Meet Our Team

Ken Dennard is Founder & CEO of Dennard Lascar and has 31 years of senior management investor relations experience, both in-house and third-party representation for public companies. Dennard is responsible for supervising all investor relations programs and marketing Dennard Lascar’s clients to the investment community and financial media on a national basis, with a focus on producing tangible results. He has developed extensive relationships with the brokerage, analyst and money management communities in multiple industry segments to include energy, industrial, infrastructure, technology, retail, communications, healthcare, consolidations, environmental and software among others.

Prior to founding Dennard Lascar predecessor company in January 1997, he was Director of Marketing at American Oncology Resources, Inc. from 1995-1996; Senior Vice President of Investor Relations at Coastal Physician Group from 1993-1995; Assistant Vice President with Morgen-Walke Associates from 1991-1993, and Director of Investor Relations at QMS, Inc. from 1989-1991.

Dennard holds a BA from Duke University, where he was a four-year letterman in men's basketball from 1977-1981. Dennard also played professional basketball in the NBA from 1981-84.

Rick Black is a seasoned financial communications professional with more than 20 years of investor relations, media relations and crisis management experience. He has served as a trusted advisor to senior management teams and Boards of Directors and has deep experience in creating and implementing targeted investor relations strategies, media relations campaigns and managing corporate crisis situations. Rick has a demonstrated record of developing and executing investor and public relations strategies in critical, time-sensitive situations across a wide range of industries. He frequently presents at industry conferences on topics related to investor relations and shareholder activism. He currently serves on the Board of the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI) Dallas Chapter.

Prior to Dennard Lascar, he was a senior vice president at H+K Strategies from 2009 to 2013. He was a member of the H+K Strategies Corporate Partnerships practice group in Dallas where he oversaw the corporate communications and media relations strategy for financial services, retail and energy industry clients, and was the corporate spokesperson and key contributor to the investor relations activities for a leading Fortune 500 healthcare client. Prior to that he was the director of investor relations and head of corporate communications at Luby's, Inc. (NYSE:LUB), from 2005 to 2009. Prior to that he was the investor relations manager at BMC Software, Inc. (NYSE:BMC), from 2001 to 2005. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Public Relations with a minor Marketing from Texas Tech University.

Ms. Hairston joined Dennard Lascar Investor Relations as Senior Vice President in July 2014.  She has more than 20 years of experience in investor relations and corporate governance.

From October 2003 to July 2014, Natalie served as the Chief Governance Officer, Vice President–Investor Relations, and Corporate Secretary for ENGlobal Corporation (NASDAQ: ENG), an energy engineering firm, and was a member of its executive leadership team.  In addition to her investor relations responsibilities, Ms. Hairston led ENGlobal’s corporate governance, SEC and Sarbanes Oxley compliance, and corporate communications programs. Prior to joining ENGlobal, Ms. Hairston held similar positions of increasing responsibility at Chaparral Resources, Inc. and Hondo Oil & Gas Company – both public exploration and production companies with operations in Kazakhstan and Colombia, respectively.

Natalie is actively involved in the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI) and the Society of Corporate Secretaries and Governance Professionals (Society).  She was appointed to NIRI’s first subject matter expert committee, which was formed to define the roles of investor relations officers as well as to identify skills and necessary training as a precursor to professional certification by the organization.  In addition, she is a member of NIRI’s Senior Roundtable (SRT), SRT steering committee appointee and past president and treasurer of the Houston chapter.  For the Society, she served as the sponsorship chair for several regional conferences and as a board member of the Houston chapter.  

Ms. Hairston received undergraduate degrees from the University of Texas at Austin and the American University of Paris, France and holds a Master of Business Administration in Finance.

Zach Vaughan is a Vice President who joined Dennard Lascar Investor Relations in January of 2019.  Zach supports investor relations programs for companies throughout the energy, financial services, and industrial sectors.  Prior to Dennard Lascar, he attended The University of Houston where he played football from 2014-2018 while completing his two degrees.  Zach was named a national semifinalist for the Campbell Trophy while being the student athlete representative for the University of Houston in 2018.  The Campbell Trophy is awarded to the nation's top student athlete based on performance in their sport and academic standing in the classroom.  He also was named to the College Football Hall of Fame's Hampshire Honor Society for superior academic performance and excellence in intercollegiate football.  Zach holds a Master of Science in Global Energy Management degree and a Bachelor of Business Administration (Management) degree from the University of Houston.

Donna Washburn joined the company in July of 2001. Prior to joining Dennard Lascar Investor Relations, she was employed for 17 years with Marketing Specialists (food brokerage) in various positions of increasing responsibility, including multi-regional operating systems specialist. Donna's duties at Dennard Lascar Investor Relations include the management of all client services, accounts receivable, accounts payable, payroll, human resources and other general office duties.