Celebrating the winners of the IR Magazine Awards – US 2022
Streamers fall on the winners at the grand finale of the thrilling IR Magazine Awards – US 2022
Hundreds of IR professionals buzzed with the excitement of reuniting in person and celebrating the crème de la crème in investor relations at the IR Magazine Awards – US 2022, affectionately nicknamed the ‘IR prom’ by its black-tie attendees in New York.
American Airlines took home two of the most prestigious awards of the night for best overall investor relations (mid-cap) and best investor relations officer (small to mid-cap) for Christopher Irvine.
General Electric was also a best overall IR winner in the large-cap category, and the conglomerate claimed the gong for best IR in the industrials sector, too.
Another two-gong winner was Danaher, with Matthew Gugino taking the award for best IRO (large cap), as well as winning in the healthcare sector. The final firm to take two trophies on the night was Hilton Worldwide Holdings, which claimed the best crisis management trophy from the self-nomination awards, as well as best IR in the consumer discretionary sector. Alto Ingredients took the best overall IR trophy in the small-cap category.
In the two best IR by a senior management team categories, Waste Connections’ CEO Worthing Jackman and CFO Mary Anne Whitney took the large-cap trophy, while CEO Tom Reeg and CFO Bret Yunker of Caesars Entertainment won in the small to mid-cap category.
The awards ceremony gathered the best and brightest of the US IR community at the historic and elegant Lower Manhattan venue Cipriani 25 Broadway on March 31. IR Magazine donated a portion of funds from the event to UNICEF USA to protect children in Ukraine. Investment community and the IR Magazine judging panel Attendees celebrated 24 different winners across 28 categories, with just four firms claiming multiple wins.
The awards are split into two sections: awards-by-research categories are decided by a survey of portfolio managers, buy-side analysts and sell-side analysts who cover US companies. They selected the winners for best overall IR, best investor relations officer, best IR by a senior management team and best in sector.
The awards-by-nomination categories cover a range of IR practice areas, such as annual reports, ESG reporting, investor meetings, technology and crisis management. Companies were able to submit entries for different categories, with the winners chosen by a panel of expert judges comprising IR Magazine editorial staff and industry professionals. This year the panel of judges featured:
There were 10 self-nomination categories this year, with a different company taking a trophy in each. Two new categories were introduced for the 2022 awards – best innovation in shareholder communications and best retail IR strategy – both of which give a nod to the ways in which the market and investor relations have shifted as a result of the pandemic.
Verizon Communications
Hilton Worldwide Holdings
Walmart
EOG Resources
Prudential Financial
Danaher
General Electric
The Sherwin-Williams Company
Equinix
PayPal
NextEra Energy
Jill Slattery, senior vice president and head of IR and corporate development at Hilton Worldwide Holdings, accepts the best in sector – consumer discretionary award
Katie Morgan (right), IR manager at Equinix, accepts the best in sector – real estate prize from Agnies Watson, co-founder and president of Stockperks
Alto Ingredients took home the best overall investor relations (small cap) prize at the IR Magazine Awards – US 2022, pipping to the post DZS, Gogo, PlayAGS, Tecnoglass and Wrap Technologies.
Michael Kramer, vice president and treasurer at Alto Ingredients, told IR Magazine on the red carpet he thought the win recognized the interaction between the company and its investors over the past couple of years, as well as ‘the improvements in quality of earnings and disclosure, and just trying to be as transparent as we can be.’
Founded in 2003 and based in Illinois, Alto Ingredients is a leading producer and distributor of specialty alcohols and essential ingredients. The firm focuses on products for four key markets: health, home and beauty; food and beverage; essential ingredients; and renewable fuels. Its customers include major food and beverage companies and consumer products companies.
Alto Ingredients grew net sales by 35 percent to $1.2 bn and gross profit by 28 percent to $68 mn in 2021 versus 2020. Kramer said he hoped 2022 would be another successful year for the producer and distributor and it would continue to grow the business. Asked for his best practice tips for IR peers, he said: ‘Just be open to your investors, be willing to answer questions all the time and be transparent with them.’
Michael Kramer, vice president and treasurer at Alto Ingredients, took home the best overall investor relations (small cap) prize
American Airlines Group
Alto Ingredients
Matthew Gugino, Danaher
Christopher Irvine, American Airlines Group
Worthing Jackman, CEO & Mary Anne Whitney, CFO, Waste Connections
Tom Reeg, CEO & Bret Yunker, CFO, Caesars Entertainment
General Electric scooped the best in sector – industrials award, as held by Jonathan Leventry, IR manager at GE, with (left to right) Laurie Havelock, editor-at-large of IR Magazine, Nik Zapata, fellow IR manager at GE and presenter Kevin White, senior vice president at MacKenzie Partners
Scott Long, managing director of IR at American Airlines, took home the best investor relations officer (small to mid-cap) award
‘Keep it simple, focus on clear concise messages’ is the advice to IR practitioners for the year ahead from Bob McLaughlin, head of IR at Prudential Financial.
On behalf of the $44 bn Fortune 500 company, McLaughlin accepted the award for best IR in the financials sector at the IR Magazine Awards – US 2022 in New York on March 31. Prudential Financial beat Alliance Data Systems (now known as Bread Financial Holdings), American Express, American International Group, MetLife and Wells Fargo & Company in a competitive category to the take the prize.
McLaughlin told IR Magazine on the red carpet that ‘collaboration is key’ to the firm’s success. ‘We’re really thrilled with the teamwork we have at Prudential, so for me, the bottom line is collaboration,’ he said.
Asked what’s next in the financial space for Prudential Financial, McLaughlin added: ‘In a financial services company, specifically in an insurance company, our areas are focused on recovering from Covid, which has been a significant overhang – our hearts go out to all those who have been affected. We’re hopeful we’re at the other end of that curve.
‘Just generally, interest rates continue to rise and that’s a healthy thing for the insurance companies.’
Bob McLaughlin, head of IR at Prudential Financial, accepted the award for best IR in the financials sector
Moody’s Corporation won best ESG reporting by a large cap at the IR Magazine Awards – US 2022, but the win is only the beginning. The global integrated risk assessment firm beat fellow nominees Fifth Third Bancorp, Mondelēz International, Philip Morris International and Verizon Communications at the gala event on March 31.
Natali Ganfer, Moody's senior vice president for sustainability, told IR Magazine on the red carpet that the firm had taken a new approach to ESG reporting and a lot of work had gone into it. Last June, it launched a new sustainability strategy and framework that was guided by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and based on an independent, non-financial materiality assessment that identified the issues most important to its stakeholders and business success. The firm’s sustainability site received more than 10,000 visits and its reports page has had more than 4,500 views since June 2021.
‘We’re super-glad to be recognized for this effort,’ Ganfer said. ‘We are building on that inaugural report and really taking it to the next level with more cohesive and comprehensive disclosures. We’re very excited.’
Ganfer recommended IR professionals start with a good foundation and then build on it. ‘Don’t look for perfection, but rather progress,’ she advised.
Natali Ganfer, senior vice president for sustainability at Moody’s Corporation, accepted the award for best ESG reporting by a large cap
The best investor event award-winning capital markets day held by Ford Motor Company in 2021 showed that a high-quality meeting imparting information valuable to investors doesn’t need to take two days, according to Ford’s investor relations veteran.
Lynn Antipas Tyson, executive director of IR at Ford and a 26-year IR practitioner, told IR Magazine on the US Awards red carpet that the auto giant’s capital markets day was ‘extremely difficult’ due to a multitude of challenges. There was a Covid-19 lockdown, Ford had not held an analyst meeting in four years, a new CEO had arrived and the industry was undergoing massive disruption.
‘We had to figure out a way to compact all of that in a short timeframe to explain the investment thesis of the company in a compelling way,’ Antipas Tyson said at the gala event in New York on March 31.
Ford’s IR team delivered a highly focused and well-received 90-minute, pre-recorded TV show-like event in its augmented reality studio, followed by a 60-minute live Q&A at the heart of its outreach. Antipas Tyson said Ford was undergoing a ‘pretty radical restructuring’ with the advent of electric vehicles while demand for internal combustion engine vehicles carried on growing. ‘Continuing to tell that story to capital markets in a compelling way is the biggest challenge and opportunity we’re going to have,’ she noted.
Lynn Antipas Tyson, executive director of IR at Ford Motor Company, accepted the best investor event award
Ron Zori, head of business development at the investing platform Public.com and its new services arm Pulse, said he was honored to present the inaugural best retail IR strategy trophy at the IR Magazine Awards – US 2022.
The debut prize was awarded to Coinbase at the gala in-person event in New York on March 31. The large-cap cryptocurrency exchange platform engaged the retail community during its direct listing. Its strategy involved a series of retail-centric videos from the management team and a Reddit ‘ask me anything’ event with its CEO and CFO.
Asked what trends Pulse by Public.com is seeing among IR and retail investors, Zori told IR Magazine: ‘We started Pulse because we heard from companies we’re friendly with that they want more exposure to retail. They want to talk, engage and understand what retail wants. We’re brokered with 3 mn investors in the US and we want to facilitate that connection.’
Zori said retail for many IROs was a ‘black box’ but it was here to stay and going to grow. ‘A lot of retail investors are long-term investors – they’re not just here to speculate, so branch out, engage with them, learn about them and build those long-term relationships,’ he advised.
Ron Zori, head of business development at Pulse by Public.com, was an awards presenter.
Energy Recovery was awarded the best ESG reporting (small to mid-cap) trophy at the IR Magazine Awards – US 2022 only two years since it formally started its ESG journey.
Meredith Callahan, Energy Recovery’s director of ESG, told IR Magazine at the gala event in New York that the California and Texas-based company really undertook the work to identify the most material topics for its investors and other stakeholders in the past year. ‘Through that we were able to identify the top 14 areas to focus on, then from there narrow it down to specific goals with quantitative targets,’ she said.
The firm’s ESG program paved the way for sustainable growth through new products in industrial wastewater treatment and refrigeration while significantly reducing energy costs and emissions. Callahan said Energy Recovery’s focus was to work with its cross-functional ESG management team to achieve its ambitions.
Jim Siccardi, vice president of IR at Energy Recovery, also attended the awards ceremony on March 31. He urged IR peers to be ‘proactive’ in getting their ESG messaging out. ‘If we did all this work in a silo, it wouldn’t benefit anyone,’ he said. ‘The more you talk to your investors and explain how it’s going to benefit all your stakeholders, the better everyone is.’
Meredith Callahan, director of ESG at Energy Recovery, accepted the best ESG reporting (small to mid-cap) award from presenter Ron Schneider, director of corporate governance services at DFIN
Moody’s Corporation
Energy Recovery
Resonant
Ford Motor Company
Apollo Global Management
PVH Corp
Coinbase
Medtronic
Jessica John, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings
Beate Melten
The lifetime achievement award was presented to Beate Melten, managing director at Citi
