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ALEXANDRIA, Va.--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--The [ National Investor Relations Institute ] (NIRI) today announced the election of Hulus Alpay as the 2013 Chairman of the NIRI Board of Directors. Alpay is vice president, investor relations for Medidata Solutions, Inc. (Nasdaq: MDSO), a leading global provider of cloud-based clinical development solutions headquartered in New York City. He will succeed Derek Cole, vice president, investor relations and corporate communications, ARCA biopharma, Inc. at the NIRI Annual Meeting of members in late November.

"I look forward to working with the highly talented staff, Board of Directors and the entire IR community to move OneNIRI, a strategic initiative that began several years ago for the benefit of all NIRI stakeholders, to the next level."

aI am pleased that Hulus Alpay will be our 2013 NIRI Board Chairman,a said Jeffrey D. Morgan, president and chief executive officer of NIRI. aHulus brings a tremendous depth of investor relations (IR) profession knowledge through his varied experiences as an IR products and services consultant, IR counselor and as a corporate IR professional. On behalf of the NIRI staff, board and membership, we look forward to having a board chair with such a comprehensive understanding of our profession, and we welcome him to his new role.a

Alpay said, aI am deeply honored to accept this important leadership role at an association that has been so vitally important not only to my own career but to countless others. Given the unique and valuable role of the investor relations professional, I look forward to helping our members successfully navigate change, drive awareness of the professionas importance in the modern corporation and in turn fuel their own professional success. Additional areas of focus during my tenure will include international membership growth, deepening the industryas knowledge around the continued evolution of the global capital markets and its impact on the U.S. IPO market, and most importantly, inspiring the best and brightest to look at the profession as an exciting area for professional growth and opportunity.a Alpay concluded, aI look forward to working with the highly talented staff, Board of Directors and the entire IR community to move OneNIRI, a strategic initiative that began several years ago for the benefit of all NIRI stakeholders, to the next level.a

As Head of Investor Relations at Medidata Solutions, Alpayas responsibilities include communicating Medidataas strategy and financial performance to the global investment community, including Wall Street analysts, institutional investors and financial media. Alpay has over two decades of investor relations, financial media relations, capital markets, investment research and management experience. He has provided strategic financial communications counsel to C-Level corporate executives and board members on a number of issues including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Corporate Governance, Regulation FD, management of investor perceptions and expectations, and a myriad of crisis situations. Programs he has overseen have efficiently utilized valuable corporate time and resources to enhance each organizationas ability to compete for and attract new capital.Hulus has orchestrated many award-winning investment community marketing and financial media awareness communications programs that have paved the way for successful public offerings and other capital formation efforts. He has worked for a number of investor relations, global shareholder research and related advisory services firms. He has also held several research positions with Merrill Lynch Asset Management and the former Chairman of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Alpay began his career as a Legislative Aide for the State of Connecticut. He is an active member of the New York Society of Security Analysts and the CFA Institute. Alpay also served as president and board member of the New York Chapter of NIRI. He is a graduate of the University of Hartford and was awarded an MBA by Monmouth University.

About the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI)

Founded in 1969, NIRI ([ www.NIRI.org ]) is the professional association of corporate officers and investor relations consultants responsible for communication among corporate management, shareholders, securities analysts and other financial community constituents. NIRI is the largest professional investor relations association in the world with more than 3,300 members representing over 1,600 publicly held companies and $9 trillion in stock market capitalization.

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