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Mary Beth Kissane

Principal

Mary Beth is a Principal at Walek & Associates. She provides ongoing public and investor relations counsel to public and private companies, and to those in M&A, crises, restructurings, IPOs and other transactions. In addition, she is responsible for the firm’s professional services and financial services clients. Mary Beth has over twenty years experience in corporate and investor communications. She has developed and executed hundreds of investor and media relations and corporate communications programs for domestic and non-U.S. issuers. Mary Beth founded Corporate Perception Research LLC, in response to Sarbanes-Oxley, providing independent, high-quality shareholder perception research to corporate boards and officers. She acted as Global Thought Leader for Pragmatic Corporate Governance, a global corporate governance implementation tool. Previously, she counseled clients at Abernathy MacGregor in landmark global merger and crisis situations, and for financial and alternative investment firms. She was a Senior Managing Director and oversaw the financial services practice at Hill & Knowlton. Prior to that, she advised international and domestic clients at Georgeson and Company, and headed the firm’s international practice. Her note on international corporate governance has been cited by the World Economic Forum, international governance scholars, state bar associations and corporate governance and international trade texts. Mary Beth received her MS and MA at Iona College and her law degree from New York Law School, where she was a member of the International Law Journal. She is an adjunct instructor at NYU and at the Iona College School of Mass Communication. A board member of the National Investor Relations Institute and chair of its advocacy committee, Mary Beth teaches NIRI’s popular “Regulations 101” class. As chair of NIRI’s advocacy committee, Mary Beth works with NIRI staff to determine appropriate issues and partnerships for NIRI advocacy positions, including annual meetings with the SEC to discuss hot button disclosure and investor relations topics. She has written for Corporate Secretary Magazine, the Corporate Lawyer, and Compliance Week and is quoted and speaks often on governance and disclosure issues. Mary Beth is currently spearheading NIRIs efforts to redraft the Standards of practice for Investor Relations Officers. She is an inaugural member of NIRI’s Corporate Governance Advisory Panel. She is a member of the American Bar Association.