Hyatt Regency Chicago

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Proin mattis vitae ipsum dapibus convallis. Suspendisse erat diam, suscipit non sem eu, volutpat venenatis lectus. Nulla facilisi. Quisque ultrices, ex eu egestas pretium, quam sem venenatis massa, eu scelerisque dui sem ac ligula. Pellentesque vulputate eleifend quam, ac sollicitudin libero posuere nec. Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante ipsum primis in faucibus. Curabitur vel nibh nec sapien rutrum sollicitudin.


Hear from thought leaders and leading industry experts in General Sessions on the key topics that are shaping the future of investor relations and capital markets engagement.

 

An Asset Manager's Perspective on ESG Investing

Wednesday, June 7, 2023 | 8:45AM - 9:30AM 

What ESG information do asset managers use when making investment decisions, and how do they use it? Where do they get ESG information from, particularly if company disclosures are not sufficient? How and why do companies seek to influence ESG-related company activities through engagement and proxy voting? This conversation will help IROs gain a deeper understanding of where to focus ESG disclosure efforts, in what ways ESG information can affect investment decisions, and how to effectively manage ESG-related investor engagement. 

Speakers: 
Cynthia McHale, Program Director, Investor Engagement, Ceres
John Hoeppner, Head of US Stewardship and Sustainable Investments, LGIM America
Daniel Nielsen, Managing Director, ESG, Riveron (moderator)

 

Predicting the Unpredictable: The Economic Outlook For 2024 and Beyond

Wednesday, June 7, 2023 | 9:30AM - 10:15AM 

Join Richard de Chazal, macro analyst from William Blair, to hear the latest economic outlook from a seasoned expert. de Chazal boasts over 20 years of experience analyzing the US economy and capital markets, and will provide timely insights and commentary on key indicators, actions of the Federal Reserve, and the financial markets. While volatility has plagued the global economy throughout 2022 and 2023, we'll discuss what to expect in the coming years and how to prepare.   

Speaker: 
Richard de Chazal, Macro Analyst, William Blair & Company

 

NIRI Update & What's New in Washington

Wednesday, June 7, 2023 | 10:15AM - 10:50AM 

Hear from NIRI leadership on key regulatory developments, including the SEC's proposed rule on climate change disclosure, and NIRI’s related advocacy efforts. 

Speaker: 
Matthew D. Brusch, President & CEO, NIRI
Niels Holch, Vice President, Public Policy and Advocacy, NIRI

 

Lessons From the C-Suite: Successfully Leading in Times of Volatility

Thursday, June 8, 2023 | 8:35AM - 9:20AM 

Organizations in all sectors have recently experienced dramatic volatility driven by a variety of disruptive socioeconomic, geopolitical, technologic, and other factors. This change-driven volatility has challenged and influenced how leaders manage and lead their businesses. This session brings together c-suite executives to discuss how they’ve successfully led organizations through times of disruption. Learn their views on developing successful strategies for managing businesses in uncertain times, including creating a culture that fosters excellence, and on collaborating with IR to communicate their vision to all stakeholders. 

Speakers:
Matthew Levatich, Chief Executive Officer (retired), Harley-Davidson
Dirk Locascio, Chief Financial Officer, US Foods
Ann O'Hara, President, North America, Huhtamaki
Patrick Davidson, Vice President, Investor Relations, Oshkosh Corporation (moderator) 

 

Navigating the Market with IR on the Front Line

Thursday, June 8, 2023 | 9:20AM - 10:05AM


A key element of investor relations is understanding securities trading. To effectively provide capital markets insight to management and employees, IROs must understand trading-centric issues including trading mechanics, trading trends, related regulatory developments and more. Equity market structure has undergone significant evolutionary change over the past several decades, and the SEC’s late-2022 market structure rulemaking proposals, if enacted, promise further fundamental transformation. This session sheds light on current market structure, proposed changes, intended and potential unintended effects on investors, and ultimately on the shares of public companies.

Speakers:
Joe Mecane, Head of Execution Services, Citadel Securities
Kevin Tyrrell, Head of Equities Strategy and Research, NYSE
Jennifer Hadiaris, Managing Director and Head, Global Market Structure, TD Cowen
Phil Mackintosh, Chief Economist, Nasdaq
Brian Sullivan, Senior National Correspondent, CNBC (moderator)


 

Demystifying the Increasingly Confusing Buy Side

Thursday, June 8, 2023 | 10:05AM - 10:50AM 

Buyside asset managers are rapidly evolving their complexity and sophistication with the aim of generating investment performance in all types of market environments. Increasingly, traditional labels used by IROs are difficult to apply as more firms implement multi-strategy approaches to investing. Traditional long only firms have evolved their investment processes with some launching alternative products and others bringing research and corporate access in-house. While the “hedge fund” label is often used as a catch-all in the IR community to refer to “an institution that can short my stock,” hedge funds can take on many different shapes and approaches to investing. Understanding all these complexities has many implications to IROs, from who you meet with (and why) to how you think about shareholder targeting.

This session will hear from some of the most forward thinking asset managers on how their firms have evolved, how they manage the different strategies they employ, including their approach to shorting stocks, and will explain why understanding the nuances of the buyside can help with finding the real buyers of your stock. In addition, we will hear from the sellside on how it is evolving its business to better cover and partner with their buy side clients and how the latest financial crisis impacting banks on Wall Street will impact the buyside and corporate community.   

Speakers: 
Elizabeth Librizzi, Senior Vice President, Head of Corporate Access and Advisory Services, AllianceBernstein
Edward Young, Head of Corporate Access & Research and Head of the London Office, Norges Bank Investment Management
Bill Wappler, Partner, Director of Research, Balyasny Asset Management L.P.
Michael Pasquale, Managing Director Co-Head Americas Global Markets Distribution, Global Head Advisory Distribution, UBS
Mark Pellegrino, Chief Executive Officer, CorpAxe (moderator)


 

Creating Systematic Change – Being the Change You Wish to See in the World

Thursday, June 8, 2023 | 4:30PM - 5:30PM 
 
Given the vast changes that have occurred in our society in recent history, particularly as it relates to focus on ESG, human capital, diversity and inclusion topics, this session puts a spotlight on people that have broken barriers and created systematic change in the world of finance, asset management, and investor relations.  

How does one create systematic change in their environment – be it investor relations, finance, or asset management in general.  Learn from those that have been exceptionally successful through their own passion, leadership and sheer will to be the change they wished to see in the world.

Speakers:
Meredith Sumpter, CEO, Council for Inclusive Capitalism
Lisa Dyson, CEO, Air Protein
Peggy Foran, Chief Governance Officer, SVP, and Corporate Secretary, Prudential Financial (moderator)