Gary LaBranche hailed as ‘visionary leader’
NIRI has today announced that its board of directors has appointed Gary LaBranche as president and CEO, effective from March 17, 2017.
LaBranche is currently president and CEO of the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG), a global organization of 59 chapters in 10 countries, with $29 mn in revenue and 160 staff. ACG serves 90,000 investors, lenders, executives and advisers to middle-market companies, including 14,500 global members and 1,000 private equity firms.
An association executive for more than 35 years, LaBranche has served as CEO for three organizations. He was named a Fellow of the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) in 1995, and was the 2007 winner of the ASAE Key Award, the highest award in the association industry. Association TRENDS named him the 2012 Association Executive of the Year. He is also a member of the US Chamber of Commerce’s Association Committee of 100.
‘We are thrilled to welcome Gary LaBranche to the NIRI community,’ says NIRI board chair Valerie Haertel. ‘Gary is a visionary leader with a stellar record of strengthening, growing and transforming professional associations. Through the course of his successful career he has proven to be thoughtful, inclusive and collaborative in working with all stakeholders for the betterment of the associations he has led.
‘We will benefit from his financial markets and association industry knowledge as we continue to reimagine NIRI to ultimately serve our members in new and innovative ways.’
LaBranche says: ‘I am very honored and excited by this opportunity to lead NIRI in its next stage of growth as the leading global investor relations professional association. My key initial priorities will be to quickly get to know NIRI, its members, chapter leaders, Fellows, senior roundtable members and staff, and work with the media, regulators, sponsors and other important stakeholders.
‘I look forward to engaging NIRI members and leaders to learn their aspirations for the future of the IR profession, and to working with them to advance toward that envisioned future, transforming NIRI for the benefit of all members.’
NIRI’s board of directors and the designated search committee worked with executive search firm Korn Ferry to assist in recruiting LaBranche. The search committee received feedback from a broad cross-section of the membership and service providers to understand the attributes most important in the next NIRI leader.
The committee reviewed more than 300 candidates, including IR professionals, association executives and other executives with broad capital markets experience. The field was then narrowed to a smaller pool of candidates who were vetted in a lengthy and thorough process, culminating in extensive interviews with several final candidates.
