Nominations Committee

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.  

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.

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.

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.