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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Lisa has been head of IR for department store group Debenhams since 2007. Prior to Debenhams, she was head of IR for Rentokil Initial PLC from 2004 to 2007 and for Cookson Group PLC from 1999 to 2004. She first became involved in the IR world at Waste Management International PLC where she worked all the way from IPO to delisting from the Stock Exchange in seven years. Career ‘highlights’ include the Cookson non-underwritten rescue rights issue and the defence of the so-called ‘phoney bid’ from Gerry Robinson for Rentokil Initial. Lisa holds a law degree (LLB) from the University of London.