LINCOLN CHURCHILL ADVISORS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Consultant
- Consultant With
Albert Ragsdale is a Consultant with Lincoln Churchill Advisors, specializing in financial analysis and investor relations. He has over several years of experience working in the financial sector.
Prior to joining LCA, Mr. Ragsdale worked as an Analyst in Strategic Finance at Wayfair, where he followed key industry trends and developed detailed reports on metrics for multiple business units. Other prior experience includes working as a financial analyst at Putnam Investments, and in accounting at the Boston Beer Company.
Mr. Ragsdale received his BS in Business Administration from Northeastern University, with a focus in Finance and Entrepreneurship, along with a minor in Political Science.
Job Titles:
- Consultant
- Consultant With
Andy Galler is a Consultant with Lincoln Churchill Advisors based in Chicago. Mr. Galler has a background in financial services, communications, and politics.
Prior to joining LCA, Mr. Galler was an Investment Specialist at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch where he assisted clients with various investment and account needs and gained experience in the financial services industry. While at Merrill, he also earned a Securities Industries Essentials (SIE) certification.
Before that, Mr. Galler served as the Advancement and Communications Coordinator at Youth & Opportunity United (Y.O.U.), a nonprofit which runs afterschool programming for youth from grades 3-12. At Y.O.U., Mr. Galler had various communications and fundraising responsibilities, including managing social media accounts, internal and external communications, and working directly with the donor base and the Board of Directors.
Prior to Y.O.U., Mr. Galler worked on several political campaigns in Illinois and Colorado, including working on a tight governor's race. On these campaigns, Mr. Galler worked closely with volunteers, interns, and community members to gather broad support for these candidates.
Mr. Galler holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in American Culture from the University of Michigan.
Chris Malecek brings Lincoln Churchill Advisors more than 35 years of experience spanning a broad range of communications disciplines for diverse corporate and institutional clients. He spent most of his career with the Minneapolis office of international public relations firm Weber Shandwick, most recently serving as the executive vice president overseeing the office's corporate communications team.
At Weber Shandwick, Malecek's clients included major agribusiness, financial services, healthcare, air transport, real estate development and technology companies in the region. His work for these companies encompassed issues management and social responsibility campaigns, internal communications, strategic repositioning programs, thought leadership campaigns and financial community and stakeholder communications initiatives triggered by mergers, acquisitions, divestments, major restructurings and changes in executive leadership. Malecek served as the Minneapolis office's team lead for companies including Cargill, Syngenta Seeds North America, Children's Minnesota and Opus Group.
As an independent consultant, Malecek provided communications support to the sellers of a $3 billion family-owned business to a special purpose acquisition corporation and supported the in-house team at a global leader in water, hygiene and energy services with communications required by its divestment of a portion of its energy portfolio. He also developed the business case to support a new approach to destination development for a global travel company, created enterprise messaging for a behavioral healthcare startup and continues to provide speechwriting and ghostwriting services for executive-level leaders at businesses and institutions in the region.
Malecek was a long-time member of the National Investor Relations Institute and is a past president and board member of its Twin Cities chapter. He also served on the board of advisors for Aveus, a change management consultancy, and on the boards of directors at ThreeSixty Journalism, Open Book Minnesota and Milkweed Editions, one of the nation's leading nonprofit literary publishers, where he recently concluded his term as board chair.
Malecek holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Macalester College.
Joseph Langer is a Senior Consultant at Lincoln Churchill Advisors (LCA) and is based in the Chicago area. Mr. Langer is well versed in various communication strategies, including investor relations, crisis communications, content creation, and stakeholder engagement.
Prior to joining LCA, Mr. Langer spent 10 years working at various Public Relations and social media agencies, including Golin, Ketchum, and Edelman. Past clients include Walmart, Discover, LPL Financial, American Airlines, Nissan North America, and Unilever.
Mr. Langer received his BA from Penn State University where he studied International Politics and History. Mr. Langer also holds an MA in Political Strategy and Communications with a secondary specialization in International Political Economy from the University of Kent, UK.
Job Titles:
- Managing Director
- Managing Director With
Julie Baughman is a Managing Director with Lincoln Churchill Advisors and is based in Houston, TX. Ms. Baughman has approximately 13 years of energy industry experience, specializing in the upstream and midstream sectors predominantly in investor relations.
During her career, Ms. Baughman has developed and executed comprehensive strategies for investor targeting, outreach and communication that clearly articulated the corporate strategy and investment thesis to broaden and diversify the investor base. Her vast experience includes working on M&A transactions, initial public offerings, capital market transactions, shareholder activism and crisis communications.
Most recently, Ms. Baughman was the Director, Investor Relations of Rice Energy, a leading independent natural gas and crude oil E&P company, until the merger between Rice and EQT Corporation was completed in November 2017. In addition, Ms. Baughman was appointed to the role of Director, Investor Relations for Rice Midstream Partners LP (the "Partnership") commensurate with the Partnership's initial public offering in December 2014. During her tenure at Rice, Ms. Baughman was responsible for building and leading the Investor Relations function, which included developing and executing impactful marketing and communication strategies, proactively engaging the sell-side and actively participating in key financings and strategic transactions.
Prior to joining Rice, Ms. Baughman served as Manager, Investor Relations of Ultra Petroleum Corp. for six years. Ms. Baughman joined Ultra from Protiviti Inc., where she was a Senior Consultant with the Company, serving clients across various sectors of the energy industry. She is a member of the National Investor Relations Institute ("NIRI"), where she was elected to the NIRI Houston Board of Directors and served as the 2014 - 2016 Vice President, Sponsorship.
A native Houstonian, Ms. Baughman holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Baylor University with a double major in Finance and Entrepreneurship. She is an active member of the Junior League of Houston, Inc. and a 2018 - 2019 Board of Director and the Annual Fund Chairman.
Karla Kimrey is a Managing Director at Lincoln Churchill Advisors and is based in Denver, Colorado. She is an accomplished professional with over 20 years of experience in the finance and communications industries. Her background includes extensive investor relations experience, with in-depth knowledge of institutional investors, traders, public companies and financial markets. In 2015, Institutional Investor Magazine recognized her as one of the best IR professionals in North America.
Ms. Kimrey has worked across a wide range of industries - from computer software and hardware to mining, distribution and energy. She has extensive experience with the capital markets, including initial public and secondary offerings, debt transactions, and mergers and acquisitions. She has in-depth financial acumen and significant experience counseling C-suite executives. Throughout her career, Ms. Kimrey has developed and instituted proactive communication programs with the investment community - resulting in establishing and re-establishing corporate and executive management credibility.
Most recently, Ms. Kimrey was Vice President of Investor Relations for Cloud Peak Energy, where she established and managed a new investor relations department. While at Cloud Peak, she successfully managed communications to multiple stakeholders, particularly relating to the impact of increased regulations, environmental challenges and deteriorating end markets.
Before Cloud Peak, Ms. Kimrey was Vice President, Investor Relations at United Agri Products - the largest independent distributor of agricultural and non-crop products in the US and Canada - prior to its acquisition by Agrium. Before that, she was Vice President, Investor Relations at data storage company StorageTek, which was acquired by Sun Microsystems.
Ms. Kimrey received her Investor Relations Certification (IRC) from the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI) in June, 2016. She currently serves as a NIRI Director and serves on the Senior Roundtable, and she is a past President of the NIRI Rocky Mountain Chapter. She received her Bachelor of Science in Finance degree from the University of Colorado.
During his 27-year career, Larry Larsen has worked closely with approximately 150 senior leadership teams in various high-profile companies, helping them achieve their business objectives through strategic communications efforts both during the normal course of business and in times of crisis. Mr. Larsen has directed financial communications and executive visibility programs for Fortune 1000 companies, start-up ventures and partnerships in the financial services, consumer products, education, food retailing, healthcare, telecommunications, energy, real estate, professional services and technology industries.
An accomplished financial communications and corporate affairs counselor, he has in-depth experience with financial transactions and strategic corporate events, including quarterly earnings, mergers and acquisitions, non-deal roadshows, management successions, initial public offerings, litigation support, proxy contests spin-offs, carve outs, corporate financing arrangements and bankruptcies. He has served as the company spokesman and financial writer for myriad clients and has strong relationships with key print and broadcast journalists in major markets throughout the country.
Before joining Lincoln Churchill Advisors (LCA), Mr. Larsen lead the corporate communications group for the Chicago office of the international PR firm Golin. Prior to that, he led the crisis communications and special situations practice for the leading professional services PR firm Greentarget.
He spent seven years with Sard Verbinnen & Co, an international financial communications and issues management firm. Prior to that, he led the financial services practice in the Boston office of Weber Shandwick. He started his career working in increasing roles of responsibility for the investor relations practices of several international public relations firms.
Mr. Larsen earned an MBA in finance and marketing from Loyola University Chicago. He graduated with a B.A. in Classics from Bucknell University. During his previous career as a registered financial consultant, he obtained his Series 7 and Series 63 certifications. He served for many years on the board of directors, as well as chapter president from 2016 to 2017, for the Chicago chapter of the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI).
When not chauffeuring his children to their many activities, Mr. Larsen is active in his community. He is the chair of the board of directors for the DuPage Children's Museum in Naperville, Illinois. He is a regular fixture on the Home & School boards of his children's schools. And he also has worked with the Chicagoland Affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Foundation and for the CEOs Against Cancer program of the American Cancer Society.
Mr. Larsen loves to play golf and tennis. Now that his children are growing older and increasingly becoming more embarrassed by his mere presence, he hopes to dust off his racket and clubs. He is also an avid recreational runner, running two to four miles many mornings.
Nathan Elwell is a co-founder and partner of Lincoln Churchill Advisors and specializes in guiding the strategic direction of his clients' communications programs. He has extensive experience helping clients successfully address critical events such as: strategic transformations, positioning and messaging projects, crisis preparedness and issues management, mergers & acquisitions, IPOs and other equity offerings, shareholder activism, executive management changes, market intelligence counsel, and designing and implementing best-practice investor relations programs.
During his more than 17-year communications career, Mr. Elwell has advised more than 50 clients across a variety of industries, including: consumer & retail, healthcare & life sciences, industrial, and technology & telecom. Mr. Elwell has also acted as an outsourced investor relations officer for several clients. Prior to founding Lincoln Churchill Advisors, Mr. Elwell was the President of Waveney Communications Consulting.
From 2007 until 2015, Mr. Elwell was part of the Strategic Communications practice of FTI Consulting. Mr. Elwell joined FTI as a Senior Vice President (SVP) and was promoted twice, first to General Manager of the firm's Chicago office and then to Managing Director. During his time at FTI, he focused on developing and executing comprehensive communications strategies for clients in a variety of industries ranging in size from micro- to mega-cap.
Prior to joining FTI Consulting, Mr. Elwell was an SVP at Ashton Partners, a leading communications firm specializing in investor relations. Mr. Elwell joined the boutique firm in 1999 and was an integral part of its growth to become one of the largest independent investor relations consulting firms in North America.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Elwell was a research executive with Dudley Training & Enterprise Council (TEC) in Great Britain, where he was the main source for local economic information and produced labor market research projects. Mr. Elwell graduated with honors from The University of East Anglia, Norwich, Great Britain with a B.A in Economics and a minor in Economic History.
Patrick Van de Wille is of counsel to Lincoln Churchill Advisors, bringing more than three decades of global experience in journalism, media relations, corporate communications, investor relations and corporate marketing.
Mr. Van de Wille has advised clients in North America, Europe and Asia, including significant experience with Chinese companies, and in industries as diverse as technology, financial services and trading, mining and others. He brings expertise both in building long-term programs and managing opportunities and crises driven by litigation, proxy challenges, government and regulatory issues, and other situations. A particular expertise is understanding how new data-driven automation tools can be used to drive heightened visibility, better stakeholder perception and engagement, improved program measurement, and better valuation.
Building on a ten-year career in journalism and broadcasting, in both French and English, with leading media brands like The Globe and Mail and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Mr. Van de Wille transitioned to a 15-year consulting career with top firms including Text 100 (then the world's largest tech communications specialist firm), Ketchum, and FTI Consulting, where he was a Senior Vice President.
Moving in-house, Mr. Van de Wille led communications for InterDigital, where his role as Chief Communications Officer had him oversee all corporate marketing, corporate communications and investor relations. That role included guiding the company through multiple litigation-driven situations, leading and then collaborating to strengthen the company's public affairs presence in Washington and Brussels. He built a best-in-class corporate marketing program that drove hundreds of feature articles, multiple awards, and a leading thought leadership presence for the company in the wireless R&D industry. In investor relations, under Mr. Van de Wille's leadership, the company successfully transitioned from a special situations to a tech investor base, managed various proxy issues, launched a best-in-class ESG effort, and saw its enterprise value more than triple.
Scarlett Lee Foster is a managing director at Lincoln Churchill Advisors and is based in St. Louis, Missouri. With more than 35 years of experience in investor relations, communications and public policy, Scarlett is valued for her ability to develop strategies that counsel and guide senior managements through periods of rapid growth and crisis mitigation, while protecting and enhancing corporate valuation and reputation. She is experienced in providing counsel to senior management on investor issues, and coaching C-suite executives to maximize the effectiveness of their investor interactions.
As a corporate officer and vice president of investor relations for the former Monsanto Company (now Bayer), Scarlett was an integral member of the corporate management team that transformed this agricultural company from its inception to a global leader in cutting-edge agricultural technologies.; She was recognized within the company and with investors and analysts for her integrity, strategic thinking and extensive business acumen. During her tenure, Scarlett was named by Institutional Investor magazine as the top investor relations professional and Monsanto as the most shareowner friendly company in its industry class.
Following her early retirement in 2009 after 27 years with Monsanto, Scarlett created SLF Consulting, LLC in response to requests for her counsel on investor relations strategies. She has served as a consultant on issues ranging from the preparation for initial public offerings and private investments in public equities to the rebuilding of the reputations of undervalued equities.
Scarlett is a graduate of Bethany College, and a trustee emeritus of the college. She is the founder and sponsor of the Ann Wilkin Trombadore Women and Leadership Weekend, dedicated to enhancing the leadership skills of Bethany's female students. She also holds an executive MBA from Washington University in St. Louis.