StreetSmart Strategies, Inc., a prominent management consulting firm providing senior-level strategic guidance and investor relations counsel to publicly-traded corporations and private equity firms, announced today that it has retained the services of veteran corporate investor relations officer David A. Prichard.
Timothy Gerdeman, founder and president of StreetSmart Strategies, said, “Dave brings to our firm a wealth of corporate investor relations and financial communications expertise, senior executive counseling experience in a wide variety of company situations, and an in-depth working knowledge of Wall Street along with strong investment community contacts. Dave will assume the role of Investor Relations Strategist - a title that reinforces the focus of StreetSmart Strategies as well as capturing the essence of Dave’s skill set.”
“Dave will help extend our business model of enhancing our clients’ images and equity valuations within the financial community, especially in this challenging climate in which small- and mid-cap companies have witnessed reduced equity research analyst coverage, markedly lower equity valuations, and in several instances heightened shareholder activism,” Gerdeman said. “As portfolio managers begin to carefully reconstruct their equity holdings under the premise of an economic rebound in 2010, a sharper investment thesis and heightened visibility are required by companies to ensure that anticipated earnings leverage is rewarded with a higher valuation multiple. Not all companies will share equally in the equity market rebound; this is particularly true for small- and mid-cap industrial companies where valuation disparities are increasingly evident.”
With nearly 20 years of corporate experience, Prichard has held senior positions directing comprehensive investor relations and financial communications programs for a number of small- and mid-cap companies across a range of sectors, primarily in the basic materials and consumer staples industries. Most recently Prichard was Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications at Corn Products International, one of the world’s largest corn refining and ingredients manufacturers with nearly $4 billion in annual sales. Previously, Prichard held similar positions at Modine Manufacturing Company, IMC Global (now The Mosaic Company), The Vigoro Corporation, IMCERA Group (which became Mallinckrodt Inc.), and Abbott Laboratories.
During this time, Prichard has worked with numerous CEOs and CFOs to help increase the marketability of their respective companies’ stock, attract a more stable and less concentrated shareholder base, and achieve the highest potential valuation through strategic investor messaging, positioning, and targeting programs and tactics. Prichard has been involved in several complex corporate and private equity communications situations, including the 2008 planned merger of Corn Products International and Bunge Ltd. (subsequently terminated); the transfer of Modine Manufacturing Company’s stock listing to the NYSE from NASDAQ and the spinoff of its aftermarket division; counseling Cargill management regarding its financial community communications surrounding the company’s acquisition of IMC Global; the acquisition of Vigoro Corporation by IMC Global; and directing investor and media communications for a company that went public via an Initial Public Offering.
Long active in the 4,000-member National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI), Prichard serves on NIRI’s national board of directors and is co-chair of NIRI’s 2010 annual conference. Prichard will be acting as an independent agent of StreetSmart Strategies.
Since founding Chicago-headquartered StreetSmart Strategies in 2003, Gerdeman has helped numerous corporations develop concise, targeted financial messages and investment themes, fueling increased equity research coverage, broader institutional investor ownership, and improved equity valuations.
Gerdeman established StreetSmart Strategies following his long tenure as an Institutional Investor-ranked specialty chemicals & materials equity research analyst at such Wall Street icons as Lehman Brothers (retiring from the firm in 2003 as Managing Director), Salomon Brothers and Citigroup. Earlier in his career, Gerdeman was a senior consultant at international management consulting firm Kline & Company, focusing on industrial/basic industries M&A and other high-level strategic engagements.
For more information, visit www.streetsmartstrategies.com or e-mail tgerdeman@streetsmartstrategies.com or dprichard@streetsmartstrategies.com.
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