The Independent Research Network announced it has appointed the first seven members to its Research Independence Council, a self-governing body that will ensure the integrity of the intermediated research process.

The IRN is a joint venture between Nasdaq and Reuters, which was formed in September. It acts as an intermediary for under-followed public companies seeking to have their equity securities covered by analysts.

The members of the council are:

  • Stephen Balog, general partner of Cedar Creek Management, an investment partnership;
  • Michael Gorin, retired vice chairman and CFO of Aeroflex Inc.;
  • Jack Kaplan, adjunct professor of Entrepreneurial Studies at Columbia Business School;
  • Michael Lipper, president of Lipper Advisory Services Inc.;
  • David Mangum, executive vice president and CFO of CheckFree Corp.;
  • Jay Ritter, the Joe Cordell Professor of Finance at the University of Florida’s Warrington College of Business; and, Margaret Wyrwas, senior managing director of corporate communications and investor relations at Knight Capital Group.

“We are pleased this group of accomplished individuals has accepted our invitation to serve on the Research Independence Council,” said IRN president Daniel Blank. “This self-governing panel of research, corporate governance and academic experts will establish the criteria and standards for research firms seeking inclusion in the IRN’s pool of qualified providers.”

The IRN will aggregate multiple, independent research providers to procure and distribute equity research on behalf of under-covered companies to increase the investment community’s understanding of a company’s fundamental prospects. The service will be targeted to all companies listed in the U.S. as well as private companies looking for research coverage. Neither Nasdaq, Reuters nor IRN will play a role in preparing the research or issuing recommendations.

According to publicly available data, approximately 50% of all publicly held companies have three or fewer analysts and approximately 35% of all public companies have no analyst coverage. According to Reuters Estimates, the global provider of real-time forecast information, since January 2002, 691 companies have lost analyst coverage representing over 17% of the entire universe of companies with analyst coverage.