It’s rare today for anyone to spend almost an entire career at just one company, but Mauk Breukels, Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Affairs at Finning International, has done just that. Since joining the world’s largest Caterpillar dealer in 1988, he has worked in equipment sales, branch management, and health and safety, relocated to Chile to serve as director of inventory and logistics for the company’s South American operations, and then returned to headquarters in Vancouver – for a role in the IR department – in May 2009.

“I joined Finning with the idea that I’d gain some valuable experience and then move on,” he says. “But the company has had many interesting opportunities for me to pursue. I’ve got a great passion for the business and my colleagues, and I have never had a compelling reason to go anywhere else.”

Although Breukels wouldn’t necessarily recommend this path for everyone, he’s pleased with his career trajectory: “I feel very fortunate that it has worked out this way for me.”

Viewing Investors as Clients

Breukels was born and raised in Holland and came to Canada with his family during his senior year of high school. He majored in finance and urban land economics, obtaining his Bachelor of Commerce degree at the University of British Columbia. After graduation, he taught real estate finance at UBC’s real estate division for a few years before deciding to bolster his credentials by getting an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario.

Most of Breukels’ time at Finning has been spent in operations; experience that has proven extremely useful in investor relations. “I am knowledgeable about the business and understand our customers’ expectations quite well,” he says. “And I know my way around our own organization, which helps me find the people and information needed to tell our story.”

Breukels believes that his many roles at Finning afford him a slightly different perspective on IR than colleagues with pure finance or communications backgrounds. As part of a three-person IR team, he says that seeking support is critical. He’s had the good fortune to work with a CEO and CFO who are “also very interested in meeting regularly with investors and understand capital markets” and to receive necessary support from other departments, including the Controller’s group, the Corporate Secretary, and external communications.

Thanks to his lengthy operational experience, Breukels views “the investment community as a client base that should be supported.” He continues: “Just as you’d want to know what our customers need in terms of the equipment we sell and the product support we offer, it’s equally important for me to understand what investors expect from us and solicit their feedback on our performance.”

When Breukels first became IRO, he joined CIRI and has since come to consider CIRI’s annual conference so valuable that he hasn’t missed a single one. More recently, he signed on to CIRI’s Issues Committee, where he plans to devote his time to the educational issues of Say on Pay and social media.

Outside of work, Breukels visits with family, reads, runs, cycles and walks the dog with his wife, Libby.

Rethinking IR for the Future

When asked his proudest accomplishment in his current role, Breukels discusses a push to engage with more Finning employees in terms of IR. “We’ve helped employees become more aware of our shareholders’ expectations and what the value drivers of the company are,” he says. “They’d like to know what’s expected of them to make the business stronger – understandably so, because many of them are shareholders themselves.”  

Over the past few years, Breukels has also jettisoned the hard copy annual, using the savings to invest in market intelligence and a brand new IR site. “We’ve been able to up our game a bit, without spending a lot more money,” he says.

Breukels is always looking toward the future and has led the development of an IR strategy, which is aligned with Finning’s growth goals. Finning’s IR team is prepared to support a larger business, which would include expanded coverage beyond the current 10 analysts and participation in more investor conferences. 

Although Breukels is careful to caution that growth isn’t necessarily imminent, he says, “I feel very positive about the steps we’re taking to run IR in a way that will meet our growth aspirations.”