Conference overview

2023: Dynamic IR: Staying authentic and managing on-going structural change

The IR Society’s Annual Conference for 2023, Dynamic IR: Staying authentic and managing on-going structural change, covered the major issues and challenges facing Investor Relations, as IRO’s look to broaden their communications mandates across a widening range of stakeholders.

This is against a backdrop of several on-going structural developments which are impacting key constituents of the investment community. In this context, and to help raise the profile of IR across a broad range of internal and external audiences, the conference will provide insight on how IR teams can address the key priorities of these stakeholders. The conference also covered the key challenges and opportunities for IRO’s working across a range of different companies and sectors, as well as providing ideas about innovative ways to engage with stakeholders. Ultimately, the event aims to ensure that IROs stay dynamic and authentic, as they seek to manage the ongoing structural change.

After a decade at Kings Place, for 2023 the conference moved to a fabulous new venue – The Institution of Engineering and Technology: Savoy Place and took place on Tuesday 13 June 2023.

Catch up on the video highlights from the day and view the photo gallery.

Look Back 2022: New Horizons: Staying agile and adaptable in a transforming world

The 2022 conference, New Horizons: Staying agile and adaptable in a transforming world, focused on the major prevailing and future potential issues, trends, opportunities and challenges facing IROs in an evolving operating environment.

A huge thank you to all of our speakers, sponsors, exhibitors and delegates for turning up on the day and helping to make the event such a success!

Catch up on the video highlights from the day and view the photo gallery.

“Thanks for putting on such a fantastic event! It was totally worth battling all the delays to attend! My first live IR conference and a thoroughly informative and enjoyable one. Great to meet so many IRO’s in person.”

2022 Conference Attendee
Venue: IET: Savoy Place, 2 Savoy Place, London, WC2R 0BL

Videos

Catch up on the 2023 video highlights

View the 2023 Conference highlights

Hear from our 2023 Joint Lead Sponsor, London Stock Exchange Group Issuer Services

Hear from our 2023 Joint Lead Sponsor, Visible Alpha

Programme

Filter the programme by room:

08:00 - 08:45

Riverside Room

Registration, breakfast and exhibition

08:45 – 08:50

Kelvin Lecture Theatre

Opening remarks from the Conference Committee Chair

Rob Gurner Rob Gurner
Head of Investor Relations, Inchcape

Rob joined Inchcape plc, the leading global automotive distributor, as Head of IR in April 2023, have previously been at Plus500, a global fintech group, which he joined in May 2020. Prior to that, Rob spent 3 years as Head of IR at Inmarsat plc, a satellite operator, before which he was Head of Global Investor relations for Tokyo-listed Dentsu Inc, following their acquisition of Aegis plc in 2013, where was Head of IR. Before that, Rob had senior IR roles for Lonmin Plc, a platinum mining business, and G4S plc, a security services company. Before moving into in-house IR, Rob worked for a number of financial communications consultancies, including FTI and Gavin Anderson.

08:50 – 09:00

Kelvin Lecture Theatre

Welcome from the Host

Evan Davis Evan Davis
Journalist and Broadcaster

Evan Davis is the presenter of the Radio 4 daily news and current affairs show PM. He is also the host of Dragons Den and the Radio 4 business discussion programme the Bottom Line. Until November 2018, he presented Newsnight on BBC2. And prior to that he was a presenter of the Today programme on BBC Radio 4. He also spent seven years as the Economics Editor of the BBC. Before joining the BBC in 1993, he was an economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies and at the London Business School. Evan's latest book is called Post Truth: Why we have reached Peak Bullshit and what we can do about it.

09:00 - 09:30

Kelvin Lecture Theatre

Opening keynote

The day’s first keynote will cover a broad range of discussion areas including her career journey to date, the opportunities and challenges of leading a UK technology company, key consumer trends in the current economic climate, dealing with private equity owners as well as the benefits and drawbacks of being a privately owned business. Tristia will also be discussing the role of sustainability in the commercial world, given her continued hands-on experience with a number of on-going community engagement projects and charity board memberships.

Tristia Harrison Tristia Harrison
Chief Executive Officer, TalkTalk Group

Since March 2017, Tristia has been the CEO of TalkTalk Group. Before that, she served as Managing Director of TalkTalk’s Consumer business. She has developed TalkTalk’s community engagement programme in the North West since moving the business’ HQ to Salford in 2019, including partnerships with local foodbanks and other community projects to help disadvantaged families and children in the area. Tristia is an Independent Non-Executive Director at Next Plc, the Trustee Chair of homelessness charity Crisis, and an Honorary Trustee for the national charity Ambitious about Autism. She’s also a member of the CEO board and a founding member of the industry campaign against online harm known as Internet Matters. For 9 years, from 2011 to 2020, she also served as Trustee at Comic Relief.

09:30 – 10:15

Kelvin Lecture Theatre

IR disruptors: The long term future of IR

This opening plenary session, comprising senior IR professionals and industry participants, will address the conference theme, discussing some of the key trends, opportunities and challenges facing IROs in the changing shape of the capital markets and overall macro environment. Covering a broad range of topics, panellists will consider the impact of the changing dynamics of the asset management industry, the rise of private equity, the downturn in the IPO market, the future of sell side research and digitalisation among other areas.

Moderator: Evan Davis Moderator: Evan Davis
Journalist and Broadcaster

Evan Davis is the presenter of the Radio 4 daily news and current affairs show PM. He is also the host of Dragons Den and the Radio 4 business discussion programme the Bottom Line. Until November 2018, he presented Newsnight on BBC2. And prior to that he was a presenter of the Today programme on BBC Radio 4. He also spent seven years as the Economics Editor of the BBC. Before joining the BBC in 1993, he was an economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies and at the London Business School. Evan's latest book is called Post Truth: Why we have reached Peak Bullshit and what we can do about it.

Sandra Azevedo Moura Sandra Azevedo Moura
Head of Investor Relations, British Land

Sandra is Head of Investor Relations at British Land PLC a FTSE 100 real estate company. Sandra began her career in Investor Relations at Diageo almost 20 years ago. Prior to joining British Land, she headed up the IR departments at Compass Group, Reckitt Benkiser, and Rexam PLC. Sandra holds a MBA from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business and a BA in Economics from Brown University.

Harald Kinzler Harald Kinzler
Partner, Dentons Global Advisors

Harald Kinzler is a Partner at Dentons Global Advisors based in the London office. He has been a senior communications advisor since 2012. As an ex-investment banker, he is an expert in financial communications and investor relations. His main area of focus is publicly listed companies going through major transformations, or companies going public. Mr. Kinzler is a specialist for complex equity capital market and cross-border M&A transactions (including SPACs) as well as dual-track processes, investor relations and financial, corporate, and crisis communications. Mr. Kinzler spent 15 years in the investment banking industry in London and New York, starting as an economist at Lehman Brothers and moving through a range of roles in the equities business. He later worked as Head of Corporate Broking at Berenberg Bank in London. Before joining Dentons Global Advisors in 2021, Mr. Kinzler spent nearly 10 years at two other strategic communications consultancies in London and Frankfurt. Mr. Kinzler holds MSc Economics degrees from the University of Saarbrücken and the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Antonia Rowan Antonia Rowan
Vice Chair UK Investment Banking & Corporate Broking, Bank of America

Antonia is a senior adviser in BofA’s UK Investment Banking business with 30 years of corporate broking experience. Throughout her career Antonia has provided UK boards with equity market advice and has advised on a wide range of corporate transactions including IPOs, rights issue and placings as well as public and private M&A. Antonia joined Bank of America in November 2022 after 5 years as Head of UK Investment Banking & Corporate Broking at Credit Suisse. She started her career in broking in 1993 at Smith New Court (subsequently Merrill Lynch) before joining Hoare Govett (ABN Amro/RBS) in 1999. In 2012 Antonia was part of the senior management team that integrated the Hoare Govett business with Jefferies where she served as a Managing Director until 2017. Over her career Antonia has advised a wide range of companies including, in recent years, Babcock, Cobham, Inmarsat, Imperial Brands, Man Group, Senior, Smurfit Kappa, Tate & Lyle, Taylor Wimpey, Vistry and Wm Morrison amongst others. Antonia has an MA in Modern Languages from Oxford University.

Filippo Taddei Filippo Taddei
Senior Economist, European Economics Team, Goldman Sachs

Filippo Taddei is a Senior Economist for Europe within the European Economics Team at Goldman Sachs. Until 2020, he was Associate Professor of International Economics at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) where he taught international finance and macroeconomics. From 2014 to 2016 he served as the Economic and Labor Affairs Spokesperson for the Italian Prime Minister. In this capacity he was one of the main designers of the Italian labor market reform - the Jobs Act - and contributed to the design of fiscal policy and credit market reforms. He was awarded a Ph. D. in Economics with distinction from Columbia University in 2005, and Laurea in Economics with honors from the University of Bologna in 2000; Filippo has been awarded the Lamfalussy Fellowship by the European Central Bank and the Young Economist Award by the European Economic Association. Before joining Goldman Sachs, he worked as a consultant to several multinational companies, the European Commission, the International Labour Organization and the World Bank.

10:15 - 10:55

Riverside Room

Morning break: Coffee and exhibition

10:55 – 11:40

Kelvin Lecture Theatre

ESG: Where do we go from here?

As companies get to grips with the fast moving regulatory environment and integrating ESG into their investment proposition, this panel will discuss expectations within the buy side community around sustainability disclosure and how IR practitioners can help support the investment community with their own ESG agendas and disclosure requirements.

Moderator: Evan Davis Moderator: Evan Davis
Journalist and Broadcaster

Evan Davis is the presenter of the Radio 4 daily news and current affairs show PM. He is also the host of Dragons Den and the Radio 4 business discussion programme the Bottom Line. Until November 2018, he presented Newsnight on BBC2. And prior to that he was a presenter of the Today programme on BBC Radio 4. He also spent seven years as the Economics Editor of the BBC. Before joining the BBC in 1993, he was an economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies and at the London Business School. Evan's latest book is called Post Truth: Why we have reached Peak Bullshit and what we can do about it.

Claire Elsdon Claire Elsdon
Global Director Capital Markets, CDP

Claire Elsdon leads the Global Capital Markets team at CDP, the non-profit that runs the world’s environmental disclosure system. She defines engagement strategy with financial institutions and other capital markets actors including institutional investors, banks, insurers and private equity and debt houses on a global basis, enabling them to request, utilise and apply critical climate, water and forest impact data from the companies they finance.  Claire led CDP's role in delivering disclosure solutions for the Bank of England's CBES exercise and has spearheaded CDP's highly innovative sustainable supplier financing solution, most recently culminating in the Vodafone/Citi collaboration. Claire is also passionate about the need for TCFD aligned disclosure amongst SMEs and is championing the first SME disclosure exercise for banks and anchor buyers this year. Prior to CDP, Claire worked for over a decade broking Pan-European Equities to UK based Institutional Investors at HSBC, Merrill Lynch and JP Morgan before moving to Tanzania to establish Africa's leading social enterprise focussing on community motorcycle safety solutions.

Karoline Herms Karoline Herms
Senior Global ESG Manager, Legal & General Investment Management

Karoline is part of LGIM’s Investment Stewardship team as sector lead for the Financials sector, as well as sharing specialist responsibility for LGIM’s responses to company engagement request on executive pay proposals. Karoline joined LGIM in 2020 from Boudicca, a specialist proxy solicitation and corporate governance advisory firm, where she was Senior Corporate Governance Consultant advising both investors and corporates on best practice, shareholder voting and engagement during her four-year stay. Prior to that, she managed UK research teams at the Investment Association and Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), involved in the analysis and engagement on company proposals in the areas of director elections, pay, M&A and activism, and shareholder rights and regulation. Karoline holds a degree in Business Studies and an MA in Corporate Governance, as well as having graduated with ICSA (now CGI).

Erica Serpico Erica Serpico
Investment Stewardship Director – EMEA/APAC, Vanguard

Erica Serpico is a director in Investment Stewardship, where she oversees company engagement and proxy voting for the EMEA/APAC regions across all sectors. Erica joined Vanguard in 2013 through a rotational leadership development program and previously served as an investment research manager in Vanguard’s Portfolio Review Department, where she developed new mutual funds and ETFs and recommended changes to the existing fund lineup on behalf of U.S.-based investors. She earned a B.A. in Mathematics from Dartmouth College and an M.B.A. with a concentration in Strategy from London Business School. She also holds the FINRA Series 7 license.

Euan Stirling Euan Stirling
Director, CEN-ESG

Euan supports industrial and financial services clients with their ESG activities and disclosures. He is a Chartered Accountant who, following roles in private practice, public finance and industry, moved into the world of investment management, joining Schroders in the mid-1990s as a UK equity fund manager. In 2001 Euan joined Standard Life Investments as an analyst and portfolio manager. His sector specialisations included banking and insurance and aerospace and defence and he latterly ran portfolios in excess of £4bn. In 2016 he took on the newly-created role of Global Head of Stewardship and ESG Investment to manage a team of more than 20 ESG specialists, helping to integrate sustainability considerations into investment decisions across the firm’s £500bn+ assets under management.

10:55 - 11:40

Marconi Room

  • Sponsored by
  • Visable Alpha

Breakout: Using consensus to better manage expectations of the investment community

Every investor relations professional is familiar with managing expectations of the investment community. Whether your company is covered by a few or many brokers, each provides a different perspective on your business and offers a range of estimates that comprise the market’s view. What does an effective consensus management process look like? How does this process include all stakeholders, from management, to brokers, to investors, and even third-party consensus data providers? How does consensus factor into the near- and long-term outlook for your company?

Paul Boland Paul Boland
Senior Director, Head of Contributor Relations, APAC & EMEA, Visible Alpha

Paul Boland is Senior Director, Head of Contributor Relations, APAC & EMEA, based in London. He is responsible for leading the company’s partnerships with the sell side across APAC and EMEA, which includes building Visible Alpha’s data panel and ingesting and entitling sell-side content. Prior to joining Visible Alpha in 2020, Paul worked on the sell side in research and spec sales roles. He has been working with equity fundamental forecast data since 2017 when he joined Bloomberg LLP to work with their equity estimates products.

Josh Williams Josh Williams
Investor Relations Director, GSK

Josh is an Investor Relations Director at GSK, having joined the IR team in 2020. He has a particular interest in financials and consensus, and played a key role in the demerger of Haleon, the Consumer Healthcare company. Prior to 2020, Josh worked in a variety of commercial and finance roles at GSK, having joined in 2015. He is CIMA qualified as a Chartered Global Management Accountant, and holds a BA in History from the University of Bristol.

Simon Baker Simon Baker
Analyst, Redburn

Prior to joining Redburn, Simon co-headed pharmaceutical research at Exane BNP Paribas, having previously followed the sector at Occitan Capital, Credit Suisse and Lehman Brothers. Simon holds a First Class degree in Chemistry and PhD in Organic Chemistry, both from Imperial College London. He is a CFA Charterholder.

11:40 – 12:25

Kelvin Lecture Theatre

Staying authentic and relevant for the Buy-side

With competition for capital amongst corporates continuing to increase, this buy side panel will examine the pressures being exerted on investors in making the right choices for their clients, as well as the various reporting and disclosure challenges they are facing in this regard. To this end, this panel will provide IRO’s with ideas and insights into how to engage with investors most efficiently, to ensure their corporate narrative is optimally designed and delivered.

Moderator: Evan Davis Moderator: Evan Davis
Journalist and Broadcaster

Evan Davis is the presenter of the Radio 4 daily news and current affairs show PM. He is also the host of Dragons Den and the Radio 4 business discussion programme the Bottom Line. Until November 2018, he presented Newsnight on BBC2. And prior to that he was a presenter of the Today programme on BBC Radio 4. He also spent seven years as the Economics Editor of the BBC. Before joining the BBC in 1993, he was an economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies and at the London Business School. Evan's latest book is called Post Truth: Why we have reached Peak Bullshit and what we can do about it.

Tim Marshall Tim Marshall
Fund Manager, Invesco

Tim is a fund manager for the Henley-based UK Equities team. He joined Invesco in August 2014 as a senior investment analyst within the team, before taking on fund management responsibilities in December 2016. Tim is the manager of the Invesco Sustainable UK Companies Fund (UK) and leads much of the UK Equities team work in this important and rapidly developing area. Tim started his investment career with UBS London in 2001. Specialising in transport sector equity research, he became head of European transport research in 2006 and was a number one rated transport analyst by both Institutional Investor and Extel. Three years later, he joined Redburn as an analyst, continuing his specialisation in the transport sector, subsequently becoming a Partner at the company. Tim holds an MA (Hons) in International Relations and Modern History from the University of St Andrews, Scotland.

Andrew Millington Andrew Millington
Head of Research and Investment Process, Equities, abrdn

Andrew Millington is Head of Research and Investment Process, Equities at abrdn, having previously been a UK portfolio manager and abrdn’s Head of UK Equities from 2017 to 2022. He is a board member of the Investor Forum and a member of the Investment Committee of the Investment Association.

Anthony Sleeman Anthony Sleeman
Senior Portfolio Manager, Norges Bank Investment Management

Anthony Sleeman is a Senior Portfolio Manager within the Consumer Team at Norges Bank Investment Management. An important part of his role at NBIM involves regular interaction with company management teams and IR. Anthony re-joined NBIM in 2021 from Surveyor Capital. Prior to Surveyor, Anthony was a portfolio manager at NBIM, an associate analyst at T Rowe Price and part of the No.1 ranked food retail team at Sanford Bernstein. He started his career at KPMG where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant. Anthony graduated from Oxford University with an MA in Classics.

11:40 – 12:25

Marconi Room

  • Sponsored by
  • Ever Sustainable

Breakout: Taking the stress out of scenario analysis

One of the most challenging aspects of the TCFD recommendations is scenario analysis – an analytical exercise that applies a forward-looking lens to assess a company’s resilience to climate risk. As companies across the UK grapple with the implications of the climate crisis for their business, scenario analysis is a valuable risk assessment tool that facilitates crucial dialogue with stakeholders. This session offers participants practical guidance on maximising the benefits of scenario analysis. We’ll discuss examples ranging from basic compliance through to advanced approaches and share insight from leading sustainability professionals on what to prepare for next. The session will also facilitate a conversation between investors and corporates understanding the opportunities and challenges of better disclosure on climate risk.

Lindsay Davis Lindsay Davis
Senior Sustainability Strategist, Ever Sustainable

Lindsay is a senior sustainability strategist at Ever Sustainable, an impact consultancy that helps businesses harness the value generation multiplier of sustainability. Leveraging a background in NGOs and journalism covering the extractives sector across sub-Saharan Africa, she works with clients across the FTSE 350, AIM and private markets to build sustainability strategies that are resilient, innovative and impactful. Ever works with clients including The Carlyle Group, the Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC), and Britvic on their sustainability approaches, from materiality through to strategy development, roadmapping and reporting.

Ross Hawley Ross Hawley
Head of Investor Relations - Redde Northgate

Ross is an experienced IRO with both an in-house and advisory background. Originally in equity capital markets banking, Ross has over 25 years of in-house corporate experience, including FTSE100 businesses such as Rolls-Royce, where he was Assistant Director of IR; and Man Group plc, the alternative investment manager, where he was involved in a very wide range of capital raisings and corporate transactions for over a decade. Ross has also set up and led the IR function for a number of mid-cap companies; he was Sustainability Manager for Virgin Atlantic before joining FTSE250 Redde Northgate in 2022 where he is Head of IR and also sits on the Group Sustainability Committee. He is a graduate of Cambridge University and a Board Member of the IR Society.

Giulia Scanferla Giulia Scanferla
Senior Sustainability Reporting Manager, BAT

Giulia Scanferla has joined the ESG team as ‘Senior Sustainability Reporting Manager’ in October 2022 to lead the delivery of BAT’s ESG Report and associated internal and external ESG reporting activities.Over the past 8 years Giulia has been driving sustainability strategy, reporting, communications and advocacy at the International Chamber of Commerce in France, at Walgreens Boots Alliance across the US and the UK and finally at Bupa in the UK. In terms of Sustainability & ESG highlights from her career, Giulia:- Led and delivered Walgreens Boots Alliance’s first CSR Materiality Assessment and GRI/SASB CSR Report;- Shaped and led Bupa’s first Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures working group and report;- Led the launch of the Sustainable Development Goals, for the International Chamber of Commerce, in the lead up to COP21;- Led the production of BAT’s first Combined Annual and ESG Report; and- Improved various sustainability ratings and indexes (such as EcoVadis, CDP and MSCI) for a number of companies. Giulia holds a master’s degree in ‘International Relations and Economic evelopment Policies’ and has recently completed two courses from the Cambridge Institute of Sustainability Leadership: Business & Climate Change: Towards Net Zero Emissions / Sustainable Supply Chain Management.

Owen Tutt Owen Tutt
Assistant Manager, EOS - Federated Hermes Limited

Owen Tutt is an engager with EOS at Federated Hermes where he co-leads climate change engagement. He predominantly covers European companies and specialises in the most climate risk-exposed sectors, including oil and gas, utilities, and financial services. He holds a Master’s degree in Climate Policy and Diplomacy and, prior to joining EOS, was the lead author of a policy paper on the key elements of successful long-term climate policy in the UK.

12:25 – 13:35

Riverside Room

Lunch and exhibition

13:35 – 13:45

Kelvin Lecture Theatre

Welcome back

Evan will review some of the key themes from the morning’s sessions and look ahead to the afternoon.

Evan Davis Evan Davis
Journalist and Broadcaster

Evan Davis is the presenter of the Radio 4 daily news and current affairs show PM. He is also the host of Dragons Den and the Radio 4 business discussion programme the Bottom Line. Until November 2018, he presented Newsnight on BBC2. And prior to that he was a presenter of the Today programme on BBC Radio 4. He also spent seven years as the Economics Editor of the BBC. Before joining the BBC in 1993, he was an economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies and at the London Business School. Evan's latest book is called Post Truth: Why we have reached Peak Bullshit and what we can do about it.

13:45 – 14:15

Kelvin Lecture Theatre

Second keynote

In conversation with Evan Davis, Sanjay will share his views on media innovation, the challenges and opportunities currently being faced in the corporate world, including the role of technology and the rise in data and AI, sustainability and greenwashing, and diversity and inclusion.

Sanjay Nazerali Sanjay Nazerali
Brand President, dentsu X

Sanjay Nazerali is a media strategist and thought leader, currently serving as Brand President at dentsu X. His thought leadership focuses on the relationship between business and society. Following an MA in Philosophy at Oxford, Sanjay worked in political communications for the British Labour Party. He then led European Marketing at MTV and Global Marketing at BBC News. At dentsu since 2017, Sanjay represents dentsu International at the World Economic Forum, where he chairs the Forum’s Global Council on Media.

14:15 – 14:30:

Movement break

14:30 – 15:15

Kelvin Lecture Theatre

Corporate Breakout: Large-cap IR: Managing the opportunities and challenges

This first breakout session featuring IROs of larger companies will explore the opportunities and challenges of IR for large caps. This broad ranging discussion will cover managing incoming investor interest; targeting appropriate investors; dealing with passive funds; handling activist investors; managing retail investors; prioritising and allocating internal resource and managing the IR team. This interactive session will offer plenty of practical insights for the audience to take away and implement into their daily roles.

Moderator: Matthew Hall Moderator: Matthew Hall
Co-Head of UK Investment Banking and Corporate Broking, Credit Suisse

Matt Hall is Co-Head of UK Investment Banking and Corporate Broking atCredit Suisse, which he re-joined in 2021, having spent the previous 10years at Deutsche Bank where he ran the Corporate Broking business. Matt’s current clients include Bunzl, CCH, Imperial Brands, Intertek andSmurfit Kappa, and over the last 25 years he has advised the likes of BarrattDevelopments, Carphone Warehouse, BAT, Diageo, IAG, ITV, ReckittBenckiser, Stagecoach and TalkTalk. Matt started his career at CreditSuisse in 1997.

Sonya Ghobrial Sonya Ghobrial
Head of Investor Relations, Haleon

Sonya is the Head of IR at Haleon, the consumer healthcare company which demerged from GSK in July 2023; the largest listing on the LSE in the past 10 years. Sonya originally joined GSK in 2020 as Head of IR for Consumer Healthcare and to undertake all of the preparation and execution required ahead of the listing. Prior to this Sonya managed her own IR Consultancy company, Clear Giraffe IR, advising a number of small and large cap listed global companies. Ahead of this, Sonya was Head of IR at Heineken during a period of significant change and transformation. Previous other experience includes over a decade working in banking, predominantly as a research analyst and laterally as specialist sales at banks including Barclays, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. She is also a qualified Chartered Accountant, having qualified with KPMG in Glasgow. Sonya also is a NED on LSL Property Services plc and additionally sits on the Audit and Risk, Nomination, Remuneration committees at the company.

Claire Mogford Claire Mogford
Head of Investor Relations, SEGRO

Claire joined SEGRO as Head of Investor Relations in October 2018. Prior to this she spent 10 years working in Corporate Access Origination roles at first Goldman Sachs and then Exane BNP Paribas with a focus on Banks, Insurance and Real Estate. She started her career on the Equity Graduate scheme at Goldman Sachs and has a BSc in International Business from the University of Warwick.

Peregrine Riviere Peregrine Riviere
Group Head of Investor Relations, London Stock Exchange Group

Peregrine Riviere has run investor relations programmes for companies in a wide range of sectors over the last 20 years. Prior to that he qualified as a Chartered Accountant and spent six years in investment banking.

14:30 – 15:15

Lovelace Room

Corporate Breakout: Small- to mid-cap IR: Managing the opportunities and challenges

This second breakout session will feature a panel of senior IROs discussing the opportunities and challenges for small- to mid- cap companies, including attracting new investors and broadening sell side coverage. This is a great opportunity for the audience to hear directly from IROs at the coal face including optimising investor engagement, developing ESG communications, digital IR, and effective management of advisors, among other topics.

Moderator: Rob Gurner Moderator: Rob Gurner
Head of Investor Relations, Inchcape

Rob joined Inchcape plc, the leading global automotive distributor, as Head of IR in April 2023, have previously been at Plus500, a global fintech group, which he joined in May 2020. Prior to that, Rob spent 3 years as Head of IR at Inmarsat plc, a satellite operator, before which he was Head of Global Investor relations for Tokyo-listed Dentsu Inc, following their acquisition of Aegis plc in 2013, where was Head of IR. Before that, Rob had senior IR roles for Lonmin Plc, a platinum mining business, and G4S plc, a security services company. Before moving into in-house IR, Rob worked for a number of financial communications consultancies, including FTI and Gavin Anderson.

Siobhán Andrews Siobhán Andrews
Investor Relations, Independent

Siobhán was most recently Head of Investor Relations and Corporate Affairs at Spectris, a FTSE 250 industrials company, which she joined in 2016. Prior to that, Siobhán was IR Manager and then Deputy Head of IR at BG Group, a FTSE 100 oil and gas company. Before that, Siobhán was a sell-side analyst covering the utilities sector at UBS and also worked on the buy-side at a UK institutional investor. She graduated from City University with a BSc in Economics.

Marina Calero Marina Calero
Group Head of Investor Relations, Hyve

Marina joined Hyve in October 2021 and is responsible for creating a new Investor Relations function within the Group to lead the engagement between Hyve and its investment community, while educating the market about Hyve’s unique proposition, as we recover from COVID-19 and explore opportunities beyond. Throughout her 20 year career in Investor Relations advisory, Marina created and put into practice numerous strategies to communicate clients’ often complex value propositions, across a broad spectrum of sectors and geographies. Marina recently completed a three-year secondment as IR Director for McCarthy and Stone, the largest owner, developer and manager of retirement communities in the UK. Having advised on over 30 IPOs, raising over US$40bn, Marina has a strong track record of providing counselling on strategic positioning for transactions in Europe and emerging markets. Marina is passionate about bringing the right people together – be it investors and management teams or IR industry professionals. She is a founder and host of an international peer-to-peer network of senior IR professionals aimed at experience sharing to foster further development of best practice at the time when the IR industry is impacted by complex regulatory changes, the rise of ESG and challenges associated with the pandemic.

Clara Melia Clara Melia
Founder and CEO, Equitory

Clara founded Equitory in 2016 as a consultancy specialised in providing outsourced investor relations services on a retained, interim and project basis. Equitory is now a large team of former senior in-house IR professionals, with a growing client base covering highly regarded UK and international companies. Clara is the host of Enquire, the Investor Relations podcast, and a regular commentator on trends and developments in IR. Prior to her consultancy work, Clara was Head of Investor Relations at ITV plc, a FTSE 100 commercial broadcaster, having previously worked in Investor Relations at Close Brothers Group plc, a FTSE 250 Financial Services Group. Clara is a Chartered Accountant and began her career at PricewaterhouseCoopers before moving into Corporate Broking for RBS Hoare Govett.

Louise Turner-Smith Louise Turner-Smith
Head of Investor Relations, Breedon Group

Louise joined Breedon as Head of IR in 2021, prior to which she was Head of IR at Kier and Director of IR at William Hill. During her seven years in IR she has gained extensive IR experience within small teams contributing to significant fund raising and corporate transactions. Louise’s background is in asset management, having held buy-side roles as an analyst and portfolio manager at Morgan Stanley and Allianz Global Investors for nearly 20 years. Louise is a CFA charter holder and has a 1st class hons Psychology degree from Essex university where her final year research on adolescent mental health was published in a peer reviewed journal.

15:15 – 15:45

Riverside Room

Afternoon break: Coffee and exhibition

15:45 – 16:30

Kelvin Lecture Theatre

IR across international markets

This plenary session will feature a senior IRO discussion around the common themes, issues and challenges for those companies who are operating and/or are listed in different regions, covering how to manage IR programmes across different listing regulatory regimes and operating geographies.

Moderator: Evan Davis Moderator: Evan Davis
Journalist and Broadcaster

Evan Davis is the presenter of the Radio 4 daily news and current affairs show PM. He is also the host of Dragons Den and the Radio 4 business discussion programme the Bottom Line. Until November 2018, he presented Newsnight on BBC2. And prior to that he was a presenter of the Today programme on BBC Radio 4. He also spent seven years as the Economics Editor of the BBC. Before joining the BBC in 1993, he was an economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies and at the London Business School. Evan's latest book is called Post Truth: Why we have reached Peak Bullshit and what we can do about it.

Jo Britten Jo Britten
Investor Relations, Independent

Jo most recently worked at Global Fashion Group, a German listed business. With over 10 years capital market experience focused on the mid-cap space, Jo has worked across both European and Emerging markets. Earlier in her career Jo held a variety of strategic and commercial leadership roles at BAA. She has a strong financial background, having commenced her career at PwC. Jo is Chartered Accountant (ICAEW) and holds an BA in Financial Management from Sheffield University.

Emma Burdett Emma Burdett
Partner - Capital Markets, H/Advisors Maitland

Emma is one of the partners at H/Advisors Maitland and heads the Capital markets, IR & Governance practice. She has over 30 years of City and investment and capital markets experience and has worked on a wide variety of key client projects in investor relations, from unlisted through small and mid-cap to FTSE 100 companies and including ECM work, IPO’s and M&A. More recently her remit has developed to include Debt IR, ESG for investors and regulation. Emma joined H/Advisors Maitland after 14 years as an equity sell-side analyst in the City working at Hoare Govett and ABN Amro, where she was Global Director for the general retail sector. Emma was awarded an Honorary Fellowship from the UK IR Society in Nov 2022 - recognising her significant contribution to the Investor Relations industry. She was Chair of the Investor Relations Society Policy Committee for 9 years, a significant influence in the UK regulatory and corporate governance environment, interacting regularly with regulators and key industry bodies and helping form policy. She sat on the Board of the Investor Relations Society over the same time. Emma also contributed to the FTSE 100 Group IR & Markets committee.

Maj Nazir Maj Nazir
Group Investor Relations Director, Kingfisher

In his role as Group Investor Relations Director, Maj is responsible for managing Kingfisher plc’s communication with the global investment and research community. He is a member of Kingfisher’s leadership team, and reports directly into the Chief Financial Officer. Maj joined Kingfisher in January 2019. Prior to that he was the Director of Investor Relations and M&A at Travelport (from 2014 to 2018), a NYSE-listed travel technology company, and the Director of Investor Relations at AZ Electronic Materials plc (from 2010 to 2014), a FTSE 250 specialty chemicals business. Maj managed the IPO processes for both businesses before establishing their IR functions, and oversaw both businesses being taken private again, including Elliott Investment Management’s acquisition of Travelport. Prior to his career in investor relations, Maj spent 10 years at Deloitte at their London HQ, guiding audits for clients in the technology, media, telecoms and travel industries (including Vodafone, WPP, the BBC, and ebookers.com) while managing transaction services for clients in preparation for IPOs and M&A. Maj is a qualified chartered accountant and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

Joshua Warren Joshua Warren
Director of Strategy, Commercial Finance and Investor Relations, Hammerson

Josh cut his teeth in IR on the advisory side during the GFC, having just completed a full-time masters degree. He moved in-house to Hammerson (triple listed on LSE, JSE and Euronext London) in 2018, since when the Company has conducted a rescue rights issue, disposed of over £1bn of assets and completed significant refinancing – there is never a dull moment. In his “free” time, Josh enjoys walking, cooking, red wine and herding various dogs/toddlers.

15:45 – 16:30

Marconi Room

  • Sponsored by
  • Q4

Breakout: Data and AI: Are you ready?

Take a walk down the streets of Agrabah as we explore what lessons the Capital Markets can learn from the Bazaar where Aladdin and Jasmine first met. Somewhere along this journey, we will address head-on how you can make data and AI your superpower. Intrigued? Great, join us at the 'Data and AI. Are you Ready?' session to have your curiosity satisfied.

Amit Sanghvi Amit Sanghvi
Global VP, Capital Markets Platform, Q4 Inc.

Amit is an innovative leader and entrepreneur with multiple successful start-ups and scale-up ventures under his belt. A disruptor with a technology-first mindset, Amit has made it his mission to lead the IR and Capital Markets space through a digital transformation. As Q4's Global VP of Capital Markets Platform, he is a leading voice in our global Product, Operations, and GTM strategy. In his personal time, you might find Amit at the Liverpool FC stadium, advising founders of promising start-ups or playing a small part in the mega-fight against climate change.

16:30 – 17:00

Kelvin Lecture Theatre

Closing keynote

The final keynote of the day will cover a wide range of issues including the opportunities and challenges of running a publicly listed company, the differences in public sector life compared to the commercial world, the global impact of technology, including AI and big data, the importance and professionalisation of IR, the future of conferences and events, and how to manage a “plural” executive and non-executive agenda.

Stephen A. Carter, CBE Stephen A. Carter, CBE
Chief Executive Officer, Informa

Stephen Carter is the Group Chief Executive of Informa PLC, a leading Business Intelligence, Academic Publishing, Knowledge and B2B Events Group. He joined Informa in 2010 as a Non-Executive Director before becoming Group Chief Executive in 2013. Over the last nine years, the Group has expanded significantly in reach and scale, geographically (particularly in America and Asia) and in the deployment of technology and digital services. In the private sector Stephen is a career senior executive, having held managing director and chief executive positions in a range of Media and Technology businesses before becoming Informa's Group CEO. Stephen also served as founding CEO of Ofcom, the UK’s communications competition regulator, Chief of Strategy to the UK Prime Minister, The Right Hon. Gordon Brown and was the first Minister for the Media and Telecommunications industry, where he wrote and published the Digital Britain Report. Stephen has served on a number of company Boards in the UK and US and currently serves on the Board of Vodafone Plc. In addition, he serves on the Board of the PA Media Group, (representing Informa's shareholding), is Chair of Monaco Yacht SAM (Informa's joint venture with the Principality of Monaco) and is Chair of charitable trust the Henley Festival.

17:00 – 17:15

Kelvin Lecture Theatre

Closing remarks from the Host

Evan Davis Evan Davis
Journalist and Broadcaster

Evan Davis is the presenter of the Radio 4 daily news and current affairs show PM. He is also the host of Dragons Den and the Radio 4 business discussion programme the Bottom Line. Until November 2018, he presented Newsnight on BBC2. And prior to that he was a presenter of the Today programme on BBC Radio 4. He also spent seven years as the Economics Editor of the BBC. Before joining the BBC in 1993, he was an economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies and at the London Business School. Evan's latest book is called Post Truth: Why we have reached Peak Bullshit and what we can do about it.

17:15 – 17:30

Kelvin Lecture Theatre

Conference close from Chair of the IR Society

David Walker David Walker
Chief Operating Officer, British Land, Chair of the IR Society

David is Chief Operating Officer of British Land, where he leads British Land’s Property Management team and is responsible for implementing their strategy and further improving the effectiveness of their Real Estate operations. He also heads up British Land’s Investor Relations function and oversees the company’s corporate sustainability programme. He acted as Interim Chief Financial Officer from November 2020 to July 2021. David joined British Land in 2017. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PwC, before spending over seven years at Deutsche Bank in the Corporate Finance division. Since then, he has worked for over 10 years in Investor Relations, Strategy, Finance and Corporate Development roles within UK listed businesses. David is Chair of the UK Investor Relations Society, having served on the Board since 2012.

17:30

Riverside Room

Networking drinks reception

#IRConf2023

Lead Sponsors

LSEG Issuer Services - Joint Lead Sponsor

Visible Alpha - Joint Lead Sponsor

Conference Sponsors

Session Sponsor

Delegate Bag Sponsor

Exhibitors

Conference supporters

Annual sponsors