The Board
Douglas Radcliffe
Group Investor Relations Director - Lloyds Banking Group
Chair of The IR Society
Treasurer of The IR Society and Chair of the Finance Committee
Douglas Radcliffe - Group Investor Relations Director, Lloyds Banking Group
Douglas is Group Investor Relations Director at Lloyds Banking Group, having led the team for the last eight years and been a senior member of the team at Lloyds Bank and subsequently Lloyds Banking Group for the last fifteen years. 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 - Redde Northgate
Deputy Chair of the IR Society
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 Redde Northgate. He is a graduate of Cambridge University.
Alison Owers
MD, Head of UK - Morrow Sodali
Deputy Chair of the IR Society
Chair of the Membership Committee
Alison joined Morrow Sodali in February 2023 as Managing Director of the UK. She is responsible for designing and overseeing the UK strategy and providing a broad range of ESG and shareholder engagement services to global clients. Before joining Morrow Sodali, Alison spent 12 years at Orient Capital and D.F. King Ltd in various senior leadership roles in the UK and EMEA and most recently as their Global CEO, working with some of the world’s largest companies to support shareholder engagement and investor relations activities. Prior to this, she spent seven years at Capita plc as their Head of Investor Relations Services before being promoted to Managing Director of IR Services and previously Alison managed the UK Client reporting team at Investment Bank, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, specialising in shareholder analytics for UK large/mid cap companies. Alison has a French & German Languages degree and began her IR career working in-house for a mining company in Canada. She was appointed as a Board Member of the UK IR Society in 2014 and is responsible for chairing their 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
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, including FTI and Gavin Anderson.
Matt Hall
Co-Head of UK Investment Banking and Corporate Broking, Credit Suisse
Matt is Vice Chairman of UK Investment Banking and Corporate Broking at Credit Suisse which he rejoined in 2021, having spent the previous 10 years at Deutsche Bank where he ran the Corporate Broking business. Matt’s current clients include CCH, Intertek and Rio Tinto and over the last 25 years in the broking industry, he has advised the likes of Barratt Developments, Carphone Warehouse, BAT, Diageo, IAG, ITV, RB, Stagecoach and Talktalk. Matt started his career at Credit Suisse in 1997.
Laura Hayter
CEO, IR Society
Laura is CEO at the IR Society. Formerly Head of Policy and Communications, Laura has been with the Society for more than ten years. Laura has over 19 years’ experience in the Investor Relations industry. She joined The IR Society in 2011, and among other roles, was formerly a director at the IR consultancy, Taylor Rafferty, providing IR advisory services to blue chip clients, both in London and New York. She graduated from the University of Leeds, with an honours degree in German and management studies.
Nigel Pears
Independent
Chair of the Policy Committee
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.
