Home  >  About  >  Board of Directors

President

Meghan O’Leary, Head of Investor Relations, SVB Financial Group

Portrait

moleary@svb.com

Meghan leads investor relations for SVB Financial Group, the parent company of Silicon Valley Bank. In this role, she oversees all aspects of SVB’s relationships with investors, sell-side analysts and credit rating agencies. She was responsible for developing and driving the company’s first proactive IR program, which, in its first year, garnered a nomination in IR Magazine’s annual awards for “Greatest Improvement in Investor Relations.” Meghan has been recognized numerous times in Institutional Investor magazine’s annual “All America Executive Team” awards as a top SMID-cap bank IRO.

Prior to heading up IR at SVB, Meghan spent more than a decade in marketing and public relations, as head of public relations for Silicon Valley Bank; vice president of marketing for Brience, an early mobile content delivery startup; and vice president at Cunningham Communication — at the time Silicon Valley’s leading high-tech public relations firm — where she advised clients on public relations strategy and execution, and brand positioning.

Meghan began her career as a journalist, covering technology strategy, management and implementation for CIO Magazine and, before that, for PC Week. Her articles have been cited in numerous textbooks and academic publications.

Meghan received an AB in English Literature from Smith College.

This is Meghan’s sixth term on the Board.

President Elect

Kevin Kessel, CFA, Vice President, Investor Relations, KLA

Portrait

kevin.kessel@kla.com

Kevin Kessel currently leads KLA’s investor relations program. Previously he led Flex’s IR initiatives for 10 years. Before his career in Investor Relations, Kevin was a Senior Equity Research Analyst and Vice President for JPMorgan and a Managing Director for Bear Stearns, where he covered the Technology Supply Chain for nearly a decade and was ranked as part of the Institutional Investor’s All-America Research Team numerous times. Prior to working on Wall Street, Kevin was a consultant with Accenture in its Electronics and High Tech group with a focus on supply chain.

Kevin graduated summa cum laude from the University of California at Santa Barbara with a degree in Business Economics and an emphasis in Accounting. Kevin has been a CFA charterholder since 2003.

This is Kevin’s fifth term on the Board.

Marketing

Traci Tsuchiguchi, Vice President, Investor Relations, Citrix

Portrait

traci.tsuchiguchi@citrix.com

Traci Tsuchiguchi is Vice President of Investor Relations at Citrix Systems. Prior IR positions include Senior Vice President of Investor Relations and Strategic Finance at CA Technologies, Vice President of Investor Relations at Applied Micro Circuits Corporation, and Senior Vice President at Addo Communications, an investor relations agency.

Prior to making the transition into investor relations, Traci was an equity analyst at Seneca Capital Management in San Francisco for 8 years covering primarily Technology stocks as well as some Consumer and Health Care names. She started her career on the sell-side at Prudential Securities working in institutional equity sales and trading and in equity research.

She is a graduate of Cornell University.

This is Traci’s fourth term on the NIRI Silicon Valley Board of Directors.

Tesh Dahya, Director, Investor Relations, HP

Portrait

tesh.dahya@hp.com

Tesh’s current role is Director, Investor Relations at HP Inc. (NYSE: HPQ). Prior to IR, he spent 6 years in Global Treasury in a variety of leadership roles, most recently as Treasury Director with responsibility for Capital Markets, Enterprise Risk Management and Chief of Staff for Global Treasury. Prior to that, he was responsible for leading HPQ’s FX Risk Management team. Before joining HP, Tesh spent 9 years in investment banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Charlotte, New York and San Francisco.

Tesh holds a B.A. in Economics from UCLA. In his spare time he enjoys spending time with his wife and two young children (Ages 4 and 1).

This is Tesh’s first term on the Board.

Membership

Susanna Chau, Director, Investor Relations, Atara

Portrait

susanna_chau@outlook.com

Susanna serves as Director, Investor Relations at Atara Biotherapeutics. Prior to this, she held IR roles at Compugen (immuno-oncology), Coherus (biosimilars), Astex Pharmaceuticals and Exelixis (oncology) and Affymetrix (genomic testing). She practices three main tenets in IR: transparency, addressing perceived corporate shortfalls head-on, and setting investor expectations. Her war chest of experiences include: an activist challenge from a protégé of Carl Icahn; year one post-IPO; post-merger company name change and rebranding.

For NIRI SF and SV, she leads the Life Sciences Subgroup and the Mentorship Program. In the pastSusanna served on the 2015 and 2016 NIRI Annual Conference Committees, co-organizing a panel on short attacks, as well as a crisis management panel. Prior to IR, she held roles in life sciences marketing and as a bench scientist in agricultural biotechnology.Susanna holds a Bachelor of Science in Genetics and Plant Biology from University of California, Berkeley, and a minor in Business Administration from the Haas School of Business.

This is Susanna’s second term on the Board.

Elaine Gaudioso, Investor Relations Manager, Box

Portrait

egaudioso@outlook.com

Elaine is the Investor Relations Manager at Box. Prior to joining Box, she held IR roles at companies such as Nimble Storage, Cisco, and Juniper Networks. She began her career in recruiting at Business Objects (now SAP) before transitioning into investor relations.

Elaine has a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Development from California State University Hayward.

This is Elaine’s fifth term on the Board.

Programs

Ben Lu, Vice President Investor Relations and Head of Market Analytics, Logitech

Portrait

Ben Lu joined Logitech in May 2016 to transform its Investor Relations program. In addition to leading Logitech's Investor Relations program, Ben also heads up its Market Data Analytics team and is responsible for market forecasting and New Product Introduction (NPI) planning. Prior to joining Logitech, Ben spent nearly 20 years in both the buyside investment management and sell-side equity research industries.

Ben graduated from the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at NYU with a dual degree in Finance and Information Systems. Ben has been a CFA charterholder since 2000.

This is Ben's second term on the Board.

Vern Essi, Sr. Director of Investor Relations and Corporate Development, Inphi Corporation

Portrait

vernessi88@gmail.com

Vern joined Inphi in 2019 to lead its investor relations efforts and execute on its corporate development strategy. Prior to joining Inphi, Vern was Director of IR and Strategic Finance at Quantenna Communications where he architected its investor relations effort and supported its strategic initiatives as a newly public company. Previously, Vern was Vice President of Business Development at Exar, where he worked on various corporate development aspects and managed the investor relations efforts. Vern started his career as a sell-side equity research analyst and brings to his corporate functions over 20 years of technology research experience at a host of investment banks, most recently at Needham & Company.

Vern graduated from Babson College with a degree in Finance & Investments and holds both the Investor Relations Charter (IRC) and Chartered Market Technician (CMT) designations.

This is Vern’s first term on the Board.

Bill Choi, Vice President, Investor Relations, Zscaler

Portrait

bchoi@zscaler.com

Bill Choi is Vice President of Investor Relations at Zscaler, a leading cloud-based information security provider. Bill joined Zscaler in 2017 to prepare the company for its initial public offering and to establish its IR program. Prior to making the transition to investor relations, Bill spent over 20 years in sell-side equity research, including 10 years as a Managing Director covering networking, hardware, infrastructure software and cybersecurity industries. He has led these tech sector research as Senior Analyst at various sell-side firms including Jefferies, Janney, Merrill Lynch, and PaineWebber.

Bill graduated with honors from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, with a concentration in finance and management. Bill has been a CFA charterholder since 1999.

This is Bill’s first term on the Board.

Sponsorship

Sheila Ennis, Senior Vice President, Abernathy MacGregor

Portrait

SBE@abmac.com

Sheila Ennis joined Abernathy MacGregor in 2016 and is currently a Senior Vice President based in the firm's San Francisco office. Following more than 20 years of equity capital markets experience at technology-focused investment banks, Sheila spent three years focused on investor relations advisory assignments at ICR. She brings to Abernathy MacGregor extensive knowledge of corporate finance, reporting metrics selection, competitive positioning, fund targeting and strategic communications. Sheila began her two decades long capital markets career with Hambrecht & Quist, a pioneering tech-focused investment bank. During her fifteen years there and subsequently at boutique investment banks, she has participated in hundreds of IPOs and follow-on offerings and advised on dozens of M&A assignments both as the sell-side research analyst and as a senior banker.

Sheila received a B.A. in Law and Society from Brown University.

This is Sheila’s first term on the Board.

Spring Seminar

Mary Frances Turnbull, Managing Director and Head of Corporate Access, Raymond James

Portrait

Mary.Turnbull@RaymondJames.com

Mary serves as Managing Director and Head of Corporate Access at Raymond James with an emphasis on collaborating with Investor Relations professionals to develop strategies for investor outreach and targeting. In this role, Mary is also responsible for partnering with Capital Markets, Investment Banking and Research professionals to develop and source content for Raymond James hosted general and sector-specific conferences, summits, symposiums, non-deal roadshows, bespoke and industry experts. Prior to joining Raymond James, Mary served in various research, sales and management roles at serval sell-side investment banks; including Lehman Brothers, Deutsche Bank and Salomon Smith Barney. An active NIRI member, she previously served on the Annual Conference Committee and President of the Central Florida chapter. She is founder and co-chair of The Women in Capital Markets Symposium (WICM), an annual event devoted to advancing the professional development of women at Raymond James.

Mary received a BA in economics from Mount Holyoke College, and an MBA in finance from Fordham University.

This is Mary’s first term on the Board.

Peter Salkowski, Vice President, Investor Relations, Fortinet

Portrait

psalkowski@fortinet.com

Peter Salkowski has nearly 20 years of financial market experience, with a strong record of accomplishment as a sell-side equity research analyst and investor relations professional. Peter joined Fortinet in early 2018 as the company’s Vice President of Investor Relations and has been responsible for creating and communicating Fortinet’s investment thesis to investors. Prior to Fortinet, Peter was the head of investor relations for GoPro. Previously, Peter was a managing director at The Blueshirt Group, and the head of investor relations at DreamWorks Animation. Before becoming an investor relations professional in 2009, Peter was an Institutional Investor-rated equity research analyst at Goldman Sachs. Before working on Wall Street, Peter taught high school-level mathematics.

Peter is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin, where he earned an M.B.A. as well as M.S. and B.S. degrees.

This is Peter’s first term on the Board.

Jennifer Zibuda, Senior Manager, Investor Relations, Portola Pharmaceuticals

Portrait

jzibuda@portola.com

Jennifer Zibuda has been in investor relations and communications for over 10 years with experience on both the buy side and sell side. In 2018 she joined Portola Pharmaceuticals, a commercial stage bio-pharmaceutical company focused on the fields of thrombosis and other hematologic diseases, as Senior Manager of Investor Relations. Prior to joining Portola, Jennifer held Investor Relations positions at publicly traded companies, Alkermes and The Navigators Group, as well as Scottwood Capital Management, a hedge fund.

Jennifer hold a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Connecticut and a Master’s degree in Corporate Communications and Public Relations from Sacred Heart University.

This is Jennifer’s first term on the Board.

Treasurer

Kim Watkins, CFA, Vice President and Head of Investor Relations, Intuit

Portrait

kim_watkins@intuit.com

Kim Watkins is Vice President and Head of Investor Relations at Intuit, where she is the primary point of contact for the investment community. Prior to joining Intuit in September 2016, Kim led Investor Relations at Ruckus Wireless prior to Ruckus being acquired by Brocade. Before joining Ruckus, Kim spent 20 years in the financial services industry, including the last 18 years as a financial analyst. Most recently Kim worked at Citi where she was a Vice President and Analyst on the Communication Equipment & Data Networking equity research team, including lead coverage of Brocade, Polycom, and Riverbed. Prior to that she was a Vice President on the same team for 4 years at Morgan Stanley, where she worked on the Ruckus IPO in 2012, preceded by 9 years at JPMorgan, where Kim was also lead analyst on the RF/cabling Wireless Equipment names. Kim was a founding member of a team ranked #1 by Institutional Investor Magazine 12 times.

Kim holds an MBA from University of California Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, a BBA from University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

This is Kim's third term on the board.

Director at Large

Kate Scolnick, Vice President, Finance, Anaplan

Portrait

kate.scolnick@gmail.om

Kate is VP of Finance at Anaplan, a connected planning SaaS platform based in San Francisco. With over 20 years of corporate financial experience, Kate’s career concentration has been in the information technology sector, including executive finance and senior investor relations roles at EMC Corporation, McAfee, Intel and Seagate Technology. Institutional Investor Magazine named Kate to their All America Executive Team rankings of best investor relations professionals in the IT Hardware sector for 2013-2015.

Kate received her B.A. from Michigan State University.

This is Kate’s fifth term on the Board.

Copyright @ NIRI Silicon Valley. All Right Reserved
Powered By Q4 Inc. 5.24.1.3 (opens in new window)