NIRI conference at turns sober and lively
Jun 13, 2008
New CEO, other thought leaders outline their view and pressures
SAN DIEGO -- At this week’s NIRI 2008 annual conference, the questions and concern about the heat from private equity in the investment market, so obvious last year, all but disappeared. Instead the focus turned to panels on the likes of ‘Managing the business in times of uncertainty’, which created a sober mood.
Also on the agenda were the timely topics of succession planning, discussion of empty voting and over-voting featuring the leading researcher Henry Hu, dark pools, and the rise of debt relations. Former Applebee’s IRO Carol DiRaimo presented a riveting, cautionary tale about her company’s moment last year being a magnet for activist investors. Among others capturing interest was Rob Williams, director of IR at Dell, who described the experience of being the first public company to try a true two-way IR blog.
Some of the policy types brought news: SEC corporation finance director John White promised new guidance on running IR websites, long overdue since the first round in 2000. It was the first conference for new NIRI president and CEO Jeffrey Morgan, who gave an address outlining his vision for ‘the new NIRI’.
His report noted NIRI’s recent formation of an emerging issues committee, which is tasked with updating best practices around earnings releases and other IR communications, and exploring major pressure points for IROs like hedge funds, proxy issues and shareholder ownership. More than 30 NIRI staff are involved in the effort.
Morgan also promises a louder voice in Washington and in the industry, which it will amplify in a wide range of partnerships with other interest groups focused on compliance and financial reporting, such as the Society of Corporate Secretaries and Governance Professionals and CFA Institute.
He has made the rounds on chapter visits. ‘Our discussions made it clear to me that IR professionals across every industry sector and market cap are facing the challenge of responding to changing expectations by management about the roles and responsibilities of IROs,’ he said in his speech. ‘In the past, we experienced huge changes that affected IR, like Reg FD and Sox. The changes of today may not be the headliners like those just mentioned, but in combination have a huge impact on all of us.’
Many repeat attendees said the San Diego conference felt more lightly attended than the previous year’s event in Orlando. NIRI spokesman Matt Brusch says attendance was actually up; figures are pending. There were 84 vendors, up from 77 last year, according to counts of both official programs.
Service providers timed product launches with the event. Marketwire reworked one of its PR industry products for the IRO, so financial news can be pushed not only to traditional disclosure targets, but also to social new media like newsvine.com, iTunes and YouTube; iMiners debuted a ‘turnkey’ solution for starting an electronic shareholder forum, an idea being promoted by the SEC, and Georgeson announced a ‘lost shareholder clean up’ program.
Ipreo, which was created in the 2006 merger between i-Deal and Bigdough’s old parent, Hemscott, has launched BD Corporate, a new web platform combining Bigdough’s data with a set of new ‘investor relationship management’ services. Ipreo clients have already started migrating from BD Classic as will users of CapitalIRX, which was offered by Ipreo’s recent acquisition, CapitalBridge. The merger of the Bigdough and CapitalBridge databases ‘took the best of both worlds,’ says Chris Taylor, Ipreo’s EVP & managing director, global investor relations.
As usual, there was a bit of excitement over the vendor giveways, with a lot of energy seemingly being spent on trying to acquire one of NYSE Euronext’s preppy beach bags. Even the SEC’s White wasn’t impervious, expressing his delight by the USB flash drives being offered by XBRL US. The device is not just for personal files; it’s got the whole XBRL taxonomy, fact sheets and basic information to get companies started on the XBRL road, says Michelle Savage, VP for communication with XBRL US.
At the pool party it hosted, Marketwire held a drawing for a zero-gravity flight. It went to JC Weigelt, IR manager for St. Jude Medical, who will get to experience weightlessness in the type of plane that NASA uses to train astronauts. ‘I am a huge adrenaline junkie and this is beyond my wildest dreams,’ he says. ‘I am trying to get my father to go with me because I was going to take him whitewater rafting next year, however, this sounds 20 times more exciting.’
Despite the mood brought by so much bad financial news, there was still exuberance, particularly from the newest of new media covering the conference. There are upbeat outtakes of the event, as well as interviews with vendors and IROs, on the internet from the web development firm, zu.com, which exhibited at NIRI. Business Wire’s Serena Ehrlich covered the scene in a burst of short messages via Twitter.
By Anna Snider and Neil Stewart