The Boston Chapter of the National Investor Relations Institute Announces its Board of Directors

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

The Boston Chapter of the National Investor Relations Institute, NIRI Boston, has announced its Board of Directors for the 2011-2012 term as follows:

Officers:
President – Jeremiah Sisitsky, Constant Contact
President Elect - Martha Schaefer, SeaChange International
Treasurer – Kristian Talvitie, PTC
Secretary – Jeanne Hess, Boston Private Financial Holdings

Committee Chairs and Directors:
Programming – Meredith Kaya, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and
Matthew Osborne, Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated

Communications – Michelle Vidoli, Cubist Pharmaceuticals

Membership - Aurora Krause, Synta Pharmaceuticals Corp. and
Michael McCarthy, Ambient Corporation

Sponsorship - Carlynn Finn, Reit Management & Research

Past President – Alexia Taxiarchos, Hasbro

New Board Members:
Katie Keita, EMC Corporation
Mark Namaroff, Analogic Corporation

“NIRI Boston is one of the largest and oldest of the local chapters of the National Investor Relations Institute,” said NIRI Boston President Jeremiah Sisitsky. “The board continues to focus on providing our membership the best in timely and relevant educational programming that helps develop the knowledge and skills to enhance the careers of our approximately 200 members. I have benefited a great deal from my 10 years of membership in the NIRI Boston chapter, and I am proud to lead this diverse and dedicated board of directors as we enter the 2011 – 2012 programming year. Together, I am confident that we will build on our award-winning chapter history and continue to provide great educational and networking opportunities to our membership.

“We look forward to hosting our kick-off event with Lawrence Leibowitz, Chief Operating Officer, NYSE Euronext as he provides a state of the market update on September 20^th in Boston. For additional information on this event and/or the NIRI Boston chapter, please visit: www.niriboston.org.”

About NIRI Boston Officers & Directors:

Jeremiah Sisitsky (President)

Jeremiah is Director of Investor Relations and Internal Communications at Constant Contact (NASDAQ: CTCT), a trusted marketing advisor to small business providing affordable, easy-to-use Engagement Marketing tools that help create and grow customer relationships. He joined Constant Contact in February 2008, shortly after its IPO, and established the first in-house investor relations function for the company. In this role he leads all aspects of investor relations for the company including developing strategy, shareholder targeting and managing all financial and investor communications. He is also responsible for building out and leading the first internal communications function, driving engagement with the company's 800 plus employees in 5 office locations across the U.S.

Prior to joining Constant Contact, he managed the investor relations efforts for RSA Security, a software security company, until its acquisition by EMC for $2.3 billion. During his tenure at RSA Security, Mr. Sisitsky directed all aspects of the company's investor relations efforts and successfully helped lead the company's investor communications through two acquisitions, a stock option investigation and ultimately, the sale of the company. He started his career on an equity capital markets desk, where he helped originate and execute equity and equity hybrid offerings. He has also worked for several public small-cap and micro-cap software companies in various strategic planning, financial planning and analysis and investor relations roles.

Mr. Sisitsky received his undergraduate degree in business, with an emphasis on finance and a minor in economics, from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and a master's degree in business administration from Boston University.

Martha Schaefer (President-Elect) is an industry veteran with over 30 years of experience. She has served as the Director of Investor Relations at SeaChange Intl. (NASDAQ: SEAC) for the past 12 years. The 1,000+-employee company is the premiere provider of digital video systems and software for the world's largest media companies including Disney ABC, Comcast and Liberty Global. Martha is responsible for all aspects of strategic investor communication including a successful secondary offering, testifying on behalf of the company in litigation regarding defamation, securing invitations to open and close the NASDAQ and overseeing all aspects of the Company's financial reporting.

Prior to joining SeaChange, Martha was a principal in Stone Croft Communications for 6 years, specializing in Public and Investor Relations. She advised clients such as ON Technology, Student Advantage, Sapient Corporation, Wellfleet/Bay Networks, and Xylogics. Previously, she held several senior positions in Corporate Communications with private software and networking companies.

Kristian Talvitie (Treasurer) is Vice President, Corporate Communications at PTC (NASDAQ: PMTC) which provides discrete manufacturers with software and services to meet the globalization, time-to-market and operational efficiency objectives of product development. In this role, he is responsible for the company's global investor relations, public relations and industry analyst relations. He also has significant agency and in-house investor and corporate communications experience in addition to senior marketing and business development positions in the tech industry.

Kristian attended Boston University (Brussels) where he earned his master of science in management. He received his bachelor's in social psychology with minors in economics and philosophy from Allegheny College.

Jeanne Hess (Secretary)

Jeanne is Assistant Vice President, Investor Relations at Boston Private Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: BPFH). Boston Private owns a number of Wealth Management and Private Banking affiliates in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle. The Company has a $6 billion Private Banking balance sheet, and manages over $20 billion of client assets.

At Boston Private, Jeanne is responsible for setting and executing the company's investor relations strategy together with senior management. In her role, she serves as the primary contact for the investment community, develops corporate messaging for presentations, press releases, and financial results conference calls, and monitors relative share price performance and valuation. Before joining Boston Private in 2006, she worked in the Brand Management and Corporate Communications Department at John Hancock Financial Services, Inc.

Jeanne holds a BA in Journalism from Northeastern University. She is a MBA candidate at the Simmons School of Management.

Meredith Kaya (Co-Chair, Programming)

Meredith Kaya is Senior Manager, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications at Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ALNY), a leading biopharmaceutical company developing therapeutics based on a biological breakthrough in drug development known as RNA interference, or RNAi. At Alnylam, Meredith is responsible for the development and implementation of several initiatives in support of the investor relations, corporate communications, and public relations programs. Meredith also helps drive strategies for utilizing new communications tools to optimize interaction with the investment community, such as roundtable and panel events, webinars, and social media. She joined Alnylam in 2007, after spending the previous four years in a growing investor relations and corporate communications capacity at Alseres Pharmaceuticals.

Meredith holds an MBA from the F. W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College, and a BA in Marketing from Michigan State University.

Matthew Osborne (Co-Chair, Programming) is Director of Investor Relations at Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VRTX) and member of a team voted #1 and #2 in 2010 and 2009 by Institutional Investor for investor relations in the biotechnology industry. Matthew's background in the healthcare industry includes more than 13 years of Wall Street investment, industry and corporate communications expertise.

Before joining Vertex, Matthew was a sell-side analyst at Lazard Capital Markets, Collins Stewart, and Leerink Swann covering biotechnology stocks, where he successfully launched several biotech IP0s, helped raise more than $1B in equity financing, and analyzed the launches of several blockbuster drugs. His research included featured articles in The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, and industry publications such as In Vivo.

Prior to joining Wall Street, Matthew was a senior research analyst at Boston Biomedical Consultants, where he provided consulting services to the in vitro diagnostic, biotechnology, and biomedical industries and served in sales and marketing for Genzyme Corporation.

Matthew received a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Syracuse University and a Master of Business Administration from Northeastern University.

Michelle Vidoli (Chair, Communications) is Senior Manager, Corporate Communications at Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBST), a biopharmaceutical company focused on the research, development, and commercialization of pharmaceutical products that address unmet medical needs in the acute care environment.

Her responsibilities include managing strategic corporate communications, messaging, department budget, and vendor relationships. She is responsible for designing and managing the company's corporate website, company sponsored micro-sites, as well as the corporate identity and branding, and creation of branded collateral. Michelle also supports efforts to optimize Cubist's internal communication intranet and utilization of new communications tools to optimize interaction with internal and external audiences, such as videos, and social media.

Michelle joined Cubist in 2002 after spending more than five years at North American Funds, where she was a Marketing Manager responsible for the management and execution of their communication projects and coordination of the North American fund launches, lead generation programs, and multi-media platforms.

Michelle graduated with a B.S. degree from Salem State College in 1991.

Aurora Krause (Co-Chair, Membership) is Investor Relations Manager at Synta Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: SNTA), a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing, and commercializing small molecule drugs to treat severe medical conditions. At Synta, Aurora supports the development and execution of the investor relations, corporate communications and branding strategy for the company.

Prior to joining Synta in 2007, Aurora was an Associate at Sharon Merrill Associates, a nationally recognized investor relations and corporate communications strategic advisory firm. Previously Aurora held account management positions at Babson Capital Management and State Street Corporation.

Aurora holds a master of science degree in Corporate Public Relations from Boston University College of Communication, and a bachelor of arts degree in Psychology from Mount Holyoke College.

Mike McCarthy (Co-Chair, Membership) is Director of Investor Relations and Government Affairs at Ambient Corporation (NASDAQ: AMBT). As the Company's first Investor Relations Officer, his primary responsibility was to establish an IR function and to identify suitable analyst coverage and cultivate the interest among institutional investors. In the Government Affairs arena, his focus has been on state level regulatory activities to establish Ambient as an “expert source” of information to aid regulators develop, implement and amend policy.

Before joining Ambient, Mike served as the Director of Corporate Communications, Investor Relations and Government Affairs for Evergreen Solar, Inc. While at Evergreen Mike was assigned full responsibility for all communications functions including marketing communications and public relations.

Prior to Evergreen Solar, Inc., Mike served as the chief communications executive at Brooks Automation and as a corporate officer and member of the Photronics senior management team where Mike established all the Company's corporate communications functions.

Mike is a graduate of Michigan State University where he holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Public Affairs Management.

Carlynn Finn (Chair, Sponsorship) is a Manager of Investor Relations at Reit Management and Research, or RMR. RMR manages four publicly traded Real Estate Investment Trusts: Senior Housing Properties Trust (NYSE: SNH), Hospitality Properties Trust (NYSE: HPT), CommonWealth Reit (NYSE: CWH), and Government Properties Income Trust, (NYSE: GOV); two Operating Companies: Five Star Quality Care (NYSE Amex: FVE) and TravelCenters of America (NYSE Amex: TA) and a group of close-end mutual funds: RMR Real Estate Income Fund (NYSE Amex: RIF) and RMR Asia Pacific Real Estate Fund (NYSE Amex: RAP). Carlynn joined RMR in 2007 and manages all aspects of investor relations efforts for the companies under the RMR umbrella. Prior to joining RMR, Carlynn worked on the buy side at Fidelity Investments.

Carlynn served on the NIRI National Conference Planning Committee for the 2009 and 2010 Annual Conferences.

Carlynn holds a B.A from Syracuse University in Psychology and Communications.

Katie Keita is Senior Manager, Global Investor Relations at EMC Corporation: a global leader in enabling businesses and service providers to transform their operations and deliver IT as a service (NYSE: EMC). Since joining EMC in 2006, Katie has focused on incorporating new ways to add value to EMC's relationships with institutional investors and buy- and sell-side analysts and also specializes in ESG investor-related projects. Katie also oversees EMC's interaction with investors focused on environmental, social and governmental issues.

Katie joined EMC in May of 2006 after working for two years in microfinance and small business development in Senegal. Prior to serving in West Africa, Katie spent five years as a Director of Corporate Relations at CBIZ (NYSE:CBIZ), a business services company based in Cleveland, Ohio. Katie's career in Investor Relations commenced in 1997 at SM Berger & Company, a boutique IR firm specializing in small and mid-cap issuers.

Katie holds an MBA and a Bachelor's degree in English from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.

Mark Namaroff is the Director of Investor Relations and Corporate Marketing for Analogic Corporation (NASDAQ: ALOG). Mark joined Analogic in July 2008 as Director of Strategic Marketing and was quickly promoted to Director of IR and Corporate Marketing in January of 2009. Prior to Analogic, Mark spent eleven years at Axcelis Technologies where he was most recently Senior Vice President of Marketing responsible for all global product marketing acitivities. At Axcelis, Mark also led Investor Relations for four years right after Axcelis' IPO in 2001 as well as held positions in strategic planning, business development and product marketing. Before Axcelis, he also held various positions in product marketing, product applications, process engineering and materials engineering with various semiconductor equipment companies.

Mark received his MBA from Boston University as part of their Executive MBA Program in 2000. He also holds a MS degree in Materials Science and BE degree in Engineering Science from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Alexia Taxiarchos (Past President) Alexia Taxiarchos is Investor Relations Manager at Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE: HAS), a worldwide leader in children's and family leisure time products and services with a rich portfolio of brands and entertainment properties that provides some of the highest quality and most recognizable play and recreational experiences in the world. In this role, she manages the company's interaction with the investment community and supports the execution of the company's IR strategy.

Before joining Hasbro she was a Senior Associate at Sharon Merrill Associates, a nationally recognized investor relations and corporate communications strategic advisory firm. Prior to joining Sharon Merrill Associates, Alexia was research and reporting manager at TIM Hellas Telecommunications S.A., in Athens, Greece.

Alexia holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and International Relations from Boston College and a Master of Arts degree in International Relations from Boston University.

About NIRI Boston

Established in 1970, the Boston Chapter of the National Investor Relations Institute, NIRI Boston, is one of the largest and oldest chapters of NIRI, a professional association of investor relations practitioners, corporate officers and consultants responsible for strategic communication among corporate management, the investing public and the financial community. The hundreds of members of NIRI Boston represent public and private companies throughout the Boston area and across New England in all major industrial markets and on all major stock exchanges.

Celebrating its 40th year in 2010, NIRI Boston has a long and distinguished history, setting the standard for other NIRI chapters nationwide. NIRI Boston has been the recipient of numerous Chapter Awards from NIRI National recognizing NIRI Boston's programming and membership initiatives. A significant number of NIRI National Board Members, as well as several previous NIRI National Chairpersons, have been elected from the ranks of NIRI Boston membership.

To learn more, please visit www.niriboston.org/.