Category: Business

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Best’s Insurance Law Podcast addresses public health emergency’s impact on telemedicine

OLDWICK, N.J. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — AM Best and Best’s Insurance Professional Resources have released the latest installment of the Best’s Insurance Law Podcast series, which examines timely insurance issues from a legal perspective.

The latest episode features attorneys Mary Kate McGrath and Adam Fulginiti, shareholders from the law firm Marshall Dennehey, as they discuss the public health emergency and how it impacts telemedicine.

 

Marshall Dennehey is a qualified member in Best’s Insurance Professional Resources, an insurance industry resource that has featured qualified legal counsel, independent insurance adjusting services and expert service providers since 1929.

 

Listen or subscribe to the Insurance Law Podcast.

 

AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specializing in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

 

Copyright © 2023 by A.M. Best Company, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Contacts

John Czuba
Managing Editor,
Professional Resources
+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5673
john.czuba@ambest.com

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Business Lifestyle Sports & Gaming Technology

LPGA golfers Allisen Corpuz and Annie Park named SHI brand ambassadors

SOMERSET, N.J. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — SHI International, one of the world’s largest IT solutions providers, named LPGA Tour golfers Allisen Corpuz and Annie Park as its newest official brand ambassadors. Both will wear SHI-branded gear when they compete, starting this week with the Drive On Championship in Gold Canyon, Arizona.


SHI, an LPGA Tour official technology partner, continues to expand its reach while recognizing and promoting innovation and excellence across a variety of industries. Corpuz and Park will become familiar faces of SHI’s 2023 “Solve what’s next” campaign, highlighting SHI’s role in helping IT and procurement leaders in over 17,000 organizations around the world meet their evolving cybersecurity, cloud computing, IT infrastructure, and end-user computing needs.

 

Corpuz, 25, was one of the top rookies on the tour last year and Park, 27, had two top-10 finishes in 2022.

 

“Allisen and Annie are more than just talented athletes. They possess the qualities of inventive thinkers who can adjust both strategy and execution to ensure success,” said Thai Lee, President and CEO of SHI International. “As world-class golfers, they must constantly anticipate and solve for the next obstacles they face on the golf course and those exceptional skills align perfectly with our values. Our employees approach each customer’s unique needs through a similar lens, constantly developing and refining innovative solutions utilizing cutting-edge technologies to deliver positive business outcomes.”

 

Corpuz, ranked 35th in the world and widely regarded as a future star on the LPGA Tour, is no stranger to the business landscape. She earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration, a master’s in global supply chain management, and a graduate certificate in business analytics, all from the University of Southern California.

 

“Thai’s background and the accomplishments of SHI as a whole are truly inspiring,” Corpuz said. “Being affiliated with a female-led enterprise that is shattering norms in the tech sector deeply resonates with my values and fills me with immense pride to represent SHI on and off the course.”

 

Park is a Long Island native and fellow USC alumna. The former NCAA champion turned pro in 2016 and won the ShopRite Classic in 2018, which is held annually in New Jersey.

 

“I was fortunate to have a strong female role model in my mom who introduced me to golf at the age of 8,” Park said. “I and my fellow LPGA players strive to be that same inspiration for other girls and women. That’s why partnering with the country’s largest minority woman-owned business feels like the perfect fit.”

 

Corpuz and Park joining SHI as brand ambassadors marks the next milestone in the company’s partnership with LPGA, which was first announced last year. Both organizations are committed to amplifying women’s leadership, empowerment, diversity, equity, and inclusion in both sports and IT.

 

ABOUT SHI

SHI International Corp. is a $14 billion transformational technology solutions provider serving the needs of more than 17,000 corporate, enterprise, public sector and academic customer organizations around the world. It helps companies achieve business goals through the use of technologies ranging from software licensing and end user computing devices to innovative cloud and edge solutions. With over 6,000 employees worldwide, SHI is the largest Minority and Woman Owned Business Enterprise (MWBE) in the U.S.

 

For more information, visit https://www.SHI.com.

 

Press Resources

SHI Corporate Website: http://www.SHI.com
SHI Blog: http://blog.SHI.com
SHI Twitter Handle: @SHI_Intl

Contacts

Gregory FCA for SHI International

Matt McLoughlin

610.228.2123

Matt@GregoryFCA.com

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Business Special/Sponsored Content

Investor Alert: Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC notifies Tupperware Brands Corporation (TUP) investors of Class Action and to actively participate

NEW YORK — (BUSINESS WIRE) — $TUP #classaction — Attorney Advertising — Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC notifies investors that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Tupperware Brands Corporation “(Tupperware” or the “Company)” (NYSE: TUP) and certain of its officers, on behalf of all persons and entities that purchased, or otherwise acquired Tupperware securities between March 10, 2021 and March 16, 2023, inclusive (the “Class Period).” Such investors are encouraged to join this case by visiting the firm’s site: www.bgandg.com/tup.

This class action seeks to recover damages against Defendants for alleged violations of the federal securities laws.

 

The complaint alleges that defendants throughout the Class Period made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose, among other things, that: (1) Tupperware did not disclose its serious issues with internal controls; (2) Tupperware’s financial statements, from its 2020 Annual Report to the present, included misstatements, particularly as it related to the Company’s accounting for income taxes; (3) as a result, Tupperware would need to restate its previously filed financial statements for certain periods; and (4) as a result, Defendants’ statements about its business, operations, and prospects, were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages.

 

A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to review a copy of the Complaint you can visit the firm’s site: www.bgandg.com/tup or you may contact Peretz Bronstein, Esq. or his Law Clerk and Client Relations Manager, Yael Nathanson of Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC at 212-697-6484. If you suffered a loss in Tupperware you have until May 19, 2023 to request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn’t require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.

 

Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC represents investors in securities fraud class actions and shareholder derivative suits. The firm has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors nationwide. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.

Contacts

Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC

Peretz Bronstein or Yael Nathanson

212-697-6484 | info@bgandg.com

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Business Culture Environment Lifestyle Programs & Events

Inspired by Somerset Development launches Third-Party Buildout and Tenant Improvement Services arm

Noted Bell Works developer will help partners save time and money while creating modern, flexible office spaces that appeal to a wide variety of modern users

 

HOLMDEL, N.J. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — Inspired by Somerset Development (Inspired), one of the real estate industry’s foremost innovators in large-scale mixed-use redevelopment, today announced the launch of its Third-Party Buildout and Tenant Improvement Services for tenants in the office sector.

 

Led by Executive Vice President David Schreiber, Inspired will leverage both its in-house team and network of experienced architects, engineers and designers who are aligned in their ability to proficiently navigate the complex design and construction processes to create modern, highly flexible workspaces that cater to the evolving needs of today’s office tenants. Its expertise includes the creation of traditional workspaces, medical offices, laboratories and tech firms, with solutions also available to subletting tenants through a direct deal with Inspired.

 

Inspired is based in Holmdel, N.J. and offers its third-party buildout and tenant improvement services to tenants throughout the Tri-State Area.

 

“Today’s office owners and tenants alike are hyper-focused on project timelines and bottom lines as they look to create work environments that can cater to and pivot the fast-evolving nature of the market,” said Schreiber.

 

“These third-party solutions will allow us to work directly with the tenant to streamline every aspect of the design and construction process to create highly desirable, turnkey office spaces. We pride ourselves on treating every dollar like it was our own dollar and strive to complete each project in a timely and affordable manner. In a market where time and money are paramount, Inspired is offering its proven redevelopment expertise to bolster the success of office construction for companies of all sizes.”

 

Inspired’s success to date as a third-party buildout and tenant improvement manager has been driven by its success creating Bell Works, the country’s first ‘metroburb’ — a self-contained metropolis in suburbia — for the past decade by successfully transforming the abandoned 2 million-square-foot Bell Labs facility in Holmdel, N.J., into a thriving ecosystem of technology, traditional office, retail, dining and hospitality.

 

In addition to Bell Works, the firm has spent years designing and developing other residential and commercial projects throughout New Jersey, leveraging a hands-on approach to obtain building permits and navigate the logistical process that often slows down other redevelopment projects.

 

With the launch of these new third-party services, the veteran team will offer its expertise to tenants outside its portfolio who are in need of fit-out construction within existing office spaces. Companies ranging from startups to major corporations will be able to collaborate with Inspired and receive preliminary sketches as well as projected timelines and numbers to ensure that overall budgets are adhered to and a successful outcome obtained.

 

Among Inspired’s recent successes was the buildout of a 26,615-square-foot office space at Bell Works New Jersey for CentralReach, a leading provider of electronic medical record (EMR) software and services for applied behavior analysis (ABA) and related behavioral health practices. The company’s staff of 300-plus workers operates on a fully remote basis but worked closely with Schreiber and the Inspired team to create a unique, collaboration-focused space it has deemed “the office of the future.”

 

“Of all the office buildouts I have done in the past, this was the most seamless by far. The project was tightly managed, came in under budget, timelines were met if not beat and we were able to leverage Inspired’s relationships on the architectural, design and furniture end to achieve great pricing with best-in-class vendors,” said Nicole Trivigno, Senior Manager of Global Workplace and Employee Experience at CentralReach.

 

“I could go on and on about how happy we are with our space at Bell Works. Inspired always had our best interest at heart, and I look forward to partnering with them on additional projects in the future.”

 

Inspired’s long history of representing office owners as well as tenants ensures the efficient navigation of both sides of the buildout process. The company’s portfolio includes 3.8 million square feet of reimagined office space at the two Bell Works locations in Holmdel, NJ, and Hoffman Estates, IL, where it has completed more than 1 million square feet in tenant buildouts to date. Past redevelopment projects include the in-house coworking space ‘coLab’, which maintains space in both Bell Works locations.

 

For more information, please visit https://inspiredsd.com/

 

About Inspired by Somerset Development

Inspired by Somerset Development is a leading real estate developer focusing on large-scale transit-oriented and brownfield redevelopment projects, led by a team of principals with more than 40 years of development experience. The company has positioned itself as one of the nation’s foremost real estate firms specializing in innovative mixed-use and adaptive reuse projects, including the planning and development of Traditional Neighborhood Design communities that evoke a strong sense of place and reflect a distinctive character.

 

With several high-profile, large-scale redevelopment and development projects under construction or in the planning stages, Inspired has earned a quality reputation for its unwavering commitment to excellence through responsible development practices. For more information on Inspired by Somerset Development, contact the company by calling (732) 367-2828 or via the company’s new website at inspiredsd.com.

Contacts

Media:

Antenna Group

bellworks@antennagroup.com
(312) 489-8479

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Business Lifestyle Technology

Knightscope receives three new orders

Robot Roadshow reaches 75 landings

 

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — $KSCP #SecurityRobot—Knightscope, Inc. (Nasdaq: KSCP), a leading developer of autonomous security robots and blue light emergency communication systems, recently announced three new orders for its K1 emergency communication suite of products.

 

A New Hampshire university purchased its first Knightscope K1 Retrofit Kit to test in anticipation of a larger roll out; the Borough of Carteret Police Department in New Jersey bought 2 K1 Blue Light Towers for a local park; and the Port Authority NY NJ expanded their previous order to include an additional 6 K1 Call Boxes for the Bayonne Bridge.


Knightscope’s new emergency communication devices are continuing to attract more customers, expanding the Company’s reach and market awareness. In spite of the prevalence of personal mobile devices, emergency communications are still needed and sought after. Common issues such as a dead battery, failed 911 service or geography that causes spotty wireless coverage lead one to add options. These systems also offer some redundancy if a particular cellular service fails. Solar power, cameras, and loudspeakers add to their utility and serve to further deter nefarious activity, especially when used in conjunction with Knightscope’s Autonomous Security Robots (ASRs).

 

Book a Discovery Call today to learn more about Knightscope’s blue light emergency communication systems and autonomous security robots.

 

ROBOT ROADSHOW SUCCESSFULLY HITS 75 LANDINGS

The Robot Roadshow has now made 75 landings in 24 states and Washington, D.C., with the tour scheduled to carry on for the remainder of 2023. Knightscope’s crime-fighting robots are leading the tour across the U.S. in a climate controlled, space-age “pod” allowing attendees to experience all the technologies Knightscope has to offer that are already helping to protect the places people live, work, study and visit. A short video of a past event hosted by the Los Angeles Police Department may be viewed here.

 

There is no charge to participate in, or visit, the Robot Roadshow and available slots fill up fast, so appointments are recommended. Book your Pod visit here.

 

About Knightscope

Knightscope is an advanced security technology company based in Silicon Valley that builds fully autonomous security robots that deter, detect and report. Knightscope’s long-term ambition is to make the United States of America the safest country in the world. Learn more about the Company at www.knightscope.com. Follow Knightscope on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.

 

About TS&L

Transportation Solutions & Lighting’s mission is to provide the highest level of quality and service to our customers in a sustainable and environmentally beneficial way. We pride ourselves with best-in-class products available through our successful partnerships with reputable manufactures. Our service and products come with 100% guaranteed complete satisfaction. Contact Transportation Solutions and Lighting, Inc. today for a free consultation.

 

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain “forward-looking statements” about Knightscope’s future expectations, plans, outlook, projections and prospects. Such forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as “should,” “may,” “intends,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “projects,” “forecasts,” “expects,” “plans,” “proposes” and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release include, but are not limited to, statements about the Company’s path to profitability, the Company’s targeted annualized revenue run rate, the Company’s plans for top-line growth, the Company’s ability to deliver on its backlog of new orders, the benefits of the Company’s planned streamlining of its operations and rightsizing of its combined workforce and the Company’s ability to achieve improved margins. Although Knightscope believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, there are a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, the risk that the restructuring costs and charges may be greater than anticipated; the risk that the Company’s restructuring efforts may adversely affect the Company’s internal programs and the Company’s ability to recruit and retain skilled and motivated personnel, and may be distracting to employees and management; the risk that the Company’s restructuring efforts may negatively impact the Company’s business operations and reputation with or ability to serve customers; the risk that the Company’s restructuring efforts may not generate their intended benefits to the extent or as quickly as anticipated. Readers are urged to carefully review and consider any cautionary statements and other disclosures, including the statements made under the heading “Risk Factors” in Knightscope’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of the document in which they are contained, and Knightscope does not undertake any duty to update any forward-looking statements, except as may be required by law.

Contacts

Public Relations:
Stacy Stephens
Knightscope, Inc.
(650) 924-1025

Corporate Communications:

IBN (InvestorBrandNetwork)

Los Angeles, California

www.InvestorBrandNetwork.com
310.299.1717 Office

Editor@InvestorBrandNetwork.com

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Business Digital - AI & Apps Lifestyle Technology

CoreWeave announces NovelAI as among the first to have NVIDIA HGX H100 GPUs online

  • Today’s news follows CoreWeave’s early access period during which H100 PCIe instances launched in December and HGX H100s launched in February, further strengthening CoreWeave’s commitment to bringing the latest NVIDIA AI technology to market quickly
  • NovelAI, a generative AI company that creates literature and imagery with users’ personal perspective and voice, will be one of the first customers to use CoreWeave’s NVIDIA HGX H100 instances; the company and its developers now have the ability to scale on a supercomputer level
  • CoreWeave Cloud, powered by NVIDIA HGX H100s, NVIDIA Quantum-2 InfiniBand networking, and NVIDIA BlueField data processing units (DPUs) is critical to the growth of large language models and machine-learning algorithms that use enormous text data sets to identify, anticipate and generate human language

 

ROSELAND, N.J. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — #AI—CoreWeave, a specialized cloud provider built for large-scale GPU-accelerated workloads, today announced general availability of instances of NVIDIA HGX H100 GPUs online. This is CoreWeave’s second NVIDIA H100 offering, following the company’s launch of H100 PCIe GPU instances in January.

Anlatan, developers of NovelAI, will be among the first to deploy the latest NVIDIA H100 Tensor Core GPUs on CoreWeave, which began offering the new instances to select customers in February.

 

The news comes amid the global embrace of generative AI, a technology employing large language model (LLM) training that enables creative work, including the writing of scholarly papers, a stand-up comedy routine or a sonnet; the designing of artwork from a block of text; and in the case of NovelAI, composing literature.

 

“With generative AI becoming such a cultural phenomenon, it means a lot to be the first provider to make NVIDIA HGX H100 platforms generally available. This is a testament to our agility and efficiency in deploying infrastructure,” said Michael Intrator, CoreWeave co-founder and CEO. “We’ve been working with Anlatan, the creators of NovelAI, for more than a year, and we’re honored that they will be one of the first to deploy these cutting-edge GPUs.”

 

Launched in June 2021, NovelAI is a monthly subscription service for AI-assisted authorship, storytelling, text-adventure games, and virtual companionship. It also serves as a GPT-powered sandbox for creators and developers. The company’s AI algorithms, trained on actual literature, generate text based on users’ respective writing styles. They adapt to inputs in order to maintain the author’s perspective and style, making quality literature possible from anyone, regardless of ability. NovelAI blends the power of AI storytelling with the privacy of full encryption to offer limitless freedom of expression.

 

NVIDIA HGX H100 AI supercomputing platforms will be a key component in Anlatan’s product development and deployment process. CoreWeave’s cluster will enable the developers to be more flexible with model design, more quickly iterate on training, and serve their models through NovelAI to millions of users every month.

 

“We are entirely focused on AI innovation and AI-first products. NVIDIA H100 GPUs are the most top-notch, state-of-the-art machine learning accelerators,” said Anlatan CEO Eren Doğan. “This gives us a significant competitive advantage within the machine learning industry – for a wide variety of applications ranging from model training to model inference. We have worked with CoreWeave previously and were extremely happy with the support we received. CoreWeave’s Kubernetes-first cloud native ecosystem frees us from infrastructure worries and saves us time.”

 

CoreWeave has taken a unique approach to building its NVIDIA HGX H100 clusters in order to optimize performance for model training. Built on CoreWeave’s Kubernetes-native infrastructure, its clusters have a rail-optimized design using the NVIDIA Quantum-2 InfiniBand networking platform, providing 3.2Tbps of bandwidth per node. Additionally, CoreWeave’s NVIDIA HGX H100 infrastructure can scale up to 16,384 H100 SXM5 GPUs under the same InfiniBand Fat-Tree Non-Blocking fabric, providing access to a massively scalable cluster of the world’s most performant and deeply supported model training accelerators. What’s more, CoreWeave Cloud integrates NVIDIA BlueField data processing units (DPUs) to enable secure and elastic provisioning of H100 instances.

 

“Focusing on AI innovation and AI-first products to transform the future is key to creating a significant competitive advantage within the machine learning industry,” said Ian Buck, vice president of hyperscale and high performance computing at NVIDIA. “NVIDIA’s collaboration with innovators such as CoreWeave enables developers with cutting-edge NVIDIA HGX H100 GPUs to supercharge large language models (LLMs) and other AI workloads.”

 

Today’s announcement comes only months after CoreWeave’s November news that it would be among the first to offer cloud instances with NVIDIA HGX H100 supercomputing. CoreWeave’s collaboration with NVIDIA is critical to continue supporting the growth of large language models and other world-changing technology.

Learn more at www.coreweave.com.

 

About CoreWeave

Founded in 2017, CoreWeave is a specialized cloud provider, delivering a massive scale of GPU compute resources on top of the industry’s fastest and most flexible serverless infrastructure. CoreWeave builds cloud solutions for compute intensive use cases — digital assets, VFX and rendering, machine learning and AI, batch processing and pixel streaming — that are up to 35 times faster and 80% less expensive than the large, generalized public clouds. Learn more at www.coreweave.com.

 

About Anlatan, Developers of NovelAI

Anlatan’s mission is to provide user-friendly, customizable AI experiences that prioritize user rights to privacy and transparency. Its AI research brings about waves of change, leading to the development of unrestricted GPT-powered sandboxes that offer unlimited freedom of expression and creativity. In addition to text-based AI experiences, they have also introduced diffusion-powered image generation and text-to-speech capabilities, further expanding the range of possibilities for their users. The fruits of its research on diffusion-based image generation have yielded remarkable advancements, elevating the standards of existing image generation to new heights. Its team, united by a passion for AI, is comprised of individuals from a broad age range and diverse skill sets, all working remotely from around the globe. Every member brings their unique expertise to the table, bridging skills and supporting each other to create a tide of easily accessible, unconstrained AI products.

Contacts

Treble
Michael Kellner

coreweave@treblepr.com

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Business Culture Lifestyle News Now! Perks

Shannon Hennessy promoted to The Habit Burger Grill Division CEO

Hennessy succeeds Russ Bendel who is retiring

 

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE: YUM) today announced the promotion of Shannon Hennessy to The Habit Burger Grill Division Chief Executive Officer, reporting to Yum! Chief Executive Officer David Gibbs, effective June 6.

 

Hennessy, who currently serves as President of The Habit Burger Grill Division, will succeed Russ Bendel, who has announced his decision to retire at the beginning of June after a successful decades-long career in the restaurant industry. As CEO, Hennessy will continue to build on the brand’s unique strengths and assume responsibility for driving its overall growth strategies and performance.


“Shannon is an exceptional, heart-led leader who was named President of The Habit Burger Grill Division in July 2022 and has since driven meaningful advances for the brand in development, top line initiatives and digital sales growth,” said Gibbs.

 

“With Shannon’s background as KFC Global Division CFO and her nearly 20 years with McKinsey & Company, she has a unique skillset that will be vital as we continue to scale The Habit, offering our franchisees an investment opportunity in an award-winning, fast-casual concept in the better-burger category with a long runway for growth. I’m thrilled Shannon and Russ have worked so closely together to ensure a seamless transition and am confident in the long-term growth of The Habit.”

 

As President of The Habit Burger Grill, Hennessy has overseen development, franchising, marketing and international expansion. In this role, she has also been responsible for contributing to the brand’s strategy to accelerate growth, nurturing cross-brand collaboration and driving company culture. Hennessy joined Yum! in 2020 as the Chief Financial Officer of KFC Global Division, where she was responsible for leading the global finance function and ensuring continued growth and profitability of the KFC business. She also oversaw the brand’s global financial planning, supply chain management and strategy functions.

 

“I fell in love with The Habit on my first bite of a Charburger, so it’s the thrill of my career to take the reigns as CEO,” said Hennessy. “I’m grateful to have worked alongside Russ over the past eight months, as he is truly a legend in the restaurant industry. I’m also excited to continue working with our passionate team and franchisees to drive accelerated growth for the brand while offering our customers the delicious, handcrafted quality food, meaningful variety and choice and family hospitality they’ve come to expect from The Habit.”

 

Russ Bendel joined The Habit in 2008, growing the brand from 16 restaurants to approximately 350 restaurants by the end of 2022. Under Bendel’s leadership and relentless attention to operations, he led a major brand transformation that introduced drive-thrus and digital order channels to meet growing needs for convenience. Over the years, The Habit has received multiple awards, including being recognized as having the Best Tasting Burger in America by Consumer Reports in 2014 and earning the No. 1 spot in the USA TODAY Readers’ Choice list of 10 Best Regional Fast-Food Chains in America in 2019 and 2021. Prior to joining The Habit, Bendel served as President and Chief Operating Officer of The Cheesecake Factory. Bendel’s career also includes tenures as President and Chief Executive of Mimi’s Café, President of Roy’s Restaurants, Franchise Partner of Outback Steakhouse in California and Chief Operating Officer of El Torito Restaurants and Panda Express.

 

“Russ is one of the best and most accomplished restaurateurs in the industry that I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with, and his passion for people, operations and restaurant excellence has always shined through,” said Gibbs. “Russ’ commitment and vision have made The Habit Burger Grill a powerful growth brand with delicious food and an extremely bright future, and we’re proud to continue to build on the legacy he is leaving. I want to thank Russ for his decades of leadership in the industry and wish him well as he enjoys this new phase of life with his family.”

 

Yum! Brands acquired The Habit Burger Grill in March 2020, adding an award-winning brand in the better-burger category with a diverse, California-style menu to its portfolio. In 2022, The Habit grew the franchise base of its approximately 350 restaurants to 18%, up five percentage points from the previous year. In addition, The Habit ended 2022 with a digital mix of 35% and delivered $2 million in average unit volumes.

 

About The Habit Restaurants, Inc.

Born in Santa Barbara, California, in 1969, The Habit Burger Grill is a burger-centric, fast-casual restaurant concept that specializes in preparing fresh, cooked-to-order chargrilled burgers and handcrafted sandwiches featuring grilled tenderloin steak, grilled chicken and sushi-grade ahi tuna cooked over an open flame. In addition, it features fresh handcrafted salads and an appealing selection of sides and shakes. The Habit Burger Grill was featured in Newsweek’s “America’s Favorite Restaurant Chains 2023;” its Tempura Green Beans were named as the top green bean dish in The Daily Meal’s “Ranking Green Bean Dishes From 11 Chain Restaurants” in 2023; and it was named in Thrillist’s list of “Underrated Burger Chains that Need to be in Every State!” The Habit Burger Grill has grown to nearly 340 restaurants in 14 states throughout Arizona, California, Florida, Idaho, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah, Virginia and Washington as well as 11 international locations. More information is available at www.habitburger.com.

 

About Yum! Brands

Yum! Brands, Inc., based in Louisville, Kentucky, and its subsidiaries franchise or operate a system of over 55,000 restaurants in more than 155 countries and territories under the company’s concepts – KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and The Habit Burger Grill. The Company’s KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut brands are global leaders of the chicken, Mexican-style food and pizza categories, respectively. The Habit Burger Grill is a fast-casual restaurant concept specializing in made-to-order chargrilled burgers, sandwiches and more. In 2023, Yum! Brands was included on the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index and Newsweek’s lists recognizing America’s Most Responsible Companies, America’s Greatest Workplaces for Diversity and America’s Greatest Workplaces for Women. In 2022, the Company was named to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index North America.

Contacts

Analysts are invited to contact:
Jodi Dyer, Vice President, Investor Relations, at 888/298-6986

Members of the media are invited to contact:
Virginia Ferguson, Vice President, Public Relations, at 502/874-8200

Categories
Business Digital - AI & Apps Lifestyle Programs & Events Technology

AM Best to host webinar on how insurers are responding to funding-backed litigation

OLDWICK, N.J. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — #insurance — AM Best and Best’s Insurance Professional Resources will host a complimentary webinar entitled “How Insurers Are Responding to Funding-Backed Litigation.”

 

The webinar will air on Tuesday, April 25, 2023, at 2:00 p.m. ET. Claims and legal experts examine the rise of litigation funding, including trends in disclosure requirements, how funding is affecting settlement strategies and litigation costs. Register today: http://www.ambest.com/webinars/litigation/index.html.

 

Panelists include:

  • Michael Briggs, Partner, Litigation & Dispute Resolution, McMillan
  • Marie Castronuovo, Partner, Russo & Gould, LLP
  • Dr. Janine McCartney, Ph.D., MBA, CSP, CHST, HHC Safety Engineers
  • Fred Fisher, President, Fisher Consulting Group Inc.

 

Attendees can submit questions during registration or by emailing webinars@ambest.com. The event will be streamed in video format, and playback will be available to registered viewers shortly after the event.

 

AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specializing in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

 

Copyright © 2023 by A.M. Best Company, Inc. and/or its affiliates.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Contacts

John Czuba
Managing Editor, Best’s Insurance Professional Resources
+1 908 439-2200, ext. 5673
john.czuba@ambest.com

Categories
Business

New Survey: 49% of consumers optimistic about their financial futures

Affinity Federal Credit Union’s Wellbeing and Your Wallet Index surveys consumers in the Mid-Atlantic region on financial wellbeing and related concerns

 

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — Affinity Federal Credit Union “(Affinity)” released findings from the debut installment of its Wellbeing and Your Wallet Index. The Index captures consumer sentiment around their overall financial wellbeing, a cornerstone of the culture within Affinity’s community, and analyzes results from a 42-question survey completed by 3,001 individuals in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Pennsylvania.

The survey, which was completed in Dec. 2022, addressed key financial wellbeing concerns impacting consumers, including addressing mounting inflation concerns on everyday spending and budgeting and access to financial education and resources.

 

Key findings include:

Despite ongoing headwinds, consumers’ financial optimism is high. Forty-nine percent of respondents indicated they are optimistic about their financial futures, with Generation Z reporting the highest levels of optimism (59%). The data showcases resilience among consumers despite ongoing headwinds of inflation, economic pullback concerns and market volatility.

 

The majority of older generation respondents feel well-prepared for financial emergencies. Fifty-four percent felt confident in their ability to handle the cost of an emergency situation, with older generations statistically more confident in their ability to handle such situations (78% of the Silent Generation and 61% of Baby Boomers). Conversely, only 42% of Generation Z respondents felt confident in their ability to handle an emergency situation.

 

Financial concerns continue to be a significant contributor to stress levels, particularly for younger generations. Over half (51%) of respondents feel finances are a significant source of stress, with Millennials (64%) and Gen Z (61%) respondents reporting financial stress at a higher rate. More specifically, 29% of respondents reported concern about having enough money for food in the next month (Jan. 2023), with millennials most concerned (39%).

 

Consumers show heightened interest in financial education, but access remains limited. Forty-two percent of respondents were not aware of financial education services or content available through their primary financial institution. Over two-thirds of respondents (69%) were interested in learning more about key financial education topics, including retirement planning (32%), financial coaching (25%) and budgeting assistance (24%).

 

“We are encouraged by the results of the Winter Wellbeing and Your Wallet Index, showing increased consumer confidence in their financial futures,” said Jacqui Kearns, Chief Brand and Wellbeing Officer of Affinity. “However, we see financial concerns, including inflation and food security, continue to drive stress among younger people and negatively impact their financial wellbeing. Our goal is to identify these stressors and provide education, support and services that would positively impact the communities we serve.”

 

Grant Gallagher, Head of Financial Wellbeing at Affinity, added: “It’s clear that there is still a need for more education around finance to ensure consumers are equipped with the knowledge and resources to achieve peace of mind. We are committed to helping our members take control of their futures and guiding them on how to make smart decisions with their money.”

 

The Winter 2023 edition is the first installment of quarterly surveys and data releases to assess changes in sentiment and financial wellbeing over time. Affinity partnered with Drive Research for the survey.

 

For more information on the survey and to view an infographic of the full survey results, please visit affinityfcu.com/financial-wellbeing/wellbeing-and-your-wallet.

 

About Affinity Federal Credit Union

Affinity Federal Credit Union is a full-service financial institution, member-owned and community-focused, with a mission to nurture your financial wellbeing. With more than 20 branches across the tri-state area, Affinity is the largest credit union headquartered in the state of New Jersey, proudly ranking in the top 2% of all credit unions in terms of asset size1. The Affinity difference is about people helping people on a deeper level and understanding what YOU need to make your unique dreams a reality. For more information, please visit www.affinityfcu.com.

1https://ncua.gov/analysis/credit-union-corporate-call-report-data

 

Contacts

Media
Marissa Comerford

Gregory FCA for Affinity Federal Credit Union

affinity@gregoryfca.com
610-228-2104

Categories
Business Lifestyle Regulations & Security

AM Best revises outlooks to negative for Trisura Group Ltd. members

OLDWICK, N.J. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — #insurance — AM Best has revised the outlooks to negative from stable and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Ratings of “a-” (Excellent) of the operating entities of Trisura Group Ltd. (Trisura) [TSX:TSU] (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), which include Trisura Specialty Insurance Company (TSIC), Trisura Insurance Company (TIC), Bricktown Specialty Insurance Company (BSIC) and Trisura Guarantee Insurance Company (TGIC). TSIC, TIC, and BSIC are domiciled in Oklahoma City, OK, while TGIC is domiciled in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

The Credit Ratings (ratings) reflect Trisura’s overall balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as very strong, as well as its adequate operating performance, neutral business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management.

 

The negative outlooks reflect required improvements in Trisura’s operational risk management processes around management of captives within its U.S. operations. While Trisura is actively addressing these issues from a policy, organizational and corporate governance perspective, AM Best notes that the effectiveness of these actions will require time to evaluate.

 

The revision of the outlooks to negative from stable follows a CAD 81.5 million one-time write-down of reinsurance recoverables in the fourth quarter of 2022, which substantially offset consolidated net income, though the company maintained a profitable year. This write-down originated from a reinsurance recoverable related to a fronting program for a captive reinsurance program on U.S. property/casualty risks. The write-down was necessitated by lack of sufficient collateral to support the recoverable as higher catastrophe reinsurance costs required by Trisura to manage catastrophe risk had the effect of depleting the program’s collateral. Subsequent to the write-down, the program has been put into accelerated runoff and the company is continuing the implementation of enhanced policies, procedures and organizational changes to the group’s corporate governance practices.

 

This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on AM Best’s website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see AM Best’s Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Guide to Best’s Credit Ratings. For information on the proper use of Best’s Credit Ratings, Best’s Performance Assessments, Best’s Preliminary Credit Assessments and AM Best press releases, please view Guide to Proper Use of Best’s Ratings & Assessments.

 

AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specializing in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

 

Copyright © 2023 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Contacts

Michael Buckley
Financial Analyst
+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5658
michael.buckley@ambest.com

Christopher Sharkey
Manager, Public Relations
+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5159
christopher.sharkey@ambest.com

Rosemarie Mirabella
Director
+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5892
rosemarie.mirabella@ambest.com

Al Slavin
Senior Public Relations Specialist
+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5098
al.slavin@ambest.com