Featured deep dives

  • Muted mics, loud protests: how the rise of AGM protests is forcing companies to rethink shareholder meetings

    Are we witnessing a rise in AGM protests? While often a forum for disagreements with shareholders, this year’s AGM season was characterized by a marked rise in public campaigns targeting annual meetings – particularly in the UK – each of which gained significant press attention.

    Seen
  • Friederike Edelmann, Central Garden & Pet

    ‘European investors are better prepared than US ones’: Inside the one-woman IR show at Central Garden & Pet

    How did Friederike Edelmann end up where she is today? The West Coast-based IR lead for Central Garden & Pet has two decades of global IR experience under her belt – working on everything from IPO preparation to pandemic IR and micro-cap to mega-cap companies – but it all started back in Germany ‘way back when’. She speaks to IR Impact about juggling IR with other responsibilities (she manages ESG and external communications for Central), managing in-person engagements when your operations are remote and what she would have been doing if she hadn’t gone into corporate finance. You can also…

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  • Central Garden & Pet CFO Brad Smith in his executive photo, with French bulldog Louis

    The CFO: ‘Don’t wait too long to make changes,’ says Central Garden & Pet finance chief

    Visit the executive page of Central Garden & Pet, the Walnut Creek, California-headquartered company, and you get an immediate sense of just how much the C-suite is tied to the company: instead of the typical suit-in-a-boardroom shot, it’s a case of bring-your-pet-to-work day. Brad Smith, who was promoted from his role as finance chief for the firm’s pet segment to group CFO eight months ago, brought in his French bulldog. Elsewhere there are labradors, maybe a couple of poodle mixes and a cat, though Smith points out that dogs are definitely the more cooperative choice. Smith talks to IR Impact…

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  • Mary Winn Pilkington earnings

    ‘Earnings are our Super Bowl halftime show’: Tales from 100 quarterly updates with Mary Winn Pilkington

    Earlier this year, Tractor Supply Company (TSC)’s Mary Winn Pilkington celebrated her 100th earnings call – with balloons, cake and the typical quarterly stress to match. ‘In IR you touch on everything – that’s probably part of the reason I have stayed in investor relations for 25 years,’ she says. ‘Every day is different and you get to work with the smartest people inside the company. ‘You’re working with people that are on the board or the management team, you’re working with high potential individuals that have been given strategic projects to work on,’ she adds. ‘Then, outside of the…

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  • Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash

    ‘People aren’t robots’: How can companies support mothers in their IR teams?

    How do you keep a mother in investor relations? How do you support her in a way that keeps diversity of knowledge and experience climbing the corporate ladder? This is a very difficult act to balance, with our recent article on the topic hearing from high-functioning, street facing women who hold senior positions while also raising children. And as Debbie Nathan of Debbie Nathan Associates explained, the issue of childcare is not one that men ever raise in the recruitment process: this is predominantly a female issue. So what should companies be doing to make sure that women feel they…

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  • Bob Eccles

    The sustainability Taliban, the eco right and why we need a new language for ESG: down the rabbit hole with Robert Eccles

    When Robert Eccles wrote a piece called Grift capitalism: The GOP’s brilliant strategy for ripping off ordinary Americans, it received the usual dose of online hate mail. It also led to a challenge: if you can find a conservative that thinks sustainability is good for capital markets, will you stop ‘writing nasty stuff’ about Republicans? That led him to the position he speaks from today: a liberal ex-hippy who has found common ground with the so-called ‘eco right’. Eccles, a well-known author and lecturer who has been writing about non-financial metrics since the early 1970s, had already become frustrated with…

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  • Photo by Dakota Corbin on Unsplash

    Mothers of IR: From babies at conferences to the metaphorical ‘sticky floors’ beneath the glass ceiling

    If you were at an investor event in May 2022 alongside alternative defense firm Axon, you might have spotted a rather unusual attendee: the softest of blonde hair, pacifier in place and no socks on their feet. This was Andrea James’ third child getting a fast-track induction to IR so that James could continue breastfeeding as she worked a high-profile, Street-facing job. Today, James is finance lead at Oncocyte. But she isn’t just a CFO, nor just an IR Impact Award-winning former head of IR either. On her CV she proudly lists the position of ‘co-founder at Family Inc’. Check…

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Featured research

  • Playbook: Delivering capital market days that impress investors & analysts

    Playbook: Delivering capital market days that impress investors & analysts

    This playbook contains tips and desires shared by investors and analysts – many of them on our IR Impact Award judging panels – on what they want from investor days as well as what turns them off.

    Sponsored by Lumi Global
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  • How to leverage data to successfully navigate market expectations

    How to leverage data to successfully navigate market expectations

    A modern IR team needs a solid foundation of real-time analytics to confidently steer their organization through the turbulence of market expectations. High-quality data transforms challenges into opportunities, fostering a culture where every forecast is an informed step toward sustainable growth. This playbook, developed in partnership with Visible Alpha, now a part of S&P Global Market Intelligence, offers a comprehensive guide to mastering this critical aspect of navigating the capital markets.

    Sponsored by Visible Alpha now a part of S&P Global Market Intelligence
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  • Playbook: Maximizing your return on time

    In this playbook, written in association with Notified, we look at how IROs divide their time and what tasks they consider most valuable.

    Sponsored by Notified
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  • Governance Playbook: Building an effective creation process for your proxy statement

    The proxy statement is the cornerstone of a company’s communication with its shareholders and other stakeholders including employees, regulators and customers. In recent years, this vital document has evolved from being a publication designed solely to comply with SEC requirements into something that conveys – often in novel ways – the company’s message and strategy. Now more than ever, companies face deep scrutiny of how they operate and the values they adhere to. Crafting the content and design within proxy statements for success would not be possible without the process involving – at its head – the corporate secretary’s office…

    Sponsored by DFIN
    Seen

Upcoming events

Exclusive best practice events and celebrations of IR excellence

Connect, learn and network at our forums, think tanks and award ceremonies – your go-to for the latest IR trends, regulatory updates, investor engagement strategies and valuable networking opportunities.

  • Briefing – Effective earnings preparation amid macro volatility
    Thursday, August 07, 2025

    Briefing – Effective earnings preparation amid macro volatility

    In partnership with WHEN 8.00 am PT / 11.00 am ET / 4.00 pm BST / 5.00 pm CET DURATION 45 minutes About the event Amid constant tariff news, geopolitical upheaval and other developments stemming from the new US administration, IR teams have their work cut out as they prepare…

    Online
  • Forum – AI & Technology
    Wednesday, November 12, 2025

    Forum – AI & Technology

    About the event As more investors and corporate communication teams embrace AI, machine learning and emerging technologies to inform their decision-making, investor relations professionals are facing a pivotal moment: adapt and lead, or risk falling behind.At this early but fast-moving stage of adoption, IR teams are asking important questions regarding…

    New York, US
  • Forum & Awards – South East Asia
    Tuesday, December 02, 2025

    Forum & Awards – South East Asia

    Seizing opportunity in shifting markets For the past three decades, IR Impact has honored excellence in investor relations around the world and in 2025, we continue to recognize and help further IR best practice. We will be joined by senior IR professionals from across Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand for…

    Singapore

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