Q&A WITH NIRI MEMBERS Solid Advice for IROs Starting New Positions
Question: I am starting a new role with a well-established investor relations program tomorrow and wanted to take the opportunity to get my goals and targets for the first 30/60/90 days on paper. I already have some ideas but would love to hear suggestions.
Luke Wyse, Senior Vice President, Finance & Investor Relations at Triumph Financial, Inc., offered this detailed answer: Luke Wyse
In this continuing column where we feature questions and answers from NIRI members, we highlight the question above that an investor relations professional recently
posted on the NIRI eGroups discussion forum.
1) Don’t implement any changes until after the next earnings call. Spend this time learning about the established processes, “traditions,” reporting, etc. Get to know the accounting and finance team. Familiarize yourself with the projections, budget and any reforecasts. Read every transcript from the last three years and start memorizing key performance indicators, including the historical trends. Know the story, the strategic shifts, the misses, and the home runs.
2) Get to know the executives. Get 30 minutes on each of their calendars and visit with them about their duties, objectives, and how can you be a re- source for them.
3) Get to know the lead communications person, public relations firm and your general counsel. Tese are people you should probably have lunch with periodically.
4) Get to know the road crew. Who is going on the road to conferences, non-deal roadshows, etc.? Is it the CEO, CFO, COO, and/or others? Do you attend? If not, why not? Who manages the travel? What are their preferences for travel? Get to know their ad- ministrative assistants very well.
5) Spend time with the sell-side analysts and/or associates. Have them walk you through their models, their understanding of the firm and strategy, etc. You’ll learn what they think and what they don’t understand so you can be a better messenger/advocate.
6) Talk to your top active investors. Whether it is 10 or 20, it doesn’t matter. You’re building relationships. Swap mobile phone numbers. Ask what attracted them to the company and what they like and don’t like. Make no promises but ask them what IR could do better from their perspective. Leave the door open to contact you.
7) Learn the company. Get to know the products and business lines inside and out. A good IRO is a resource for investors on the company and the in- dustry. Get your tools in place for your macro- and micro-level monitoring so you can be educated and valuable to your investors.
8) Try to get time with the board members indi- vidually. Ask what they like and don’t like about what they currently get from IR. What do they see on other boards that they’d like to see where you are? What are their communication preferences?
9) Integrate yourself into the strategic discussions of the company. Messaging needs to be tight, which means you need to be involved in strategy from the beginning, not at the last minute. IR
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