By Maryellen Thielen
Panelists:
Cody Justus, Chief of Staff, Global Sustainability Engagement & Partnerships, Boeing
Jason Omerza, Vice President of Investor Relations, CNH Industrial
Chinmay Trivedi, Senior Vice President of Finance, 3M
Moderator: Jeremy Apple, Senior Vice President, Financial Profiles, Inc.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
The panelists outlined several crises they have needed to navigate over the years in their day jobs, including an unexpected CEO resignation for “personal reasons” that led to cancellation of a near-term investor day, despite immediate promotion of the chief operating officer to interim CEO. Crisis scenarios (e.g., tariffs, accounting restatements, technology issues, reputational damage such as the Coldplay webcam crisis) were deliberated during the formal portion of the session and at the various attendees’ tables, leading with specific discussion questions. (For example, on the CEO resignation: What are your first steps in managing investor communications? How do you reassure the market about leadership continuity and strategic stability? What should be included in the initial news release and subsequent investor calls? How do you prepare your CEO and board for investor Q&As?)
Some universal advice from the panelists:
- IR sits in a truly unique position during corporate crises, as the connective tissue between executives, investors, legal and corporate communications. So, IR needs to have a voice amid the initial “flurry” of discussion about what to say and when. Be on top of creating clear, creditable and consistent messaging, rather than deferring decisions until you have more info.
- Prioritize audiences and outreach. For the CEO resignation crisis mentioned above, the company sent emails over the weekend, and in the following order, to: 1) sell-side analysts, 2) the top 50 institutional shareholders and 3) a broader group of investors. Depending on the audience priority level, IR offered same-day (i.e., weekend) calls or a next-day meeting on Monday.
- Preparation is power. The panelists emphasized the importance of a) having an external crisis team in place ahead of time (e.g., lawyers, PR firm, proxy advisors), b) building and approving holding statements in advance, and c) further aligning messaging so that internal and external communicators are saying the same things to their disparate audiences in real time.