We Heard You Loud and Clear

As you know, we conducted a Member Needs Survey late last year and had a tremendous response from our members. Thank you to all who participated! The survey findings are important to us as they let us know how well we are meeting your expectations and they establish a benchmark for improvement.

We realize that for many of you, 2013 was a challenging year. It was a year in which you had to closely monitor your expenditures and allocate your resources wisely. Those of you who participated in the survey may recall that we asked for your input on potential new member benefits. The new benefits we put forward for your consideration were ones that would extend your resources, making you more efficient in your jobs without impacting your budgets. Based on your feedback we have identified three initiatives that we will implement this year – IR best practices research; an IR resource library; and a free member webinar.

IR Best Practices Research

When I was an IRO, I used to benchmark IR practices of other organizations so that we were aware of the trends and could adopt best practices that we felt were appropriate for our organization. Given the current climate, with many IROs having limited internal and external resources, we felt that conducting research on IR practices to reveal trends and best practices would yield meaningful information for all members, and you agreed. We even took the survey one step further, asking you which topics would be of greatest interest. In 2014, CIRI will publish research on four of the following six topics, as selected by you:

• Corporate websites
• Investor presentations
• Governance practices
• Managing shareholder expectations
• Investor days
• Shareholder identification

IR Resource Library

Are there IR policies and processes that you wish you had the time and resources to develop? We would like to help you with that. Later this year, we will be introducing an IR resource library, which will contain documents ranging from IR strategic plans to investor day checklists. As a member, you will have access to these resources to assist you in the development of your own strategies and processes.

Free Member Webinar

To make a CIRI membership even more valuable, we have decided to host a free member webinar in August 2014 on capital market dynamics. If we get good participation in this event, we will look at offering these webinars to our members several times a year.

To Make These Initiatives a Success We Need Your Support

In order for these initiatives to be successful, we will need your help. When we issue the surveys, please take the time to complete them. When we call for sample documents for the resource library, please contribute some of your own (feel free to redact them). And when we host our free webinar in August, please participate. Together we can make a CIRI membership even more relevant and valuable than it is today.

Haven’t Renewed? What Are You Waiting For?

We are now nearing the end of our 2014 renewal process. If you have renewed your membership, I thank you for your support. If you have not yet done so, you should. Our ongoing member benefits coupled with the new initiatives for 2014 make your CIRI membership worth every penny and then some. Memberships that have not been renewed by February 18 will expire.