth in 2010, having previously worked for Smithfield and Weber Shandwick and its predecessor business Ludgate Communications. Between 1983 and 1995 Reg was a stockbroker with W Greenwell, SG Warburg Securities and Nomura International. He has been a member of the Investor Relations Society for many years, sitting on both its membership and events committees and is currently Chairman of the new Corporate Affairs Committee. He is also a member of The Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment Institute. Reg has an honours degree in Politics from the University of Bristol.

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Mark Hynes has extensive experience in financial communications and in corporate disclosure. Recently he formed his own consultancy, working with service providers including Radley Yeldar, the corporate reporting specialists, and PR Newswire. His background includes 20 years at the Financial Times and the Economist, after training initially as an investment banker. Mark chairs the IR Society Policy Committee, and moderates the IR Regulation & Compliance courses.

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Joined Rexam May 2010. Prior to Rexam she sat on the management committee of international tobacco company Gallaher Group (acquired by Japan Tobacco in 2007) where she was responsible for investor relations and group planning. Corporate experience also gained in various consulting roles and at Laing & Cruickshank. She is a non-executive director of Retro Classics Fund and a trustee of Amicus.

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Karen joined Logica in 2006 as Head of Investor Relations. While at Logica, Karen has been involved in the acquisition of WM-data and the divestment of the telecoms products business. Her previous role was Vice President, Investor Relations at Marconi Corporation Plc, where she worked on Marconi's disposal of its telecommunications equipment business to Ericsson. Prior to that, she spent seven years at Nortel Networks where her roles included business development and government relations. Karen has Masters degrees in Finance (London Business School) and International Political Economy (Carleton University) and a BA from McGill University.

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Gary has a broad-based finance background, including investment banking (Merrill Lynch), private equity investment (Intel Capital, European Bank), investee Board directorships, and in-house FTSE-100 investor relationship leadership (Centrica plc, SABMiller plc).

Gary has thus developed a triple-perspective on corporate/investor relationships and the strategic and financial analyses that underpin them.

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Al Loehnis was a founding director of Investis, Europe's leading specialist in providing web-based investor relations and corporate communications services.

Prior to this, Al worked as an analyst in the City, most recently at Credit Suisse First Boston, where he was a Vice-President in Equity Research.

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Keith Russell has more than ten years’ experience as head of investor relations at multinational corporations. For the past seven years he led IR for Stora Enso, the Nordic-Based forest products group, where he was recognised in the 2009 Thomson Extel Survey as the number 3 ranked IRO in Europe. Prior to joining Kvaerner ASA, the Anglo-Norwegian industrial group in 1997, Keith spent seventeen years as a corporate finance specialist in major investment banks in London and New York. Keith is a British national but lived in Canada and the US until 1982 when he moved to the UK. He has a Bachelors degree from Harvard College and has studied at London Business School.

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Lisa has been head of IR for department store group Debenhams since 2007. Prior to Debenhams, she was head of IR for Rentokil Initial PLC from 2004 to 2007 and for Cookson Group PLC from 1999 to 2004. She first became involved in the IR world at Waste Management International PLC where she worked all the way from IPO to delisting from the Stock Exchange in seven years. Career ‘highlights’ include the Cookson non-underwritten rescue rights issue and the defence of the so-called ‘phoney bid’ from Gerry Robinson for Rentokil Initial. Lisa holds a law degree (LLB) from the University of London.