The IR Society announces appointments of new Board Members

​May 9th 2022, London, UK: The Investor Relations Society (the Society) is pleased to announce the appointment of four non-executive Directors to the Board, effective 9th June 2022:

Bethany Barnes, Director of Investor Relations, Dr. Martens
Holly Gillis, Senior Director, Citigate Dewe Rogerson
Rob Gurner, Head of Investor Relations, Plus500
Matt Hall, Vice Chairman, UK Investment Banking and Corporate Broking, Credit Suisse

The Board of the IR Society is committed to the principles of good governance and believes that it is vital to have a transparent appointments process and a clear succession plan to maintain the high quality of the Board going forward. In line with the IR Society’s Articles of Association, these appointments to the Board will be put to a vote by the full membership at the Annual General Meeting in June.

Commenting on the appointments, Chair of the IR Society, David Walker said, “The Society works hard to ensure that the Board of Directors is representative of our membership, and the IR community as a whole, and provides the right mix of skills, experience and diversity to support the IR Society in its aim of encouraging best practice in IR across the industry. We are absolutely delighted with the overwhelming level of interest and the number of extremely high quality applications that we have received for these Board vacancies.

I am pleased to welcome Bethany, Holly, Rob and Matt to the Board. All four have already shown considerable commitment to the Society through their involvement with committees, and contribution to wider IR Society activities, courses and events. I am confident their significant experience across IR and capital markets advisory will support the IR Society’s growth and mission to promote excellence in IR.”

For further information:

Laura Hayter, CEO, The IR Society
+44 20 7379 1763 or laura.hayter@irsociety.org.uk 

Notes for editors:

Bethany Barnes – Director of Investor Relations, Dr. Martens

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.

Holly Gillis, Senior Director, Citigate Dewe Rogerson

Holly is a strategic communications consultant with an Investor Relations specialism. Before joining leading financial and corporate communications consultancy, Citigate Dewe Rogerson, in 2021, Holly had amassed over 15 years of FTSE-listed in-house experience in finance, corporate communications and investor relations roles. A trusted advisor to Boards and Executive Management, Holly is also a respected Investor Relations professional with institutional investors and analysts. Holly is an ACCA qualified accountant and has a BSc in Psychology. 

Rob Gurner, Head of Investor Relations, Plus500

Rob joined Plus500, a global fintech group, in May 2020, having spent 3 years as Head of IR at Inmarsat plc, a satellite operator. Prior to that, Rob was Head of IR at Tokyo-listed advertising group, dentsu international, for 7 years. Before that, Rob held senior IR roles for Lonmin Plc, a platinum mining business, and G4S plc, a security services company. Prior to moving into in-house IR, Rob worked for a number of financial communications consultancies, including FTI and Gavin Anderson. 

Matt Hall, Vice Chairman, UK Investment Banking and Corporate Broking, Credit Suisse

Matt is Vice Chairman of UK Investment Banking and Corporate Broking at Credit Suisse which he re-joined last year, 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.

About The Investor Relations Society

The Investor Relations Society (IR Society) is a membership organisation that exists to promote best practice investor relations in the UK and beyond. It is run by IR professionals for IR professionals. Established in 1980, the IR Society’s mission is to promote best practice in investor relations; to support the professional development of its members; to represent their views to regulatory bodies, the investment community and government; and to act as a forum for issuers and the investment community.

The Society has over 860 members from the UK, Europe and beyond, including representatives from most of the FTSE 100, a large number of FTSE 250 companies and a number of AIM and smaller companies as well as IR advisers and service providers. For more information visit www.irsociety.org.uk or connect with us on Twitter (@IRSocietyUK) or LinkedIn.

Published 9 May, 2022