NIRI SW Regional Conference

Join Gary LaBranche, President and CEO of NIRI National

In 2018, NIRI established a Think Tank on the Future of Investor Relations. Led by Lynn Tyson, Executive Director of IR for Ford, the Think Tank utilized a modified Delphi technique to discuss the subject in a systemic way. Surveys and interviews provided additional perspective. The process was guided by an outside consultant who specializes in foresight thinking. A face-to-face discussion, aided by a futurist, helped the group refine their thinking. The resulting White Paper provides a starting point for provocative conversations about the future of the IR profession. During this interview session, NIRI President and CEO Gary LaBranche will discuss the Think Tank and highlight some of the ideas and themes before engaging the audience in dialogue. Come prepared to think, consider and debate!

About Gary LaBranche:

Gary LaBranche, FASAE, CAE, is the President & CEO of the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI). As CEO, LaBranche provides strategic executive leadership to advance the NIRI’s mission and goals. He represents NIRI to regulators, lawmakers, the media and other audiences.

Before joining NIRI in March 2017, he was CEO of the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG). ACG serves 90,000 investors, lenders, executives and advisors to middle market companies, including 1,000 private equity firms.

An association professional for 37+ years, LaBranche has served as CEO for three other organizations and as a senior executive at the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Prior to joining ACG, LaBranche was CEO for the Association Forum of Chicagoland. At the Forum and 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 6,000 attendee “Super Bowl of Conventions,” launch of e-learning 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 profession. ASSOCIATION TRENDS named him the 2012 Association Executive of the Year. He is a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Association Committee of 100 and is past chairman of the Chamber’s Institute of Organization Management. LaBranche has served on ASAE’s 4 governing boards and chaired the board of ASAE’s for-profit subsidiary, ASAE Business Services, Inc. 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 and the book, “The Association CEO Succession Toolkit” published by ASAE in 2018. He authored the chapter, “Managing the Complex Association Enterprise” in ASAE’s Handbook on Professional Practices in Association Management, 3rd edition. 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.

Interplay Between ESG, Risk Management and IR: Influencing Success or Failure

Separating the material versus the noise within the world of ESG - in the broad and ambiguous ecosystem of ESG, how can a company identify the specific data points and perspectives that institutional investors deem most relevant?

This August at the NIRI Southwest Regional Conference, our expert panelists will help you focus your time and resources on the growing wave of ESG investing.

Daniel Romito - Global Head of Investor Analytics Nasdaq
As Global Head of Investor Analytics, Dan Romito’s responsibilities include overseeing Nasdaq’s Strategic Capital Intelligence team, Insight360 Analytics Platform, ESG/Index consulting and managing a global roster of advisory clients.

Join Kristin Graham with Amazon Web Services

Join Kristin Graham on Thursday, August 22, 2019 at 12.00 pm to gain insights about today’s evolving audiences and to learn how we can be flexible to meet their messaging needs. Kristin is an employee communications leader from Amazon Web Services – the cloud division of Amazon – and plans to share a collection of “nerd facts” about how information can be made more bite-sized and how to stretch our own comfort zones. Bring your questions and ideas for an interactive conversation on how to be heard in today’s digital environment.

Let’s focus on the sexy side of science, and learn more about information psychology, attention spans and technology trends to better influence communications across multiple platforms.

About Kristin Graham:

A former journalist and current technology leader, Kristin Graham has centered her career on storytelling. Curiosity wove her career from non-profits to Fortune 500s to dot-coms. She moved to Seattle in 2007 to lead communications for the travel portfolio company, Expedia, Inc.

Her background includes executive and employee communications, global recruiting, diversity and inclusion, philanthropy, learning and development, corporate events, social media, and employer branding initiatives. She is currently managing the employee communication strategy for Amazon Web Services.

Kristin holds a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University and an MBA from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Social Media Eats The News

How to tell the truth, battle back against falsehoods and protect yourself and your company online.

Join Rhonda Barnat from Abernathy MacGregor, and Jennifer Murphy from Galore Consulting at the NIRI Southwest Conference this August. As companies navigate the online news world, it becomes increasingly important to manage an online presence and protect companies from potential negative online exposure. Rhonda and Jennifer will discuss all the ways social media intersects with public company news.

About Rhonda Barnat

As one of the country’s leading crisis management advisers, and head of the firm’s crisis management practice, Rhonda Barnat has been involved in helping corporations and non-profits through some of their most defining moments and some of the most visible issues of our time.

Rhonda is an expert in helping companies and non-profits move through an issue and return to normal with their reputations intact. She is often called upon to assemble the specialized teams that are required when a major crisis befalls an institution.

She is a frequent speaker on crisis communications and crisis management throughout the United States and Europe. In addition, Rhonda also works with clients in complex mergers and acquisition situations, including proxy contests. Other clients look to her for specialized media and presentation training as part of an overall strategic program. Many national and international insurance companies have selected her and the firm for crisis communications and management in complex situations on behalf of their policyholders. Rhonda received a B.A. in English Literature from the University of Rochester, and an M.A. from the University of Michigan.

About Jennifer Murphy

Jennifer Murphy, Founder of Galore Consulting, is a highly sought-after investigator and crisis adviser with more than 14 years of experience in the investigations and security sectors. Jennifer is often part of specialized teams brought in to help organizations and individuals prepare for, manage, and recover from complex crises. She has successfully assisted organizations with managing the aftermath of some of the most significant disasters in U.S. history. A thought leader in her field, Jennifer is a Subject Matter Expert in digital threat monitoring for high-consequence disasters and speaks frequently on topics ranging from preparing for and recovering from mass shootings to risk management in the aftermath of various crises.

Jennifer began her investigations career at First Advantage’s BackTrack Reports, conducting investigative due diligence on hedge fund managers and other high-level individuals and entities. She then worked as an in-house investigator at various business intelligence and security firms in the U.S. and Western Europe, where she managed and participated in groundbreaking cases involving social media attacks, privacy violations, complex financial fraud, court-appointed monitorships, death threats, bombings, active shooter preparedness, and sex crimes.

Jennifer graduated with a B.A. in English & Textual Studies and journalism from Syracuse University. She holds an M.A. from the University of Chicago and an M.F.A. from New York University, where she taught as an adjunct professor and volunteer co-facilitator of the NYU Veterans Writing Program. She is a licensed private investigator and certified EMT in the state of New York.

Rivel - How the buy-side makes decisions

With unprecedented uncertainty and volatility hammering the equity markets, the longest bull market in history may be in jeopardy. IROs need a firm handle on what is driving value and investment decisions today – namely, analyst and investor preferences, trends, expectations – to craft messaging and set engagement priorities that promise to sustain as well as broaden investment interest in their companies.

This roundtable will explore the investment community’s greatest macro concerns, the sources of information they covet, the tangible and intangible metrics which motivate buy and sell verdicts and the value they ascribe to effective investor relations’ role in valuation.

Alpha IR - communication audits

Communication Audits will help you benchmark your IR program, set goals, develop a multi-year strategic IR plan, and internally unite your IR objectives among management and the Board to ensure success. This session will help you learn to utilize a measurable, “high ROI” approach to benchmarking your current program and setting objectives for the future.

While investor perceptions are a critical part of the tool kit, they are only one of many tools you should be considering as you look to build a truly “best practice” IR program. Come learn how senior IROs and industry veterans are building holistic measurement tools to assess and maximize the impact of their IR programs both to management and to Wall Street.

Session objectives:

• Provide advice, counsel and real-world examples of how leading IR programs evaluate and build highly effective measurement programs
• Review a quantitative and qualitative measurement toolbox that you can use to improve your program
• These concepts are critical to:
  • Building a best practices IR program
  • Evaluating and refining the investment thesis
  • Effectively setting quarterly, annual, and programmatic IR goals
  • Controlling the narrative with your management and board, as well as their perception and view of your IR program
  • Informing your future compensation with goals that are more within your control

Looking Ahead: The State of the Economy with Joe Brusuelas

Join Chief Economist Joe Brusuelas at the NIRI Southwest Regional Conference to discuss the following:

• What types of lasting impacts will be brought on by a slowing economic growth?
• What risks will trade tensions impose on the domestic economy?
• Where are the opportunities in this economy as we move into the second half of 2019?

About Joe Brusuelas:

Joe Brusuelas provides macroeconomic perspective to help RSM clients anticipate and address the unique issues and challenges facing their businesses and the industries in which they operate. In 2015, he helped launch The Real Economy, the only monthly economic report focused on the middle market, and helps lead the firm’s cutting-edge Industry Eminence Program.

Prior to joining RSM as chief economist, Joe was a senior economist at Bloomberg, LP and the Bloomberg Briefs newsletter group. During that time, he was named one of the 26 economists to follow by the Huffington Post. Joe has over 20 years of experience in finance and economics, with emphasis on analyzing U.S. monetary policy, labor markets, fiscal policy, economic indicators and the condition of the U.S. consumer.

In addition to being a frequent author for RSM and media, Joe Brusuelas is the co-author of Forex Analysis and Trading: Effective Top-Down Strategies Combining Fundamental, Position, and Technical Analyses.

Join Michael E. Anderson, Retired from the FBI

Join Michael E. Anderson on Friday, August 23, 2019 at 10.00 am to discuss the ethics of Enron’s leadership, culture, and accounting that facilitated unethical, criminal behavior and contributed to the failure of the seventh largest company in America. The discussion also provides a retrospective on how the FBI investigated the most complex White-Collar Crime case in FBI history resulting in the convictions of 22 people and forfeiture of more than $100 million to the victims of the Enron fraud.

About Michael E. Anderson:

Assistant Special Agent in Charge (ASAC) Michael E. Anderson retired from the FBI on November 30, 2017 after more than 28 years of service. He worked in a variety of Executive Management roles and retired as the ASAC of the White-Collar Crime Branch, responsible for Public Corruption, Corporate Fraud, Securities and Commodities Fraud, Intellectual Property Rights, FCPA and Health Care Fraud. Agent Anderson was initially assigned to the Austin, Texas Resident Agency where he worked White Collar Crime before being promoted to the Economic Crimes Unit at FBI Headquarters. Thereafter, he was assigned as a Supervisory Special Agent in the Houston Field Office. Agent Anderson served as supervisor of the FBI Enron Task Force in Houston investigating the largest and most complex White-Collar Crime case in FBI history which resulted in the conviction of 22 individuals and over $100 million forfeited to the victims of the Enron fraud. Agent Anderson is a recipient of the Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service, the highest award given by the Department of Justice, for his work on the Enron case and has lectured about Enron and ethics around the country and in Hong Kong.