Our History
The IR Group markets our clients’ stocks to Wall Street and provides investor relations counsel to companies throughout the United States. We help establish and maintain corporate reputations with the financial community. Our clients build strong relations with shareholders and potential investors, thereby establishing their credibility with Wall Street.
Our team has decades of experience providing pragmatic and timely advice to public companies. Established in 1992, we quickly developed a broad foundation of corporate clients and is now one of the largest investor relations firms in the Pacific Northwest.
Our Team
Our experience includes working as senior investor relations practitioners, investment bankers, financial advisors and retail bankers. This mix of finance and investor relations expertise is unique.
Diane Fitzgibbons
President
Diane Fitzgibbons is the owner of The IR Group and has provided strategic investor relations counsel since 2004, serving more than 75 small and micro-cap banks across a broad range of financial communications disciplines. She specializes in comprehensive IR programs for community banking clients, with deep expertise in capital markets, IPOs, earnings call preparation and coaching, shareholder targeting and outreach, M&A communications, and crisis communications.
In addition to managing day-to-day IR activities, Fitzgibbons advises executive leadership and boards on investor messaging, presentation strategy, and stakeholder engagement. She writes, edits, and produces a wide range of marketing and communications materials, including quarterly earnings releases, and serves as the author and producer of the Bank Performance Report — a proprietary analysis of key financial ratios for community bank clients, distributed to more than 300 analysts, money managers, and brokers nationwide.
Prior to acquiring The IR Group, Fitzgibbons was an investment advisor at Morgan Stanley, where she focused primarily on small business owners and corporate retirement plan management. That foundation in capital markets and institutional relationships continues to inform her work on behalf of clients navigating complex investor audiences. Fitzgibbons holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business.
dianef@theIRgroup.com Phone. 425.283.8335
Kevin McAuliffe
Managing Director
Kevin McAuliffe has three decades of experience advising and representing banks and has unique experience in understanding the relationships between banks and other service providers. His banking experience includes strategic planning, equity valuations, equity offerings, M&A advisory, fairness opinions, de novo organizations, loan portfolio valuations, mutual to stock conversion underwritings, managing a financial sector hedge fund, managing a financial sector broker/dealer and managing financial sector research, trading and brokering operations. His broad experience in the banking sector provides insight into ways for banks to maximize profitability. Additionally, he has a clear understanding of how bank operations are interpreted by the external interests of shareholders, members and/or regulators. McAuliffe was previously employed as a Senior Vice President of Capital Resources Group, Inc. in Washington, DC from 1985 to 2001. In 2001, McAuliffe was President of Capital Resources, Inc, a broker/dealer servicing the banking sector. In 2004, McAuliffe joined FIG Partners, LLC as Sr. Vice President to establish their investment banking division.
kevinM@theIRgroup.com Phone. 971.244.2555
Ashley Rosol
Managing Director
Ashley Rosol is a Managing Director at The IR Group, where she brings deep investor relations expertise and strategic regulatory support to a diverse portfolio of clients across the financial services industry. With a career spanning 50+ engagements with large multinational banks, mid-sized regional institutions, community banks offering both traditional banking services and banking as a service (BaaS), fintechs, and digital asset firms, she offers a broad perspective on the compliance challenges facing today’s financial ecosystem.
Prior to her current role, Rosol built an extensive track record advising institutions navigating complex regulatory environments working at both K2 Integrity and Promontory Financial Group. Her work has encompassed regulatory remediation efforts, enterprise risk management framework development, Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and anti-money laundering (AML) program enhancements, and organizational regulatory and audit issue management. She has conducted board-level trainings and executive education sessions, equipping senior leadership with the governance knowledge needed to meet heightened regulatory expectations. Her experience also extends to transaction monitoring program optimization, suspicious activity reporting (SAR) oversight, and supporting clients through formal enforcement actions and consent order resolution.
Rosol is recognized for her ability to translate complex regulatory requirements into pragmatic, scalable solutions tailored to an institution’s size, risk profile, and strategic objectives. Her cross-sector experience — spanning traditional banking and the rapidly evolving fintech and cryptocurrency landscapes — positions her as a trusted advisor for organizations seeking to strengthen their compliance infrastructure while managing business growth. Rosol holds a Bachelor’s of Science and Business Administration (B.S.B.A.) from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, where she double majored in finance and marketing.
ashleyr@theIRgroup.com Phone. 425.635.8635
Sally Villaluz Ghormley
Operations Manager
Sally Villaluz Ghormley, Operations Manager, has three decades of expertise in finance and accounting. She has a diversified background from working with small local businesses to large corporations and recently owning her own mortgage business. A Seattle native having attended North Seattle CC and the University of Washington, Ghormley is very active in the community. Her memberships include being on the board of her condo HOA, president of the Queen High School Alumni Association, past president of the Board of Directors for the American Society of Women Accountants-Bellevue Chapter & past president/chair of the North Seattle College Accounting Technical Advisory Board.
sallyg@theIRgroup.com Phone. 206.331.9194
