About us

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.

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.

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.

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.

Anna is currently Head of Investor Relations and corporate communications at Laird PLC, the FTSE 250 technology company. She has experience in both IR consultancy and in-house positions in various sectors, having worked previously in the Logica and Marks & Spencer’s Investor relations teams and having been responsible for the investor relations at Cookson Group.
She has a degree from the University of Nottingham.

Joined Rexam May 2010. Prior to Rexam she sat on the management committee of international tobacco company Gallaher Group (acquired by Japan Tobacco in 2007) where she was responsible for investor relations and group planning. Corporate experience also gained in various consulting roles and at Laing & Cruickshank. She is a non-executive director of Retro Classics Fund and a trustee of Amicus. In May 2011 Claire was also appointed as a non-executive director for Sports Direct.

Richard has been at the IR Society since 2007, joining in the first week of the subprime debt crisis. He previously worked for The Capita Group Plc.

Richard holds a First (BA Hons) in International History and Politics from the University of Leeds and an MSc in International Politics from the University of London.

Michael qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1974 and worked in the retail and transport sectors. After various line positions in finance he moved into investor relations in 1986. From 1998 until 2004 he was Director of Corporate Communications with FirstGroup plc, before working on the renewal of the Group’s railway franchises.  Michael has been a Board member of The Investor Relations Society since early 2005 and became General Manager in January 2007.

Having previously lead investor relations and corporate communications programmes for four FTSE 100 companies in a diverse range of industries, Michael joined EnQuest at the time of its IPO in 2010.  EnQuest is the largest independent oil producer in the UK North Sea.

Michael graduated from the London School of Economics with an honours degree in law, he subsequently completed the Corporate Finance Programme at the London Business School.  Michael trained in accountancy with KPMG and joined BAA plc shortly after its privatisation.  His time at BAA culminated in four years as BAA’s Head of Investor Relations.  In 2000, Michael joined what is now United Business Media, becoming its Director of Investor Relations and Communications.  In 2005, Michael joined what is now SEGRO plc (formerly Slough Estates) as its Director of Communications and a member of its Executive Committee.  In 2010, Michael joined Petrofac plc, to manage the investor relations and communications aspects of the IPO of EnQuest, which was being formed partly from assets demerged from Petrofac.