Intel and ConocoPhillips lead short lists for IR Magazine Awards - US 2015

NEW YORK, Feb. 24, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Energy company ConocoPhillips has made an impressive debut on the short lists for the IR Magazine Awards – US 2015. It joins familiar face Intel to be one of the two most-nominated companies, with both set to contest awards in six categories.

Celebrating their 20th year in 2015, the IR Magazine Awards – US are among the industry's most highly respected and sought-after honors for leading companies and individuals working in investor relations. Since the annual event first launched in 1996, tens of thousands of analysts and investors have voted in the surveys that inform the awards. On Thursday, March 26, 2015, IR's best and brightest will be gathering at a black-tie event at Ciprani Wall Street in New York City to see which companies, executives and IROs are recognized with an IR Magazine Award.

Though this year marks ConocoPhillips' first appearance in the award short lists, the firm is already competing for some of the most fiercely contested categories, including best IR by a CEO and best investor relations officer at a large-cap company. Intel, meanwhile, will hope to replicate its 2014 success, when it picked up awards for best use of technology and best IR in the technology sector.

Just behind ConocoPhillips and Intel come Covidien ‒ one of last year's best-performing companies ‒ and a relative newcomer in the form of Enterprise Products Partners. They each pick up five nominations this year.

Healthcare giant Covidien won six awards at last year's awards ceremony, including the grand prix for best overall investor relations by a large-cap company, as well as finishing in top spot in the IR Magazine US Top 100 rankings. Enterprise, meanwhile, ranked 21st last year and was short-listed for best IR in the utilities sector. This year the energy firm will contest both the grand prix for best overall IR and best IRO at a large-cap company, joined in both categories by ConocoPhillips, Covidien and Intel.

Following these top large-cap performers is a trio of mid-cap companies with four nominations each: Waste Connections, Ryder System and the Hartford Financial Services Group. These three companies, along with Polaris, will contest the grand prix for best overall IR at a mid-cap company. Large-cap firm Danaher also has four nominations, including a short-listing for Daniel Comas in the award for best CFO at a large-cap company.

The IR Magazine Awards – US 2015 are determined by a body of research that identifies the country's top corporate IR teams and sheds some light on the opinions of their investment communities. This survey is the only one of its kind that contacts respondents through a combination of electronic surveys and one-to-one telephone interviews conducted over the course of two months in 2014, canvassing the opinions of more than 600 investors, analysts and portfolio managers across the US.

The IR Magazine Awards – US 2015 are sponsored by Argyle, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays, Blender Media, BNY Mellon, Business Wire, Computershare/Georgeson, Corbin Perception, Cowen and Company, GE, Innisfree, Investis, Ipreo, MacKenzie Partners, MBS Value Partners, the Mizuho Financial Group, NIRI, Okapi Partners, Q4 Web Systems, RCS Capital, RR Donnelly, TD Bank, TheIRapp, UBS and Wells Fargo.

Award categories and nominees, listed alphabetically

Grand prix for best overall investor relations (large cap)
ConocoPhillips
Covidien
Enterprise Products Partners
Intel

Grand prix for best overall investor relations (mid-cap)
Polaris
Ryder System
The Hartford Financial Services Group
Waste Connections

Grand prix for best overall investor relations (small cap)
ANN
US Ecology
Wright Medical Group

Best investor relations officer (large cap)
ConocoPhillips - Ellen DeSanctis
Covidien - Coleman Lannum
Enterprise Products Partners - Randy Burkhalter
Intel - Mark Henninger

Best investor relations officer (mid-cap)
Kansas City Southern - William Galligan
Ryder System - Robert Brunn
The Hartford Financial Services Group - Sabra Purtill
WW Grainger - William Chapman

Best investor relations officer (small cap)
ANN - Judy Lord
Lithia Motors - John North
Wright Medical Group - Julie Tracy

Best IR by a CEO (large cap)
ConocoPhillips - Ryan Lance
Enterprise Products Partners - Michael Creel
Intel - Brian Krzanich
Schlumberger - Paal Kibsgaard

Best IR by a CEO (mid-cap)
Alliance Data Systems - Ed Heffernan
Endo International - Rajiv De Silva
Waste Connections - Ronald Mittelstaedt

Best IR by a CEO (small cap)
US Ecology - Jeff Feeler
Wright Medical Group - Robert Palmisano

Best IR by a CFO (large cap)
Danaher - Daniel Comas
Enterprise Products Partners - Randall Fowler
Home Depot - Carol Tome
L Brands - Stuart Burgdoerfer

Best IR by a CFO (mid-cap)
Best Buy - Sharon McCollum
Pentair - John Stauch
United Continental - John Rainey
Waste Connections - Worthing Jackman

Best IR by a CFO (small cap)
ANN - Michael Nicholson
Casella Waste Systems - Ned Coletta
The Children's Place - Michael Scarpa
US Ecology - Eric Gerratt

Best financial reporting
ConocoPhillips
Danaher
JPMorgan Chase & Co
Medtronic

Best use of technology
Covidien
Google
Intel
Ryder System

Best use of social media
L Brands
Starbucks
T-Mobile US
Twitter

Best investor meetings
JPMorgan Chase & Co
Polaris
UnitedHealth Group
VF Corporation

Best corporate governance
Covidien
Danaher
Intel
JPMorgan Chase & Co

Most progress in IR
BlackRock
Boston Scientific
ConocoPhillips
LinkedIn

Best sustainability practice
Henry Schein
Nike
NRG Energy
VF Corporation

Best IR during a corporate transaction
Burger King Worldwide
General Electric
Medtronic
Thermo Fisher Scientific

Best crisis communications
Home Depot
Symantec
The Hartford Financial Services Group
Yum! Brands

Best IR for an IPO
Concert Pharmaceuticals
Hilton Worldwide
Intersect ENT

Best IR by an Asia-Pacific company in the US market
Himax Technologies (Taiwan)
MagnaChip Semiconductor (South Korea)
MediaTek (Taiwan)
Silicon Motion (Taiwan)

Best IR by a European company in the US market
Autoliv (Sweden)
Deutsche Post (Germany)
GlaxoSmithKline (UK)
NXP Semiconductors (Netherlands)

Best IR by a Latin American company in the US market
Ambev (Brazil)
Cemex (Mexico)
MercadoLibre (Argentina)
Petrobras (Brazil)

Best in sector

Communications
Alliance Data Systems
LinkedIn
The Walt Disney Company
Time Warner

Consumer discretionary
Ecolab
L Brands
Polaris
VF Corporation

Consumer staples
Altria Group
CVS Health
Kraft Foods
Walmart

Energy
ConocoPhillips
Enterprise Products Partners
Halliburton
Schlumberger

Financials
American Express
Discover Financial Services
JPMorgan Chase & Co
The Hartford Financial Services Group

Healthcare
Covidien
Danaher
Medtronic
UnitedHealth Group

Industrials
General Electric
Honeywell
Ryder System
Waste Connections

Materials
3M
PolyOne
PPG Industries
Sherwin-Williams

Technology
Cisco Systems
Intel
Salesforce.com
Texas Instruments

Utilities
Duke Energy
Edison International
NRG Energy
Southern Company

About IR Magazine
For more than 25 years, IR Magazine has remained the only global publication that focuses on the interactions between companies and their investors. IR Magazine helps investor relations professionals achieve more in their IR programs, benchmark their efforts and connect to the global IR community. In addition to producing articles, research reports and investor perception studies, IR Magazine also hosts events such as awards, think tanks and conferences around the world. To learn more, please visit us online at www.irmagazine.com, on Twitter @IRMagazine and via our LinkedIn group IR Magazine Leaders. 

Media contact:

David Barrett
Head of Marketing
IR Magazine
[email protected]
+44 (0)20 7749 9102

SOURCE IR Magazine