Trainers
IR Society professional development programme trainer biographies
Our speakers are experts in their field and bring a wealth of practical experience to each of our courses. The Society works with them closely throughout the year to ensure the course content is regularly updated and refreshed.
Diane Faulks
Diane Faulks has over 25 years’ experience in Investor Relations having held in-house roles for various UK corporates and advisory roles with Citi Depositary Receipt Services, Cantos and Thomson. She has spoken at IR events and led training in Europe, US, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East.
Over the years Diane has advised companies of all sizes, sectors and regions on developing their IR strategy, creating and executing an effective IR plan, presentation development and the best use of technology to achieve IR goals.
Diane joined the Investor Relations Society in 1994 taking on her first committee role in 1996. She was a member of the board from 2000-2006 and served as Chairman of the Society from 2003-2005.
John Gollifer
John brings extensive international IR experience to his role as a director and General Manager of the IR Society. Previously at the Singapore Exchange as Senior Vice President and Head of IR for 11 years, John helped to establish the IR Professionals Association of Singapore (IRPAS) in 2006. Starting his career with Barclays Bank in London before embarking on a number of corporate finance and equity capital markets roles in Asia and Europe with Barclays, ABN Amro Rothschild and BNP Paribas, John reached the level of director.
John has a BA from Loughborough University, an MBA from Henley Business School and he created and taught an IR course at the Singapore Management University from 2009 to 2012. As part of his role at the IR Society, John conducts IR training both in the UK and overseas. In the past two years, John has conducted training in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and West Africa.
Jon Harris
Jon is a graduate of Cambridge University and holds a Masters in organisational psychology from the Tavistock Centre. Jon is a trained management accountant and a highly experienced manager and consultant. He started his career in the arts, producing theatre shows in the West End and on tour all over the world, and subsequently trained and coached communications skills and business skills in a wide variety of industries, especially professional services. His blend of media, communications, accountancy and business psychology backgrounds makes him ideally and uniquely suited to help businesses in their development of all managers and finance staff in particular.
Jon is a Qualified Adult Education teacher and an Associate Tutor at Goldsmiths' University Institute for Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship, where he teaches on the long-established MA courses. He is the principal tutor in Arts Management at City Lit (London's largest adult education provider), and is authorised by the Law Society to conduct the mandatory Management Course for Solicitors.
Laura Hayter
Laura is Head of Policy and Communications at the IR Society, and also oversees the Society's Professional Development programme, including the internationally recognised qualification, the Certificate in Investor Relations (CIR). She has 14 years’ experience in Investor Relations and was formerly a director at the IR consultancy, Taylor Rafferty. During her time there she spent three years based in the US, providing IR advisory services to blue chip European clients, including SAP, BskyB, and adidas among others.
As part of her policy role at the IR Society, Laura contributes to Government and regulatory public consultations and discussions. She also acts as a trainer for the Society’s Professional Development programme, conducting IR and regulation courses. She also ensures that the Society’s Professional Development programme is up to date and maintains the content of the CIR programme.
Laura graduated from the University of Leeds, with an honours degree in German and Management Studies.
Paul Meadows
Paul spent 16 years on the buy-side, initially in the in-house Asset Management operations of Royal Insurance and Trygg Hansa, before switching over to the high net worth private client industry with Lloyds Private Banking and Bank of Butterfield, advising on asset allocation and stock selection. In 2000 Paul moved into the training industry full-time with DC Gardner Training, taking responsibility for managing their Investment Management and Private Banking business stream worldwide. In 2004 he set up Chadley House Training Limited.
Deborah Morton-Dare
Deborah specialises in financial training for all levels from beginners to advanced. She presents a comprehensive range of courses to a diverse range of corporate clients and financial institutions and specialises in making complex technical subjects comprehensible. Deborah qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Arthur Young and then worked in Corporate Finance gaining wide ranging experience in a variety of corporate and financial institutions. She then worked as a financial consultant to companies assisting them in raising finance and restructuring.
Lorraine Rees
Lorraine established IR-connect as a new investor relations consultancy in 2015. Prior to that she had been IR Director at Standard Life plc, Head of IR at The Phoenix Group, and an equity analyst at Exane BNP Paribas. She originally trained as a chartered accountant, and has also worked in strategy, corporate finance and banking. She was previously a member of the IR Society Education Committee.
Keith Russell
Keith Russell has more than twelve years' experience as Head of Investor Relations at multinational corporations across a range of industries. Throughout 2014 he was Interim Head of IR at Subsea 7 S.A., the Oslo-listed subsea equipment installer, and is Managing Partner of Split Rock Partners, an IR consultancy and interim management provider. He was for seven years Head of IR for Stora Enso, where he was recognised in a 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 has a Bachelors degree from Harvard College and has studied at London Business School. Keith was a non-executive Director of the IR Society from 2004 to 2014 and during this time was a member of its Education, Conference and Nominations Committees. He has lead and spoken at numerous IR Society courses and events over the past ten years.
Mike Tyrrell
Mike has been an SRI Analyst for the past 18 years, initially at Jupiter Asset Management and then at HSBC Global Equities where he established the first SRI research on the ‘sell-side’ and, most recently, at Citi Investment Research.
Over this time, he has become a firm believer that rigorous sustainability analysis conducted by intelligent individuals embedded within ‘mainstream’ investment institutions via active and constructive dialogue with companies and independent experts can and does lead to better investment outcomes and a more sustainable society. Mike is currently Editor at SRI-CONNECT and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to our new advanced IR ESG/ Sustainability course.
Guest speakers – an opportunity to ask the experts
The professional development programme benefits from a large number of guest speakers from across the IR community. Whether in-house IR professionals, financial advisors, lawyers or other industry experts, they all offer an informative and practical perspective on a wide range of relevant issues you will deal with in your day-to-day roles.