About us

John joined National Grid in March 2011. Previously John was Director of IR at Cadbury plc from 2008 to 2010 and Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications for ICI from 2004 to 2008.

John graduated from the University of Cambridge in 1989 with an honours degree in Manufacturing Engineering and completed a Masters in Manufacturing Engineering and Management in 1990. Sponsored by TI Group through university, John joined its John Crane division in 1990 and qualified as a Management Accountant in 1992. Over the next eight years John worked overseas in Malta and Italy as well as in the UK for several of TI Group’s divisions, before settling at the group centre, getting his first experience of IR. In 2000 John joined Exel plc as their Director of Investor Relations and subsequently as Director of Corporate Affairs until 2004. At Exel he was responsible for the development of Exel's corporate reputation, including investor relations, media relations and marketing, as well as internal communications.

Sue Scholes has been Director of Communications since joining AMEC in 2007. She was previously Head of Investor Relations at Brambles Industries plc. Sue is a Chartered Management Accountant and chairs the IR Society’s Education Committee.

Karen joined Logica in 2006 as Head of Investor Relations. While at Logica, Karen has been involved in the acquisition of WM-data and the divestment of the telecoms products business. Her previous role was Vice President, Investor Relations at Marconi Corporation Plc, where she worked on Marconi's disposal of its telecommunications equipment business to Ericsson. Prior to that, she spent seven years at Nortel Networks where her roles included business development and government relations. Karen has Masters degrees in Finance (London Business School) and International Political Economy (Carleton University) and a BA from McGill University. She became Deputy Chairman of the IR Society on 21 June 2011.

Ian joined the Board of The Investor Relations Society in 2005, becoming Treasurer in 2007.

He left Howden Joinery Group Plc in 2009 after completion of a significant corporate restructuring and turnaround programme. Over 20 years with the group, he had been responsible for financial reporting, M&A, tax, treasury, investor relations and insurance. Prior to joining Howden Joinery Group he had held various senior financial positions at both Mothercare and Asda.

He now runs his own consulting practice and is Deputy Chairman/CFO of Gardner Watts Ltd, a start-up research and development company in low-carbon renewable energy. He is also Honorary Treasurer and a Council Member of the Shellfish Association of Great Britain.

He was educated at Merchant Taylors School and Exeter University; and qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Price Waterhouse in London in 1980. He is a freeman of the City of London.

Emma is head of the IR practice at Maitland, the financial and corporate communications consultancy. She joined Maitland in 2004 after 14 years as an equity investment analyst in the City specialising in the retail sector, latterly at ABN Amro where she was a director of equity research. She has developed the IR advisory practice at Maitland so that it is now an integral part of Maitland's product offering across the full client base from unlisted to FTSE 100 companies. Emma studied at Bath University, where she obtained a BSc. She is currently a Board director and chair of the Policy Committee of the Investor Relations Society.

Richard Carpenter is Managing Partner of corporate reporting consultants, MerchantCantos.

Before joining MerchantCantos, Richard was a board director and head of reporting at Radley Yeldar for three years. Prior to that he ran his own investor communications and reporting consultancy for six years.

He has also been a financial journalist including stints on the Mail on Sunday and as editor of Investor Relations magazine. He is author to several publications including the London Stock Exchange's Practical Guide to Investor Relations. He sat on the ICSA working group on electronic communications prior to the publication of its 2007 report.

He is currently a board director and member of the Policy Committee of the UK Investor Relations Society.

Rebecca is a senior consultant with online corporate communication specialists, The Group, where she focuses on helping FTSE100 companies communicate effectively with investor relations audiences.

Previously she worked with Cable & Wireless, Jefferson Smurfit Group and Centrica where she variously managed marketing, PR, and reputation and investor communications.

Rebecca has a First Class degree in Physiology from King’s College London and post-graduate qualifications in communications, advertising, marketing and PR.

John brings extensive international IR experience to his role at the Society having previously been Head of Investor Relations at the Singapore Exchange for 11 years. He was heavily involved in establishing the Investor Relations Professionals Association in Singapore in 2006. 

John is a banker by training having started his career with Barclays Bank in the City of London before embarking on a number of corporate finance and equity capital markets roles in Asia and Europe with Barclays, ABN Amro Rothschild and BNP Paribas. He has a BA from Loughborough University, an MBA from Henley Business School and he created an IR course that he taught at the Singapore Management University from 2009 to 2012.

Reg is a Managing Director of MHP, a leading Financial PR and IR consultancy. Reg joined Hogarth in 2010 (Hogarth becoming part of MHP), having previously worked for Smithfield and Weber Shandwick and its predecessor business Ludgate Communications. Between 1983 and 1995 Reg was a stockbroker with W Greenwell, SG Warburg Securities and Nomura International. He has been a member of the Investor Relations Society for many years, sitting on both its membership and events committees and is currently Chairman of the new Corporate Affairs Committee. He is also a member of The Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment Institute. Reg has an honours degree in Politics from the University of Bristol.

Gillian Karran-Cumberlege, Managing Partner, Fidelio Partners, is a leading international practitioner in investor relations and corporate affairs. Fidelio advises Boards facing competition for capital and is recognized as an important financial communications think tank. Previously Gillian coordinated Brunswick's global IR Practice.

2000 – 2007 Gillian was Group Head of Investor Relations for Volkswagen AG, managing all aspects of capital market communications and advising the Board on valuation and reputational issues. She was Group Head of IR for UBS AG (1998–2000) and established IR at Dresdner Bank (1991–1998).

Gillian has an MA in History, Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and attended the Harvard General Management Programme.

David Lloyd-Seed is IR and Corporate Affairs Director at Dixons Retail.  Before joining Dixons Retail in 2005, David worked as a corporate broker for 18 years latterly as a Director with Citi.  During his time in corporate broking he advised a number of companies on IR, market related activities, fund raisings, mergers and IPOs across a number of sectors.  He is a member of the IR Society's Board and Finance and Policy committees.

Al Loehnis was a founding director of Investis, Europe's leading specialist in providing web-based investor relations and corporate communications services.

Prior to this, Al worked as an analyst in the City, most recently at Credit Suisse First Boston, where he was a Vice-President in Equity Research.

Since joining Black Sun 15 years ago, Sallie has been instrumental in developing and running Black Sun’s research programme, and providing strategic corporate communications consultancy projects for a range of international clients. Sallie is committed to ongoing research on enhanced narrative reporting and monitors the FTSE 100 and other global comparators in the pursuit of best practice communications, ensuring that all of our recommendations are practical, intelligent and well grounded. Sallie is an affiliated member of the ICSA, a member of the Financial Reporting Lab steering group, and is a recognised commentator in corporate reporting, responsible for publishing a wide range of industry recognised research reports. Prior to working at Black Sun, Sallie worked in marketing and communications at a Canadian Investment Bank. She has an Honours Business Degree from the University of Western Ontario in Canada, as well as a Master of Arts Degree in Design Studies from Central Saint Martin’s School of Art and Design.

Danielle Poulain was formerly Deputy Head of Corporate Relations at JPMorgan and has been working with corporates and institutions globally for more than thirteen years. She joined Execution (now Espírito Santo Investment Bank) in 2003 to set up the Corporate Access team. She has an MA in Modern Languages (French & Spanish) from Oxford University and is a Board member of the UK Investor Relations Society where she chairs the Events committee.

Keith Russell has more than ten years’ experience as head of investor relations at multinational corporations with his most recent role being at Travelport. For seven years prior to this he led IR for Stora Enso, the Nordic-Based forest products group, where he was recognised in the 2009 Thomson Extel Survey as the number 3 ranked IRO in Europe. Prior to joining Kvaerner ASA, the Anglo-Norwegian industrial group in 1997, Keith spent seventeen years as a corporate finance specialist in major investment banks in London and New York. Keith is a British national but lived in Canada and the US until 1982 when he moved to the UK. He has a Bachelors degree from Harvard College and has studied at London Business School.