Senior management
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People moves: Debbie Hancock joins Lamb Weston and Caroline Dawson moves to Reckitt
Debbie Hancock, the former senior vice president of investor relations at toy maker Hasbro, has taken up a new IR role at French fry producer Lamb Weston. Hancock, who left her position at Hasbro in February 2024 after 15 years at the company, has a career in investor relations that spans 30 years, including a 15-year stint as director of IR at APC by Schneider Electric. She has been a member of NIRI since the mid-90s.
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The CFO: ‘You need to have a stomach of iron during times of volatility,’ says Block’s Amrita Ahuja
Many IROs hope that their time in the profession might set them up well for a C-suite position well one day. But for Amrita Ahuja, CFO and COO for payments company Block, the transition happened directly during her time as head of IR for interactive entertainment firm Activision Blizzard, where she was called upon to become finance chief of its video-game publishing wing Blizzard Entertainment in 2018. Fast forward a few years and she now holds the dual posts of CFO and – for the past two years – COO at Block, the financial technology company founded by Jack Dorsey,…
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Taking management on tour: What’s the sweet spot for investor meeting attendance?
‘We’re spending more time with investors without our management team,’ Naji Baydoun, director of IR at Innergex, told IR Impact editor Laurie Havelock in the Global Roadshow Report 2025. ‘Maybe at the beginning of the [2024] we were spending 10 percent of our investor engagements without management and now we’re up to about 25 percent with just the IR team,’ explained Baydoun. ‘That’s because we’ve built relationships and trust with those investors, so I’m happy about that.’ According to IR Impact’s 15th annual research report into the who, where, how and why of corporate roadshow activity, there has been a…
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How to talk tariffs: IR in the new era of uncertainty
The US economy is in ‘a period of transition,’ US President Donald Trump told Fox News on Sunday. By close of trading on Monday, the US S&P 500 had dropped almost 3 percent, with tech stocks taking a particularly heavy hit. Weeks of back and forth as Trump threatened tariffs, paused tariffs, reintroduced tariffs – and saw retaliatory levies by affected markets – finally came to a head.
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The CFO: The best IROs bring in ideas from all over, says Ciena’s finance chief
Gregg Lampf, head of IR at Ciena, is a familiar face at IR Impact events. He’s also a big advocate for AI for investor relations – a topic he talks about, writes about and puts to work in his day job.
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Rather be canoeing the Mekong River than riding the corporate commute? Perhaps it’s time for an IR sabbatical
This time last year Andrea James was spending time with her young family, going to yoga twice a week and generally taking the slow approach to life. Today, she is CFO at Nasdaq-listed Oncocyte, a molecular diagnostics technology company. James explains that when she first decided to take a career break – at the time she was chief communications officer and IR head at alternative defense firm Axon – she didn’t know what she wanted to do next. ‘I needed to get out of the day-to-day of being at a rapid-growth company, in a highly visible role, to find that…
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‘I’ve seen the good and the bad from the sell side – it’s framed how I approach IR’: Inside IR at Alamos Gold
What does it take to become an award-winning IRO? Scott Parsons, a former sell-side analyst who joined the IR team at Alamos Gold in 2013, working his way up to lead the program, knows that a lot of it is hard work. But successful IR is also about honing your organizational skills, your people skills and your ability to package up the company story in a way that makes it work for investors and analysts. Here, we dive into the IR program at Alamos Gold to hear about everything from the sell-side to IR learning curve, the way ESG conversations…
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The CFO: Heads of IR should understand their company better than management, says Alamos Gold finance chief
To mark the first of the year’s CFO interviews, we headed to Toronto to talk IR with Greg Fisher, finance chief at Alamos Gold – a company that has been repeatedly recognized for its efforts in investor relations
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Why I turned down tickets to the opening of the Paris Olympics: the importance of saying ‘no’ in IR
A polite ‘no’ lets you focus on what only the IR team can do – and frees up much-needed time – argues Thomas Kudsk Larsen Last year, I turned down tickets to the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics. While many might think I was crazy to pass up such an opportunity (I definitely wasn’t, […]
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Personality and pandemics: What we learned from a year of talking IR with CFOs
As the year draws to a close, we look back on 12 months of The CFO column. What started with Kurt Barton of Tractor Supply Company expanded to conversations about all things IR with finance chiefs from Brazil’s NuBank to Hong Kong’s Sa Sa International, Canada’s Cineplex to Campbell’s Soup Company in the US – and many more. We discussed the benefits that good IR can deliver, about what they look for in their heads of IR, about what works in corporate access and what they liked most – and least – about their involvement in the IR program.
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The CFO: ‘Our ultimate mission is the protection of lives’, says finance chief of Japan’s Weathernews Inc
Masanori Yoshitake talks weather, climate and society, ramping up IR and taking investors from a financial return to an emotional one
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Why Brian Thompson’s killing has prompted companies to think about executive safety and corporate purpose
‘Executive security used to be something of a hard sell,’ says Iylia Lavatelli, a former close-protection security provider, now working at operational resilience firm Restrata, talking about budget as well as executive willingness playing their parts in what any security manager can achieve. That, of course, changed with the shooting of Brian Thompson, UnitedHealthcare CEO, in New York last week. The news today is of companies scrambling to organize their security and senior profiles being removed from corporate websites – health insurance firms in particular
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The CFO: Ultimate Products’ finance chief on what he’ll look for when it’s time to hire an IRO
What did you use to keen an eye on that lockdown weight gain? In many markets, the chances are it was a trusted pair of Salter bathroom scales. That’s what Chris Dent has in his home – and what sits in the homes of around 70 percent of Brits. They are just one of the 3,000 or so products designed, manufactured and distributed b London-listed Ultimate Products. In the latest installment to The CFO series, Dent talks about how an education in history helps him tell a good company story, the benefits of being able to bring out company experts…
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The CFO: Gord Nelson of Cineplex on how strategy, growth and transparency can get you into the C-suite
Speaking to Gord Nelson, CFO of Cineplex, you get a real feel for why he’s so good at what he does. For him, a successful finance chief needs much more than technical skills – they need those personal qualities that really connect with investors and bring the company story to life. As we chat, Ellis Jacob, the firm’s CEO, pops in to ask Nelson a question. This is indicative of the close-knit relationship enjoyed by the company’s senior management has – perhaps because they’ve been through ups and downs, listings and market growth, near-buyouts and pandemics together
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The CFO: ‘You invariably learn something about your business’ from investors and analysts, says Hostelworld finance chief
Caroline Sherry talks about entering the travel sector just months before Covid-19, the small-team approach and why everyone should visit Dublin
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The CFO: The challenges are where you make a difference, says Sa Sa International’s finance chief
Danny Ho talks working on different sides of the corporate fence and taking himself out of the ‘risk-averse’ mindset of a chartered accountant
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The CFO: Mister Spex finance chief on the value of a good analyst
Stephan Schulz-Gohritz is six months into his role at firm short-listed for best micro-cap annual report at the IR Magazine Awards – Europe 2024
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The CFO: IR experience offers unique appreciation for profession, says Campbell’s finance chief
Carrie Anderson talks about her time in IR, getting up to speed in a complex industry and the billion-dollar-revenue acquisition of Sovos Brands
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The CFO: Nubank’s finance chief on the Brazilian bank’s three-pillar approach to growth
Guilherme Lago, CFO at Latin America’s digital banking darling, on adding 1.5 mn customers a month, investor education and more
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The CFO: Hubert Lafeuille on IR at Saudi Arabia’s largest drilling contractor
Arabian Drilling CFO talks setting up an IR function from scratch, leading the firm’s IPO and meeting investor expectations
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The CFO: First Horizon Bank’s Hope Dmuchowski on successfully navigating change during a merger of equals
The bank’s CFO details the strategies employed during and beyond the corporate transaction
