The Board

Douglas Radcliffe

Group Investor Relations Director - Lloyds Banking Group

Chair of the IR Society

Douglas is Group Investor Relations Director at Lloyds Banking Group, having led the team since 2014 and been a senior member of the team at Lloyds Bank and subsequently Lloyds Banking Group since 2007.  Prior to joining the Investor Relations team Douglas held management positions within Group Strategy, Group Risk and Private Banking having initially joined Lloyds Bank on the graduate development programme. 

Douglas was elected to the Board of the IR Society in 2016.

Ross Hawley

Head of Investor Relations - ZIGUP

Deputy Chair of the IR Society
Chair of the Policy Committee

Ross is an experienced IRO with both an in-house and advisory background. Originally in equity capital markets banking, Ross has over 20 years of in-house corporate experience, including FTSE100 businesses such as Rolls-Royce, where he was Assistant Director of IR; and Man Group plc, the alternative investment manager, where he was involved in a very wide range of capital raisings and corporate transactions for over a decade.  Ross has also set up and led the IR function for a number of smaller companies, and recently was Sustainability Manager for Virgin Atlantic before heading the IR activities at FTSE250 ZIGUP. He is a graduate of Cambridge University.

Alison Owers

Senior Managing Director, Sodali & Co

Deputy Chair of the IR Society
Chair of the Membership Committee

Alison joined Sodali & Co. in 2023 and is responsible for designing and overseeing the strategy around IR, ESG and shareholder engagement services to clients across the UK and Europe.  Prior to joining Sodali & Co., Alison spent 12 years at Orient Capital and D.F. King Ltd in various senior leadership roles, and most recently as their Global CEO, working with some of the world’s largest companies to support shareholder engagement and investor relations activities.  Previously she spent seven years at Capita plc as Managing Director of IR Services. She started her career within investment banking at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein. 

Alison has a French & German Languages degree and began her IR career working in-house for a mining company in Canada.  She is a Deputy Chair of the UK Investor Relations Society and current chair of the Membership Committee.  

Bethany Barnes

Director of Investor Relations - Dr. Martens Plc

Bethany has been Director of Investor Relations at Dr. Martens Plc since its IPO in February 2021. Prior to this Bethany held the same role at Domino’s Pizza Plc and N Brown Group Plc. Bethany previously worked as a sell-side analyst covering European General Retail at both Berenberg and Investec, and for capital markets advisory firm Makinson Cowell. She is a CFA charterholder.

James Eves

Vice President, Client Manager - Deutsche Bank Depositary Receipts

Company Secretary of the IR Society

James has over 20 years’ experience in financial services; prior to joining Deutsche Bank's Depositary Receipts business in 2015 he managed a portfolio of major British and Irish issuer clients for BNY Mellon’s Depositary Receipts business for 4 years.  Prior to that he spent 11 years at Computershare, working in partnership with several major British ordinary share registry clients. James has a degree in Business Studies with Combined Sciences and is an Associate of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators.  James was appointed Company Secretary of the IR Society in 2014.

Holly Gillis

Head of Investor Relations - Diploma

Chair of the Education Committee

Holly is Head of IR at Diploma plc. Prior to that she was a Senior Director at leading financial and corporate communications consultancy, Citigate Dewe Rogerson (CDR). Before joining CDR in 2021, Holly gained over 15 years of experience in in-house finance, corporate communications and investor relations roles in the high-profile UK public transport sector. In her most recent role – Head of IR at The Go-Ahead Group plc – Holly was a member of the leadership team and was a trusted advisor to the Board and Executive Management.

Having held an in-house Head of IR role throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Holly is experienced in crisis management and stakeholder engagement. She is skilled in simplifying complex concepts into digestible messaging with consideration for multiple audiences.  

An active member of the Investor Relations Society, Holly is co-chair of the Education Committee, having previously been a member of the Society’s Best Practice Committee. She completed the IR Society’s prestigious DELIVER programme in early 2021.

Holly is an ACCA qualified accountant and has a BSc in Psychology. 

Rob Gurner

Head of Investor Relations - Inchcape

Chair of the Conference Committee
Treasurer of the IR Society and Chair of the Finance Committee

Rob joined Inchcape plc, the leading global automotive distributor, as Head of IR in April 2023, have previously been at Plus500, a global fintech group, which he joined in May 2020. Prior to that, Rob spent 3 years as Head of IR at Inmarsat plc, a satellite operator, before which he was Head of Global Investor relations for Tokyo-listed Dentsu Inc, following their acquisition of Aegis plc in 2013, where was Head of IR. Before that, Rob had senior IR roles for Lonmin Plc, a platinum mining business, and G4S plc, a security services company. Before moving into in-house IR, Rob worked for a number of financial communications consultancies.

Matthew Hall

Vice Chairman of UK Investment Banking, UBS

Matt is Vice Chairman of UK Investment Banking at UBS, having previously worked at Credit Suisse as Co-Head of UK Investment Banking and Corporate Broking. Matt started his career at Credit Suisse in 1997 where he worked until 2010 before spending 10 years at Deutsche Bank where he ran the Corporate Broking business. Matt’s current clients include Bunzl, CCH, Halma and Intertek and over the last 27 years in the broking industry, he has advised the likes of Barratt Developments, Carphone Warehouse, BAT, Diageo, IAG, ITV, RB, Stagecoach and Talktalk. 

Laura Hayter

CEO - IR Society

Laura is CEO at The Investor Relations Society. Formerly Head of Policy and Communications, Laura took on the role of CEO in 2019 and has been with the Society for over 13 years. Laura has been part of the IR community since 2001, and among other roles, she was formerly a director at the IR consultancy, Taylor Rafferty, providing IR advisory services to blue chip clients, both in London and New York. Laura’s particular interests within IR are around career progression, mentoring and professional development. She graduated from the University of Leeds, with an honours degree in German and management studies.

Nigel Pears

Independent

Nigel Pears was a Director of Makinson Cowell, the independent capital markets advisory firm, from 2006-23, where he advised clients listed on the FTSE 100, 250, AIM and international stock markets on their investor communications. Prior to joining Makinson Cowell, Nigel spent over twenty years at UBS and various predecessor firms, where he worked in insurance sector investment research, UK equity sales and corporate finance. Nigel holds an MA in economics from Cambridge University and an MBA.

Fraser Thorne

Founder and Chief Executive - Edison Investment Research

Deputy Chair of the Membership Committee

Fraser founded Edison in 2003. Before that, he ran Newton Investment Management’s UK smaller company fund - a top decile performer. Fraser has broad experience in equity markets working closely with Edison’s operations in Asia-Pacific, Germany as well as the UK. He holds an MBA, and is a member of the CFA.