In July this year the US House Financial Services Committee passed a bill on to the main chamber that, if ratified, will drastically...Read more
Ben Ashwell
Editor

Ben Ashwell is the editor at IR Magazine and Corporate Secretary, covering investor relations, governance, risk and compliance. Prior to this, he was the founder and editor of Executive Talent, the global quarterly magazine from the Association of Executive Search and Leadership Consultants. Before moving to the US, Ben was the vice president and editor at Executive Grapevine, overseeing a daily news website, ten annual supplements and HR Grapevine, the UK’s leading HR and talent management magazine. In his spare time, Ben enjoys rock climbing and writing fiction and poetry.
Latest articles
Can you explain As You Sow’s history of shareholder advocacy on climate-related issues? We’ve been working on...Read more
December 2021
In July this year the US House Financial Services Committee passed a bill on to the main chamber that, if ratified, will drastically...Read more
November 2021
Can you explain As You Sow’s history of shareholder advocacy on climate-related issues? We’ve been working on...Read more
October 2021
Last month, IR Magazine hosted its fourth Small Cap Forum – an opportunity for small and micro-cap investor relations...Read more
Zeta Global has appointed Scott Schmitz as its new senior vice president of investor relations, effective October 4. In his new role,...Read more
In this regular article, we ask IR professionals how they would respond to a specific operational issue. In this article, we asked how...Read more
Douglas Kris joined Compass Minerals in late December 2020, having previously held investor relations roles at Montage Resources and...Read more
In the aftermath of the January 6 insurrection, nearly 190 US companies suspended contributions through their political action...Read more
September 2021
More than 600 companies from the S&P 1200 index now use the SASB Standards in their external communications to investors,...Read more
On Monday morning, Walmart appeared to announce that it would begin accepting cryptocurrency Litecoin for online purposes, in what CNN...Read more
JPMorgan Chase has appointed Aaron Bertinetti as its head of ESG for investor relations, a newly created role. Bertinetti spent the...Read more
Only one in 10 IR professionals have not changed their plans for in-person investor interactions due to the Delta variant and rising...Read more
August 2021
When Vintage Wine Estates concluded its merger with Bespoke Capital Acquisition Corp in June 2021 – taking it public as a special...Read more
ON24 has appointed Nate Pollack as its new vice president of investor relations, having concluded its IPO in February 2021. Pollack...Read more
In recent years, definitions of ESG materiality have evolved very quickly. This rapid evolution asks more of corporate boards in terms...Read more
Earlier this year, William McNabb, the former CEO and chair of Vanguard, called for a ‘new breed’ of IR professionals to help...Read more
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings has announced that Andrea DeMarco, the firm's long-standing senior vice president of investor relations...Read more
After what has proved to be an arresting proxy season with several surprises, the investor relations and corporate governance...Read more
July 2021
On July 29 the US House Financial Services Committee voted to advance a new bill that would shorten the 13F filing window and require...Read more
In this video interview, Robert Fagin, global head of research at Cowen, talks about how his firm is integrating ESG into its...Read more
The number of companies targeted by an activist during the first half of the year was at its lowest level in more than six years,...Read more
Sell-side analysts who are on the brink of moving to the buy side are more likely to write favorable research about companies that are...Read more
Many IR professionals have changed their approach to investor targeting since the onset of the pandemic, according to new research...Read more
The Covid-19 pandemic has enabled parents in IR to spend more time with their children, due to suspended work travel, raising...Read more
June 2021
Yasir Fattah is associate vice president at Nasdaq IR Intelligence. He’s also one of the founding members of The OPEN, an employee...Read more
When I was growing up, I thought the least-prejudiced thing I could do was to ignore race, ethnicity and gender. Everyone is equal, I...Read more
As Coinbase prepared for its direct listing earlier this year, it was clear that the company was approaching the process a little...Read more
On March 17, 2020, San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area counties went into lockdown – the first in the US. For most of the 7 mn...Read more
It’s not too long ago that the IPO was the only mainstream route to market for private companies in the US, although, in recent years...Read more
In 2008 Satoshi Nakamoto – an anonymous individual or group of people writing under a pseudonym – published a white paper about a ‘...Read more
The role of an equity analyst is to parse vast quantities of structured and unstructured information into simple, easy-to-follow...Read more
As activist activity shows signs of picking up relative to last year, there’s scope for issuers to learn lessons from the forced...Read more
Following massive retail investor and Redditor interest, AMC Entertainment has announced that it will offer its shareholders perks as...Read more
Radius Global Infrastructure has appointed Jason Harbes as its senior vice president of investor relations, effective May 27. Harbes...Read more
May 2021
Almost two thirds (63 percent) of IR professionals plan to attend at least one in-person investor event during the second half of the...Read more
Bill McNabb, the former chair and CEO of Vanguard and current board director at IBM and UnitedHealthcare, says public companies need a...Read more
Lemonade and Bumble are the latest companies to experiment with new mass technology communication tools to connect with retail...Read more
DoubleVerify, a measurement, data and analytics company, has announced the appointment of Tejal Engman as its senior vice president of...Read more
While investors are increasing their scrutiny of executive compensation packages again this year, the pandemic may not be playing a...Read more
Cloud-based marketing technology company Zeta has appointed Cherryl Valenzuela as its new senior vice president of investor relations...Read more
While some investment banks are preparing for a tentative return to small in-person events in the coming months, the majority of...Read more
April 2021
Luminar Technologies has announced the appointment of Alan Prescott as chief legal officer and Trey Campbell as vice president of...Read more
The enforced move to virtual meetings, conferences and non-deal roadshows in response to the Covid-19 pandemic has given public...Read more
Nearly eight out of 10 financial services firms in the US (77 percent) find it easy to integrate alternative data into their decision-...Read more
OneMain Financial has appointed Peter Poillon as its new head of investor relations. Poillon joined the company on April 12 and...Read more
The best and brightest of the Canadian IR community gathered online yesterday for the IR Magazine Awards – Canada 2021. Canadian...Read more
MDC Partners has hired Michaela Pewarski as its vice president of investor relations, as the company prepares for its merger with The...Read more
Grant Bartucci, associate director of corporate access and broker relations at Point72 Asset Management, talks to IR Magazine...Read more
Nine out of 10 IR professionals are satisfied with how they adjusted their IR program to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic, according a...Read more
During the last few years, a number of award-winning and industry-leading IR professionals have made the move from public to private...Read more
March 2021
If certain ESG metrics have a material impact on a business’ performance – which is widely accepted – then it follows that investors,...Read more
The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry, according to the Scottish poet Robert Burns, and at the IR Magazine Awards – US...Read more
Coinbase is taking innovative new steps toward educating retail shareholders ahead of its forthcoming direct listing, which could...Read more
Ansys, the Pennsylvania-based developer of engineering simulation software, has appointed Kelsey DeBriyn as its new vice president of...Read more
During a year when so much changed, many of the best-in-class IR teams have stayed the same, with companies such as CN, Agnico Eagle...Read more
Before the headlines about Reddit investors driving massive spikes at GameStop, AMC Entertainment , Rocket Company and others, there...Read more
While Reddit – and more specifically WallStreetBets – has claimed the lion’s share of the discourse around retail investors convening...Read more
February 2021
For many IR professionals, the first half of 2020 felt like a blur: the transition to remote working, a scramble to host a virtual...Read more
Canadian Tire Corporation has appointed Karen Keyes as its new head of investor relations. Keyes succeeds Lisa Greatrix, who will stay...Read more
Robinhood’s decision to halt buying activity on GameStop stock on January 28 was a result of ‘extraordinary’ trading and subsequent...Read more
The adoption of ESG reporting has increased significantly since 2016, with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) being the most-used...Read more
Wish has appointed Dennis Walsh as its first vice president of investor relations, effective February 1. Walsh reports into Rajat...Read more
While the events of the last couple of weeks have prompted many IR professionals to create Reddit accounts and browse the world of...Read more
January 2021
If you thought the discussion around 13F reform would quieten down after the SEC’s unpopular proposal to raise the reporting threshold...Read more
Robinhood users have filed a class action lawsuit against the broker – popular with millennials as one of the first commission-free...Read more
As savvy Reddit users continue to drive up the price of companies like GameStop, AMC Entertainment and BlackBerry and squeeze out...Read more
ITT has appointed Mark Macaluso as its vice president of investor relations, effective January 4 this year. He reports into Emmanuel...Read more
BNP Paribas expects US small caps to outperform large caps this year and doesn’t expect to see a corporate tax hike in the early...Read more
The Lion Electric Company has appointed Isabelle Adjahi to the newly created role of vice president of investor relations and...Read more
Compass Minerals has announced the appointment of Douglas Kris as its senior director of investor relations. Kris joined the company...Read more
Coinbase, the digital currency exchange that is expected to list this year, has appointed Anil Gupta as its vice president of investor...Read more
At Bank of America, shareholder engagement is well established and supported across the executive and non-executive teams. For many...Read more
December 2020
At Home Group went public in 2016 and filed its first proxy statement in 2018. At that time ‘there was no color, no cover page, no...Read more
The legal team at Coeur Mining is proud of the evolution its proxy statement has gone through since 2015. Last year the company won...Read more
At Nasdaq, the proxy statement is produced internally by a cross-functional working group whose members all have additional jobs to do...Read more
How many people make up the Federated Hermes engagement and responsible investing team? We have more than 60 global...Read more
On October 19, the Canadian IR community logged in to join the first ever virtual IR Magazine Awards – Canada. Hundreds of people...Read more
National Grid, the UK infrastructure company that owns gas and electricity transmission and distribution networks in the UK and the US...Read more
As off-season shareholder engagement continues to rise, buy-side corporate access teams are stepping in to assist with the meetings –...Read more
As investor demand for ESG information continues to increase, a group of ESG experts believe pressure will build on issuers to seek...Read more
Erik Randerson, vice president of investor relations at Revolve, says: I won’t hesitate to request a correction when...Read more
When the Business Roundtable released its Statement on Corporate Purpose in August 2019, it was met with equal praise and skepticism...Read more
The Silk Road was a transformational network of roads and maritime routes that ran through much of Asia, into the Middle East, around...Read more
September 2020 saw the launch of three new stock exchanges – the Long-Term Stock Exchange (LTSE), the Members Exchange (MEMX) and the...Read more
Bill.com has appointed its first in-house investor relations lead, as the company's share price has increased significantly since...Read more
October 2020
Ahead of the US presidential election next Tuesday, IR Magazine looks at how a number of IR teams have prepared for the...Read more
Vancouver-based Standard Uranium has announced the appointment of Laurie Thomas as its vice president of investor relations. The...Read more
The SEC’s controversial proposal to relieve 89 percent of asset managers from filing quarterly ownership forms could be ‘shelved’,...Read more
The Covid-19 pandemic has been a catalyst for some of the developing challenges faced by small and micro-cap companies, including...Read more
The IR teams at ARC Resources and Agnico Eagle Mines will need to clear some space in their trophy cabinets, because these mainstays...Read more
Investor relations provides a lifelong career for many, as evidenced by the number of academic courses emerging in the field. For many...Read more
How large is the stewardship team at BlackRock? It’s about 45 individuals across the globe. We have three regions:...Read more
The world of retail investing has changed dramatically in the last year. From commission-free trading and consolidation to market...Read more
In 2017, iStar received just under 40 percent support for its executive compensation package, but turned it around with 94 percent...Read more
Artificial intelligence-enhanced process-mining software company Celonis has appointed John Cummings as its senior vice president of...Read more
September 2020
As the formal comment period for the SEC’s proposed changes to the 13F filing thresholds closed, the commission had received more than...Read more
Clinical-stage neuroscience company Prothena has appointed Jennifer Zibuda as its director of investor relations and communications, a...Read more
The best and brightest of the US IR community gathered around their computers, rather than dining tables, as the winners of the IR...Read more
Winners of the IR Magazine Awards have a higher valuation and lower volatility than other companies, according to new research from...Read more
IR teams are being encouraged to understand how artificial intelligence (AI) will change their business, their investment story and...Read more
More than half (58 percent) of companies on the S&P/TSX Composite Index have published a sustainability report this year – a rise...Read more
December 2021
In July this year the US House Financial Services Committee passed a bill on to the main chamber that, if ratified, will drastically...Read more
November 2021
Can you explain As You Sow’s history of shareholder advocacy on climate-related issues? We’ve been working on...Read more
October 2021
Last month, IR Magazine hosted its fourth Small Cap Forum – an opportunity for small and micro-cap investor relations...Read more
Zeta Global has appointed Scott Schmitz as its new senior vice president of investor relations, effective October 4. In his new role,...Read more
In this regular article, we ask IR professionals how they would respond to a specific operational issue. In this article, we asked how...Read more
Douglas Kris joined Compass Minerals in late December 2020, having previously held investor relations roles at Montage Resources and...Read more
In the aftermath of the January 6 insurrection, nearly 190 US companies suspended contributions through their political action...Read more
September 2021
More than 600 companies from the S&P 1200 index now use the SASB Standards in their external communications to investors,...Read more
On Monday morning, Walmart appeared to announce that it would begin accepting cryptocurrency Litecoin for online purposes, in what CNN...Read more
JPMorgan Chase has appointed Aaron Bertinetti as its head of ESG for investor relations, a newly created role. Bertinetti spent the...Read more
Only one in 10 IR professionals have not changed their plans for in-person investor interactions due to the Delta variant and rising...Read more
August 2021
When Vintage Wine Estates concluded its merger with Bespoke Capital Acquisition Corp in June 2021 – taking it public as a special...Read more
ON24 has appointed Nate Pollack as its new vice president of investor relations, having concluded its IPO in February 2021. Pollack...Read more
In recent years, definitions of ESG materiality have evolved very quickly. This rapid evolution asks more of corporate boards in terms...Read more
Earlier this year, William McNabb, the former CEO and chair of Vanguard, called for a ‘new breed’ of IR professionals to help...Read more
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings has announced that Andrea DeMarco, the firm's long-standing senior vice president of investor relations...Read more
After what has proved to be an arresting proxy season with several surprises, the investor relations and corporate governance...Read more
July 2021
On July 29 the US House Financial Services Committee voted to advance a new bill that would shorten the 13F filing window and require...Read more
In this video interview, Robert Fagin, global head of research at Cowen, talks about how his firm is integrating ESG into its...Read more
The number of companies targeted by an activist during the first half of the year was at its lowest level in more than six years,...Read more
Sell-side analysts who are on the brink of moving to the buy side are more likely to write favorable research about companies that are...Read more
Many IR professionals have changed their approach to investor targeting since the onset of the pandemic, according to new research...Read more
The Covid-19 pandemic has enabled parents in IR to spend more time with their children, due to suspended work travel, raising...Read more
June 2021
Yasir Fattah is associate vice president at Nasdaq IR Intelligence. He’s also one of the founding members of The OPEN, an employee...Read more
When I was growing up, I thought the least-prejudiced thing I could do was to ignore race, ethnicity and gender. Everyone is equal, I...Read more
As Coinbase prepared for its direct listing earlier this year, it was clear that the company was approaching the process a little...Read more
On March 17, 2020, San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area counties went into lockdown – the first in the US. For most of the 7 mn...Read more
It’s not too long ago that the IPO was the only mainstream route to market for private companies in the US, although, in recent years...Read more
In 2008 Satoshi Nakamoto – an anonymous individual or group of people writing under a pseudonym – published a white paper about a ‘...Read more
The role of an equity analyst is to parse vast quantities of structured and unstructured information into simple, easy-to-follow...Read more
As activist activity shows signs of picking up relative to last year, there’s scope for issuers to learn lessons from the forced...Read more
Following massive retail investor and Redditor interest, AMC Entertainment has announced that it will offer its shareholders perks as...Read more
Radius Global Infrastructure has appointed Jason Harbes as its senior vice president of investor relations, effective May 27. Harbes...Read more
May 2021
Almost two thirds (63 percent) of IR professionals plan to attend at least one in-person investor event during the second half of the...Read more
Bill McNabb, the former chair and CEO of Vanguard and current board director at IBM and UnitedHealthcare, says public companies need a...Read more
Lemonade and Bumble are the latest companies to experiment with new mass technology communication tools to connect with retail...Read more
DoubleVerify, a measurement, data and analytics company, has announced the appointment of Tejal Engman as its senior vice president of...Read more
While investors are increasing their scrutiny of executive compensation packages again this year, the pandemic may not be playing a...Read more
Cloud-based marketing technology company Zeta has appointed Cherryl Valenzuela as its new senior vice president of investor relations...Read more
While some investment banks are preparing for a tentative return to small in-person events in the coming months, the majority of...Read more
April 2021
Luminar Technologies has announced the appointment of Alan Prescott as chief legal officer and Trey Campbell as vice president of...Read more
The enforced move to virtual meetings, conferences and non-deal roadshows in response to the Covid-19 pandemic has given public...Read more
Nearly eight out of 10 financial services firms in the US (77 percent) find it easy to integrate alternative data into their decision-...Read more
OneMain Financial has appointed Peter Poillon as its new head of investor relations. Poillon joined the company on April 12 and...Read more
The best and brightest of the Canadian IR community gathered online yesterday for the IR Magazine Awards – Canada 2021. Canadian...Read more
MDC Partners has hired Michaela Pewarski as its vice president of investor relations, as the company prepares for its merger with The...Read more
Grant Bartucci, associate director of corporate access and broker relations at Point72 Asset Management, talks to IR Magazine...Read more
Nine out of 10 IR professionals are satisfied with how they adjusted their IR program to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic, according a...Read more
During the last few years, a number of award-winning and industry-leading IR professionals have made the move from public to private...Read more
March 2021
If certain ESG metrics have a material impact on a business’ performance – which is widely accepted – then it follows that investors,...Read more
The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry, according to the Scottish poet Robert Burns, and at the IR Magazine Awards – US...Read more
Coinbase is taking innovative new steps toward educating retail shareholders ahead of its forthcoming direct listing, which could...Read more
Ansys, the Pennsylvania-based developer of engineering simulation software, has appointed Kelsey DeBriyn as its new vice president of...Read more
During a year when so much changed, many of the best-in-class IR teams have stayed the same, with companies such as CN, Agnico Eagle...Read more
Before the headlines about Reddit investors driving massive spikes at GameStop, AMC Entertainment , Rocket Company and others, there...Read more
While Reddit – and more specifically WallStreetBets – has claimed the lion’s share of the discourse around retail investors convening...Read more
February 2021
For many IR professionals, the first half of 2020 felt like a blur: the transition to remote working, a scramble to host a virtual...Read more
Canadian Tire Corporation has appointed Karen Keyes as its new head of investor relations. Keyes succeeds Lisa Greatrix, who will stay...Read more
Robinhood’s decision to halt buying activity on GameStop stock on January 28 was a result of ‘extraordinary’ trading and subsequent...Read more
The adoption of ESG reporting has increased significantly since 2016, with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) being the most-used...Read more
Wish has appointed Dennis Walsh as its first vice president of investor relations, effective February 1. Walsh reports into Rajat...Read more
While the events of the last couple of weeks have prompted many IR professionals to create Reddit accounts and browse the world of...Read more
January 2021
If you thought the discussion around 13F reform would quieten down after the SEC’s unpopular proposal to raise the reporting threshold...Read more
Robinhood users have filed a class action lawsuit against the broker – popular with millennials as one of the first commission-free...Read more
As savvy Reddit users continue to drive up the price of companies like GameStop, AMC Entertainment and BlackBerry and squeeze out...Read more
ITT has appointed Mark Macaluso as its vice president of investor relations, effective January 4 this year. He reports into Emmanuel...Read more
BNP Paribas expects US small caps to outperform large caps this year and doesn’t expect to see a corporate tax hike in the early...Read more
The Lion Electric Company has appointed Isabelle Adjahi to the newly created role of vice president of investor relations and...Read more
Compass Minerals has announced the appointment of Douglas Kris as its senior director of investor relations. Kris joined the company...Read more
Coinbase, the digital currency exchange that is expected to list this year, has appointed Anil Gupta as its vice president of investor...Read more
At Bank of America, shareholder engagement is well established and supported across the executive and non-executive teams. For many...Read more
December 2020
At Home Group went public in 2016 and filed its first proxy statement in 2018. At that time ‘there was no color, no cover page, no...Read more
The legal team at Coeur Mining is proud of the evolution its proxy statement has gone through since 2015. Last year the company won...Read more
At Nasdaq, the proxy statement is produced internally by a cross-functional working group whose members all have additional jobs to do...Read more
How many people make up the Federated Hermes engagement and responsible investing team? We have more than 60 global...Read more
On October 19, the Canadian IR community logged in to join the first ever virtual IR Magazine Awards – Canada. Hundreds of people...Read more
National Grid, the UK infrastructure company that owns gas and electricity transmission and distribution networks in the UK and the US...Read more
As off-season shareholder engagement continues to rise, buy-side corporate access teams are stepping in to assist with the meetings –...Read more
As investor demand for ESG information continues to increase, a group of ESG experts believe pressure will build on issuers to seek...Read more
Erik Randerson, vice president of investor relations at Revolve, says: I won’t hesitate to request a correction when...Read more
When the Business Roundtable released its Statement on Corporate Purpose in August 2019, it was met with equal praise and skepticism...Read more
The Silk Road was a transformational network of roads and maritime routes that ran through much of Asia, into the Middle East, around...Read more
September 2020 saw the launch of three new stock exchanges – the Long-Term Stock Exchange (LTSE), the Members Exchange (MEMX) and the...Read more
Bill.com has appointed its first in-house investor relations lead, as the company's share price has increased significantly since...Read more
October 2020
Ahead of the US presidential election next Tuesday, IR Magazine looks at how a number of IR teams have prepared for the...Read more
Vancouver-based Standard Uranium has announced the appointment of Laurie Thomas as its vice president of investor relations. The...Read more
The SEC’s controversial proposal to relieve 89 percent of asset managers from filing quarterly ownership forms could be ‘shelved’,...Read more
The Covid-19 pandemic has been a catalyst for some of the developing challenges faced by small and micro-cap companies, including...Read more
The IR teams at ARC Resources and Agnico Eagle Mines will need to clear some space in their trophy cabinets, because these mainstays...Read more
Investor relations provides a lifelong career for many, as evidenced by the number of academic courses emerging in the field. For many...Read more
How large is the stewardship team at BlackRock? It’s about 45 individuals across the globe. We have three regions:...Read more
The world of retail investing has changed dramatically in the last year. From commission-free trading and consolidation to market...Read more
In 2017, iStar received just under 40 percent support for its executive compensation package, but turned it around with 94 percent...Read more
Artificial intelligence-enhanced process-mining software company Celonis has appointed John Cummings as its senior vice president of...Read more
September 2020
As the formal comment period for the SEC’s proposed changes to the 13F filing thresholds closed, the commission had received more than...Read more
Clinical-stage neuroscience company Prothena has appointed Jennifer Zibuda as its director of investor relations and communications, a...Read more
The best and brightest of the US IR community gathered around their computers, rather than dining tables, as the winners of the IR...Read more
Winners of the IR Magazine Awards have a higher valuation and lower volatility than other companies, according to new research from...Read more
IR teams are being encouraged to understand how artificial intelligence (AI) will change their business, their investment story and...Read more
More than half (58 percent) of companies on the S&P/TSX Composite Index have published a sustainability report this year – a rise...Read more