Founded in 2009, CORE IR (formerly Cor Prominence) provides Investor Relations, Capital Markets Advisory, Corporate Communications and Public Relations services for small to mid-sized companies. Our team of 20 has more than 350 years of combined buy-side, sell-side, investment banking/services and IR consulting and strategic communications experience. We execute a process tailored to the unique circumstances and requirements of each of our clients.
Clients experience the CORE IR difference as we validate the most effective capital formation, investor growth and market exposure results through an extensive relationships development and integrated communications program. We provide incomparable introductions to our proprietary, long-term relationships with Investment Bankers, Retail Broker-Dealers, Buy and Sell-Side Institutions, Portfolio and Fund Managers, Family Offices and Analysts. Our shareholder and corporate communications efforts incorporate effective presentations and investment theses development, professional press release drafting, earnings call script management, investor inquiry response, media management and crisis communications, ensuring the right message is not just delivered, but also received.
Our team represents decades of expertise in banking, syndicate and all manner of capital formation; from IPO’s to Secondaries, SPAC’s, Reverse Mergers and more. All of our programs balance years of experience in the capital markets and the various verticals we serve to ensure the right messages reach the right audiences every time.
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Chuck Bennett is CEO and Co-founder of CORE IR. For the past 12 years, he oversees all aspects of the business including Investor Relations, Corporate Advisory, and Public Relations. Prior to working at CORE IR, Mr. Bennett was Vice President of Sales and Marketing for CreditRiskMonitor.com, (CRMZ). During his tenure there he grew sales by 350%.
In 2003, he created RRADA (Registered Representatives Arbitration Defense Associates), the largest pre-paid legal company servicing brokers and broker-dealers in the Securities Industry. Chuck is an active philanthropist managing his foundation – The Beacon Light Foundation, which contributes to over 50 charitable organizations nationwide each year. From 1996 to 2012, Chuck served as an Associate Trustee at North Shore/Long Island Jewish Health System in Manhasset (now the largest Health System in the US). As an Associate Trustee, he served on the Cardiology Executive Committee, Cardiology Leadership Committee, and the Associate Trustee Executive Committee.
Chuck also donates his time and resources to the North Shore Child and Family Guidance Center, the National Center for Disabilities, and other charitable organizations in the area. Chuck graduated from Long Island University with a B.S. in Finance and resides in Sea Cliff, NY, with his wife and two children.
Scott Gordon is President and Co-founder of CORE IR, responsible for developing and managing client corporate communications strategy. Prior to co-founding CORE IR, Scott served as Head of North American Sales and Marketing for CAMO Software Inc., where he was responsible for leading the resurgence of CAMO’s Unscrambler® Suite of Multivariate Statistical Analytics Software and Professional Services Solutions as a market leading brand.
Prior to joining CAMO, Scott led Sales and Marketing for MTG Inc., a Business Intelligence Financial Modeling Consultancy, focused on Valuation Analysis. Before joining MTG, Scott served as Head of Global Markets Trading for Investment Management Services, managing trading, and operations for funds with $600 million in assets under management. Scott began his Wall Street career on the New York Mercantile Exchange clerking for traders in the Crude and Heating trading pits and became a futures and options trader for Shearson Lehman Hutton and then Smith Barney, in their global managed futures and futures trading operations. Scott attended New York University where he pursued his BS in Economics.
Scott Arnold is Senior Managing Director with CORE IR. Throughout his career, Scott has evaluated companies from the perspectives of a corporate communications consultant and investment banker. Having held his Series 3, 6, 7, 63, and 65 licenses, Scott adds a unique perspective to clients undergoing IPOs, capital formation strategies, market exposure, secondary offerings, crisis communications, and strategic acquisitions.
Before CORE IR, Scott was a Senior Vice President at ICR, an investor relations firm, where he concentrated on the Green Technology and Metals and Mining industries. He draws upon extensive domestic and international institutional and retail financial services relationships and has been quoted in national publications including Seeking Alpha, as well as being a featured expert at the Harvard/USC Business Growth Conference. In his spare time, Scott enjoys being with his family in Los Angeles and is a Board Member of Beth Jacob Congregation in Beverly Hills. He has a B.A. in Political Science from Syracuse University.
Bret Shapiro is the Senior Managing Director, Head of Corporate Advisory of CORE IR. He began his 30 year Wall Street career in 1991 at Prudential Securities where he was one of the youngest Vice Presidents of the firm. He moved on to become a shareholder at Gruntal and Company and rose to become a member of the Chairman’s Council.
In 2004, Bret joined Capital Growth Financial, heading their syndicate investment banking efforts, placing their first IPO. In 2008, Bret joined Dawson James Securities as Managing Partner and Head of Syndicate where he was responsible for assisting scores of public companies achieve their financing and funding goals.
Bret joined CORE IR in 2015 and brings his incomparable depth of experience, insight and strategic value to clients in the areas of capital formation, syndicate relationships introductions, strategic communications and retail and institutional relationships development. Bret resides in Delray Beach, FL with his wife and two daughters.
Tristan Traywick is the Senior Managing Director, Corporate Access at Core IR and has been with the firm since 2014. He is responsible for client management and market outreach. Tristan executes market awareness strategies with his institutional buy & sell-side analysts, and family office relationships.
Mr. Traywick began his career in financial services in 2008 with Seattle-based investment bank, Barretto Securities. During his time at Barretto, Tristan worked in both the investor relations and investment banking divisions of the firm. In 2013, Tristan joined Heritage Wealth Advisors, an Ameriprise-sponsored private wealth management firm on Mercer Island, Washington, where he was a registered representative in the client services department. He has previously held Finra Series 7 and 63 licenses, as well as Washington State Producer of Life, Disability, and Variable Line Insurance licenses. He is currently enrolled in Washington State University’s Executive MBA program with a concentration in Finance. Tristan grew up on Bainbridge Island, Washington, and currently resides in Scottsdale, Arizona. He graduated from Washington State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Public Relations in 2007.
Tom Caden is Vice President of Investor Relations/Roadshows and CORE IR’s Senior Vice President, Corporate Access. Mr. Caden is responsible for investor outreach, roadshow development and execution. Tom has more than 20 years of expertise as an investor relations and financial services specialist having spent 15 years on the retail side of the business. He was a Multi-Lines Agent with the Prudential Insurance Co. and VP Wealth Management with Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. Tom has honed his considerable experience from his work with both Dian Griesel International and Edison Investment Research. He is a graduate of Montclair State University.
Andrew Moskowitz is CORE IR’s Investor Relations Associate focusing on outreach to his vast network of high net-worth individuals and investment banking contacts. He has 10 years experience in the cryptocurrency markets.
He ran a 5 Ph/s mining operation in 2017 which produced 40 bitcoins. Currently, he is running an autonomous automated trading system. Andrew has more than five years experience working as a proprietary trader, consultant, information technologist and financial analyst with Spartan Capital Securities, Black Legend Capital and T3 proprietary trading group. He also has more than five years experience working on celebrity outreach and red carpet work with the Knockturnal. In his off time Andrew continues his post-college (NCAA DI/DII) track career through continuing his workouts and coaching track and basketball.
Cindy L. Rizzo is Vice President of Healthcare Strategies. Cindy has more than 25 years of experience as a buy-side investor, most recently at Levin Capital, a multi-billion long-only investor and hedge fund.
Cindy is the top performing portfolio manager at Levin Capital for 18 years with a focus on healthcare. She has spent the later part of her career as a consultant to emerging biopharmaceutical companies that have strong fundamental prospects and at times have impaired capital structures or stock profiles that can make it challenging for a given company to pursue its business strategies. In this regard, Ms. Rizzo assists such companies in developing a comprehensive IR strategy to address and overcome such challenges in the capital markets.
Peter Seltzberg is Senior Vice President of Capital Markets and Corporate Advisory at CoreIR. Mr. Seltzberg has 25 years of experience in outsourced “agency” IR serving over 100 public companies’ boards and management teams as a trusted and reliable resource, managing and executing investor events, activities, and disclosures. His extensive institutional contact network within the small and micro cap investment management community is elite among the industry, earning him an outstanding service record and reputation among his clients and peers.
Peter has executed hundreds of days of investor meetings (roadshows) throughout the country, teleconference/zoom video calls with investors, and has written countless press releases, earnings conference call scripts, and other investor-facing collateral materials that connect dots for investors with issuers. Beyond other leading IR agencies such as Hayden IR, DarrowIR, and Financial Relations Board, Mr. Seltzberg spent much of the 1990s with top Wall Street firms such as JP Morgan Securities, Equitable Capital/Life, Alliance/Bernstein Funds, Van Eck Funds, and Value Line Analytics.
He earned a BBA from Emory University (1990, Finance); MBA from Fordham University (1998, Finance); and completed coursework at Dale Carnegie Institute in New York, with a focus in industrial relations. He is active in numerous community-based organizations and an avid sports fan, music lover, pet enthusiast, and a devoted dad.
Joey Delahoussaye III is a Senior Equity Research Analyst at CoreIR, responsible for client corporate communications and investor outreach. Joey brings 18 years of buy-side capital markets experience at institutional investment firms and a family office that applied growth/aggressive growth investment philosophies to the domestic microcap and small-cap markets with an emphasis on companies in the healthcare sector.
Prior to joining CORE IR, Joey was an account executive at an agency-based IR firm and coordinated strategic messaging and communication efforts for corporate clients, especially those in the life-science industry. He has passed all three levels of the CFA exam, has an MBA in Finance from the University of Texas at Austin, and holds a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from Louisiana State University.
Louie Toma is a CPA, CFA and Managing Director, Research at Core IR and has 20 years of experience on the buy-side and sell-side. In 2017, Louie started his own investor relations firm where he helped clients with all aspects of investor relations. A year later, he partnered with another IR agency, where he managed clients and helped them with all of their investor relations needs. In the fall of 2020, Louie joined CORE IR as a managing director working with clients on investor outreach, strategy and messaging.
Prior to founding his own investor relations firm, Louie was a senior research analyst at Craig-Hallum Capital Group, where he spent four years covering micro-cap stocks and writing sell-side research. Prior to Craig-Hallum, Louie spent over 15 years on the buy-side at various hedge funds, including Tudor Investments, Boston Company, Boston Partners, John A. Levin and Company, and Delta Partners. In his buy-side roles, working in the capacity of an analyst or PM, Louie focused on micro and small-cap stocks, where he developed a large network of buy-side and sell-side relationships. Louie’s background provides a unique perspective of what investors need from IR firms to engage and develop them as shareholders and to develop a sell-side analyst’s interest that can lead to research coverage. Louie possesses a CFA and a CPA (Florida) and has held the Series 7, 63, 86, and 87 licenses. He has an M.B.A. from Babson College as well as a B.S. from Florida State University in Accounting and Finance.
Matt Blazei is a CFA and Managing Director at CoreIR. Matt has over 25 years of buy-side and sell-side experience focused primarily on microcap investing. Matt began his career in 1992 as a small-cap analyst with RCM Capital Management, eventually moving into a senior PM role and heading the successful launch of one of the first institutional micro-cap products on the street.
In 1999, Matt was named Co-CIO of the small and microcap investment team at RCM, responsible for investing over $3B in assets in this space. After RCM, Matt built and launched Paradox Asset Management as an institutional and HNW long/short fund focused exclusively on microcap stocks. This success led to engagements with a number of microcap hedge funds in the Bay Area, consulting as both an analyst and PM. After 20 years as a buy-side investor, Matt shifted gears and moved to the sell-side, joining Lake Street Capital Markets in 2013 as a Senior Research Analyst. While at Lake Street, Matt primarily focused on special situation stocks with very limited Wall Street coverage.
Matt has been a CFA for over 25 years and has held the Series 7, 63, 86 and 87 licenses. He graduated from U.C. Berkeley with B.S. in Finance.
Jason Nelson is CORE IR’s Equity Research Analyst providing clients counsel for their communications and investor relations initiatives. Jason joined Core after 15 years of working for two buy side institutional investment firms in generalist roles with a small and micro-cap stock investing mandate. Prior to his tenure on the buy side, Jason began his career as an Analyst/Associate on the Wachovia Securities Equity Capital Markets desk. Jason has held Series 7, 55, 63 and 65 licenses during his career.
He holds a Masters in Accounting with honors from the College of William & Mary and a B.A. in History from Hampden-Sydney College. Jason’s experience gained over the course of his analyst tenure adds complementary market intelligence to the Core team along with a trained eye for boiling down complex, multi-faceted stories into understandable yet impactful investment theses to buy side, sell side and retail investors. Jason has resided in multiple cities along the I-95 corridor in the Mid-Atlantic and currently resides in the Baltimore-area. He enjoys traveling, the outdoors, spending time with his family and friends, taking in live sporting events and relaxing with his dog often by his side.
As Vice President of Operations, Kay Bukhari coordinates and oversees all operations activities and ensures the development and implementation of efficient and cost-effective strategies to meet the current and future needs of CoreIR and our clients.
As VP of Operations, Kay has raised client retention by improving communications prioritization and shortening resolution times. She applies comprehensive solutions that deliver results while also focusing on fiscal responsibility. Kay is a Fordham University graduate and brings with her an extensive background in operations and client success from various corporate financial environments.
Aaren is CORE IR’s Executive Assistant. She is an experienced professional who assists CORE IR in optimizing productivity, efficiency, and service quality both internally and for our clients. As an Executive Assistant, it is Aaren’s job to ensure optimum task management and offer efficient problem resolution. Aaren graduated from The University of Houston with a Bachelors of Arts degree in Communications with a concentration in Public Relations and has administrative experience in various corporate environments.
Amanda Boyle joins CORE IR as an Administrative Assistant with a deep background in sales and marketing, operations, corporate communications, public relations and digital strategies, brand development and client management.
Prior to joining CORE IR, Amanda served as a licensed sales associate for Sotheby’s International Realty, where she excelled in luxury property sales and client development. Prior to Sotheby’s, Amanda was a luxury account manager with The
RealReal, where she extended the lifestyle of luxury goods and optimized the consignor experience through personalized service, promoting sustainability and contributing to a circular
economy model.
Amanda also served as a marketing assistant for Midnight Express where she promoted luxury boat brands. Amanda is a graduate of Florida State University, Jim Moran
School of Entrepreneurship, where she earned her B.S. Business Administration; Retail Merchandising and Product Development.
Jules Abraham is Executive Vice President and Head of CORE IR’s Communications Practice. He is responsible for leading the communications and media outreach team. Jules brings 23 years of life sciences public relations experience, having worked in nearly all aspects of the healthcare industry, including large and specialty pharmaceutical, biotechnology, clinical diagnostics and medical device companies, as well as small health systems, regional hospitals, managed care organizations, Medicare Part D providers and advocacy groups.
He has supported market conditioning, clinical trial recruitment, financial/investor and milestone communications, corporate communications, product launches and post-marketing publicity. He also has worked extensively in issues management and has provided presentation and speaker training for physicians and client executives. Previously Jules initiated and oversaw the healthcare public relations divisions at Feintuch Communications and investor relations firm, Lippert/Heilshorn & Associates, Inc. Prior, he served as Vice President in the global healthcare group at GCI Group, and held positions at Manning, Selvage & Lee, Zeno Group and GTFH public relations, in New York. He has also served as an independent communications consultant to several investor relations firms, healthcare companies and not-for-profit organizations. Jules earned a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from the College of William & Mary and a master’s degree in Public Communications/Journalism from Fordham University. A songwriter and performer for many years, Jules is also a returned Peace Corps Volunteer, having served in Paraguay, where he trained local teachers about prevention of intestinal parasites and other health issues. After residing nearly 20 years in New York City, he currently resides in Encinitas, California.
Ilysa Pugliese is CORE IR’s Manager of Human Resources overseeing all aspects of our human resources department. Ilysa focuses on several areas in this position, including organizational growth, benefits administration, performance management, training and development, and HR policies and procedures. Ilysa is dedicated to building and maintaining relationships that promote CORE IR’s business growth and cultivates customer loyalty by empowering and motivating our employees through effective communication and conflict-resolution skills.
Ilysa began her career in the hedge-fund industry, where she spent nearly 15 years as an Executive Assistant to C-suite executives in leading multi-billion-dollar hedge funds and pioneers in the industry. She has extensive experience with all administrative tasks, including managing every aspect of personal and professional schedules, recruiting, onboarding, managing staff inquiries, and coordinating administrative functions for entire organizations. While Ilysa started her career as an Executive Assistant, she began to specialize in more of a Human Resources capacity. Ilysa managed family offices, built out workspaces, handled employee relations, and was responsible for training, staff development, and performance tracking. Ilysa can tailor her skills to meet the needs of both employees and clients and implement policies and procedures that positively impact employee morale.
Ilysa has a B.S. in Rehabilitation Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Mike Mason is Vice President of Investor Relations and brings more than 20 years of investor relations experience, both at an agency level, and in-house. Mike provides strategic Investor Relations and Capital Markets counsel to senior management teams. He develops investor relations programs with the goal of increasing both company exposure and shareholder value, and interfaces on a daily basis with buy-side and sell-side analysts, portfolio managers, hedge fund managers, and investment bankers, acting as the principal liaison between the financial community and the client.
Mike is responsible for the positioning and overall direction of a company’s messaging and investor relations program. He manages domestic and international client roadshows, focuses on trading and liquidity activities, conducts quarterly conference calls, drafts press releases, and designs presentations. He also works closely with the firm’s media relations and public relations professionals to raise client awareness in business and financial media outlets. Mr. Mason holds a Juris Doctor degree from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law where he was a member of the Cardozo Arts and Entertainment Law Journal, one of the country’s most widely read and respected law journals. Before attending law school, he was awarded a B.A. in Business and Marketing from Rutgers University.
Robert Babilonia is CORE IR’s Presentation Specialist and Deck Writer and is responsible for creating a wide range of content that supports the firm’s three different distribution channels: institutional, high-net-worth, and retail.
Robert has more than 20 years of experience as a presentation and graphic designer working within the investment banking industry creating PowerPoint presentations, executive summaries, requests for proposals (RFP), and tear sheets. Throughout his career he worked closely with Managing Directors, Vice Presidents, Associates, and Analysts at UBS Investment Bank, CBRE Investors, Credit Suisse, and AllianzGI.
Alisa Steinberg is CORE IR’s Vice President of Public Relations, and has over 20 years experience in PR/media relations and investor communications. Throughout her career she’s had proven successes in implementing creative media and investor campaigns, communication operations, marketing initiatives, and project management strategies.
Alisa has strong press and branding expertise in a myriad of industries including biotech/pharma, B2B/B2C technology, financial services, and consumer/lifestyle. Her procurement of media exposure for clients is extensive and includes major news outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, Investor’s Business Daily, New York Times, CNBC, Fox Business, Forbes, Bloomberg, and The Street.com.
Previous to CORE IR, Alisa was Director of IR and Corporate Communications for Actinium Pharmaceuticals, Inc, where she spearheaded the company’s media relations program with a more than 100% increase in placements in both industry and investor publications. Her background also includes working at the Dobson Group as VP, PR and Investor Relations, RB Milestone Group LLC as Director of Market Intelligence and PR, and and Wolf Axelrod Weinberger Associates LLC as Director of Public Relations.
Alisa has an M.S. degree in Psychology from Nova Southeastern University and a B.A. in Sociology from the University at Buffalo – SUNY. She’s also a writer of children and women’s fiction, and after residing in New York City for almost two decades, she has most recently moved to Fort Lauderdale, FL.
Derek is passionate about delivering top-tier service to our clients and oversees day-to-day operations. He helps to develop organizational policy and strategy and brings to CORE his vast administrative and office management skills from many fast-paced, high-pressure industries and work environments. Derek is also an established artist and began painting professionally at the age of 14 and resides in Los Angeles.
