Fundamentals of Investor Relations | Speakers
Santa Monica 2018
Ronald Botoff
Vice President, Investor Relations and Government Affairs - Granite Construction Incorporated
Ronald E. Botoff is Vice President of Investor Relations & Government Affairs at Granite Construction Incorporated. Ron has been with Granite since 2013, serving as the primary contact with the investment community. Ron leads the strategic development, execution, and effectiveness of our Investor Relations program and Government Affairs and regulatory efforts. He is responsible for all investor relations (IR) activities, including establishing and expanding Granite's relationships with the investment community and other key stakeholders. Ron also represents Granite with policies and advocacy strategies that reflect Granite stakeholder interests in legislative and related public policy issues and relationships with state and federal elected officials, their staffs, and department/agency personnel.
Prior to Granite, Ron was Director of Investor Relations for Elster Group SE (formerly NYSE: ELT; now a Honeywell subsidiary). Prior to Elster, he spent nearly five years in investor relations at United Parcel Service.
Ron is a board member of the American Red Cross Central Coast Region and the Granite PAC. Ron was named to Institutional Investor’s 2017 All-America Executive Team of Best IR Professionals. He is a member of the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI) Silicon Valley chapter, a past president of the NIRI Triangle chapter, and he spent two years on the NIRI Annual Conference Committee.
Ron has an MBA in Finance from Georgia State University, and a B.S. in Journalism from the University of Florida. Ron and his wife Trish live in Santa Cruz, CA.
Matthew D. Brusch, CAE
Chief Programs Officer - National Investor Relations Institute
Matt Brusch is Chief Programs Officer for the National Investor Relations Institute, leading NIRI’s professional development, certification and other programming. Appointed in 2007 to manage communications and publications, he created NIRI’s research program, and working with volunteers, launched the first professional investor relations certification program in the U.S. His previous experience includes leading investor relations and corporate communications departments for several public companies, as well as serving in regulatory and marketing roles with the NASDAQ Stock Market. Brusch began his career as a Surface Warfare Officer in the United States Navy, and received the Navy Achievement Medal for superior performance. He holds an M.B.A. from the University of Maryland, a B.S. from the Pennsylvania State University, and is a Certified Association Executive.
Stephen Cooke
Partner, Corporate Department - Paul Hastings LLP
Stephen Cooke is a partner in the Securities and Capital Markets practice group of Paul Hastings and concentrates his practice in securities and corporate law. His experience in all aspects of the capital formation process includes issuer and underwriter representations in public offerings, private placements, venture capital financings and Rule 144 transactions. Mr. Cooke has substantial experience in mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, business combinations and other transactions involving public and private companies.
Mr. Cooke represents NYSE, Nasdaq and OTC-traded companies. He regularly advises boards of directors of public and private companies regarding corporate governance issues, including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
David Erickson (NIRI Fellow)
Vice President, Investor Relations - Edwards Lifesciences Corporation
David Erickson is Vice President, Investor Relations at Edwards Lifesciences, an international medical device company in Irvine, California. He has more than 25 years of experience in the Investor Relations field and is an active member of the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI), having served in leadership positions at both the national and local levels. In 2014, Erickson was named a NIRI Fellow, which recognizes NIRI members who have distinguished themselves on the basis of their leadership, integrity and contributions to the IR profession.
In conjunction with NIRI and the University of California, Irvine, David helped create a certificate program in Investor Relations, was the instructor for one of the courses and served on the program’s advisory committee. He recently helped develop NIRI’s new certification program, the Investor Relations Charter, and currently serves on the Certification Scheme Committee. David has a B.S. in Business Administration (double major Finance and Marketing) and an MBA with an emphasis in Finance from California State University, Long Beach. He currently serves on the Advisory Boards of the CSULB Department of Finance, and the Child Creativity Lab.
Maili Bergman Flynn
Senior Vice President, Investor Relations - Live Nation Entertainment
Maili Bergman Flynn is the senior vice president, investor relations at Live Nation Entertainment, where she oversees the global investor relations program. Bergman has 19 years of financial marketing and investor relations experience and during this period, has built investor relations programs for multiple companies across various industries.
Prior to joining the company in 2011, she was the vice president, investor relations for Guess? Before that, she served as the director of investor relations and corporate communications for Abraxis BioScience.
Bergman is a graduate of the University of Southern California and previously served on the board of directors for the National Investor Relations Institute’s Los Angeles chapter.
Mickey Foster (NIRI Fellow)
Vice President, Investor Relations - FedEx Corporation
Mickey Foster is vice president, Investor Relations for FedEx Corporation. He has over 30 years’ experience working with the financial community in investor relations.
Foster is a Fellow and past chairman of the National Investor Relations Institute, a former president of the Investor Relations Association, a founding and current member of NIRI’s Senior Roundtable, and a founding member of the Certification Council for NIRI’s IRC. Mickey is on the NYSE Listed Company Advisory Board, and earned the “Lifetime Achievement” Award from IR Magazine and NIRI’s “National Volunteer of the Year” Award.
A native of Texas, Foster earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science and a MBA in finance from Texas A&M University. In addition, he received a master’s degree in petroleum engineering from the University of Southern California.
Mitchell Haws, IRC
Vice President, Investor Relations - Skyworks Solutions Inc.
Mitchell Haws, IRC, is vice president of investor relations at Skyworks Solutions Inc. Mitch is a senior investor relations and communications officer with nearly 30 years of global experience. He has managed IR and communications through complex financial transactions including IPOs, LBOs, and mergers. Prior to his role at Skyworks Solutions, Mitch has held investor relations positions at Freescale Semiconductor, Equifax Inc., the Reynolds and Reynolds Company, and Geneva Steel.
Mitch received a master’s in business administration from Westminster College and a bachelor’s degree in communications from Brigham Young University. Mitch is an IRC charterholder and was in the first group to receive the designation.
Kelly Hernandez, IRC
Senior Vice President of Investor Relations - Leidos
Kelly Hernandez serves as Strategic Advisor on Investor Relations with Leidos. She is an IRC Charterholder, and was recently named to Institutional Investor’s 2018 All-America Executive Team for Best IR Professional. Kelly brings nearly two decades of technology and investment experience to her role.
Prior to her current role, Kelly led all Investor Relations activities for Leidos as Senior Vice President, and Head of Investor Relations. She previously served as the Head of the Middle East and North Africa for Deutsche Bank’s Institutional Asset Management business. Prior to her role in the Middle East, Kelly was the lead portfolio manager for Deutsche Bank’s ~$1 billion DWS Technology mutual fund as well as Global Head of Technology Equity Research for Deutsche Asset Management. Prior to her 7 years at Deutsche Bank, Kelly held varied roles at Credit Suisse and Advanced Micro Devices, as well as other technology companies in Silicon Valley. Kelly serves on the board of MPower Finance. Kelly received a master’s degree in business administration from University of California at Berkeley and a bachelor’s degree in computer & electrical engineering from Purdue University.
Cindy Klimstra
Managing Director - Clermont Partners
Cindy Klimstra is Managing Director at Clermont Partners, a financial communications consultancy, where she brings more than 18 years of senior investor relations experience to the team. Throughout her career, she has managed a wide range of strategic communications challenges for companies that are newly public, high growth or in transition. Her expertise spans the technology, software, gaming, healthcare, manufacturing, real estate and transportation industries. She has specialized in developing executive-level programs that attract new investment interest and drive increased understanding of a company’s value proposition.
Cindy has led IR programs at CDW, Jive Software, International Game Technology, Conceptus, Flextronics, First Industrial Realty Trust, and Chicago & North Western Railroad. She previously led business development and marketing activities at Ashton Partners.
She is leveraging her multi-faceted knowledge base to spearhead Clermont Partners’ marketing and business development efforts, and add depth to the firm’s advisory capabilities.
Cindy has held various leadership roles in the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI), including Chair of the Senior Roundtable in 2010 and 2011. During her term as president of the NIRI-Chicago Chapter in 2004, the chapter won NIRI National’s “Best Large Chapter Award.”
She earned her MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management and a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Wyoming.
Gary LaBranche, FASAE, CAE
President & Chief Executive Officer - National Investor Relations Institute
Gary LaBranche, FASAE, CAE, became President & CEO of the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI) on March 20, 2017. He is responsible to NIRI's board of directors for the strategic direction and advancement of the mission of the organization, as well as service to members and chapters. He represents NIRI to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Congress, the media and other stakeholders. An association professional for 36+ years, he has served as CEO for four associations, as well as a start-up e-learning company. He was also a senior executive at the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. As CEO of the Association Forum of Chicagoland and at ASAE he was responsible for identifying, developing and sharing best practices, models and innovation in association management, professional development and meeting planning. At ASAE he was responsible for the "Super Bowl of Conventions" and modernization of the Certified Association Executive (CAE) program. He was named an ASAE Fellow (FASAE) in 1995. He was the ASAE Key Award winner for 2007, the highest award in the association management profession. ASSOCIATION TRENDS named him the 2012 National Association Executive of the Year. He is past chairman of the Chamber's Institute of Organization Management. LaBranche has served on ASAE's 4 governing boards and continues to serve on the board of ASAE's for-profit subsidiary, ASAE Business Services, Inc. of which he is past chairman. He serves on the Advisory Board of the Kogod Cybersecurity Governance Center at American University. He is the author of 300+ articles, podcasts and columns, including "Managing the Complex Association Enterprise" in ASAE's Handbook on Professional Practices in Association Management, 3rd ed. He has consulted/presented to 300+ associations. LaBranche was profiled as an innovative leader in the book, Hope: How Triumphant Leaders Create the Future, by Andrew Razeghi. He has also been featured in Strategic Transformation: How Boards Achieve Extraordinary Change.
Miranda Lane
Managing Director - FinanceTalking Ltd.
Miranda has 16 years’ experience of teaching finance to people who do not have a financial background. This and her broad City experience in investment banking and financial communications enable her to explain complex subjects in simple ways.
- Qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1985 with Touche Ross in London
- Worked for investment bank, Morgan Grenfell, analysing companies
- Financial PR and Investor Relations in two leading consultancies
- Gained invaluable experience freelancing for a City training company, teaching analysis of financial statements and equity analysis
- Over the last 16 years, Miranda has taught people from well over 50% of the FTSE100 companies, and most of the leading financial PR consultancies in the UK as well as companies from continental Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Russia and Ukraine.
Miranda founded FinanceTalking to provide the best financial training to the corporate communications world. She designs and teaches highly relevant, practical courses for FinanceTalking and for companies' in-house training programmes.
Ina McGuinness
Senior Vice President - Abernathy MacGregor
Ina began her career as an analyst at Wells Fargo Investment Advisors before specializing in corporate governance research at the Investor Responsibility Research Center, (now ISS) in Washington, DC. There she analyzed a number of high profile proxy contests, and as a result of a successful shareholder proposal, was asked to chair the first-ever Shareholder Advisory Committee for the Board of Directors of Baltimore Bancorp, on behalf of its largest institutional shareholder, T. Rowe Price.
Ina also led the IR, PR, and corporate communications activities for pubic companies: QAD, Tercica (acquired by Ipsen) and Kofax (acquired by Lexmark). She also ran the IR practice for Edelman San Francisco and worked for several well-known IR agencies before starting her own practice in 2010.
Ina recently participated on a panel for the Institute for Corporate Counsel/USC Gould School of Law, addressing “Spin-Offs and Carve-Outs: Tackling Complex Legal Issues While Slicing and Dicing the Target Company for the Benefit of Buyer and Seller” and is a frequent panelist for webinars conducted by the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC). She also was the moderator of educational audio and webinar seminars for Bulldog Reporter’s IR University covering topics including: “More Powerful IR Presentations,” “Breaking Down Earnings Guidance,” and “Scripting your CEO and CFO for the Quarterly Earnings Conference Call.” Ina received a B.S. in Business Administration from Southeast Missouri State University.
Ina serves on the Los Angeles Campaign Committee for the 2020 Women on Boards campaign and volunteers with the non-profit Books Bonanza the goal of which is to promote improved reading and learning skills in elementary school children.
Evan Pondel
President - PondelWilkinson Inc.
Evan Pondel is president of PondelWilkinson Inc., where he focuses on developing investor relations and public relations strategies for publicly owned and privately held companies in various industries, including technology, financial services, consumer and healthcare. Previously, Pondel was a financial journalist in New York and Los Angeles with The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Daily News, and Reuters where he covered publicly traded companies in a wide range of industries and wrote a personal finance column that appeared in newspapers throughout the United States. Pondel brings to the firm and its clients a core understanding of effective storytelling, helping companies better communicate with key stakeholders to enhance valuation. He sits on the editorial board of the National Investor Relations Institute’s industry publication IR Update.
Timothy Sedabres
Senior Vice President, Corporate Strategy and Head of Investor Relations - Banc of California, Inc.
Timothy R. Sedabres is Senior Vice President, Corporate Strategy and Head of Investor Relations for Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE: BANC). Banc of California has a market cap of $1 billion and is a $10 billion California based regional bank focused on empowering California through its diverse businesses, entrepreneurs and communities.
Mr. Sedabres has responsibility for leading the company’s Investor Relations function as well as leads the Corporate Strategy group, with responsibilities for corporate strategic planning and M&A. Mr. Sedabres joined the company after serving as VP of Finance at Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE: ASB), a $3 billion market cap company, where he held leadership positions within investor relations, finance and corporate treasury, including serving as IRO for Associated. Mr. Sedabres has been responsible for enterprise-wide stress testing and capital planning in addition to experience in investor relations.
Mr. Sedabres holds a M.B.A from Saint Louis University and a Bachelor's Degree in Finance from Bradley University. Mr. Sedabres serves as Treasurer and Board Member for the Orange County Chapter of the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI) and serves on various committees for Habitat for Humanity of Orange County. He has been recognized by IR Magazine for Best IR by a Small-Cap Company (BANC) in 2017 and was named 2014 Young Professional of the Year by the Greater Green Bay Chamber of Commerce. He has spoken on numerous panels on investor relations topics for NIRI and IR Magazine.