Sherwood Lee Wallace

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer


Sherwood Lee Wallace is recognized in the investor relations profession as a leading practitioner and author. He celebrates his 40th year in IR in 2007.

In 1982, Mr. Wallace formed The Investor Relations Company. IRC's success in its first decade allowed expansion from two employees to several. In 1986, IRC entered the New York market through acquisition of a respected IR boutique that became The Investor Relations Company of New York. IRC then initiated The Investor Relations Company of the West and purchased a 40% interest in 25 year old Investor Relations Consultants of Clearwater, FL and Columbus, OH. IRC's reputation continues to grow as the company enters strategic acquisitions and relationships. IRC partners with Dale Chrisman & Associates, Austin, Texas, Tilson & Associates, Boca Raton, McManus Elliott, Toronto, Canada, Adam Friedman & Associates, New York and Alan Bulmer, Investor Focus, in London.

Mr. Wallace is a long time member of the National Investor Relations Institute, a charter member of NIRI's Senior IR Roundtable limited to about 125 of IR's top practitioners, member of the Public Relations Society of America and the PRSA Counselors' Section. He is a member of the executive committee of the financial communications section of PRSA. He has been listed in Who's Who in the Midwest and Who's Who in America. He assisted the author in the preparation of the text, "Competing for Capital in the 80's; an Investor Relations Approach" by reviewing and commenting on the entire draft. He co-authored what was considered the best book and a best selling book on investor relations, "Competing in the New Capital Markets: Investor Relations Strategies for the 1990s," published by the Harper Business book division of HarperCollins, one of the world's five largest publishers, 1991. In December, 1997, John Wiley & Sons Inc., a major publisher, introduced another book he co-authored, “New Dimensions in Investor Relations: Competing for Capital in the 21st Century,” which is available at most major chains and through NIRI. It achieved the number one spot on NIRI's list of top selling IR books shortly after debuting. He has had published in the annual investor relations issue of the Public Relations Journal of the PRSA an article titled, "Plumbing the Investor Market," addressed to a unique explanation of the financial community for IR practitioners and corporate executives. He is frequently quoted in IR industry articles.

In the 90's, Mr. Wallace chaired the PRSA Financial Communications Section seminar "Today's Marketing will change IR," with featured speaker Ann L. McGill, PhD., associate professor, marketing, J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University. Mr. Wallace also was a guest speaker at the conference "Investor Relations & Financial P.R. for the Financial Executive". He has also appeared as a panelist on Your Personal Legal Responsibilities in Financial Communications at the Annual Report Conference and Investor Relations Forum in New York.

Before forming his own consultancy, Mr. Wallace was senior partner of the nation's largest agency specializing in financial public relations. Among the posts he held there during 14 years were account division manager and member of the executive and policy committees, as well as being one of the company's three largest stockholders. As a member of the policy and executive committees, he helped set and oversee policies that shaped that company's success.

Mr. Wallace has won literally dozens of industry and agency awards for his annual report and investor relations programming, including a Financial World Best of Industry annual report award and account management awards. Earlier in his career, he won several awards for public relations programs in support of marketing, "important in these days when investor relations should be looked upon as a modern marketing-oriented function".

Mr. Wallace graduated from the State University of Iowa School of Journalism with a bachelor's degree in public relations and radio in 1962. He guest lectures there periodically and this year will guest lecture in IR at the University of California at Irvine. An accomplished writer and fair artist, Mr. Wallace also attended the State University of Iowa's famous Writers' Workshop and Chicago's Art Institute on an art scholarship. He has completed some graduate study in mass communications research and courses in media and accounting.