NIRI elects Mark Donohue as new chairman

Mark Donohue, vice president of investor relations at technological pharmaceutical company Impax Laboratories, is to take over as chairman of NIRI’s board of directors at the end of this year.

Donohue will replace John Chevalier, NIRI’s current board chairmanand director of IR at Procter & Gamble, at the institute’s annual members’ meeting in December.

Mark Donohue: 'I encourage members to actively participate in local chapter and national activities so that, together, we can advance the NIRI organization and profession'

Speaking about his successor’s strengths, Chevalier describes Donohue as ‘an extremely active contributor at the local and national levels’ of NIRI’s operations, adding that he ‘exemplifies the best of the volunteer spirit that is so prevalent among NIRI members.’

Donohue has worked previously with the organization’s Philadelphia chapter, both as president and as part of its board. The incoming chairman is also a member of the NIRI senior roundtable, served as co-chair of the 2014 NIRI Annual Conference, and has chaired the NIRI board audit committee.

Donohue has formed part of Impax’s IR team since 2008, but he has been in the profession since early 1999 when he served as vice president of IR at Summit Bancorp. In 2001 he joined Dow Jones & Co and was responsible for developing the company’s global IR program for seven years. Prior to his IR career, he worked in corporate finance with drug developers Covance and as an auditor for Ernst & Young.

Donohue says he was flattered to be elected chair of an organization that has been ‘essential’ to his career in IR, though his first priorities will be to ensure NIRI’s leadership transitions seamlessly.

‘I intend to focus on the continuing implementation and launch of an investor relations certification program and moving the OneNIRI 2015-2018 strategic plan into the execution phase for the benefit of all NIRI members,’ he explains. ‘I would like to thank outgoing board chair John Chevalier, and fellow board members Jane Okun Bomba and Ruth Cotter for their extraordinary contributions while serving on the board these past four years. I encourage members to actively participate in local chapter and national activities so that, together, we can advance the NIRI organization and profession.’

‘NIRI will be in good hands as Mark, the other talented members of our national board of directors and NIRI staff, and the many dedicated volunteer members throughout our organization execute our strategic plan and steward the association on a path of continued success,’ Chevalier adds.