SPOTLIGHT ON THE CEO
aware of if you hadn’t gone through that experience. So, for me, handling failures or setbacks gives you grit. If you never face any adversity or challenge where you really put your head down to solve it, then you never develop any grit. With all that said, I try to handle more difficult situations by telling myself that I can keep at it and push through it to get to another level because I’ve developed years of perseverance, knowledge, and experience from the challenges I successfully overcame in the past.
IRU: What advice would you give someone who is just starting out their career? Hanson: First and foremost be open to all differ- ent kinds of experiences. If I think about myself coming up through the finance track early in my career, if I had not been open to exploring oppor- tunities outside of the CPA and public accounting partner path, then I would have never landed in a business that I could really help mold and grow. Ten as a CFO at Apex, if I hadn’t been willing to be out in the operational part of the business and take some accountability for growth, I never would have been positioned to do something more. When the opportunity arose then to get out of that finance and CFO track and get into running and operating a business, I was prepared to be a CEO candidate. You must be ready to get out of your comfort zone and take on different role rotations and expansions to make yourself more well-rounded.
IRU: How do you balance the competing demands of your personal and professional life? Hanson: You are always trying to balance all those things, but you can never perfectly balance it. Te key is that you have people around you that understand the difficulty of juggling so many dif- ferent areas at once and then meet you halfway. Tey realize what you’re going through, whether it’s your spouse, parents, or kids and support you throughout the process. Importantly, your children watch you, emulate you, and develop that desire to be successful because you express that drive every day in your household. So, while I am not perfect at balancing it all, I certainly try, and everybody meets me halfway.
6 FA L L 2 0 2 3 ■ IR UPDAT E
I look at the IR function as a trumpet or a megaphone to the investor community and other people who have interest in the company.
IRU: What aspect of investor relations do you find the most valuable? Hanson: I look at the IR function as a trumpet or a megaphone to the investor community and other people who have interest in the company, who can really get good insights and information about how we’re doing, and what the opportunity is for the company. Whether you’re the CEO or the CFO, you can speak on behalf of the company, and you’re supposed to do that and that’s important. But when you have IR professionals who can back that up and give comfort to the constituents out there—whether it’s employees, customers, or in- vestors—it just gives a sturdiness to it all. There’s a consistency to it that’s different because as an IR professional, you’re thinking about IR 24/7. And as a CEO, IR never gets too far from you, but you’re not with it consistently day in, day out. Great IROs understand that, and they lay the foundation for their management teams. IRU: What are the key ingredients to a compelling investor narrative? Hanson: Te first thing you need is a big, dynamic,
niri.org/ irupdate
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36
