The National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI), the largest professional investor relations association in the world, earlier this month announced the inaugural class of its “40 Under 40” recognition program. The 40 Under 40 Program recognizes those who “have made noticeable contributions to their companies, communities, the IR profession, and to NIRI”. Included in the list of talented young IR professionals is FCLTGlobal’s Ariel Fromer Babcock, a Research Director whose work has identified investor relations strategies that can promote long-term value creation for both companies and the shareholders who invest in them.

At FCLTGlobal, Ariel’s research focuses on how investment behavior can shift toward the long term via effective corporate strategy and investor communications. Her work on the detrimental effects of quarterly earnings per share guidance, Moving Beyond Quarterly Guidance: A Relic of the Past, has quickly become a seminal report in FCLTGlobal’s anthology, encapsulating the negative impact of the quarterly corporate mindset on long-term value creation. This work was cited prominently in NIRI’s own policy update on corporate guidance practices in 2018.

A follow-up report, 2019’s Driving the Conversation: Long-term roadmaps for long-term success, makes the case for corporate “roadmaps”, a company’s clear long-term strategy and a substitute for short-term oriented planning. Ariel’s most recent work examines the role of a company’s board of directors, and identifies proven steps boards can take if they aim to be long-term leaders with a farsighted vision of corporate success.

Babcock is an equity investment professional with over a decade of experience in the financial industry, and has been with FCLTGlobal since 2017. After starting her career as a trader and research analyst at a long-short financial sector focused hedge fund, she moved on to managing value focused mutual funds at both American Independence Financial Services and Calamos Investments.

Most recently Ariel worked with clean energy company Tecogen Inc. as Director of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications. While at Tecogen she was instrumental in establishing a unified corporate communications platform and in developing the company’s growth strategy alongside executive management.

According to NIRI, each honoree for the 40 Under 40 met several of the following qualifications: Outstanding leadership in business; Outstanding engagement in community activities; Demonstrated exceptional leadership within a NIRI chapter; Provided collegial and supportive efforts for a NIRI National program or project or was engaged in a meaningful way in serving members; Exceptional growth and development as an IR professional and an aspiration to pursue investor relations as a career; Advancement of NIRI’s public policy agenda; Commitment to NIRI’s Code of Ethics and to advancing best practices in investor relations, corporate disclosure, and informed investing; Attainment of the IRC certification.

NIRI will honor this inaugural class during the 2019 NIRI Annual Conference in Phoenix on June 2-5. A full list of honorees can be found here.