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Kimberly-Clark today announced that it was named one of the Top 75 Companies for Executive Women by Seramount for the sixth consecutive year. The list recognizes U.S.-based corporations that champion women's advancement in leadership roles, with a focus on succession planning, gender pay parity, benefits programs and flexible work policies.

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"I'm proud that Kimberly-Clark has been named once again as a top employer for senior-level women," said Mike Hsu, Chairman and CEO of Kimberly-Clark. "This recognition reflects our commitment to increasing the representation of women in leadership positions across the company and to nurturing an inclusive and flexible work environment where all of our employees thrive."

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Kimberly-Clark is dedicated to developing and promoting innovative policies that support employees as they balance career and family responsibilities. The company brings this to life through its flexible work policy, which empowers employees to fulfill job responsibilities in a manner that works best for them. Kimberly-Clark encourages its employees to create individualized work arrangements that may include flex time, flex locations, job sharing and voluntary reduced hours.

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In addition, the company has a back-up care program to support employees with children. This benefit provides 10 subsidized care visits per year for all eligible employees who need on-demand childcare.

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"As a business leader and a mom with three young children at home, I know that flexible work policies and support programs are not only critical for employees' well-being, engagement and success but also to the future growth of our company," said Lori Shaffer, Vice President of Global Nonwovens at Kimberly-Clark. "These initiatives ensure that Kimberly-Clark can attract, develop and advance the diverse talent that will drive game-changing innovation and help deliver our purpose of Better Care for a Better World."

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Methodology

The 2022 Top 75 Companies application includes more than 200 questions on pertinent topics, including female representation at all levels, but it focuses on the corporate officer and profit-and-loss leadership ranks. The application, based on 2021 data, tracks and examines how many employees have access to programs and policies that promote the advancement of women, and how many female employees take advantage of them, as well as how companies train managers to help women advance.

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To be considered, companies must have a minimum of two women on their boards of directors and at least 500 US employees. The full list of this year's winners can be found here.

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Kimberly-Clark's inclusion in the 2022 Top 75 Companies for Executive Women list builds on the company's recent recognition as one of JUST Capital's 2022 100 Most JUST Companies, one of Ethisphere's 2022 World's Most Ethical Companies, and one of Forbes' 2021 World's Best Employers. The company was also named one of the 2022 Best Places to Work for LGBTQ+ Equality by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.

Argano announced today that Echelon Solutions Group, LLC (Echelon) has joined the company. With the addition of Echelon, Argano further expands its SAP capabilities and consulting services.

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Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, Echelon is a leading SAP S/4HANA and SAP Cloud applications partner offering comprehensive solutions in innovation, business transformation, implementation, and application managed services (AMS). The company has been recognized as a premier SAP Cloud Application Services Strategic Partner and has earned SAP Recognized Expertise within multiple industries for its client excellence and delivery capability. Echelon has 300+ employees across North America, Latin America, and Asia Pacific.

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"Over the last several years, we have made significant investments in our services offerings to help our clients reimagine how they do business, which aligns well with Argano's strategy," said Aditya Bahl, Echelon CEO. "We are thrilled to join Argano and look forward to bringing our expertise and contributing to the company's ongoing success."

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"Echelon's experience brings tremendous depth to our SAP team, enabling Argano to further expand our offerings and helping clients transform their businesses," said Chip Register, Argano CEO. "We're excited to welcome the Echelon team as we continue to drive value for our clients."

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Echelon will be aligned within the Argano 4 SAP team to offer a unified set of business and technology solutions that are core to building a strong digital foundation, enabling clients to:

• Reimagine products, services and experiences that align with client expectations
• Rearchitect to move beyond legacy systems and technology debt
• Realize speed and agility to build an intelligent cloud-based foundation
• Realign challenges and obstacles with a clear path for continued innovation

In its mission to become the world’s most loved sweet treat brand, Krispy Kreme is shaking the retail ice cream category to its “cone” this first day of summer: introducing Original Glazed® Soft Serve – ice cream as original and irresistible as its iconic doughnuts. Available in shakes, cones and cups, Original Glazed Soft Serve Ice Cream is being offered initially in 10 U.S. markets.

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An original ice cream that only Krispy Kreme can provide, Original Glazed Soft Serve is a one-of-a-kind ice cream made with ingredients from Krispy Kreme’s proprietary and secret Original Glazed Doughnut recipe, including its iconic glaze flavor, as well as real whole milk.

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The innovative rich and creamy lineup includes seven shakes, hand-spun and flavored like Krispy Kreme’s fan-favorite doughnuts, led by the Original Glazed. In addition, fans can enjoy three flavors of Original Glazed Soft Serve offered in cups and waffle cones that are handmade with Krispy Kreme’s proprietary doughnut mix and Original Glaze flavor. Even the toppings and inclusions are “original,” some made from dehydrated Original Glazed doughnuts. ​

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“The introduction of Original Glazed Soft Serve Ice Cream is a big day for Krispy Kreme and our fans,” said Dave Skena, Krispy Kreme Chief Marketing Officer. “Our fans love Krispy Kreme doughnuts, and they also love rich, creamy, ice cream. We’re confident their love of ice cream and for Krispy Kreme is going to go to an entirely new level after they experience these deliciously unique shakes, cones and cups. We’re thrilled to begin our rollout on the first day of summer.”

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The original 10 markets celebrating the first day of summer with Krispy Kreme Original Glazed Soft Serve Ice Cream are: Charlotte, Greensboro and Winston-Salem in North Carolina; Greenville, S.C.; Norfolk and Newport News, Va.; Charleston, W.Va.; Nashville and the Tri-Cities area in Tennessee, and San Antonio, Texas. Krispy Kreme shops in Mobile and Southwest, Ala.; Tampa, St. Petersburg and Pensacola, Fla.; New Orleans; Branson, Mo.; and Wichita, Kan., will soon begin offering Original Glazed Soft Serve. Fans should visit www.krispykreme.com/promos/icecream to identify shops offering the ice cream.

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Original Glazed Soft Serve offerings include:

• Shakes: Original Glazed, Strawberry Iced Sprinkled, Chocolate Iced, Lemon Filled®, Cookies & KREME™, Birthday Batter, and Coffee & KREME™.
• Cups and Waffle Cones: Original Glazed, Strawberry Iced Sprinkled and Chocolate Iced.
• Toppings and Inclusions, including Original Glazed doughnut pieces.

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Original Glazed Soft Service shakes, cones and cups are available at participating shops during all operating hours in-shop for dine-in and takeout, and via drive-thru. Share how you’re celebrating the arrival of Krispy Kreme Original Glazed Soft Serve Ice Cream by using #KrispyKreme and tagging @krispykreme. For more information on Krispy Kreme’s Original Glazed Soft Serve visit www.krispykreme.com/promos/icecream.

Texas Instruments (TI) (NASDAQ: TXN) today expanded its connectivity portfolio with a new family of wireless microcontrollers (MCU) that enable high-quality Bluetooth® Low Energy (LE) at half the price of competing devices. Featuring best-in-class standby current and radio-frequency (RF) performance, the SimpleLink™ Bluetooth LE CC2340 family is built on the foundation of TI's decades of wireless connectivity expertise. Pricing for the CC2340 family will start as low as $0.79, making it affordable for engineers to add Bluetooth LE connectivity to more products. For more information, see www.ti.com/cc2340.

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"Industrywide, 5 billion Bluetooth® enabled devices are forecast to ship in 2022," said Mark Powell, CEO of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), the standards organization that oversees Bluetooth technology. "The commitment and involvement of Bluetooth SIG members like Texas Instruments allow Bluetooth technology to meet the growing demands for enhanced wireless connectivity in a wider range of applications. I am grateful for the contributions of our membership in delivering innovative solutions that benefit the Bluetooth ecosystem and help broaden the adoption of Bluetooth technology."

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TI will demonstrate the CC2340 wireless MCUs in booth No. 3A-215 at embedded world in Nuremberg, Germany, June 21-23, 2022. For more information, see ti.com/embeddedworld.

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"The adoption of Bluetooth LE is accelerating and our embedded world demo of the CC2340 family will show you how to quickly and easily add the technology to any application," said Marian Kost, vice president and general manager of Connectivity at Texas Instruments. "The new MCUs will provide high-quality RF and power performance at an affordable price, backed by unrivaled technical support and internal manufacturing capacity investments that will help meet our customers' demand for years to come."

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Implement high-quality RF and power performance at an affordable price

The CC2340R2 and CC2340R5 wireless MCUs, offering flash memory of 256KB and 512KB respectively, provide exceptional flexibility for engineers and ample space for application code. Additionally, with the proliferation of Bluetooth LE applications, designers need additional memory capacity to easily update software remotely. The new wireless MCU family features 36KB of RAM with over-the-air download support.

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The new MCUs include industry-leading standby current of less than 830 nA, which is 40 percent lower than competing devices. The reduction in standby current helps extend battery life for up to 10 years on a coin cell battery in wireless applications such as electronic shelf labels and tire pressure monitoring systems. The CC2340 family also features an operating temperature range of –40ºC to 125ºC to help ensure a stable connection across applications, from industrial sensors and medical laboratories to outdoor environments such as EV chargers or smart meters.

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Engineers are also able to expand RF performance and connection range with an output power up to +8 dBm, the industry's highest among competing Bluetooth LE wireless MCUs. In addition, the CC2340 devices feature an integrated RF balun to enable a simpler design with fewer external components, leading to cost savings.

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Enable broader adoption of Bluetooth LE technology

With the increased memory, longer battery life and wider temperature range at an affordable price, engineers can enable more connected everyday applications such as:

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• Medical devices: In glucose meters, for example, the CC2340 MCUs' standby current of less than 830 nA leads to an end-product shelf life of 18 to 24 months and two weeks of active Bluetooth LE operation on a coin cell battery.
• Building automation: Smart-home hubs can take advantage of the CC2340 MCUs' wireless protocol support and output power range up to +8 dBm.
• Personal care: For products such as an electric toothbrush, the CC2340 wireless MCUs offer low power consumption in sleep mode, and can extend battery life.
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Integrate Bluetooth in two minutes or less

At embedded world this week, visitors to TI's booth can use the SimpleLink CC2340 LaunchPad™ development kit to establish a Bluetooth LE connection in two minutes or less. Throughout the show, TI will demonstrate how its products can help engineers overcome edge AI, connectivity and automotive design challenges. To view virtual demos and related white papers, technical articles and on-demand training, see TI.com/embeddedworld.

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To simplify implementation, engineers can connect with TI applications engineers through the TI E2E™ Bluetooth support forum. Engineers also have access to the proven, royalty-free Bluetooth LE software stack, which TI has supported and kept updated since 2010.

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Package, availability and pricing

To get started with the CC2340 wireless MCUs, customers can request samples as well as a development kit (LP-EM-CC2340R5) priced at US$39. The new wireless MCUs are expected to be in volume production in the first half of 2023.

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Pricing for the CC2340 family will start as low as US$0.79 for 1,000-unit quantities. To learn more about the new wireless MCU family, see www.ti.com/cc2340.

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Connectivity solutions to match your design needs

The CC2340R2 and CC2340R5 wireless MCUs are the latest addition to the SimpleLink portfolio that provides innovative connectivity solutions to serve the industrial, automotive and personal electronics markets.

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TI is developing affordable, quality and low-power wireless MCUs, certified modules, and transceivers, along with complete software offerings to fit any RF design need. For more information, see www.ti.com/wireless.

TerraCap Management LLC, a privately held investment firm with its headquarters in Naples, Florida, announced today the sale of the 1200 Building at 3100 Breckinridge Boulevard, a three-story office building located in Duluth, GA. The property was built in 1986 and consists of 75,000 square feet.

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TerraCap acquired the property in May 2017 as part of a seven-building office park acquisition and invested over $7 million in capital to improve and lease up the property.  TerraCap invested in exterior painting, roof replacements, updated landscaping, spec suites, parking lot improvements, and added amenities to the common areas. In December 2021, TerraCap sold the six single-story office buildings in the portfolio. In February 2022, TerraCap leased up the remaining 50,000 square foot vacancy in the three-story building, reaching 100% occupancy at the time of disposition.

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"The sale of the 1200 Building at 3100 Breckinridge completes our investment objectives for the asset. This asset benefited from steady leasing demand during the pandemic and validated our investment thesis around the value of investing in creative suburban office properties. We are grateful to the Lincoln Property Company team in Atlanta for their hard work to lease, manage, and execute on all capital improvements over our hold period," said Matt Stewart, Director of Asset Management for TerraCap Management LLC.

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Steve Good, Director of Acquisitions at TerraCap Management commented, "The pandemic posed some challenges, however, leasing remained steady, and our team did a great job repositioning this asset. Tom Shafer and John Hinson with Capital Real Estate Group also did a great job finding the right buyer and running a smooth sale process. We feel the asset has been set up for future success and we wish all parties the very best."

In recent years, thousands of companies have voluntarily pledged to meet sustainability targets, but many of them likely lack the knowledge and the tools to properly measure progress and how to optimize their carbon and energy footprints.

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Honeywell (Nasdaq: HON) is working to help solve this problem with its new Carbon & Energy Management, a carbon energy management software, that enables building owners to track and optimize energy performance against carbon reduction goals, down to a device or asset level.

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Carbon & Energy Management is the centerpiece of Honeywell's new Sustainable Buildings solutions portfolio, which is ready now to help building owners and operators meet two pressing, yet often conflicting, objectives: reducing the environmental impact of buildings while optimizing indoor air quality to support occupant well-being, with the aim of helping them to meet carbon neutral goals.

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Companies face increasing pressure today – from stakeholders as well as regulatory agencies – to curb energy consumption, reduce carbon emissions and create more sustainable, healthier facilities. There's an urgent reason for this: commercial buildings currently account for almost a third of global energy consumption and 37% of global energy-related COemissions.

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‍While 28% of those emissions are related to building operations – or the energy used to heat, cool and power the building – many building owners likely don't have device or asset level insight into energy consumption or carbon impact.

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Leveraging the Honeywell Forge enterprise performance management software solution's artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) algorithms, Carbon & Energy Management autonomously identifies and implements energy conservation measures to help drive efficiency, resiliency and accountability throughout a real estate portfolio. It continuously investigates, analyzes and optimizes building performance, down to an asset-specific level, measuring critical sustainability KPIs including carbon emissions.

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"The buildings industry has long worked to improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon impact, but it is imperative to make meaningful change in the near term – and that means building owners need better data about their operations," said Manish Sharma, vice president and general manager of Sustainable Buildings, Honeywell. "Given the increased awareness of and investment in sustainability, it's critical for a company to know – and to clearly communicate to stakeholders – how its facilities are optimizing energy baselines to reduce their carbon impact. We're helping customers create new metrics for success and removing the complexity of carbon management while balancing healthier spaces with our ready now solutions."

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'Impact investors' want to know in specific terms what companies' carbon reduction goals are and what they're doing to meet them.According to recent market studies, reducing a building's carbon footprint can potentially increase its commercial value.

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Honeywell Carbon & Energy Management establishes an energy performance baseline using up to a three-year usage history, live meter data and environmental factors to determine which assets are driving energy consumption. The enterprise-level Carbon & Energy Management software provides a real-time dashboard of critical sustainability KPIs; aggregates carbon data from energy-related emission sources in a building – gas, electricity and fuel sources; reduces energy consumption using advanced building control capabilities; and reduces carbon footprint without compromising occupant well-being or comfort.

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Carbon & Energy Management continuously collects 24/7 energy use data, logged at 15-minute intervals, and submeters all energy-consuming assets to collect granular consumption information. This data allows Honeywell to help customers establish a rigorously derived baseline, provides a roadmap for carbon neutral, and helps customers to execute the roadmap to help meet their carbon neutral goals. The solution allows building owners to avoid capital outlays for technology upgrades to meet sustainability reporting demands and minimize the time required to implement solutions.

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Honeywell's advanced Sustainable Buildings portfolio can help meet energy efficiency goals, improve occupant well-being and change the way occupants experience a building. The portfolio aligns with Honeywell's commitment to achieve carbon neutrality in its facilities and operations by 2035, building on a track record of sharply reducing its greenhouse gas footprint as well as its decades-long history of innovation to help customers meet their environment, social and governance goals.

As the spring turns into summer and another International Women's Day has come and gone, it is worthwhile to reflect on the many impressive accomplishments made by female founders of fashion companies over the past few decades. With that thought in mind, Justina McKee, Founder of the noted fashion and swimwear brand Matte Collection, wishes to call attention to some of her fellow female business founders and their triumphs, as well as highlight her own achievements as an entrepreneur. Through hard work, determination, and undeniable skill, each of these women have succeeded solely based on their own merit in an objectively cutthroat industry, and in so doing have added to the vast, rich history of notable businesswomen in the 21st century.

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Christina and Teresa Jaide of JLUXLABEL

Sisters Christina and Teresa Jaide created fashion line JLUXLABEL in 2006 with just three sewing machines, an $8,000 USD investment from their parents, and a vision to design unique fashion pieces for women to wear to the special occasions in their lives. From their humble beginnings working in a 400 square foot apartment, the siblings grew the company into a fashion industry powerhouse without any formal design training whatsoever. Currently, the company boasts 28 employees and routinely posts revenues in excess of $5 million USD, conducting the majority of its sales through e-commerce.

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Shirin, Shideh, and Shida Kaviani of Naked Wardrobe

The trio of Shirin, Shideh, and Shida Kaviani, another set of sisters, founded Naked Wardrobe in 2012 with the intent of creating a line of affordable, fashion forward clothing that celebrates women of all shapes and sizes. Although the sisters began the company with only $7,500 in startup capital, they managed to make their first $1 million in profit within a single year. These days, the brand is synonymous with elegant, down-to-earth style, and prides itself on its role in empowering women to be confident to express their own personal style through the latest trends.

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Justina McKee of Matte Collection

Likewise, Justina McKee created Matte Collection in 2017 with only a scant few resources and a dream of enabling every woman to look and feel their best without having to spend too much money. Headquartered in Atlanta's bustling Buckhead district, Justina started her fashion and swimwear company with a philosophy of creating clothes for women made by women. As not only the business owner but also the sole designer, she developed the company quickly, recording robust profits and cultivating it into an online fashion heavyweight. Now, only five years after its launch, Matte Collection has made impressive gains within the fashion industry, attracting models and influencers such as Amber Rose and Jordyn Woods as brand advocates, and hip-hop and R&B artist Ciara, Bravo TV reality star Porsha Williams, and award-winning actress Gabrielle Union as repeat customers.

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Reached for comment, an official spokesperson for Matte Collection made the following remarks: "Because of the bold efforts made by women who have founded successful businesses, such as Christina and Teresa Jaide of JLUXLABEL, Shirin, Shideh, and Shida Kaviani of Naked Wardrobe, and indeed, Justina McKee of Matte Collection, women and girls all over the world can see that it is possible to realize their dreams of recognition and ownership in the fashion industry. We applaud these women for their many accomplishments, and wish them nothing but continued success in the future."

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For the latest on Matte Collection's global features, collaborations, and Justina McKee's innovative designs made for and by women, visit the brand's official website.

Cox Enterprises announced today that Karen Bennett will move from Cox Communications to Cox Enterprises as the company's new executive vice president and chief people officer, effective Jan. 1, 2023. Bennett has been with Cox since 2015 and most recently held the title of executive vice president and chief people officer. Her background includes more than 25 years of leading teams to help maximize talent potential and the total employee experience, while addressing the needs of the business across all areas of HR.

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"We're excited to welcome Karen to Cox Enterprises," said Alex Taylor, chairman and CEO, Cox Enterprises. "Her time at Cox has shown that she's a talented leader who not only deeply cares for our people but also thinks strategically when it comes to our business operations. She's been a trusted leader in our company for many years, and we look forward to seeing the impact she will make in this role."

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Current Cox Enterprises President and Chief People and Operations Officer Jill Campbell will retire at the end of the year. Campbell is celebrating her 40the company. She shifted from Cox Communications to Cox Enterprises in 2018, and she currently leads the people solutions, real estate, aviation, facilities, security and corporate affairs departments.

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"Jill's presence and the impact she's made at Cox isn't something you can put into words," said Taylor. "Our employees and company are some of the most important things to me in my life, and Jill carries that same passion. I have countless examples of things she's said and actions she's taken that have continually renewed my faith in her and her dedication to Cox. She will be sorely missed, but we wish her well in her retirement."

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Karen Bennett

Karen Bennett became executive vice president and chief people officer for Cox Communications in 2017. In this role, she developed and executed a talent strategy that aligns with Cox's operating principles and works through the challenges of driving continual growth in our rapidly evolving business.  

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Prior to joining Cox Communications, Bennett was chief human resources officer for Cox Media Group, a sister company at the time within Cox Enterprises. Before her time with Cox, Bennett was chief human resources officer for YP (formerly AT&T Ad Solutions). She is a cable veteran as well, having served as senior vice president of human resources for Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. for nearly 14 years. \

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Bennett serves on the board of directors of the Society of Human Resources Management (SHM) Foundation; the board of directors for the Human Resources Leadership Forum of Atlanta; the WICT Network global board of directors; the Emma Bowen Foundation board of directors and Georgia State University's HR Roundtable consortium.

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Bennett is a graduate of Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia where she earned both her bachelor's and executive MBA degrees. She is an ICF-certified executive coach.

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Jill Campbell

Campbell assumed the role of EVP and chief people and operations officer at Cox Enterprises in 2018, before being promoted to president in 2021. She previously served as chief operations officer of Cox Communications. In this role, she oversaw the company's day-to-day operations, ensuring companywide alignment with competitive strategies to enhance marketplace execution and grow the company's nearly 7 million residential and business customers.  

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Campbell joined Cox in 1982 as director of communications in Oklahoma City, where she also served as customer service manager and acting general manager. She later served in several roles for Cox operations, including vice president and general manager for Cox's Bakersfield, California, and Santa Barbara, California, operations; vice president of customer operations for Cox in Phoenix; and vice president and general manager for Cox's Las Vegas operation. In 2001, she was promoted to senior vice president of operations for the Eastern Division, and in 2011, she expanded her role to oversee the company's entire field operations.  

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A graduate of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Campbell also earned an MBA from Oklahoma City University. She is currently on the board of directors for the Atlanta History Center and Georgia Power, and is a member of the International Women's Forum. Campbell is a member of the International Coaching Federation and is also a certified master coach.  
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She previously served as a board member for several nonprofit organizations, including United Way, Boys & Girls Club of America, YMCA, Woodruff Arts Center, Girl Talk and the WICT Foundation. She also served on the boards of the California, Arizona and Nevada cable television associations.  

Data Axle, a leading provider of data, data-driven marketing and real-time intelligence solutions, today announced a new partnership with global surgical nonprofit, Operation Smile, to deliver donor acquisition support through Data Axle's Nonprofit Solutions division. Data Axle will support Operation Smile in both the English- and Spanish-language donor acquisition programs by providing media planning, data processing, list management, modeling, and analytics, as well as consultative services.

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Committed to being the best steward of funds, Operation Smile directs donor contributions to the programs that bring the highest standard of care to people living with cleft lip, cleft palate, and other facial conditions. With its expertise in data-driven omnichannel marketing solutions, Data Axle will help further Operation Smile's commitment to being a good steward of donor funds and will strengthen the organization's acquisition program for continued growth and stability.

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"As leaders in the nonprofit marketing space, Data Axle is excited to help Operation Smile create data driven solutions that will further the organization's mission and improve the lives of millions around the world," said Niely Shams, President, Nonprofit Solutions at Data Axle. "Through our expertise with industry-leading modeling and analytics, we see incredible opportunities for enhanced performance in Operation Smile's fundraising efforts."

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With more than 6,000 active medical volunteers from all around the world, Operation Smile is one of the world's largest volunteer-based nonprofit organizations. Through their expertise in treating cleft lip and cleft palate, Operation Smile creates solutions that deliver safe surgery to people where it is needed most. What started as a family-led, medical mission-based organization nearly 40 years ago has grown into a global network of passionate individuals united under the belief that access to safe surgery is not a privilege, but a universal human right.

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"We are excited to partner with Data Axle on our donor acquisition efforts, tapping into their deep expertise in the nonprofit space to boost our performance," said Joanne Bowers, VP, Mass Market Fundraising at Operation Smile.

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The deep bench that makes up Operations Smile's Data Axle account team brings years of nonprofit expertise, coupled with extensive omnichannel capabilities bringing a new level of consultative and hands-on support to the program. Direct mail and digital tactics go hand-in-hand throughout the process to ensure peak performance is achieved, working collaboratively across channels to execute a fully integrated omnichannel fundraising campaign.

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"Data Axle is proud to work with some of the most well-respected global nonprofit organizations, like Operation Smile," said Mike Iaccarino, CEO of Data Axle. "Our best-in-class solutions will help Operation Smile's team deliver on data-driven, long-term strategies that continuously achieve higher donor acquisition and retention rates."

Ernst & Young LLP (EY US) today announced that Chairman, Founder and Chief Medical Officer S. Mark McKenna, MD, MBA of OVME was named an Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2022 Southeast Award winner. Entrepreneur Of The Year is one of the preeminent competitive business awards for entrepreneurs and leaders of high-growth companies who think big to succeed. An independent panel of judges selected Mark based on his entrepreneurial spirit, purpose, growth and impact, among other core contributions and attributes.

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"I am honored to receive this esteemed honor. The fuel of any great entrepreneur is a great team, and this instance is certainly no exception," says Dr. McKenna who founded OVME, a trusted medical aesthetics studio, which has garnered a loyal following and a reputation as a pioneer for its luxury treatments, expertly trained medical staff, tech-enabled approach, and self-love mantra. Known for bringing out the best in others by delivering exceptional aesthetic outcomes, the brand currently has a total of nineteen studios in eleven markets across the US, with another six set to open by the end of 2022.

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As a Southeast award winner, Mark will now be considered by the National independent panel of judges for the Entrepreneur Of The Year 2022 National Awards. National finalists and winners, as well as the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Overall Award winner, will be announced in November at the annual Strategic Growth Forum®. The Entrepreneur Of The Year National Overall Award winner will then move on to compete for the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year™ Award in June 2023.

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The Entrepreneur Of The Year program has honored the inspirational leadership of entrepreneurs such as:

• Cherie Kloss of SnapNurse
• SaejuJeong of Noom
• Joe DeSimone of Carbon, Inc.
• Howard Schultz of Starbucks Coffee Company
• Jodi Berg of Vitamix
• Reid Hoffman and Jeff Weiner of LinkedIn Corporation
• Hamdi Ulukaya of Chobani, Inc.
• Kendra Scott of Kendra Scott LLC
• Andreas Bechtolsheim and Jayshree Ullal of Arista Networks
• James Park of Fitbit
• Daymond John of FUBU
• Sheila Mikhail of AskBio

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Sponsors
Founded and produced by Ernst & Young LLP, the Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards are presented by PNC Bank. In the Southeast, sponsors also include PNC, King & Spalding and Cresa.

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About Entrepreneur Of The Year®

Entrepreneur Of The Year is the world's most prestigious business awards program for unstoppable entrepreneurs. These visionary leaders deliver innovation, growth and prosperity that transform our world. The program engages entrepreneurs with insights and experiences that foster growth. It connects them with their peers to strengthen entrepreneurship around the world. Entrepreneur Of The Year is the first and only truly global awards program of its kind. It celebrates entrepreneurs through regional and national awards programs in more than 145 cities in over 60 countries. National overall winners go on to compete for the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year™ title. ey.com/us/eoy

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About EY Private
As Advisors to the ambitious™, EY Private professionals possess the experience and passion to support private businesses and their owners in unlocking the full potential of their ambitions. EY Private teams offer distinct insights born from the long EY history of working with business owners and entrepreneurs. These teams support the full spectrum of private enterprises including private capital managers and investors and the portfolio businesses they fund, business owners, family businesses, family offices and entrepreneurs. Visit ey.com/us/private

Beltone, winner of Newsweek's "Best in Hearing Care Retailers" award revealed today that it has once again expanded its product line with the introduction of the new Beltone Imagine™ Custom rechargeable hearing aids. The new hearing aids restore natural hearing in a sleek and comfortable earbud design. They are available in modern In-style™ or Blend-In colors, are weather-and-sweatproof, and last all day on a single battery charge.

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"Beltone is committed to creating innovative hearing aid technology and incorporating stylish designs that will allow our patients to feel confident in wearing their hearing aids in all aspects of life," says Beltone President, Mike Halloran. "Because of their modern design, these new custom rechargeable hearing aids offer a different approach to treating hearing loss than what is traditionally thought of for hearing aids, and we are excited for those ready to start their hearing health journey with Beltone."

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Beltone's custom hearing aids are molded to fit users unique ear canals to provide all-day comfort. The customized earbud design sits in the ear so users can wear glasses or face masks with ease. With sound that adapts to every situation, the custom hearing aids are suitable for those with active lifestyles as they are weatherproof-and-sweatproof and nano-coated inside and out for continuous wear and easy cleaning. Users will be able to connect to life easier with hands-free phone and FaceTime calls for iPhone and iPad* with a simple tap of a button. They can also easily stream music and take calls from Android™ smartphones directly to the ears. Additionally, users get up to 24 hours of quality sound on a single charge, so they can feel confident about joining any conversation throughout the day. Check out a short video about Beltone's new custom rechargeable hearing aids here.

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Additional features:

• Using advanced technology, the hearing aids adapt automatically to different sound environments, allowing users to stay in control even in extra-noisy environments.
• Easily adjust the hearing aid sound with the Beltone HearMax™ app available for iPhones and iPads or Android smartphones.
• To add to the ultimate personalized experience, users will receive custom charger to pair with their custom hearing aids.

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The Imagine Custom rechargeable hearing aids will be available beginning June 29 at any of the 1,500 Beltone hearing centers.

Veristor Systems, Inc., a trusted provider of transformative business technology solutions, today announced it has been named Arctic Wolf's Southeast Regional Partner of the Year for 2022. This honor recognizes the company's commitment to improving its customers' cybersecurity posture through a strategic partnership with Arctic Wolf that focuses on joint business growth and planning, engagement and training, demand generation, and executive and security practice alignment.

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"As a strategic partner of Veristor, Arctic Wolf has done a phenomenal job in helping our customers mitigate cyber risks and mature their security programs," said Brian Yost, Director, Cyber Security Strategy, Veristor. "We are honored to be selected as an Arctic Wolf Partner of the Year and look forward to our continued collaboration in the delivery of security operations solutions that help put an end to cyber risk."

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Celebrating their fifth year, the Arctic Wolf Partner of the Year Awards honor top-performing partners for their achievements in helping organizations improve their security operations through the use of Arctic Wolf solutions and for their commitment to shared customer success through a partnership with Arctic Wolf.

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Veristor offers Arctic Wolf's security operations platform as part of its suite of security solutions that simplify security complexity and defend critical business data from cyberattacks and data breach events. The comprehensive Veristor security and privacy service portfolio helps organizations of all sizes identify and address security and privacy exposures before they become problems so that companies can move beyond being reactive to proactively address risk before it becomes an incident.

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"The Arctic Wolf partner community continues to lead the way in embracing security operations and playing a transformative role in the security journey of their customers," said Will Briggs, Vice President of Americas Channels and Program, Arctic Wolf. "Our Partner of the Year Awards recognize and celebrate those partners who share our mission to end cyber risk, and we congratulate the winners on their significant achievements."

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Arctic Wolf is a global leader in security operations, who pioneered a cloud-native security operations platform designed to end cyber risk. Built on open XDR architecture, the Arctic Wolf Security Operations Cloud ingests and analyzes more than two trillion security events a week across endpoint, network, and cloud sources to deliver critical security outcomes and optimize an organization's disparate security solutions. Now deployed to more than 2,700 customers worldwide, the Arctic Wolf Platform delivers automated threat detection and response at scale and empowers organizations of virtually any size to establish security operations with the push of a button.

New York-based AlphaSense, the leading market intelligence and search platform, today announced its $225 million Series D financing round led by the Growth Equity business within Goldman Sachs Asset Management (Goldman Sachs) and Viking Global Investors. The financing values the company at $1.7 billion, which is nearly double the valuation from its $180 million Series C funding in September 2021 that was also led by Goldman Sachs and Viking Global. This new funding round includes a substantial debt investment from funds and/or accounts managed by BlackRock earlier this year.

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The valuation increase is commensurate with AlphaSense's rapid and sustained growth and follows the achievement of key revenue and product milestones; notably, annual recurring revenue (ARR) now exceeds $100 million. In addition, AlphaSense experienced significant gains in other key metrics, including user and customer base, which both grew by well over 100% in the past year. AlphaSense's base of 3,500 customers now includes over 78% of the S&P 100, 97% of the Dow 50, 70% of the top asset management firms and banks, and leading companies in wide-ranging industries such as energy, industrials, consumer goods, and technology, with the platform appealing to knowledge workers across a wide range of roles including strategy, competitive intelligence, investor relations, corporate development, and financial analysis.

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AlphaSense's platform leverages proprietary search technology powered by AI and NLP to extract relevant insights from an extensive universe of public and private content, including company filings, earnings transcripts, expert interview transcripts, news, trade journals, and equity research. Having on-demand access to key data points and insights enables professionals to make critical decisions with confidence and speed, thus improving business performance and outcomes.

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"We are excited to upsize our investment in AlphaSense," said Holger Staude, a Managing Director within the Growth Equity business at Goldman Sachs. "Achieving high organic growth and strong business fundamentals while exceeding $100 million in ARR is a substantial accomplishment and demonstrates the team's focus on building an enduring business in a large market."

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John Doyle, Director of Venture Lending at BlackRock, added, "AlphaSense's impressive growth and high-quality customer base reflect the power of its platform to substantially improve productivity and enable smarter data-driven decisions for users across industries and roles. We are excited about our debt investment in AlphaSense at this important stage in its evolution."

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The capital infusion will be used to further invest in product development, content expansion and customer support, and to drive organic growth as well as strategic transactions. Recent acquisitions include the purchase in October 2021 of Stream by Mosaic, provider of a leading library of expert interview transcripts, as well as the purchase of Sentieo, a financial intelligence platform designed for investors, which closed last month.

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"We are thrilled by the continued support of preeminent investors like Goldman Sachs and Viking and the addition of BlackRock as we embark on the next chapter of our growth," said Jack Kokko, CEO of AlphaSense. "This round of funding will allow AlphaSense to invest in our growth and capitalize on opportunities to expand our content sets and improve our value offering, furthering our mission to help companies across all industries make better decisions with greater confidence and speed."

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About AlphaSense

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AlphaSense is a market intelligence platform used by the world's leading companies and financial institutions. Since 2011, our AI-based technology has helped professionals make smarter business decisions by delivering insights from an extensive universe of public and private content—including company filings, event transcripts, expert call transcripts, news, trade journals, and equity research. Our platform is trusted by over 3,500 enterprise customers, including a majority of the S&P 500. Headquartered in New York City, AlphaSense employs over 1,000 people across offices in the U.S., U.K., Finland, Germany, and India. For more information, please visit www.alpha-sense.com.

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About Goldman Sachs Asset Management Growth Equity

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Bringing together traditional and alternative investments, Goldman Sachs Asset Management provides clients around the world with a dedicated partnership and focus on long-term performance. As the primary investing area within Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), we deliver investment and advisory services for the world's leading institutions, financial advisors and individuals, drawing from our deeply connected global network and tailored expert insights, across every region and market—overseeing more than $2 trillion in assets under supervision worldwide as of March 31, 2022. Driven by a passion for our clients' performance, we seek to build long-term relationships based on conviction, sustainable outcomes, and shared success over time. Follow us on LinkedIn.

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About Viking Global Investors

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Founded in 1999, Viking is a global investment management firm that manages approximately $48 billion of capital for its investors. It has offices in Greenwich, New York, Hong Kong, London, and San Francisco and is registered as an investment adviser with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. For more information, please visit www.vikingglobal.com.

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Media Contact  

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Name: Caitlin Kelly
Email: alphasense@vividand.co
Phone: (843) 817-0330

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Source: AlphaSense

GameDay All American Spirits releases the first ever sports-themed canned vodka cocktail just in time for pre-season—GameDay Spiked vodka cocktail. GameDay Spirits specially crafted three performance cocktails infused with real fruit juice, electrolytes and a game-winning personality.

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Each flavor brings a bold, new spin to the beverage category. At only 99 calories and 5% alcohol by volume, GameDay Spiked vodka cocktail is gluten free, six-times distilled, all natural, carbonated and ready to challenge the industry titans and win over consumers as the true MVP can of the summer.

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GAMEDAY SPIKED FLAVORS:

• THE GOAT (FRUIT PUNCH): A perfect combination of fruit flavors makes this spiked cocktail The Greatest Of All Time. With 60mg of electrolytes, the GOAT is a high performing cocktail that will enhance your pre or post-game swagger.

• CLEAT CHASER (LEMON LIME): The Cleat Chaser is always the team favorite. Spiked with a lemon-lime twist and 75mg of electrolytes, any athlete would find this smooth GameDay vodka cocktail irresistible. Who says you can't win them all? Show your wild side and choose the Cleat Chaser.

• CINDERELLA STORY (STRAWBERRY LEMONADE): This Strawberry Lemonade cocktail is inspired by the underdog. Like our vodka, you've managed to defy expectations and prove all the doubters wrong. Spiked with 90mg of electrolytes, this delicious Cinderella Story will help you overcome any hurdle thrown your way and remind you that anything is possible. Keep grinding. Keep believing. Shock the world.

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Co-Founder Susie Perez-David said, "Over the last 2 years, we have worked with the nation's top flavor houses and formulation teams to create the best tasting, ready-to-drink cocktail in the market.  Our three performance cocktails are delicious and refreshing, and we know fans will be excited to take their cans from the beach to the tailgate come Fall."

GameDay Spiked vodka cocktails will be available nationwide beginning June 15, 2022. Cans will be packaged by flavor in packs of (4) 12oz slim cans at $9.99 per pack. Individual cans will be available for purchase at $2.49 - $2.99.

Court TV has renewed the original true-crime series "Someone They Knew With Tamron Hall" for a second season and has added it to its primetime schedule weeknights at 7 p.m. ET. The show now serves as lead-in for the network's flagship program "Closing Arguments with Vinnie Politan" (8-10 p.m. ET).

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Hosted by Daytime Emmy Award-winning TV host, journalist, and author Tamron Hall, "Someone They Knew" stories are told from the points of view of the people impacted by the case, including lawyers, jurors, members of law enforcement and the victim's family and friends. Using new interviews, archival footage and re-creations of the crime, the goal of each episode is a balanced story from victim to verdict. Hall is not only a seasoned crime reporter and true crime author, she is also committed to sharing stories consistent with the Court TV lineup.

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Court TV has had a strong start to the year with the success of "Someone They Knew" and live coverage of the Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard case. The network's coverage of Depp vs. Heard nearly quadrupled the audience for the networks' live trial coverage as compared to the pre-trial period (+278%). Daily streaming hours more than quintupled during this same period (+415%). More than 500,000 viewers – the most since the network relaunched in 2019 – tuned into Court TV to watch the verdict in the trial on Wednesday, June 1.

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"Court TV is on pace for its most-watched year yet," said Ethan Nelson, acting head of Court TV. "Viewers tuned in for every second of our insightful coverage and expert analysis of the Depp-Heard trial and they have also embraced 'Someone They Knew with Tamron Hall.' We are looking forward to having Tamron in primetime as well as the compelling cases we're planning to air in the months ahead."

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Source for Depp vs. Heard trial viewing data (4/11/22-5/27/22) vs. prior four weeks: Linear TV - Nielsen, live + same-day viewing. Reflects total viewers 2+ M-F 9a-7p. Streaming - Google Analytics, O&O CTV, FAST and O&O Web data. Includes data for Court TV.com, Android TV, Roku, Vizio & Fire TV. Does not include FAST data from Pluto TV.

ARMM Inc. (OTCQB: ARMM) (the "Company" or "ARMM") a firearms lifestyle platform focused on Self-Reliance, is pleased to announce that it has added the American Tactical Defense ("ATD") Active Shooter School Training, sponsored by MAGLITE®, to its ARMM Academy.

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The events that have recently occurred in Buffalo, New York, followed by the tragic school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, and Tulsa, Oklahoma have cast the national spotlight back on firearms. Armm's leadership strongly believes in empowering citizens with education, confidence and real-world solutions to defend themselves and others in the event of an active shooter scenario. The Company is partnering with American Tactical Defense LLC, the most current, proven, active shooter training for schools.

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The training content will be hosted with the Discipline section of the platform and app. The ATD, MAGLITE® Sponsored Practical Defense Video Series includes the following modules:

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MAGLITE® Practical Defense – Active Shooter School Training / American Tactical Defense

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MAGLITE® Practical Defense – School District – School Bus Driver Active Shooter Training / American Tactical Defense

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MAGLITE® Practical Defense – Home Defense Training / American Tactical Defense

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MAGLITE® Practical Defense – Phone vs Flashlight - American Tactical Defense

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In the coming weeks, ARMM and American Tactical Defense will be hosting an Active Shooter School Training Live Webinar, at the Maglite Campus in Ontario, California. The Company will also be distributing a link to participate in the Webinar.

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Teachers that participate in the Webinar will receive a free copy of the Teachers Pocket Guide to Active Shooter Response, and School Administrators will receive the School Threat Assessment Checklist.

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"Now more than ever, given our mission of self reliance, firearms education and training, situational awareness has become paramount. We will not wait for political solutions, and are excited to share ATD's invaluable skill set and content in order to empower citizens, teachers and administrators at this time," said Mark Lawson, CEO of Armm Inc.

The Bank of America Institute today released its findings from the latest Consumer Checkpoint, which aims to provide a holistic and real-time estimate of U.S. consumers' spending and their financial well-being, leveraging the breadth and depth of Bank of America proprietary data from its 67 million consumer and small business clients

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Highlights of the publication:

• Aggregated Bank of America credit and debit card spending was up 9% in May¹ year-over-year; within this, credit card spending rose by 16% year-over-year, while debit card spending increased by 4%.
• Total payments growth across all channels was up 6% year-over-year in May, from sources like wire payments, Automated Clearing House (ACH), cards, Billpay, etc., while overall transaction volumes were up 8% year-over-year.
• Gasoline spending as a share of total card spending surged to 7.8% for the week ending May 28, up from 6.4% in February; lower-income consumers (<$50k/year), average share-of-gas-spending rose to 9.5%.
• Spending per household increases varied by region, with the South outpacing the rest of the country while the Midwest lags on a year-over-year basis. For example, compared to the 4.3% year-over-year increase in average of spending per household throughout May on a national basis, Miami residents' spending increased 6.8% while Chicago residents' spending increased per household rose by 1.4%.

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"Our card data shows continued growth in consumer spending, but inflation is challenging households' purchasing power," said David Tinsley, senior economist for the Bank of America Institute.  "That said, spending on services like travel and entertainment remained strong and households continued to have higher savings than they did before the pandemic. Overall, we still remain cautiously optimistic for the U.S. consumer."

CivicEye, the end-to-end provider of cloud software for Public Safety, today announced the launch of the Law Enforcement Empowerment Program (LEEP), an opportunity for tribal law enforcement agencies to partner with CivicEye to conduct a free Records Management System (RMS) pilot program. This program will be a vital tool in enabling agencies that otherwise couldn't afford software or solutions for their departments. The LEEP program for 2022 launches with the primary focus on tribal law enforcement, seeking to enable these agencies to enlist new strategies and technologies that not only help drive efficient internal processes today but also drive more efficient policing and build safer communities for years to come.

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Application to the program will be open from April 19 to May 16, 2022, at 12 PM EST (please apply online here). It is recommended that police chiefs and/or authority figures with tribal departments complete the application. Up to 10 tribal law enforcement agencies will be selected to participate in the program, at no cost, for a term of two (2) years of free access to CivicRMS, on-site training and implementation, and transition services at the conclusion of the program if they decide not to continue using the application.

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Native American Law Enforcement agencies have faced significant challenges securing funding to properly staff and give their departments access to needed resources to serve their communities. By using CivicRMS, agencies will be able to create incident reports, analyze crime trends, monitor drug offenses, and drive more efficient processes. This high-performance, modern records management system will be easy to use and allow for more time spent in the community and less time behind a computer.

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"Small and medium law enforcement agencies have struggled to receive funding and don't have modern applications and technologies to help them move forward. CivicEye felt we could make a difference by developing LEEP," said Nathan Leatherwood, Head of Growth and Client Success at CivicEye. "We're excited to partner with Tribal Agencies in this initiative and look forward to hearing the successes that come from it."

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There are approximately 20,000 law enforcement agencies today, 13,000 of which have less than 10 officers. It is these small agencies that typically have struggled to secure funding or allocate funding to enhance their police technologies. This inspired Leatherwood to develop the LEEP program at CivicEye, to empower and modernize these small agencies with the CivicRMS software for free for two years. LEEP alleviates the stress around funding for tribal agencies and grants them the opportunity to implement a software over an extended period of time.

Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB), the world's leading cloud software company powering social good, today announced it has achieved carbon neutrality across its operations and data centers for 2021, and that it will engage with the Taskforce and Climate Financial Disclosure (TCDF) and CDP to ensure transparent sustainability reporting and progress. With a multi-pronged climate strategy, Blackbaud is focused on reducing its emissions, using energy efficiently and investing in environmental projects for a more sustainable future.

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"As a company with a longstanding track record of commitment to social good, we prioritize our obligation to operate our business sustainably," said Rachel Hutchisson, vice president, global social responsibility, Blackbaud. "We are committed to doing our part for climate change by calculating and reducing our emissions, investing in renewable energy and sustainable projects, and working with our employees, customers and partners to collectively advance our efforts."

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Blackbaud began its carbon neutral journey by evaluating its Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, which included emissions from its owned buildings (Scope 1), emissions from sources that are not owned but controlled—like leased offices (Scope 2)—and then emissions from data centers, cloud services and employee work from home energy consumption (Scope 3).

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Reducing emissions has been a top priority for Blackbaud over the past several years. Blackbaud transitioned to a remote-first workforce strategy in 2021, which helped fast-track the company's goals for minimizing environmental impact. Since 2019, Blackbaud has reduced its global real estate footprint by 50%; reduced the energy emissions required to run its office space by 63%; and reduced employee commute emissions by 75%.

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With its remote-first strategy, Blackbaud has retained one owned office building—its LEED Gold certified world headquarters in Charleston, SC. This building leverages solar power and operates with 30% more energy efficiency and 20% less water than other buildings of its class. Blackbaud has also implemented strong waste reduction and wellness programs to create a healthy, sustainable campus.

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To balance the remainder of emissions from its business operations, Blackbaud has invested in renewable energy credits (RECs) and carbon offsets. The company purchased Green-e^® RECs, which funded clean energy generation at a South Dakota wind farm, to account for its Scope 2 emissions. To reduce the effects of Scope 1 and Scope 3 emissions, Blackbaud is supporting several carbon offset projects, including Mississippi valley reforestation in the U.S., community reforestation in Ghana and a portfolio of global renewable energy projects.

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This milestone of achieving carbon neutrality builds on Blackbaud's recent sustainability progress. In 2021, Blackbaud formed an ESG steering committee that is co-chaired by CEO Mike Gianoni and has board oversight. Blackbaud also joined the UN Global Compact, which is focused on aligning business activity to the UN's sustainable development goals (SDGs). Earlier this year, the company made a multi-year, six-figure gift to Project Drawdown, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and a leader in science-based climate solutions research, communications and engagement. Blackbaud's gift is supporting Project Drawdown's efforts to reach educators, students, professionals and a general audience of individual change agents interested in climate change and solutions. Project Drawdown is partnering with Blackbaud to consult on environmental strategy and provide educational opportunities for Blackbaud employees on how to apply climate solutions in their own lives and how to become climate advocates.

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As a next step, Blackbaud will adopt the TCFD framework in its reporting this year and will also report climate data to CDP to continue enhancing transparency around its sustainable operations, and to continue working toward its climate goals. These disclosures help companies outline climate-related risks and their plans to minimize those risks through governance, and by setting targets and measuring against them.

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"We've been committed to social good from day one, and our mission is to help good take over the world," said Hutchisson. "Reducing environmental impact and advocating for climate solutions is one way we are bringing that mission to life. Achieving carbon neutrality is a significant step in our journey, but we know there is more work to do, and we remain focused on progress."

Justine PETERSEN and NISA Charitable Fund are partnering to address the impact of high-interest car loans for drivers in Greater St. Louis with challenging personal credit scores. As one of the nation's leading credit building organizations and community development financial institutions ("CDFIs"), Justine PETERSEN launched a pilot, auto loan refinancing program called DRIVE with wrap-around financial credit counseling with the collaborative support and a $250,000 investment from NISA Charitable Fund.

"Research shows that those with subprime credit in St. Louis are paying an annual interest rate of approximately 20% for their auto loan, which consumes a disproportionate share of their monthly income," said Robert Boyle, Founder and CEO of Justine PETERSEN. "Low- to moderate-income households can stretch their dollars if they work with a CDFI to rein in their high-interest auto loans and participate in a comprehensive credit counseling program. With NISA Charitable Fund's vital financial and operational support, the initial results of our pilot program are encouraging, and we hope to expand our partnership base and participant pool during the second half of the year."

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The DRIVE pilot program enables selected participants to refinance their auto loan at an attractive annual interest rate of six percent, representing significant monthly savings. Individuals also receive a personalized credit action plan to help repair their credit score. Recently, Katherine Faulkner, a DRIVE participant, refinanced her car note with a DRIVE loan, lowering her annual interest rate from 20.35% to 6%, saving over $120 per month. "It was a great change for the better," stated Ms. Faulkner, "I have the joy of knowing that I am no longer paying all of that interest on my loan, and now I have more money in my pocket to meet my other monthly expenses."

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"This is precisely the type of meaningful impact we want to achieve in our collaborations with community organizations in St. Louis," said David Eichhorn, CFA, NISA's CEO and Head of Investment Strategies. "Our work with Justine PETERSEN is about yielding tangible, scalable results and remaining true to NISA Charitable Fund's mission to support organizations that are improving access to capital among traditionally underserved groups in St. Louis."