Founded in 1969, NIRI is the professional association of corporate officers and investor relations consultants responsible for communication among corporate management, shareholders, securities analysts and other financial community constituents. The largest professional investor relations association in the world, NIRI’s more than 4,000 members represent 2,000 publicly held companies and $5.4 trillion in stock market capitalization.

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A New Year – Fresh Start but Change Continues

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A New Year – Fresh Start but Change Continues

January is upon us and so is the start of 2010. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and is starting the New Year in good health and spirit. Since we have turned the calendar to a “10,” many are looking at the past decade in retrospect. Much is being made, and rightfully so, about the lack of U.S. economic growth and how we have slipped backwards during the past ten years. This Washington Post article provides a good summary including anemic economic output and net zero job creation. Brad Wilks’ (NIRI Chairman) upcoming January IR Update column discusses the impact on investor relations and highlights unique IR challenges created by these times.

As we look forward to the next ten years, I am hopeful that we (politicians, regulators, companies and individuals) have all learned lessons and will be smarter in the future. With that though in mind, let us review what is likely to happen over the next few weeks in Washington.

The House returns on January 12 and the Senate on January 19. The President’s State of the Union speech is not yet scheduled but usually occurs between January 19th and January 31st. I suspect the administration is considering the best date based upon several factors that include three near the top of the list:

1. Distancing the administration from any political fallout due to the botched December 25th terrorist attack.
2. Following the developments during the Congressional recess on health care reform as the Senate and House negotiate toward a compromise bill.
3. Monitoring how quickly Senate Banking Chairman Dodd can put forward a bi-partisan financial reform bill.

The President wants to be sure he can put his presidency and the administration in the best light possible in order to jump start mid-term elections for the Democratic Party. This is a critical election year as on November 2, elections will be held for all 435 House of Representative seats and 36 (or about one third) of the Senate seats. There is no doubt these elections are critical to the Obama presidency and will also be in the minds of Congress as they make decisions during 2010. The tendency is to be more moderate and not “rock the boat” when up for re-election.

As we look to the SEC, I expect several items relevant to IR over the next few weeks:

1. A focus by the SEC on retail education regarding the change to NYSE Rule 452 making the broker vote non-routine. Companies should also look for opportunities to educate retail shareholders. Together with several other groups, NIRI has developed standardized educational language that we have proposed to the SEC for public use.
2. I expect the SEC to approve changes to Notice and Access or e-proxy (Amendments to Rules Requiring Availability of Proxy Materials) very soon. NIRI submitted comments to the SEC in favor of these changes.
3. The SEC is also expected to release a concept paper or discussion draft soon identifying problems and suggesting changing in proxy mechanics. NIRI has been working hard on this effort as a member of the Shareholder Communications Coalition, and looks forward to the release.

I think it is very possible that the SEC may release some or all of these items before staff heads to the annual Securities Regulation Institute event where many SEC staff will speak. I think it is unlikely that other items, like proxy access and short selling circuit breakers, will be announced this month.

To conclude, I want to point out a couple NIRI-related items that may be of interest:

1. It is not too late to attend NIRI’s Intro to Investor Relations on January 10-13. There are a couple of slots left so don’t delay and register today. If you are planning to attend, I look forward to meeting you there.
2. There has been a terrific conversation thread in the NIRI LinkedIn group started by a member asking “Would you consider simply posting the prepared remarks for a quarterly report and allocate conference call time to just Q&A?”
3. Speaking of online networking, NIRI will launch our new social networking eGroups Communities on the NIRI website next Tuesday, January 12th. We will conduct a webinar that day at 4 PM Eastern Time to review the features and use of this powerful member-only benefit. This next generation robust online community has features beyond what LinkedIn can offer and will allow members to join communities that are customized to your interests.

Until next week,

Jeff Morgan, CAE
President & CEO
jmorgan@niri.org
www.twitter.com/jeffreydmorgan

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National Investor Relations Institute

A New Year – Fresh Start but Change Continues