By Maryellen Thielen
Panelists:
- Moderator: Jeff Myers, Midwest Regional Head, NYSE
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- The two panelists had strikingly similar advice for establishing yourself in an IR role at a new company: building relationships and trust internally in the first 30 days (who are the go-to people who can provide information about the company and also understand your business well?); meeting with key analysts in the next 30 days to begin understanding perceptions, misperceptions and building those key external relationships; and developing an IR campaign plan in the next 30 days to effectively carry out your IR role.
For further context, Dexter Congbalay has been in his IR role at McDonalds for about nine months and Yijing Brentano has been in IR with UL Solutions for about three months.
- Ongoing dialogue can help IR officers build their credibility and internal brands as trusted, strategic and essential partners. Initial challenges may include limited internal resources at small-cap companies; differing approaches to whether and how to provide external guidance; shareholder activists; or an unfavorable corporate culture (values, approaches).
- Internal education also is important. For example, Congbalay meets every 2-3 weeks with his team to provide education on capital markets and other topics relevant to IR. Brentano prioritizes educating financial planning and analysis (FP&A) colleagues and interns (among others) about what the sell-side analysts are saying about their company.