Ashton Partners

Ashton Partners, founded in 1997 by Elizabeth (Beth) Saunders and Christian (Chris) Hodges, is a national advisory firm that specializes in investor relations (IR) and corporate communications. The firm employs financial and communications specialists across three offices located in Chicago, San Francisco, and Boston.

History

Beth Saunders and Chris Hodges launched the Chicago-based Ashton Partners office, focused on investor relations, in July 1997, and the corporate communications division has grown organically since 2002. Since its first year of operation, Ashton Partners has expanded its offices to include a San Francisco office in 2004 and a Boston office in 2005. The company has reported 20% year-over-year growth for three consecutive years and will commemorate its 10-year anniversary in 2007.

Over the past decade, Ashton Partners has serviced clients across a variety of industries including biotechnology, business process outsourcing, consumer food and beverage, finance, and technology. Such clients include: OptionsXpress, Lifetime Fitness, Biotechnology Industry Organization, Digitas, Inc., Dollar Tree, BorgWarner, FTD, and Earthlink.

Operations

Ashton Partners operates under one umbrella with two divisions: investor relations and corporate communications.

The investor relations wing helps manage the Street’s perceptions of Ashton Partners’ clients through the combination of traditional analyst tools and investor sentiment initiatives. Ashton’s investor relations programs target buy-side portfolio managers in order to determine the factors that they believe drive a company’s stock value. Other investor relations services provided by Ashton Partners include perception studies, messaging/positioning, targeting, investment peer analysis, board-level projects and pre- and post-IPO programs.

The corporate communications practice specializes in reputation management, thought leadership and constituency-targeted communications. The specialized division seeks to reinforce clients’ bottom-line objectives through creating and managing their reputation and recognition among key audiences, including customers, peers, employees, media, industry analysts and government and regulatory agencies. The corporate communications division provides numerous services, including: crisis preparedness and management communications, bankruptcy and restructuring support communications, internal/Employee relations communications, litigation support communications, intellectual property rights litigation support communications, communication coaching and life sciences growth and positioning communications.