NEW YORK - (Business Wire) Rewarding his leadership role in creating global disclosure solutions that have made Business Wire the industry's regulatory compliance leader, Michael Becker has been promoted to senior vice president, Financial Product Strategy, it was announced today by Cathy Baron Tamraz, chief executive officer.

In his expanded role, Becker will move beyond his core disclosure responsibilities and will focus on developing new products and partnerships within the broader financial community, as well as identifying new content opportunities that will leverage Business Wire's advanced formatting capabilities and comprehensive global file.

Under Becker's guidance, Business Wire today offers a comprehensive suite of services for the investor relations community. They include: an in-house team of XBRL accounting specialists that meta-tag financial statements, and prepare validated instance documents for SEC submission. Business Wire also has its own in-house EDGAR Desk, consistently ranking among the top SEC filers. Becker also worked closely with Business Wire's European team, setting up more than a dozen disclosure networks throughout the European Union, keyed to the January 2007 implementation of the EU's Transparency Obligations Directive [TOD].

Additionally, Becker established a SEDAR filing service catering to Business Wire's Canadian exchange-listed clients, and a worldwide Corporate Social Responsibility distribution network.

"Michael's knowledge of all-things-disclosure has earned him this much deserved promotion," said Tamraz in making the announcement at Business Wire's annual sales conference in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. "He has worked diligently to introduce 'best practices disclosure' to international markets, liaising with securities regulators in major world financial centers. Michael also has kept Business Wire at the forefront of important compliance changes, particularly the SEC's adoption of XBRL."

Becker's thought leadership has been recognized by several leading industry organizations. He currently serves as the Chair of the XBRL-U.S. Communications Steering Committee, and is executive vice president of programs for the NIRI-New York chapter, the association's largest chapter with some 600 members.