Leadership
With more than 15 years of corporate and agency communications experience gained in major business markets nationwide – including New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Miami – Tim Sipols oversees the firm’s Business & Financial Communications practice, and provides strategic counsel and account leadership across LE&A’s roster of clients. In addition, he serves as a senior member of the firm’s business growth and internal development teams.
Sipols’ expertise includes corporate repositioning, high-level media and investor relations, global announcements and product launches, advocacy relations, public affairs, executive and employee communications, corporate transactions (M&A), major public events and crisis management.
Prior to joining LE&A, Sipols was senior vice president and global team leader in the Chicago-based Health practice at Edelman, the world’s largest independent PR firm, where he oversaw the firm’s marketing communications work supporting Pfizer’s cancer and infectious disease portfolios. Previously Sipols directed external and internal communications for PersonalPath Systems (PPSI), a developer of consumer data protection systems for major U.S. health insurers. In addition, he oversaw communications for Franklin Health, a PPSI subsidiary dedicated to providing patient care services for the most seriously ill employees in Fortune 500 group populations. While at PPSI, Sipols played a key role in launching www.personalpath.com, a top-ranked consumer health site created by Franklin Health’s medical professionals and protected by PPSI’s technology systems.
Earlier Sipols led the West Coast unit of a major life sciences public and investor relations consultancy. In this capacity, he also served as account leader of the firm’s largest client, Applera Corporation, and managed PR strategy for one of the most controversial stories in modern science- Applera’s ambitious race to decode the human genome.
Sipols’ prior communications experience has included promoting U.S. direct investment in the Netherlands and land reform in Russia; creating U.S. visibility for Spain’s largest bank; supporting the institutional repositioning of a major Goodwill Industries affiliate; publicizing the historic arrival of the world’s tall ships to New York Harbor; and re-launching the iconic “I♥NY” tourism brand.
Sipols’ community involvement includes Rotary Club of Grand Rapids, Economic Club of Grand Rapids and The Grand Rapids Children’s Museum. Sipols earned a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University and bachelor’s degrees in violin performance and European history from Northwestern University. He is currently pursuing graduate studies at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary. Sipols and his wife Jessica reside in East Grand Rapids with their two children.
Noel R. Ryan III Director Mr. Ryan is a Director in the firm’s investor relations practice where he advises clients in the technology, healthcare, consumer, manufacturing and financial services markets.
Previously, Ryan was an equity research analyst at Pacific Growth Equities LLC in San Francisco where he specialized in small and mid-cap technology companies, with a focus on semiconductors and communications infrastructure. In his tenure at Pacific Growth, Ryan’s coverage universe spanned across over twenty semiconductor design and fabrication houses, including names such as Cypress Semiconductor, Skyworks Solutions, RF Micro Devices, Integrated Circuit Systems and Silicon Laboratories. Prior to joining Pacific Growth, Ryan spent several years in Equity Research at Banc of America Securities LLC as a member of the enterprise hardware and electrical manufacturing services research teams. While at BAS, Ryan focused on large-cap technology companies such as IBM, Dell Computer, Flextronics International and Jabil Circuit.
Ryan began his career at Thomson Financial, where he worked as an analyst in the Equity Capital Markets (ECM) Consulting Group. While at Thomson, Ryan created predictive analytical forecasts to aid major investment banks such as Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse, among others, in successfully executing IPO’s, secondary offerings, M&A transactions, spin-offs, and other divestitures. Ryan’s primary analysis focused on correlations between turnover in institutional shareholder bases and in-house fundamental analysis.
Ryan holds a BA from the University of California, Berkeley and is currently pursuing his MBA at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. He has earned his Series 7, 63, 86, 87 licenses from the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD). Ryan is a member of the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI) and has served as an Adjunct Professor of Investor Relations at Grand Rapids-based Grand Valley State University. He is also a member of the program committee for the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) in West Michigan and has been selected as an expert judge for the Interactive Investor Relations Awards.