San Antonio Chapter President Ann Stevens accepted the awards at NIRI's 30th Anniversary Leadership Dinner in San Francisco this month.
NIRI is a nationwide professional association of corporate officers and investor relations consultants responsible for communication among corporate management, the investing public and the financial community. With over 4,500 members in 31 U.S. chapters, NIRI is dedicated to advancing the practice of investor relations and meeting the growing professional development needs of those engaged in the field.
Competing against chapters of all sizes, NIRI-San Antonio won a NIRI Chairman's Award for innovation and creativity for its newly designed chapter logo and identity program. The logo, designed by NIRI-SA associate member Brian Eickhoff of EHR Design, incorporates the distinctive shape of the Alamo in a bold Southwestern red with the national NIRI organization's traditional blue logo square.
"We have successfully branded our chapter with this new logo design, tying in our Alamo City heritage with the national NIRI logo and creating a distinctive look all our own," said Stevens, director of investor relations for ILEX Oncology Inc. "The logo quickly became the jumping-off point for creating a comprehensive identity program, including the launching of a chapter Web site at www.nirisanantonio.org."
NIRI-San Antonio also received a Distinctive Chapter Award in the Best Annual Plan category for its 1999 board strategic planning retreat at Oak Hills Country Club. With the help of professional facilitator John Kimmel, the NIRI-San Antonio board developed a chapter purpose statement and long-range strategic goals during the half-day retreat. All of the chapter's yearlong activities and accomplishments flowed from this planning effort and a related membership survey.
Additionally, NIRI-San Antonio won the national Membership Award in the small chapter category. NIRI-San Antonio has approximately 25 members, all of whom belong to both the national organization and the local chapter.
"San Antonio is one of NIRI's smallest chapters, drawing our membership from the city's approximately 30 public companies," Stevens said. "While we may be small, our board has worked hard this year to develop a clear mission statement, a strategic plan and a distinctive identity. As a result, we came away from this month's national conference as the most decorated small chapter in the nation."
Other members of the 1999-2000 NIRI-San Antonio board were Terri Hunter, senior vice president and chief financial officer for billserv.com Inc.; Karen Mella, vice president of investor relations and corporate communications for American TeleSource International; Monika Maeckle, regional manager for Business Wire; Lee Bailey, director of investor relations for Valero Energy Inc.; and Bart Vincent, vice president of financial control for HomeSide Lending Inc. Christye Weld of Business Wire served as chapter secretary, and Gerry Chicoine of SBC Communications served as honorary director.
