Business Insider names Moira Conlon as one of the top 18 PR pros

Business Insider recognizes Moira Conlon as one of the top 18 PR professionals for companies seeking to go public via SPAC transactions or IPOs.

Moira Conlon founded Financial Profiles in 2007 and has worked on a number of SPACs and IPOs for companies like electronic vehicle charging network ChargePoint, AEye, whose tech supports autonomous vehicles and driver assistance systems, and SDCL Edge Acquisition whose focus is on decentralized energy solutions for a lower carbon economy, particularly for the built environment and transport sectors.

Financial Profiles is composed of former Wall Street analysts and financial reporters in addition to PR pros and does work on spin-offs, mergers and acquisitions, and other deals. It's handled SPAC work since 2009, starting with Two Harbors Investment Corp.

Before Financial Profiles, Conlon worked for 13 years at MWW-owned Financial Relations Board and at Merrill Lynch's investment banking division and mortgage and money markets origination group. She also had a stint at Abernathy MacGregor.

2020 was a robust year for companies going public through IPOs and SPACs, and 2021 is already looking to bring more of the same.

SPACs, or special purpose acquisition companies, allow companies to go public outside the traditional IPO process.

The increase in SPACs and traditional IPOs could be lucrative for the PR industry as target companies, which often don't have their own investors relations division, call on public relations pros to put their business model in the best light.

Companies going public also have to adhere to financial and information disclosure rules imposed by regulators like the Securities and Exchange Commission. That means PR pros have to vet all information disclosed by a company going public.

The growing popularity of SPACs as a new investment opportunity prompted the SEC to caution investors from jumping on the bandwagon "based solely on a celebrity's involvement or based solely on other information you receive" through outlets like social media and newspapers.

Insider identified the top 18 PR pros that work in-house or at firms based on original reporting, publicly available information, and nominations.