Cultivating relationships with the right investors is foundational to IR. However, gaps often exist between designing an effective investor targeting program in a “perfect” world versus executing it in the real world. Our panel of IROs will discuss their targeting program successes and challenges. Topics include how to gain more benefit from your relationships with corporate access teams, ESG factors in your targeting strategies, tailor targeting during market volatility and leverage technology to help scale your program. Come prepared to share your own investor targeting insights, tips and tricks during the Q&A discussion, then stay for post-program networking, drinks and appetizers.
4:30 p.m. Registration
5 - 6 p.m. Program
6 - 7 p.m. Networking
Crust Brewing
5500 Park Place
Rosemont, IL 60018
Panelists
Scott Einberger, Investor Relations Officer, JLL (Jones Lang LaSalle)
Scott Einberger joined commercial real estate company JLL (NYSE: JLL) as its senior vice president of investor relations in 2021, and the $11.2 billion market cap company promoted him in April 2022. Previously, Einberger held senior investor relations, controller and corporate finance roles during his 17 years at US Foods, which included building its IR program when the company went public in 2016. Einberger has an MBA from Loyola University Chicago, a bachelor's degree from the University of Colorado Boulder, and is a Certified Management Accountant (CMA).
Joseph Suarez, Vice President of Investor Relations, Constellation Brands
Joseph Suarez joined Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZL and STZL.B) in 2021 to head investor relations for this $47.9 billion market cap beverage alcohol company. Earlier, he was a senior vice president, then managing director, in the strategy division of advisory firm Teneo. Previously, Suarez spent 10 years across a range of commercial, governance and financial positions at BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto. He holds bachelor’s degrees from the University of Chicago.
Moderator: Mark Fasken, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer, Irwin
Mark Fasken co-founded Toronto-based Irwin in 2017. Irwin’s software platform provides shareholder intelligence to help companies enhance and build relationships with current and prospective investors. Earlier, Fasken spent nearly a decade in sales and marketing at high-growth software companies, including Influitive and Pressly. He currently serves on NIRI’s Service Provider Council.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Scott Einberger prioritizes JLL’s targeting program using third-party targeting tools and the sell-side as a reference, and places more emphasis on data analysis (e.g., peer ownership) and buy-siders’ focus on growth, value, etc. to find the right fit for his company’s IR messages and meetings. To attract significant new shareholders, he makes a “concerted effort” to get the CEO and CFO in meetings with his short list of five or six top-priority investors per year. Einberger said 100% of JLL’s investor meetings are the outcome of targeting, which also influences the meetings he takes during investor conferences and sell-side non-deal roadshows. Favorable ESG ratings can help the stock be added (or retained) in ESG indices with higher levels of assets under management. Einberger also leverages ESG sources read by his current ESG shareholders (e.g., GreenMoney Journal).
• Joseph Suarez “works a list of 40 to 50” long-only investor contacts at any one time. Rather than focusing on a particular targeting tool, he “cleans up the data” from multiple sources, including previous investor conversations, to create targeting lists in Excel. Initial meetings are always with IR, it requires at least three meetings before a target will consider buying, and the C-suite generally meets only with the most significant investors. Targeting priorities and investor conversations reflect company-specific investment appeals and issues, which range from capital allocation (e.g., a strong balance sheet) to 2030 and 2040 sustainability targets. Rather than targeting organizations known as ESG investors, he looks more broadly to find portfolio managers/funds with specific ESG interests – a strategy that paid off for his previous mining company employers which were less likely to be acceptable to some investors.