Team
The Capital C Partners team draws from a broad range of communications experience, spanning a variety of sectors and disciplines. In addition to in-house corporate experience gained from senior communications roles or on-site secondment projects, every member of our team brings valuable knowledge and perspective from their career prior to becoming a communications professional, including roles in the securities industry, journalism, finance, public affairs and management consultancy. This mix of business and communications experience allows us to provide insightful and pragmatic counsel based on a true understanding of how best to manage the issues and challenges businesses face.
Capital C Partners is one team. We collaborate to deliver the very best results for our clients. It’s a tightly-knit and highly effective team, one that was borne of a desire to work together based on prior successful collaborations in different environments over a number of years.
At Capital C Partners, there’s only one P&L and a simple, flat team structure. Our focus is entirely on how we can deliver value. By generating results that make a difference to those with whom we work, we aim to earn their respect and become a true business partner.
Ian Bailey
Managing PartnerOne of the three founding partners of Capital C Partners, Ian Bailey is a highly experienced communications professional specializing in financial and corporate communications and investor relations, with more than 19 years of finance and communications experience from Europe and North America.
Ian has extensive experience of all aspects of financial and corporate communications, particularly in the areas of communications strategy, corporate positioning, media and investor relations and crisis communications. Working in senior roles with leading agencies in London, Chicago, San Francisco and New York, Ian’s experience encompasses a variety of sectors, with a particular emphasis on technology, financial services and life sciences.
His technology and telecommunications clients have included Cognizant Technology Solutions, DoubleClick, eMusic, Endace, iPCS, Micro Focus, MEMC and Vimpelcom and he has managed IPO communications for clients in both the UK and US. His financial services sector clients have included Aozora Financial, Integrated Asset Management, PSource Capital and SecondMarket. His experience in the life sciences sector started in 1996 when he managed financial communications in support of PPL Therapeutics’ (the creators of Dolly the Cloned Sheep’) 1996 IPO on the London Stock Exchange and since then he was worked with Biovex, Corixa, Digene, Millipore and Stem Cell Sciences.
Ian was previously Executive Vice President and Managing Director with Weber Shandwick. From November 2005 he led its UK Financial Practice based in London before returning to New York in mid-2008 to lead its US Financial Communications and its New York Financial Services Marketing Practice. Prior to Weber Shandwick, he was head of FD’s (formerly Financial Dynamics) US technology and telecommunications practice and a member of its US board of directors, participating in its 2003 MBO. Before joining FD, he established technology and healthcare PR specialist FitzGerald Communications' San Francisco-based West Coast financial communications and investor relations practice. He then moved to New York to co-launch the firm's crisis communications and special situations practice, working with clients undergoing M&A activities, asset divestiture programs and corporate restructuring and Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganizations.
Ian has also worked in London with FD, as well as Square Mile Communications, before its acquisition and subsequent re-branding as Weber Shandwick Financial. Prior to the world of public and investor relations, Ian was an Associate with Price Waterhouse (now PriceWaterhouseCoopers) in its corporate recovery and insolvency practice.
Ian is a graduate of King’s College, University of London and qualified as a Registered Representative of the Financial Services Authority.
Billy Kenny
PartnerOne of the three founding partners of Capital C Partners, Billy Kenny is a seasoned financial and corporate communication strategist with more than 20 years of experience counseling a wide range of companies and organizations, from globally recognized brands to privately financed start-up firms.
Billy has advised these companies on a wide range of issues including financial communications and media relations, corporate positioning, crisis communications, executive visibility, internal communications and thought leadership. He has sector experience in the financial services, technology, media, sports and entertainment industries and his clients have included Allied-Barton Security, AOL, Citigroup, CIT Group, Discover Financial Services, Honeywell, MasterCard and the Securities Industry Association.
Before co-founding Capital C Partners, Billy was Senior Vice President and Management Supervisor at Weber Shandwick, where he managed the MasterCard account, one of the firm's top five global accounts. In this capacity he served as the firm's lead counsel for MasterCard's 2006 IPO, the second largest in the US at the time, and helped develop the company’s award-winning corporate communications and media relations strategy for its public offering.
In addition to his work with MasterCard, Billy managed the CIT Group account, and as agency of record for the company, he developed the firm's strategic communications plan and advised them on a wide range of issues including crisis communications, thought leadership and corporate responsibility. He also managed Honeywell’s Nobel Laureate Lecture Series, a global campaign where the company brought Nobel winners in physics and chemistry to university campuses around the word as a way to promote careers in those fields and the Honeywell brand. The initiative recently won PR Week’s 2008 Global Campaign of the year and the 2008 Gold Sabre award for Best Multi-Country program.
Prior to Weber Shandwick, Billy spent six years at Robinson Lerer & Montgomery and worked with a number of financial clients including Morgan Stanley and Discover Financial Services. He advised Cendant during its reorganization into four separate companies and in 2004 helped the Securities Industry Association develop a new corporate positioning platform. He also helped manage the AOL account, the firm’s largest client at that time and counseled the company on a wide range of issues including financial communications, media relations, thought leadership and brand management.
After graduating from the University of Vermont, Billy began his career in Washington DC as a Legislative Assistant for US Senator James M. Jeffords has held a variety of other public relations and strategic communications positions during his career.
Michael Polyviou
PartnerOne of the three founding partners of Capital C Partners, Michael Polyviou is an experienced capital markets communications practitioner with more than 19 years of experience as a communications counselor and Wall Street professional.
Michael is an expert in advising both international and domestic clients how best to leverage their investment proposition to key market influencers in the US capital markets. Combining deep industry expertise, market insight and communications experience he is able to guide clients through every aspect of communicating with the investment community, including corporate restructuring, management transitions, M&A transactions and initial public offerings for companies such as Alliance Data Systems, China Sunergy and EXL Service.
Michael’s sector experience is particularly strong in technology, telecommunications and financial services. His technology and telecommunications clients have included L-1 Identity Solutions, MEMC, Rudolph Technologies, SkillSoft, STMicroelectronics and VimpelCom. Michael’s work in the financial services sector includes companies such as Dime Community Bancshares, LaBranche & Co., and Sterling Bancshares.
Prior to Capital C Partners, Michael was a Senior Vice President at FD (formerly Financial Dynamics). Joining the firm’s US predecessor Morgen-Walke Associates in 1999, Michael became a senior member of the US technology and telecommunications team and in 2003 he was part of the management team that executed a $42m management buyout from the firm’s parent company, a global advertising group. Michael was also a member of the management shareholder group when FD was acquired in 2006 by FTI Consulting, a NYSE-listed global business advisory firm.
Prior to FD, Michael spent six years at the boutique investor relations firm of Porter LeVay & Rose, specializing in smallcap, growth-oriented companies, and working across multiple sectors, including leisure, healthcare and industrials. He began his professional career on Wall Street in equity sales with Lehman Brothers.
Michael is a graduate of Ramapo College with a B.A. in Political Science and has passed his series 7 and 63 securities exams.
Matt Dallas
PrincipalMatt Dallas is a specialist in financial communications and investor relations. Having started his career as a financial journalist with roles at Bloomberg News, MarketWatch and ABC News, he has more than 15 years of business and communications experience and knowledge.
Matt has extensive experience working with both U.S. domestic and internationally-listed companies across several sectors, with strength in healthcare, technology, financial services and alternative energy. Matt has managed communications for numerous IPO listings and M&A transactions, including Babcock & Brown Air’s $430mn NYSE listing, Genworth Financial's $2.8bn NYSE listing and Alcon's $9.3bn NYSE listing, as well as Shire Pharmaceuticals' contested $1.6bn acquisition of Transkaryotic Therapies. In the financial services space his clients have included Andor Capital Management, AXA Financial, CIT Group and Third Avenue Management. In the healthcare sector Matt has worked with Amersham, Charles River Laboratories, Elan, GE Healthcare and Inveresk Research. In the technology sector, he has worked with Bookham Technology, ParthusCeva and Dassault Systémes.
For the past three years, Matt has served as the North American Director of Communications and Investor Relations at Babcock & Brown, an international asset management firm. Babcock & Brown, a global presence in infrastructure, wind energy, real estate and rail car and aircraft leasing, had 12 listed equity funds at its peak, including Babcock & Brown Air (NYSE: FLY), a world leader in aircraft leasing.
Prior to Babcock & Brown, Matt was a Vice President at FD (formerly Financial Dynamics). He joined the firm's New York office in 2000 and in 2006 relocated to San Francisco to help lead development of the firm's West Coast operations.
Matt received a Master's in Business & Economic Reporting from New York University's Stern School of Business and he also holds a Bachelor's degree from New York University.
Bob Joyce
PrincipalBob Joyce is an accomplished communications professional with a career spanning more than 18 years in the communications and securities industries.
Bob has held senior positions at market-leading communications consultancies driving communications strategy and providing counsel in the areas of investor relations, financial and corporate communications, internal communications, corporate messaging, corporate restructuring and issues management. He has worked with US and multinational companies across multiple sectors including business services, technology, industrials and healthcare. Client engagements have included Biovex, Checkpoint Systems, EMCOR Group, FTI Consulting, ModusLink Global Solutions, MSC Industrial Direct and NEI.
Bob was previously a Senior Vice President at FD (formerly Financial Dynamics), joining the firm in 2004 and becoming head of the firm’s Boston office in 2005. Prior to joining FD, Bob was Vice President at FitzGerald Communications, a technology and healthcare PR specialist. Bob was head of FitzGerald’s investor relations practice, leading the firm’s capabilities in all aspects of financial communications and investor relations including M&A, fundraising activities including IPO preparation and special situations such as management changes and corporate restructuring.
Before becoming a communications professional, Bob worked in the securities industry as an investment advisor for Cantella & Company, as well as a division of American Express, holding series 7 and 63 licenses.
Bob holds a B.S. in Business Management from Bridgewater State College. He is a member of the board of directors for the Boston Chapter of the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI) and its current president.
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