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May 06, 2019

‘Be true to yourself’: Career advice from lifetime achievement winner

Sally Curley was presented with the lifetime achievement award at the IR Magazine Awards – US 2019 earlier this year

Sally Curley, founder and CEO of Curley Global IR, was in reflective mood when IR Magazine caught up with her on the red carpet at the US awards earlier this year.

Curley, who has more than 30 years of experience in investor relations, was just minutes away from being presented with the lifetime achievement award. When asked for advice for aspiring IR professionals, she said: ‘Be true to yourself. It’s a very difficult profession and often you can question yourself, especially earlier in your career. Trust your gut.’

 

 

Curley followed this up with three words that she felt were central to being an effective IR professional. ‘Honesty, integrity, tenacity,’ she said.

When Curley stepped down as the senior vice president of IR at Cardinal Health two years ago, she left corporate IR behind her to set up Curley Global IR. The goal was to connect the dots between investor relations, corporate governance and corporate sustainability on ESG, especially for small and mid-caps.

Curley has been surprised by what she’s found since starting this work. ‘I expected to mostly be dealing with investor relations. But I’d say 75 percent of our clients are ESG or corporate sustainability-related,’ she said.

Curley is a regular contributor to IR Magazine and sister publication Corporate Secretary. Click here to access an archive of her articles.

Click here to see the full video interview with Curley.

Ben Ashwell

Ben Ashwell was the editor at IR Magazine and Corporate Secretary, covering investor relations, governance, risk and compliance. Prior to this, he was the founder and editor of Executive Talent, the global quarterly magazine from the Association of...
Former editor
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