IR Masterclass: Corporate Governance

This masterclass will be beneficial to both experienced in-house practitioners looking to share best practice, as well as less experienced IROs looking to understand the topic. This interactive in-person event will cover Corporate Governance and will leave you with some practical tips. The roundtable discussion format will also provide you with lots of opportunities to share thoughts and network with your peers.

Topics to be covered:

1. AGMs - practicalities from an IRO perspective as well as a service provider perspective. Table lead: Name TBC, MUFG
2. Buy-side stewardship - best practice tips for engaging with stewardship teams across UK buy side. Table leads: Sawan Wadhwa, Head of Stewardship & Bethan Rose, Sustainable Investment Analyst, Evenlode Investment
3. Governance reporting - explore how companies can create meaningful governance reporting that meets new and existing requirements and expectations, drawing on insights from Emperor’s latest reviews of best practice FTSE 350 and SmallCap and AIM reporting. Table lead: Rachel Crossley, Director of Stakeholder Communications & Samantha Trillwood, Director of Stakeholder and Engagement, Emperor 
4. Proxy agencies - engagement with corporates. Table lead: Daniele Vitale, Head of ESG UK & Europe, Georgeson

Table Hosts

Rachel Crossley

Director of Stakeholder Communications, Emperor

Rachel Crossley

Director of Stakeholder Communications, Emperor

Rachel Crossley has over 25 years of experience in investor relations, corporate communications and reporting. As Director of Stakeholder Communications at Emperor, she advises a wide range of companies across all sizes and sectors, guiding them through the evolving regulatory landscape and best practice developments to deliver impactful strategies and reporting. Her focus is helping companies communicate a holistic narrative across their strategic and governance reporting and broader ecosystems to meet the needs of their stakeholders. Rachel is an active member of the IR Society where she sits on the Education Committee.

Bethan Rose

Stewardship Analyst, Evenlode Investment

Bethan Rose

Stewardship Analyst, Evenlode Investment

Bethan Rose is a Stewardship Analyst responsible for helping to drive the Evenlode portfolios’ net zero strategy and joined Evenlode in 2018. Bethan graduated from Exeter University with a BSc in Economics. She has gained the Investment Management Certificate, the CFA Institute Certificate in ESG Investing and has passed Level I of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) programme .

Samantha Trillwood

Director of Stakeholder and Engagement, Emperor

Samantha Trillwood

Director of Stakeholder and Engagement, Emperor

As Director of Stakeholder Communications Sam works strategically with clients to develop an integrated approach to their corporate reporting and communications to effectively engage diverse stakeholders. Sam brings extensive experience advising listed companies, underpinned by a background in financial and corporate PR. At Emperor her clients include Standard Life, National Grid and Keller Group.

Daniele Vitale

Head of ESG UK & Europe, Georgeson

Daniele Vitale

Head of ESG UK & Europe, Georgeson

Daniele joined Georgeson in 2010 and specialises in corporate governance, executive remuneration and ESG analysis. Daniele has more than twenty years of experience advising institutional investors and corporations on corporate governance, executive remuneration, ESG and proxy voting issues. At Georgeson he leads the European ESG and governance advisory team as well as editing numerous publications, including Georgeson’s annual European AGM Season Review. Previously he worked as Senior Researcher at PIRC Ltd, a London-based proxy advisory firm, and at Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Deminor in Brussels. Daniele is Italian and is fluent in English, Italian, French, German and Spanish.

Sawan Wadhwa

Head of Stewardship, Evenlode Investment

Sawan Wadhwa

Head of Stewardship, Evenlode Investment

Sawan Wadhwa is Head of Stewardship responsible for implementing the stewardship strategy and integrating it into the investment process. He also sits on Evenlode Foundation’s Committee the aim of which is to empower communities to address global challenges in a sustainable and scalable manner through charitable donations. He joined Evenlode in 2017. He previously held analyst positions at Schroders and Federated Hermes. Sawan graduated from Flinders University with a BComm (Finance) and is qualified from the Governance Institute of Australia in Governance and Risk Management. He has completed the Climate-related Financial Risk Course from Oxford University and has passed the CFA Certificate in ESG Investing.