Makela Taphorn

Makela has 25+ years of progressive experience in the institutional investment management industry. She spent the last 20 years in various progressive roles at Artisan Partners, a global investment management firm, where she most recently served as the Director of Investor Relations and Business Reporting & Analytics for 12 years. Artisan grew rapidly over her tenure and provided her with a front seat view of what it takes to grow a young entrepreneurial firm into a healthy mature company, including evolving the firm’s capital structure from a private partnership to a public company. She established the firm’s Investor Relations and Business Reporting & Analytics functions to support the executive team in strategic decision making and communicating results as a public company, participated in the IPO and multiple secondary offerings, developed and executed a strategic investor relations program and served as the primary contact for investors.

Makela’s areas of expertise include the investment management industry, talent-driven business models, and investor relations. Makela is focused on sharing her experience and energy to help value-driven businesses thrive in today’s capital markets. She believes strongly in corporate purpose beyond profits, values that drive culture and decision making, and regularly communicating with stakeholders to provide updates, set appropriate expectations and build trust.

Investment Management Industry – Makela has in-depth knowledge of the investment management industry, including industry trends, the capital markets ecosystem and the characteristics of the sophisticated asset allocators they serve. She has intimate knowledge of the structure, alignment and focus of investment management firms and how to navigate the unique investment philosophies and approaches of investors within those firms.

Talent-Driven Business Models – Makela has spent her career working in businesses where talent is the primary asset that drives business value. Successfully operating a talent-driven business model requires alignment of interests and trust that is built on the foundation of transparency, fairness, and doing the right thing to support and nurture your talent over and over again.

Investor Relations – Drawing on this expertise, Makela’s approach to investor relations is to create an investor base that is aligned with the company’s purpose, values and long-term vision. This alignment enables the company to focus on what they do best, avoiding the distraction of managing to the ‘street’ in the short-term. Makela has been a member of NIRI for over ten years and has built a network of investor relations professionals and service providers.

Makela holds a BA from Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI and is a CPA.