EXPERTISE, NOT OVERHEAD:
Collectively, the initial IR Dream Team members have over 115 years of senior-level experience in the securities and investor relations fields. Team members have advised and helped over 200 publicly traded companies present their stories to Wall Street and Main Street. Clients have ranged from Fortune 500 companies to microcap emerging-growth companies.
We feel there is a need for a team of independent experts, each with a strong specialty, who can provide microcap companies with exactly the expertise they need at the time they need it. The small company can avoid the in-house overhead of maintaining an IR employee. The IR Dream Team is constructed so that very little overhead is allocated to new clients. This allows some of the nation's top IR experts to work for a very select group of exceptional companies at a rate that is extremely competetive.
An important part of our strategy is to accept only exceptional client companies, those which are profitable or have a clear path to profitability. Potential clients must have a strong balance sheet or an ability and a plan to raise additional capital in the very near future. Companies that are currently trading on the OTCBB market must have the ability to become listed on the NASDAQ Small Cap, NASDAQ, AMEX, or NYSE exchanges within 3 years. By accepting only truly exceptional companies as clients, the IR Dream Team has an extraordinary degree of credibility when presenting clients to brokers, analysts and portfolio managers.
Alan Handly received a BS in business with major in accounting from the University of Kansas (top 2%). After graduation he worked as an auditor for a major CPA firm. Next he accumulated 15 years of sales management experience with NYSE investment banking firms. Subsequently he spent six years as a director of investor relations for public companies on the NYSE and NASDAQ. Two of these companies were in the oil and gas field and one was a manufacturer of medical devices. During this time, Mr. Handly won several awards for annual reports. He also created investor presentations for the companies and presented them in all major U. S. financial centers as well as the UK and France.
Alan founded National Corporate Services, Inc. (NCS) in 1983 to provide support services to investor relations professionals. Since their introduction in 1984, the "Fastest-Growing Companies" investor relations programs received wide acclaim from leading Wall Street and public relations executives. Twice yearly since 1983, WSC has sponsored its investor relations programs highlighting outstanding companies in some of the nation's leading financial publications as well as at Wall-Street.com. NYSE, AMEX and NASDAQ National companies are screened, using data provided by leading financial databases, to determine the top growth companies eligible to participate in the exclusive program. This exclusive investor relations program also includes direct mailings and powerful Internet exposure.
Some of the better known companies that have participated in NCS programs over the years are: AMBAC Financial, Amgen, Applied Materials, Biogen, The Cooper Companies, Genentec, Medtronic, MGIC, Motorola, Raymond James Financial and Rent-A-Center.
In 1993 the company established one of the very first Web servers providing investment information to millions of online investors, "Wall-Street.com", Alan trademarked the name and changed the company logo to the "WSC" which now appears on correspondence and web pages. After years of answering general investor relations questions, Alan created IR101.com to aid his friends and clients.
In 1998 Alan launched the MicrocapLeaders.com Website dedicated to microcap research and the "Microcap Leaders" program was launched in 2003. It was an immediate hit, proving to be a very effective way for exceptional (top 15%) microcap companies to gain substantial recognition from investors through print ads in "Barrons" and by being featured at MicrocapLeaders.com.
John Lefebvre – Dream Team MemberMr. Lefebvre has been active in investor relations since 1986 and has been involved in the Securities industry since 1978. Mr. Lefebvre coauthored THE book on microcap IR, "Investor Relations for the Emerging Company" published in 2002 by Wiley Finance. He also co-authored Chapter 10 in "The Handbook of Alternative Investments", published in 2002 by Wiley Finance, and Chapter 13 in the widely acclaimed 2004 Bloomberg Press book titled "The New Investor Relations -- Expert Perspectives on the State of the Art". Most of the top IR experts in America contributed chapters to the Bloomberg book. Mr. Lefebvre began his career in the securities industry in 1978 at Merrill Lynch as an account executive. From 1981 until 1986, Mr. Lefebvre was with Thompson McKinnon Securities where he served as a retail account executive, life insurance coordinator and screened business plans for the various investment banking departments. In 1976, he bought a distressed light-manufacturing business and turned it around by increasing sales 250% and eventually selling it for 21 times his purchase price after only 18 months!
In 1986 Mr. Lefebvre founded the investor relations firm called Shareholder Relations. From that date on, his firm has served as IR counsel to over 50 publicly traded companies ranging across 20 industries.
Mr. Lefebvre holds a BS degree in Business Administration with a specialization in Marketing from the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colorado - 1976.
Steve Dryer – Director of Broker RelationsMr. Dryer spent many years as a highly successful stockbroker and was a principal at a broker/dealer. Since leaving the securities business, Mr. Dryer has applied his knowledge of the investment community to serving as the broker relations executive for an investor relations firm. In this position he contacted thousands of brokers to generate interest in the stock of the firm’s most exciting IR clients. (Many of the companies were microcaps traded on the OTCBB). While making these calls, he cultivated relationships with about 7,000 brokers that will listen to new investment ideas from outside their firms. Of these, approximately 2,000 are willing to consider OTCBB stocks. Steve is one of two or three people in America that really know how to reach the majority of brokers that will listen to low-priced microcap ideas. He actually loves to call brokers with an exciting story.
Paul Savageau – Investor Relations
Mr. Savageau presently serves as President of Savageau and Associates, a full-service investor relations firm. He has an MBA degree with an emphasis on finance and accounting. He has written articles for the Bond Buyer and for the Congressional Record. He has been a consultant to Altair Nanotechnologies, Inc., Greenwich Associates, Oleum Tech Corporation and other small-cap firms. Formerly Mr. Savageau was a broker with Morgan Stanley and for 10 years served as a Senior Analyst with Fitch Investors Service. He has been CFO of a major non-profit institution. Mr. Savageau has provided many companies with financial advice and has helped to arrange financing through his established relationships in the U. S., Europe and Japan.
Margaret Jones – Print & Web Publishing and Research
Ms. Jones has been in print publishing since 1971 and Web design since 1993. As executive director of professional associations, she edited technical publications, some of which are today being sold via Ebay. She organized local and national conventions, compiled industry financial data, helped develop US government career information and participated in ANSI committees. In 1984, Ms. Jones joined National Corporate Services. Here, she developed the Wall-Street.com Website in 1993, later launching the Microcap Leaders and IR101 Websites. In addition she designs WSCs databases, compiles financials from major databases and screens to find exceptional stocks. Previously she taught French and English. She speaks French German and Spanish.