Founded in 1969, NIRI is the professional association of corporate officers and investor relations consultants responsible for communication among corporate management, shareholders, securities analysts and other financial community constituents. The largest professional investor relations association in the world, NIRI’s more than 3,500 members represent 2,000 publicly held companies and $5.4 trillion in stock market capitalization.

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NIRI Elects Four New Board Members

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NIRI Elects Four New Board Members

NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release: December 2, 2009
Contact: Matt Brusch (703) 506-3574
mbrusch@niri.org

NIRI Elects Four New Board Members

Vienna, VA – The National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI) today announced that at its recent annual meeting, NIRI members elected the following four new directors: Hulus Alpay, director, investor relations for Medidata Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: MDSO); Mary Beth Kissane, principal at Walek & Associates; Andrew Kramer, director of investor relations for Interactive Data Corporation (NYSE: IDC); and Michelle Levine Schwartz, director, investor relations at JDSU (NASDAQ: JDSU). NIRI board members serve four-year terms.

“I would like to thank our outgoing chair Bina Thompson, and board members Beth Saunders, Blair Christie and Catherine Mathis for their service to NIRI,” said Jeff Morgan, president and chief executive officer of NIRI. “Each has done excellent work on behalf of the membership to help grow and evolve NIRI and the investor relations profession. I would also like to welcome Brad Wilks as NIRI’s new chairman, along with new board members Hulus Alpay, Mary Beth Kissane, Andy Kramer and Michelle Levine Schwartz. I look forward to working with them as they continue the long-standing tradition of NIRI board excellence.”

New Board Members

Hulus Alpay is director, investor relations for Medidata Solutions, Inc., a leading global provider of hosted clinical development solutions, headquartered in New York City. Alpay has over 15 years of extensive investor relations consulting, financial media relations, crisis management, capital markets, investment research and management experience. Prior to joining Medidata Solutions, he was a senior consultant and founder of Alpay Balanced Communications. Alpay has worked for a number of investor relations, global shareholder research and related advisory services firms. He has also held several research positions with Merrill Lynch Asset Management and the former Chairman of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Alpay began his career as a Legislative Aide for the State of Connecticut. He is an active member of NIRI, the New York Society of Security Analysts, and the CFA Institute. Alpay is also currently on the board of the New York Chapter of NIRI and previously served as its president. He is a graduate of the University of Hartford and was awarded an MBA by Monmouth University.

Mary Beth Kissane is a principal at Walek & Associates and heads the firm’s Investor Relations and Corporate Transactions Practice Group, which provides investor relations and media relations counsel to public and private companies in M&A, crises, activism campaigns, restructurings, IPOs, and other transactions. In addition, she is responsible for the firm’s professional services and financial services clients, including law firms and financial services firms. Kissane is also the president and founder of Corporate Perception Research LLC. An attorney, she has over 25 years of experience in corporate and investor communications. Previously, Kissane provided senior counsel to clients at Abernathy MacGregor, oversaw global content for PCG Worldwide, supervised the financial services practice at Hill & Knowlton, and advised international and domestic clients at Georgeson. An active member of the NIRI New York Chapter, she is a past-president and board member, and has held multiple chapter officer positions. A member of NIRI’s Senior Roundtable, Kissane also teaches NIRI’s Regulations 101 seminar and is a popular national and chapter speaker among her many other NIRI activities. An adjunct professor in the New York University Graduate Program in Public Relations and Corporate Communications, she also teaches and lectures on related subjects at Iona College. Kissane graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts from Iona College, and received a Master of Science (honors) from Iona College. She graduated with a Juris Doctor from New York Law School where she was a member of the International Law Journal.

Andrew Kramer is director of investor relations at Interactive Data Corporation, a leading provider of financial information based in Bedford, Massachusetts. He has over 15 years of investor relations experience in both corporate and agency settings. Kramer oversees all aspects of Interactive Data Corporation’s communications with the investment community, including financial analysts, institutional investors, stockbrokers and individual investors. Prior to joining Interactive Data, Kramer served as director of investor relations at Sycamore Networks, Inc., and before that, he was director of investor relations for ArrowPoint Communications. He also has held a variety of account and senior management positions at Sharon Merrill Associates. Kramer teaches a graduate-level course on investor relations at Boston University, and is a past president and board member of the NIRI Boston Chapter. Kramer received a BA degree in communication and an MBA degree from Boston College.

Michelle Levine Schwartz is director, investor relations of JDSU, Milipitas, California, and has over 20 years of experience in finance and investor relations. Schwartz’s investor relations experience spans both counseling and corporate investor relations positions with a focus on the technology industry. Prior to JDSU, she served as senior manager and director, investor relations for Juniper Networks, and before this was director, West Coast Operations for Burns McClellan, a public relations and investor relations communications consultancy. She has also served as director, investor relations for Aerogen, Inc., account supervisor for Ketchum, Inc., assistant vice president, Fixed Income Derivatives Trading Group, at Nomura Securities, and treasury analyst in the Treasurer’s Office for Dean Witter Reynolds. She is a past board member and two-term president of the NIRI Silicon Valley Chapter. Schwartz received her Masters in Business Administration in Finance from Pace University Lubin School of Business and Bachelor of Arts in Economics from SUNY Binghamton.

About the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI)
Founded in 1969, NIRI (www.NIRI.org) is the professional association of corporate officers and investor relations consultants responsible for communication among corporate management, shareholders, securities analysts and other financial community constituents. NIRI is the largest professional investor relations association in the world with 4,000 members representing 2,000 publicly held companies and $5.4 trillion in stock market capitalization.

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Keywords

Board of Directors

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