IR Magazine Euro Leaders Think Tank - Session leaders

Dr Karl Mahler became head of the Investor Relations team at F Hoffmann-La Roche in 2002 having previously worked at Ciba Geigy and Aventis. He started his professional career as head of investment and strategic planning at Ciba Geigy in Switzerland, becoming head of the animal health division in 1994. Various spells overseas then followed, notably in China and later France, where Dr Mahler graduated to become corporate controller at the Pharma division at Aventis.

He gained his PhD in economics at the University of Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany.

Karen Keyes joined Logica in 2006 as head of investor relations. In her time at the firm, she has been involved in the company’s 2008 share placing and strategy launch, the 2006 acquisition of WM-data and the 2007 divestment of the telecoms products business.

Her previous role was vice president of investor relations at Marconi Corporation, where she worked on Marconi's disposal of its telecommunications equipment business to Ericsson. Prior to that, she spent seven years at Nortel Networks where her roles included business development and government relations.

Keyes has a master's degree in finance from London Business School and a master's degree in international political economy from Carleton University, as well as a BA from McGill University.

Ian Roundell joined Credit Suisse in May 2005.  Previously, he held the role of head of investor relations at Fortis (between 2003 and 2005) and Barclays (between 1999 and 2001). During his career Roundell worked at Barclays for 12 years in a number of senior finance roles: he was head of finance for Barclays Wealth Management between 2001 and 2003 and before that headed regulatory reporting within the group finance department until 1998.

Under Roundell’s leadership, Credit Suisse won the award for most improved investor relations for a European large-cap company at the IR Magazine Continental Europe Awards 2007.

Roundell holds a degree in mathematics from the University of Exeter, England. He qualified as a chartered accountant in 1989. He has been a board member of the Swiss Society of Investor Relations since 2006.

Lisa Williams has been head of investor relations for department store group Debenhams since 2007. Prior to Debenhams, Williams was head of IR for Rentokil Initial from 2004 to 2007 and for Cookson Group from 1999 to 2004.

She first became involved in the investor relations world at Waste Management International where, over seven years, she worked all the way from the firm's IPO to its de-listing from the stock exchange.

Career highlights include the Cookson non-underwritten rescue rights issue and the defense of the so-called phoney bid from Gerry Robinson for Rentokil Initial.

She holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of London and is a member of the board of the Investor Relations Society.

Claxton-Smith joined Insight in 1976 after graduating from Exeter College, Oxford with a degree in philosophy, politics and economics. He initially worked as a UK equity analyst, then as a portfolio manager responsible for Insight’s Equity High-Income Fund for 19 years until January 2004.

He has been involved in corporate governance and regulation issues for many years and now focuses on these and related issues. He is a member of a number of industry bodies including the investment committee of the Association of British Insurers, the CBI companies committee and the listing authority advisory committee of the Financial Services Authority.

Claxton-Smith has spoken and written extensively on corporate governance issues, and has been a regular markets guest on BBC Radio 5’s Wake up to money.

Chris Hollis has been head of financial communications at LVMH since the end
of 2000. He joined the company after 15 years in the oil industry, where he worked for Elf Aquitaine in various financial posts in London, Paris (including two years as a contract negotiator), Brunei (including five years as finance director of an exploration subsidiary) and finally in New York, where he spent five years in investor relations.

Hollis has an honors degree in law, economics and politics from the University of Buckingham in the UK and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales.

Hollis was a board member of the National Investor Relations Institute’s New York chapter between 1996 and 2000 and has been vice president of the French investor relations society, CLIFF, since June 2007.

Steve Webb is investor relations director at Tesco. He joined the business in 2004 and was recently promoted to Tesco’s retail council.

Prior to this Webb spent 15 years at Safeway in a variety of strategy and planning roles, latterly as a member of its operations board. His early career was in retail analysis at Verdict Research, where he was a partner and major shareholder.

Previously, Webb was with Lehman Brothers and the Institute of Grocery Distribution.

Michael Mitchell qualified as a chartered accountant in 1974 and worked in the retail and transport sectors. After various line positions in finance he moved into investor relations in 1986.

From 1998 until 2004 he was director of corporate communications with FirstGroup, before working on the renewal of the group’s railway franchises.

Mitchell has been a board member of the Investor Relations Society since early 2005 and became general manager in January 2007.

Ayden Dagg joined Citi in 1998 from JPMorgan with responsibility for project finance and M&A support services and since June 2006 has been responsible for depositary receipts services in EMEA, based in London. Prior to JPMorgan, he worked for Cazenove & Co in its asset management business.

Dagg has been involved in over 50 complex financings including project finance, leveraged lending and restructuring activities for clients throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. He has worked with and advised such well-known clients as Qatar Petroleum, Total, Royal Dutch Shell, ExxonMobil and the QatarGas and Ras Laffan Projects. Since joining the depositary receipts team, Dagg has been involved in ADR/GDR programs for BHP Billiton, United Bank in Pakistan and British American Tobacco, Delhaize Group and the Commercial Bank of Qatar.

Dagg has a degree in economics from University College, London.

Stewart McCrone comes to investor relations from the role of group management controller where he was responsible for the consolidation of the Philips Group, performance reporting to the board, the annual report, the quarterly press releases and head of the disclosure committee.

Prior to this, McCrone held various financial posts within Philips during his 19-year career, including five years as CFO of Philips Television, three years as CFO of the consumer electronics businesses in North America and five years in the OEM automotive division. He is a qualified chartered accountant with considerable global operational experience in production, supply chain, engineering, sales, marketing and the OEM business-to-business environment. McCrone is also responsible for the career development of the top 200 finance professionals at Philips.

He is married with two children, lives in the Netherlands, loves Formula One Grand Prix and was Scottish freestyle skateboarding champion when aged 15.