TopGun^® Press

Brendan Wood Announces TopGun^SM Investor Relations Executives

January 30th, 2019 by TopGun Press

Delivering Shareholder Confidence

Released by Brendan Wood International

For Immediate Release – New York, NY, January 30th, 2019 (TopGun^SM Press)

Brendan Wood International is pleased to accredit the elite corps of Investor Relations Officers (IRO’S) as members of the TopGun^SM Club. These exceptional executives were objectively selected by the shareholders of the companies they serve.

Selections were made in the course of 2,000+ detailed investment debriefs conducted by Brendan Wood International worldwide. These confidential debriefs examine the shareholder view of each company’s Strategy, Board, CEO, CFO, Senior Management, Growth and Market Dynamics of 1,400 big cap companies. Shareholders report that the investor relations function can play a critical role in developing a company’s longer term shareholder base. Investor Relations executives who materially influence, attract and retain key shareholders are a rare breed. These TopGun^SM IR professionals are versatile, often adapting their roles to address their companies’ particular needs for investor loyalty and support. Whether an industry leader or a company facing challenges, investors take the view that every company has a story to be told. TopGun^SM Investor Relations executives find ways to tell that story and build durable investor relationships while doing so. The Brendan Wood debriefs continually report that exceptional relationships with investors are critical to shareholder confidence in general but especially for companies facing challenges or working through a turnaround.

BWI data confirms that investors are attracted to consistent growth rates and growing stock prices, however even growth and performance need to be communicated credibly and underpinned by investor trust in management’s commitment to the shareholder interest. Such trust is achieved by a variety of investor activities including outstanding communication, listening to investor concerns, animating CEO and CFO connectivity with investors, increasing the perception of transparency, consistent financial reporting and communicating a convincing attitude of accountability to shareholders. The investor relations executives and professionals vetted by the Brendan Wood shareholder debriefs include a broad array of IR missions and relative skills. “Each year we receive thousands of ratings measuring the impact of investor relations professionals and their IR programs. These ratings include a high number of what investors see as perfunctory or maintenance IR. Much of that results from the level of importance and the actual mandate assigned by CEOs and Boards. Many C-Suites assign weak mandates to IR and sometimes expect even only janitorial tasks be addressed by IR. By sharp contrast, we receive shareholder accreditations of IR executives who are close and trusted advisors to the CEO and Boards of their companies, some being recognized not only for investor development strategy but corporate strategy as well. The range of contributions is very broad, far too broad from the shareholder perspective. Investors highly respect and are clearly influenced by an IR executive who can sell the company he/she represents. Too often they feel the need to ignore or bypass the Investor Relations function. Outstanding IR professionals make a significant positive difference to shareholder confidence especially when issues come to the forefront. IR bureaucracies, those departments which tick the box with only a ritual mandate, can hurt,” according to BWI Chairman, Brendan Wood.

“Theirs is a two way influence and multi faceted contribution,” says Brendan Wood. “TopGun^SM Investor Relations professionals are as influential with their own C-Suite executives as they are with investors. TopGun^SM Investor Relations executives bring the shareholder relationship into focus for their CEOs, CFOs and Boards. They often bring issues to the forefront and influence decisions in the C-Suite and board which are constructive to investor development. They have the ability to showcase their company’s management for investors, animate discussions, often untangling issues and problems in the process. It is our privilege to introduce and celebrate the most exceptional examples.”

2018 Global TopGun^SM Investor Relations Professionals:
(In alphabetical order by last name):

Amrita Ahuja* – Activision Blizzard, Inc. – United States
Sophie Argiriou – Gildan Activewear Inc. – Canada
Darin Arita – Prudential Financial Inc – United States
Chris Coldren** – Lumentum Holdings Inc – United States
Ashley Connolly – Precision Drilling Corporation – Canada
Deborah Crawford – Facebook Inc – United States
John Cummings – Salesforce.com – United States
Chris Evenden – Electronic Arts Inc. – United States
Thane Fotopoulos – BCE Inc – Canada
Bryan Gill – PNC Financial Services Group Inc – United States
Christopher Giovanni – Lincoln National – United States
Lorne Gorber – CGI Group Inc – Canada
Anthony Hamilton – Vodafone Group PLC – Europe
Katie Keita – Shopify Inc – Canada
Matthew Kerin – Cabot Oil & Gas – United States
Chris Kutsor – Motorola Solutions Inc. – United States
Jerome Leshne – Interpublic Group of Cos Inc. – United States
Gillian Manning – TD Bank Financial Group – Canada
David Mun – Royal Bank of Canada – Canada
David Nelson – Cognizant Technology Solutions – United States
Reed Nolte – Twenty-First Century Fox Inc – United States
Nils Paellmann – T-Mobile US Inc – United States
Grace Pollock – Industrial Alliance – Canada
Matthew Roskot – NextEra Energy, Inc. – United States
Ashish Saran – Marvell Technology Group Ltd. – United States
Greg Secord – Open Text Corp. – Canada
Matt Shimao – Nokia – Europe
Lowell Singer – Walt Disney Co. – United States
David Streit – EOG Resources, Inc – United States
Chris Suh – Microsoft Corp. – United States
Adam Townsend*** – CBS Corp. – United States
Robert Veloso**** – Manulife Financial – Canada
Mike Viola – AT&T – United States
Brad Whitmarsh – Noble Energy – United States
Bevin Wirzba – ARC Resources Ltd – Canada

*Now CFO of Square Inc.
**Promoted to Interim CFO
*** Promoted to Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Showtime Networks Inc.
**** Promoted to Global Head, Financial Planning and Analysis

The importance of the Investor Relations role is often underplayed when a company attracts new investors. Brendan Wood International asks investors, post investor meetings, who they met from the company and whether the visit affected their “Commitment to Own” the stock. After thousands of debriefs, investors cited a higher increase in the “Commitment to Own” a stock when the CEO and IR Executive were both present in the meeting. On the flip side, the “Commitment to Own” the stock decreased the least when the IR professional was present at the meeting.

2018 Global TopGun^SM Companies for Transparency and Reporting as Rated by Investors:
(In alphabetical order by sector):

Aerospace/Defense:
Lockheed Martin Corporation
Raytheon Company
General Dynamics Corporation
Northrop Grumman Corporation
Boeing Co

Agriculture / Chemicals:
Arkema SA
Yara International ASA
Koninklijke DSM NV
Linde PLC
Air Liquide SA

Banks:
JP Morgan Chase & Co
Royal Bank of Canada
US Bancorp
SunTrust Banks, Inc
The Toronto-Dominion Bank

Automotive and Engineering:
BorgWarner Inc.
Continental AG
Daimler AG
Volvo AB
Renault SA

Biotech:
Amgen, Inc

Consumer Products:
Colgate-Palmolive Company
NIKE, Inc.
Clorox Company
Unilever NV
Kimberly-Clark Corp.

Food & Beverage:
Constellation Brands Inc.
Nestle SA
General Mills, Inc.
Coca-Cola Co.
Cott Corporation

Financial Technology:
VISA Inc
American Express Company
Mastercard Inc.
Discover Financial Services, Inc.

Forest Products:
Packaging Corp of America
Mondi Group
International Paper Co

Healthcare:
UnitedHealth Group Inc

Hardware:
Texas Instruments Inc
Koninklijke Philips NV
Flex Ltd.

Heavy Industry:
Toromont Industries Ltd.
Deere & Company
Cummins Inc.

Hospitality:
Starbucks Corporation

Insurance:
Progressive Corp
Intact Financial Corporation
Allstate Corp.
Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc.
Chubb Ltd

Internet:
Shutterfly, Inc
Equinix Inc.
Facebook Inc
Booking Holdings Inc.
eBay Inc.

Manufacturing:
Illinois Tool Works Inc
Lincoln Electric Holdings Inc
ITT Inc.
WABCO Holdings Inc
3M Co

Medical Technology:
Danaher Corporation
Becton Dickinson & Co.
Intuitive Surgical, Inc.

Mining:
BHP Group PLC
Rio Tinto PLC
Lundin Mining Corporation

Oil & Gas Exploration:
ARC Resources Ltd
Vermilion Energy Inc.
Diamondback Energy Inc
Peyto Exploration & Development Corp
Concho Resources Inc

Oil & Gas Integrated:
Suncor Energy Inc.
BP PLC
Total SA

Oil & Gas Services:
CES Energy Solutions Corp.
Precision Drilling Corp
Secure Energy Services Inc

Pharmaceuticals:
Eli Lilly and Co
Pfizer Inc
Novo Nordisk A/S

Pipelines and Utilities:
EQT Midstream Partners LP
Western Gas Partners LP
Sempra Energy
NextEra Energy

Precious Metals:
Franco Nevada Corp.
Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd.
Newcrest Mining Limited
Newmont Mining Corp.

Retailing:
Costco Wholesale Corporation
CVS Health Corp.
Home Depot Inc.
L Brands Inc

Software:
Adobe Inc.
Capgemini SE
Guidewire Software Inc
Qualys Inc
CGI Group Inc.

Telecommunications:
Vodafone Group PLC
Rogers Communications Inc.
BCE Inc

Telecommunications Equipment:
Corning Incorporated

Transportation:
Canadian National Railway
CSX Corporation
Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd.
Union Pacific Corporation
Norfolk Southern Corp.

About Brendan Wood International:

A private partnership formed in 1970, the firm independently conducts performance audits throughout the capital markets world. Relying on real time intelligence, the firm advises public companies, institutional and activist investors, investment banks and broker dealers on strategy, performance and recruitment of TopGun^SM talent. The firm’s partners have formally presented at 1000+ C level strategy meetings and corporate off sites in fifty cities. Brendan Wood founded the exclusive TopGun^SM Club through which the firm provides value add career management services to TopGun^SM professionals and introduces ‘game changer’ recruitment solutions to the firm’s clients.

Brendan Wood Announces TopGunSM Investor Relations Executives

Brendan Wood Announces TopGun^SM Investor Relations Executives