IR Magazine has a long history of honoring those men, women and companies around the world that excel at investor relations. In celebration of 30 years of IR Magazine, we selected 30 IR stars that have shone particularly brightly over the past three decades and will be posting one profile each day for 30 days, giving you the gift of an IR advent calendar.
Ignacio Cuenca of Iberdrola has been proving that the Spanish utility is top of its class for the past 15 years. The firm, which this year won the best overall investor relations award in the large-cap category at the IR Magazine Awards – Europe for the second year running, as well as being named best in sector in the Global Top 50 at the IR Magazine Global Forum & Awards 2018, was winning those same accolades back in 2003 when it was just a small cap.
As Tim Human wrote following the firm’s win for best overall investor relations as a large cap in 2017: ‘Linking those two award wins is the career of Ignacio Cuenca. Iberdrola’s head of IR first joined the company in 1993 and moved into the investor relations department in 2001.’
Human also asked Cuenca how IR had changed over his career at Iberdrola. The emergence of new methods of communication, the increasing speed at which news is reported (forcing IR teams in turn to up their pace), the growing demands for better transparency and corporate governance and the increasing globalization of the shareholder base were some of the trends Cuenca highlighted back in 2017.
Side by side: Iberdrola's awards for best overall IR from 2003 and 2017
Speaking to him for the winter issue – and 30th anniversary – of IR Magazine, we asked: What’s the secret to IR success for you and your team? ‘Treat investors and sell-side analysts as your company’s most important clients,’ he advises.
Stay tuned for more IR stars this week and pick up a copy of the winter issue of IR Magazine to see the full list.
A version of this article was published in the winter 2018 issue of IR Magazine – the 30th anniversary issue of the industry’s premier publication.
Garnet Roach
An award-winning journalist, Garnet Roach joined IR Magazine in October 2012, working on both the editorial and research sides of the publication. Prior to entering the world of investor relations, her freelance career covered a broad range of...
