Rivel's GuideLign Intelligence Council Annual Conference November 19, 2024 - November 20, 2024 Encore Boston Harbor Hotel - Boston, Massachusetts

Jon Bozzuto brings a wealth of experience to his role as the Head of Investor Relations at Performant Financial Corporation. His career journey reflects a diverse foundation, having transitioned between various organizational landscapes. From his early days in agency communications and strategy to his later focus on building and optimizing IR departments, as well as refining Treasury and Finance functions, Jon has consistently demonstrated an ability to adapt to change.

At the heart of Jon's expertise lies his skill in fostering transparent and effective communication channels with investors and stakeholders, ensuring alignment with organizational objectives. Notably, he has also been at the forefront of embracing technological advancements, leveraging AI to streamline operations and enhance ideation and processing.

Mary Ann Deignan is Head of Capital Markets Advisory at Lazard, advising clients on shareholder activism, strategic investor relations, capital raising, and corporate governance.

Mary Ann joined Lazard from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where she was Co-Head of Global Equity Capital Markets, a role she assumed after her tenure as Head of Americas Equity Capital Markets. She also worked for UBS as Head of Americas Equity Capital Markets. Mary Ann began her career at Bankers Trust in leveraged finance.

Mary Ann provides expert guidance across regions and market sectors on a range of shareholder and corporate finance matters, including activism preparedness and defense, investor perspectives on M&A and strategic actions, IPO advisory and capital raising, trends in ESG, and corporate governance. She has extensive knowledge of the global equity markets and public market investors.

Mary Ann is on the Investment Committee of the Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies and the Board of Advisors at the Hospital for Special Surgery in NYC.

She has a B.A. from Mount Holyoke College and an MBA from the Tuck School at Dartmouth.

Shivani Kak leads the Investor Relations team for Moody's Corporation, overseeing communications with analysts and shareholders. She is also on the Operating Committee and is a Board member of Moody's Indian affiliate, ICRA.

Her tenure at Moody's, which began in 2008, includes roles in both the analytical and commercial side of Moody's Investors Service. She has worked in the New York, London and Hong Kong offices. Prior to joining Moody's she was a Director at Lehman Brothers.

Sam Ramraj is Vice President of Investor Relations for Edison International, the parent company of one of the nation’s largest electric utilities, Southern California Edison. He is responsible for strategic and tactical leadership of the company’s communications and interaction with the investment community, in addition to building and managing relationships with investors, sell-side analysts and other investment community stakeholders and influencers.

Sam has more than 20 years of experience in corporate investor relations and sell-side equity research. Before joining Edison International in 2017, he served as Vice President of Investor Relations for Tesoro Corporation, a Fortune 100 company that is an independent refiner and marketer of petroleum products.

Previously, Ramraj was at URS Corporation, a Fortune 500 company headquartered in San Francisco, where he worked in investor relations for 12 years, including as Vice President of Investor Relations and Director of Investor Relations. Before joining URS, he was an equity research analyst with several investment banks, including Lehman Brothers, Salomon Smith Barney and Dresdner Kleinwort Benson.

Sam serves on the board of governors for the Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens.

He earned an MBA in Finance and Investments at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. and a Master of Commerce in Accounting at Annamalai University in Tamil Nadu, India. Sam also earned a Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting at PSG College of Arts and Sciences, also in Tamil Nadu.

Andrew joined Joele Frank shortly after the firm’s inception in 2000, having previously worked in Financial Planning at Merrill Lynch. As partner at Joele Frank, Andrew provides strategic communications counsel to companies and private equity firms involved in transactions, reorganizations, and other special situations. He also advises prominent public companies on investor and media relations and long-term corporate positioning. His areas of expertise include:

• Investor and Public Relations – Andrew helps companies enhance their communications to support the highest justifiable stock price or achieve other objectives.
• Mergers and Acquisitions – He advises companies on the communications challenges involved in both friendly and unsolicited M&A transactions.
• Spin-offs – He has considerable experience advising companies on spin-offs and public offerings.
• Shareholder Activism – Andrew has experience in high-profile activism situations and proxy contests.
• Restructuring and Bankruptcy – He has advised numerous companies in connection with both court-supervised and out-of-court restructurings, as well as bidders in the acquisition of distressed assets under Section 363.
• Crisis Communications – Andrew has extensive crisis and issues management experience and has advised companies in connection with state and federal investigations, regulatory inquiries, insider trading allegations, hostage situations, facility disasters, closures and workforce reductions, high-profile litigation, and unplanned leadership changes.

Andrew holds a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Based in New York and London, and with nearly 30 years’ experience at the coal face of the executive recruitment industry, Oskar runs his own global executive recruitment firm, Broome Yasar, and is also head of US-based PLBsearch’s IR practice.

Regarded as a global leader in executive recruitment, Oskar has helped more than 500 senior investor relations and corporate communications professionals worldwide.

Oskar is a passionate advocate for the role of investor relations and corporate affairs and the future of the profession.

He is the author of the soon-to-be published and ground-breaking, ‘The Global IR Revolution Study’, and has also authored two other studies, From Investor Relations to Business Leadership – The Pathway to CEO, and Key Building Blocks to Becoming a Standout IRO, which showcases the significant transformation in the reputation of IR. Additionally, Oskar is in the process of publishing his book, Stand Out or Stand Aside, the Power of Personal Branding in the Reputation Industries.

For more information on Broome Yasar, visit: www.broomeyasar.com or www.broomeyasar.com/insights