Tag: 3BL

The first time Carlos Abreu designed his own virtual fish, it was too skinny and too small to survive in its environment; the fish quickly perished from starvation. But the experience was hardly a failure for Carlos, an eighth grader at Rubén Darío Middle School in Miami. “What I learned is about the environment, the ecosystem—and that you need certain things to live in that ecosystem,” Carlos says.

Carlos designed his fish in Aurelia, an educational augmented reality app available (and free for all educators) on the Verizon Innovative Learning HQ portal. “The Aurelia app goes over the features of fish, including size and shape, discussing adaptation across three different ecosystems in the ocean,” says Roberto Padron, Verizon Innovative Learning Lab Mentor at Rubén Darío. The interactive application, he says, helps students learn how sea life adapts to its environment.

Losing a first creation and starting from scratch is exactly the kind of life lesson that Padron hopes to teach in the school’s Verizon Innovative Learning Lab, wrapped in a cross-curriculum lesson that teaches students both digital technology and marine biology. “Getting it right the first time is fine, but it not being right is just as good, cause you’re going to learn from what’s happening,” Padron reminds his students.

With their tablets in hand, Padron’s students wandered the classroom, enthusiastically exploring the deep-sea world they created through Aurelia. Unlike just reading in a textbook, these lessons jump off the screen, Padron says. “The Aurelia app has such depth to it, yet it’s simple. It just kind of constantly keeps catching their attention,” he says. “So for me, it’s just a win-win.”

His students agree. “It’s pretty fun,” says Gabriella Herrera. “So [the lesson] gets stuck in your mind, and you get smarter—but like, you’re also having fun.”

And as for Carlos? With a few helpful tips from classmates, on his second try he created a bigger and badder fish. It thrived.

To access free learning apps, lesson plans and professional development courses aligned to micro-credentials, visit Verizon Innovative Learning HQ at www.verizon.com/learning.

Originally published on TriplePundit

Mastercard is among the leading businesses pushing for a more environmentally sustainable future — and as far as the company is concerned, the momentum for these efforts is coming directly from consumers.

“Consumers are really the key drivers of change for brands and corporations,” Cristina Paslar, Mastercard’s executive vice president for ESG Products, told TriplePundit. “We have policymakers, yes, but I would say the strongest voice is actually the consumer point of view and the consumer demand. Consumers can vote with their decisions, with their purchases and with their preferences.”

Answering consumer calls for more sustainable choices 

Nearly 65 percent of U.S. consumers see climate change and resource scarcity as serious and imminent threats, with over half willing to take personal action, according to a 2022 survey. Globally, charitable donations at environmentally-focused charities increased by 26 percent from 2021 to 2022, ranking second in year-over-year growth among all charitable causes, according to the Mastercard Economics Institute.

To address this growing interest, Mastercard has taken steps such as working with global industry players to develop a sustainable card program for all card issuers globally, including a directory of sustainable materials and vendors for card products. Starting Jan. 1, 2028, all newly produced Mastercard plastic payment cards will be made from more sustainable materials and approved through a certification program, in a first move for a payment network.

Mastercard’s sustainable card offerings are available to consumers in more than a dozen countries globally. The company has engaged more than 330 financial institutions to issue cards with approved materials, and more than 60 financial institutions have issued cards with approved materials made from recyclable, bio-sourced, chlorine-free, degradable and ocean plastics. Six billion credit and debit cards are produced annually, typically from polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which includes dangerous chemical additives including phthalates, lead, cadmium, and/or organotins, which can be toxic to children. These cards are replaced on average every three to four years, with discarded cards going to landfills across the world.

“We closed last year with more than 170 million sustainable cards ordered to date, which was beyond the 120 million we expected,” Paslar said. “That shows that more and more of our customers are thinking, ‘Yes, why not have a card that, instead of being made from virgin plastic, is made of a sustainable material?’”

Mastercard also created a Carbon Calculator in conjunction with the Swedish fintech startup Doconomy, which provides consumers with the means to view the estimated carbon footprint of their purchases in order to better understand where their choices have the greatest impact.

Card issuers, which include banks, credit card companies, credit unions and other financial institutions, also recognize these shifts in consumer preferences, Paslar said. And they’re looking for “natural” ways to inform and empower consumers to make more sustainable choices with the products and services they purchase.

“We see high engagement from the card issuer side, where they see how they can play this role in informing, inspiring and enabling their consumers,” she explained. “But at the same time, we have good signs that consumers are actually engaging with this type of solution.”

Bringing the public and private sectors together for transformative change 

Of all Mastercard’s efforts to counter climate change and promote sustainability, the most prominent and potentially far-reaching is the Priceless Planet Coalition, which encourages collective action across the public and private sectors to combat climate change.

Launched by Mastercard in January 2020, the restoration effort led by Conservation International and the World Resource Institute aims to restore 100 million trees. The coalition has grown into a global network of nearly 140 partners and a portfolio of 18 high-quality restoration projects on six continents, as well as the island of Madagascar and the Philippines.

The projects were selected with an emphasis on those with the most potential for positive impacts on climate, local communities and biodiversity. The 18 projects range in size from a goal to plant 100,000 trees in Martin County, Kentucky, where deforestation from strip mining has degraded water resources, to planting millions of trees on the island of Madagascar, which has lost 25 percent of its tree cover since the turn of the century.

Efforts like Priceless Planet are also a way for coalition partners to connect with the public around sustainability, as Mastercard survey research indicates that tree-planting and reforestation efforts are “very relatable” for consumers, Paslar said.

“We have 136 partners, and the key to maintaining a strong partnership is to always provide assets and ideas about how we can work together in a way that we feel is commercially sustainable,” Paslar told us. “By commercially sustainable, I mean that the end consumer — the cardholder who is holding our Mastercard cards that are issued by the banks and used at the merchants — they actually care about the climate. They care about having sustainable choices, and they care about doing business with brands that are truly acting and engaging on sustainable solutions.”

This article series is sponsored by Mastercard and produced by the TriplePundit editorial team.

(Image credit: Sabin Ray, World Resources Institute)

(Image credit: Aaron Minnick, World Resources Institute)

(Image credit: Andrew Wu, World Resources Institute)

At Covia, our commitment to ESG helps us meet the various needs of our stakeholders through innovation built on valued partnerships.

To support our customers and stakeholders, we take a comprehensive approach to product innovation, quality, and assurance. We encourage our Team Members to embrace creative problem-solving and collaboration, and we’re investing in the tools needed to deliver solutions for our customers and the markets we serve. We’re expanding our current innovation capacity, as well as investing in new capabilities and competencies to support industry-leading innovation.

Throughout our ESG journey, we have developed a portfolio of products and services that support people and the planet, including dust suppression technology for worker safety and health, glass-grade sand for sustainable packaging, micronized silica for home insulation and sand for water filtration. While many of our existing products improve everyday life, we are continuing to look for ways to innovate additional solutions that contribute to enhanced quality of life.

“We have a vision to dramatically increase the vitality index within the business,” explains Lan Deng, VP, Technology for Covia. “For us, that will mean a focus on driving sales coming from new products and applications that launch over seven years. These new products will deliver sustained competitive advantage, growth potential and cash to the business.”

Covia’s dedication to investing in innovation goes far beyond building a strong innovation portfolio and launching new products and applications. We are dedicated to investing in innovative leadership to diversify our talent base and building a stronger company. To this end, Lan believes there are a few characteristics shared by innovation leaders: risk tolerance, learning agility, collaboration, and teamwork.

“One should not be afraid to take risks to explore and try new things; the ability to learn quickly is important as well,” she said. “From idea inception to product commercialization, cross-functional collaboration is the key.”

Recently Covia hosted an Innovation Tournament, which was created to immerse a cross-functional, cross-geographical group of Covia Team Members in a challenging process to identify realistic innovation opportunities for Covia. The dynamic process began with teams generating ideas before the meeting. These ideas included incremental improvements, new product ideas, cost reduction efforts, and more. During a two-day session, teams formed around the ideas that held the most potential. Ultimately, 14 ideas were voted to the top for further development.

Lan believes that agility and commitment are a common trait for the people working within Covia. “What impresses me most is the agility and can-do attitude of our people,” she said. “Covia Team Members make things happen despite obstacles and constraints, and they do it fast.”

Energy Impact Partners (“EIP”) has announced the completion of fundraising for its inaugural Elevate Future Fund I LP (“Elevate”), one of the largest funds of its kind, with $111.9 million of limited partner commitments.

Southern Company was a founding investor in EIP and Chris Womack, current president and CEO-elect of Southern Company, will co-chair Elevate’s advisory board.

Elevate is focused on driving diversity in the energy ecosystem by providing capital to underrepresented founders of clean technology companies and supporting diversity and minority-owned businesses in the associated supply chain. The fund also invests in other parties in the larger energy ecosystem in order to achieve the mutual goal of accelerating a clean energy transition while increasing diversity, equity and inclusion in the broader venture capital network.

“Together with EIP, we celebrate the completion of fundraising for the Elevate Future Fund,” said Chris Cummiskey, executive vice president and chief commercial solutions officer for Southern Company. “Today, less than 3% of venture funding goes to minority entrepreneurs. That must change. We remain exceedingly enthusiastic about the important work of this fund to support diverse entrepreneurs who are creating critical energy solutions for a more sustainable energy future.”

Added Cummiskey, “We are steadfast in our commitment to the ongoing success of Elevate, and we are pleased to serve in an advisory capacity.”

Underscoring its commitment to advancing clean energy solutions and workplace diversity, Southern Company and its subsidiaries are actively engaged in collaborations with various companies funded by Elevate, including ChargerHelp! and Rheaply.

ChargerHelp! is an electric vehicle charging station and maintenance company. Southern Company subsidiary Georgia Power is currently collaborating with ChargerHelp! on a series of local employee trainings and an 18-month pilot focused on electric vehicle infrastructure and renewable technologies.

Rheaply is a cloud-based resource exchange platform that enables organizations to trade materials and resources more efficiently, avoid carbon emissions and reduce spending. Southern Company subsidiaries are collaborating with Rheaply to leverage this resource management solution. Nicor Gas has piloted Rheaply software, and Georgia Power, Southern Company Gas and Southern Company Services are currently working with Rheaply to implement a similar pilot program in Georgia. Additionally, Southern Company is exploring the potential for additional deployments of Rheaply’s solution more broadly.

“Having Southern Company’s support at the helm of what we’re building at Elevate is invaluable,” explains Anthony Oni, managing partner at EIP. “Their commitment to helping our companies test, learn and scale provides us with important data, insights and partnerships to better support underrepresented founders. They exemplify the EIP model of collaboration, and we look forward to many more partnerships that support diversity, equity and inclusion within the energy ecosystem.”

About Energy Impact Partners

Energy Impact Partners LP (EIP) is a global investment firm leading the transition to a sustainable future. EIP brings together entrepreneurs and the world’s most forward-looking energy and industrial companies to advance innovation. With over $3 billion in assets under management, EIP invests globally across venture, growth, credit and infrastructure – and has a team of over 80 professionals based in its offices in New York, Atlanta, San Francisco, Washington D.C., Palm Beach, London, Cologne and Oslo. For more information on EIP, please visit www.energyimpactpartners.com.

CRB’s Board of Directors has named President Ryan Schroeder as Chief Executive Officer. Schroeder succeeds CEO and CRB co-founder Jeff Biskup, who will remain on the Board of Directors and lead the board as Executive Chairman.

Additionally, the company announced the formation of CRB Operations, a group uniting the company’s Regional Operations and Technical Operations teams into a single structure and led by new Chief Operating Officer Sam Kitchell.

Schroeder joined CRB in 1987 as an architectural engineer, progressing in the company’s operations before becoming the leader of CRB’s Midwest region in 2010. He was named president in 2017 and has led the company through unprecedented growth including its first $1 billion-plus revenue years in 2021 and 2022.

Under his tenure, CRB has become a pace-setting and preeminent provider of manufacturing facilities that deliver life-saving medicinal therapies and vaccines as well as many of the brand-name food, beverage and pet food products consumers enjoy. The company’s project portfolio includes numerous award–winning, large-scale biopharmaceutical and food and beverage projects, including many of the research and commercial production facilities that developed and deployed COVID-19 vaccines worldwide.

While growing the company’s bottom line, Schroeder has overseen CRB’s impressive physical expansion. With an employee count nearing 1,800—a roughly three-fold increase under Schroeder’s leadership—CRB now has 21 offices in North America and Europe, with additional openings planned in the coming years.

“There is no one better positioned to further raise CRB’s leadership position in the marketplace while simultaneously nurturing and advancing our coveted culture. From day one we’ve put remarkable client and employee experiences at the center of everything we do, and no one understands that balance more than Ryan,” said Jeff Biskup, one of the company’s original three founders who mentored Schroeder during his rise through the company ranks. “This promotion is well-earned by Ryan, and it’s terrific news for our clients and employees as our company gets stronger and continues to expand our leadership in the industries we serve.”

Said Schroeder: “Following in Jeff’s footsteps as CEO carries extra meaning for me. He’s been an incredible mentor from the day I arrived at CRB, and his devotion to successful client outcomes is unmatched. I will continue to lean on his leadership, experience and instincts as we guide CRB well into the future.”

NEW CRB OPERATIONS ORGANIZATION

Combining CRB’s regional and technical teams into a single reporting structure under Kitchell, who previously led the company’s Emerging Business Operations group, advances the company’s integration efforts and how CRB serves clients. His expertise and experience as both a CRB leader and former client uniquely position Kitchell to deliver on the company’s promise to clients: successful, innovative project delivery that consistently meets their business objectives, Schroeder said.

“Creating an integrated CRB Operations group continues our journey toward becoming a truly united, global organization driven by technical excellence, continuous learning and innovation, with an exciting work environment that keeps employee experience at the heart of everything we do,” Schroeder said.

Before his promotion, Kitchell led CRB’s Emerging Business Operations team, which worked closely with the company’s growth incubator, the Growth Catalyst Program, to identify new initiatives and bring them to market. Chief Strategy Officer Bart Schubert, who created and managed the GCP from its inception in 2019, will assume Kitchell’s previous responsibilities.

Kitchell has more than 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. Before CRB, he served as Group Vice President of Engineering for Shire (now Takeda), where he led the company’s global engineering team of more than 1,600 employees, overseeing engineering and validation operations at multiple manufacturing sites across seven countries and leading the corporate capital program. Before that, Kitchell held engineering Senior Director and Vice President roles at global biotech companies Baxalta and Baxter Healthcare.

“When I arrived at CRB in 2021, I was thrilled by the opportunity to design an EBO group that would develop our most promising business initiatives and prepare them for the marketplace,” Kitchell said. “Over more than two decades, as a client and now an employee, I’ve seen CRB’s entrepreneurial spirit and technical excellence unleashed on some of the world’s most urgent challenges. I’m humbled and honored to take this next step and continue working alongside Ryan and our talented corps of professionals in their critical work.”

At FedEx, we use data to measure our progress and inform how we continue to transform and connect the world in responsible and resourceful ways into the future. In the new FedEx 2023 Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Report released today, we highlight how teams across FedEx are doing their part to further the company’s focus on Our Planet, Our People, and Our Principles.

Some highlights from the FedEx 2023 ESG Report include:

Decreasing carbon dioxide emissions intensity on a revenue basis by 48.9% from Fiscal Year 2009 through Fiscal Year 2022, a period during which average daily package volumes grew by 142%.Avoiding 150 million gallons of jet fuel through aircraft modernization efforts, reducing our total FY22 jet fuel consumption by more than 10%.Providing mentorship and learning opportunities to more than 33,000 frontline team members in partnership with 1,700 mentors through the FedEx Ground Purple Pathways workforce career track program, which won the American Transportation Association DEI Change Leader Award this year.Being recognized as one of Ethisphere’s 2023 World’s Most Ethical Companies®.

Learn more about our ongoing work across these areas, including our efforts to reach carbon neutral operations by 2040, in the new FedEx 2023 ESG Report and corresponding Executive Summary covering fiscal year 2022, ending May 31, 2022.

Meet a current intern of the T-Mobile Explorer Prep Program, which provides high school kids of all backgrounds a chance to fast track a career in STEM as well as provides a pathway towards higher education for those who otherwise may feel its financially out of their reach. Developed in 2020, the Explorer Prep Program is designed to align with T-Mobile’s workforce goals in hiring diverse, early career talent in STEM. The program helps to develop a pipeline of high-performing high school students with a focus on Full Stack Development, Cybersecurity, and User Experience Design. These high school students participate in a certificate program with local community colleges to earn college credit and a certificate in a technology-related focus. This is a non-traditional pathway for high school students to achieve their career dreams through certification rather than the traditional 4-year bachelor’s degree path. Explorer Prep offers relatable work experience at T-Mobile over two summers, 8-weeks in length each. After completing their certificate, students have the opportunity to interview for a full-time employment development role at T-Mobile, where they will join the EICX Program.

Daaniya Junejo says the program has helped demystify some common technology competencies and shown her what a career in STEM truly looks like. Though always interested in coding, Junejo says she was intimidated to try and apply for colleges, fearing that she wouldn’t be able to truly grasp the skill and not wanting to fall into student loan debt while trying to figure out her potential. The daughter of immigrant parents, Junejo says she didn’t want to put a financial burden on her family and was also apprehensive about being a woman of color in a technology field that’s traditionally known for being unwelcoming to women and minorities. She says after starting the Explorer Prep program, she now is certain of where in the coding space she wants to pursue her career. She hopes to continue with T-Mobile and take advantage of its tuition assistance offerings for full time employees so she can continue her higher education.

Learn more about the woman leading the charge of the Explorer Prep Program and helping to inform its optimal inclusivity.

Like many of the other children born in the Singareni community in India, N. Ramesh grew up in poverty. His father was an auto driver and mother a daily wage laborer, and there was little opportunity for him to envision a future that would be any different.

An estimated 104 million people, or 9% of India’s population, live in densely populated settlements marked by substandard housing, lack of access to clean water and power and severe poverty. Children in these settlements like Ramesh routinely lack support to seek an education and, if they do, often drop out because of lack of access to basic hygiene and toilet facilities.

But Ramesh participated in the Akshaya Vidya supplementary education program for children run by Ekalavya Foundation. The program, which is supported by Viatris, provides education both to students in school and those who have dropped out through special learning centers established in their communities. The centers offer evening classes with trained tutors and provide smartphones for groups of students to facilitate continuous learning and monitoring.

With the help of Akshaya Vidya tutoring and mentoring, Ramesh achieved 100% marks in his 10th grade standard exam and exceptionally in the Joint Entrance Exam, a required exam for admission to engineering colleges, enabling him to pursue his dream of becoming a software engineer.

“The Akshaya Vidya program started with just one tutor and four children. But thanks to timely support from Viatris and other organizations, we now have more than 127 Akshaya Vidya Learning Centers with about 4,000 children in Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy, Medchal and Adilabad districts of Telangana,” said Vivek Anand, Chairman, Akshaya Vidya Foundation.

Viatris initially supported 20 centers covering approximately 600 students. But because of the success of the centers, the program was expanded to 40 centers with approximately 1,200 students. The tutors often hail from the local community to earn trust among the students and showcase local role models. The learning centers also have become safe havens that offer respite to some children and adults.

“As a global healthcare company, Viatris seeks to foster healthy communities around the world. One of the many ways we do this is by supporting education, which is especially important for the disadvantaged children in India,” said Michelle Dominica, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility and Administrative Services for Viatris in India.

Ekalavya Foundation was established in 2006, and its Akshaya Vidya project to promote education for children living in disadvantaged communities was launched in 2011. The program includes academics, extracurricular and co-curricular activities, health, hygiene, culture, nationalism and other topics with the goal of helping children develop and become a part of modern society.

Ramesh’s story was featured on the Akshaya Vidya Facebook page, and the group hopes his experience will inspire others.

Though his economic circumstances were difficult, “Ramesh’s achievement is simply stellar and shows that if human beings can persevere they can achieve any great heights with hard work,” the group wrote. “We salute Ramesh and his never say die spirit and hope many youth will get motivated to follow his example.”

DALLAS, May 9, 2023 /3BL Media/ – Texas Capital Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ: TCBI), the parent company of Texas Capital Bank, today announced the recipients of its first annual Honors Awards program.

Awarded through the Texas Capital Bank Foundation, which the firm launched in 2022 to expand and elevate its philanthropic giving, the program includes three grants of $50,000 each that correspond to Texas Capital Bank’s three community impact pillars of “Live,” “Learn” and “Lift.” The fourth is the STAR (Supporting our Troops, Active and Remembered) Award, a $100,000 grant awarded to an organization that provides services to military members, families and veterans.

“It is our distinct pleasure to honor these four Texas nonprofits as the first annual recipients of the Texas Capital Bank Foundation Honors Awards,” said Texas Capital Bank President and CEO Rob C. Holmes. “We launched the foundation to further serve our fellow Texans, and we look forward to seeing the good work that our commendable nonprofit partners will continue to perform across the state.”

The inaugural winners are:

Abide Women’s Health Services, a Dallas-based women’s clinic that provides access to pre- and post-natal care, childbirth education, ultrasounds and a supportive community for mothers in South Dallas, as the recipient of the “Live” Honor Award.Todos Juntos Learning Center, an Austin-based organization that bolsters children’s opportunities for the future by providing early childhood education for predominantly Spanish-speaking families as a part of a dual-generation learning model, as the recipient of the “Learn” Honor Award.St Vinnys Bistro, a San Antonio-based organization that provides hot, nutritious meals 365 days per year for people experiencing homelessness and offers job training and employment opportunities, as the recipient of the “Lift” Honor Award.SERJobs, a Houston-based organization that provides no-cost occupational training, financial literacy programs, career coaching and career services for veterans and other qualified adults and youth, as the recipient of the STAR Award.

“We cannot provide much-needed services without support from the community,” said Sheroo Mukhtiar, CEO of SERJobs. “Funding from the Texas Capital Bank Foundation will enable us to serve veterans in obtaining the skills, knowledge, tools, resources and support they need to become self-sufficient and achieve long-term financial stability for themselves and their families.”

“The Honors Awards recipients were carefully selected for their outstanding impact across our Texas communities,” said Effie Dennison, president of the Texas Capital Bank Foundation and head of Community Development and Corporate Responsibility at Texas Capital Bank. “We are honored to recognize and support their work as they address some of our communities’ greatest needs.”

For more information, visit the Texas Capital Bank Foundation webpage.

About Texas Capital Bank 
Texas Capital Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ: TCBI), a member of the Russell 2000® Index and the S&P MidCap 400®, is the parent company of Texas Capital Bank, a full-service financial services firm that delivers customized solutions to businesses, entrepreneurs, and individual customers. Founded in 1998, the institution is headquartered in Dallas with offices in Austin, Houston, San Antonio, and Fort Worth, and has built a network of clients across the country. With the ability to service clients through their entire lifecycles, Texas Capital Bank has established commercial banking, consumer banking, investment banking and wealth management capabilities. For more information, please visit www.texascapitalbank.com. Member FDIC.

TCBI Securities, Inc., doing business as Texas Capital Securities, is a member of FINRA and SIPC and has registered with the SEC and other state securities regulators as a broker dealer. TCBI Securities, Inc. is a subsidiary of Texas Capital Bank. Securities and other investment products offered by TCBI Securities, Inc. are not FDIC insured, may lose value and are not bank guaranteed.

Harlem’s Fashion Row (HFR) and kate spade new york hosted an intimate dinner at Renaissance Harlem in New York City to celebrate the Harlem’s Fashion Row 2022/2023 HBCU Fashion Summit with Bowie State University. The HBCU Fashion Summit is a program first launched by Harlem’s Fashion Row in 2020 and is intended to transform the art and fashion programs at HBCUs across America by providing students with direct design expertise from industry experts.

As part of kate spade new york and Tapestry’s ongoing commitment to supporting and uplifting the next generation of diverse fashion talent, the first year of a 3-year partnership offered students at Bowie State University – Maryland’s oldest Historically Black University – unique access to engage with kate spade new york’s team of executive leaders and designers.

The evening showcased fashion designs from four of the Bowie State University students, which were on display for guests to view.  With May being Mental Health Awareness Month, emotional intelligence practitioner Tieko Nejon Wilson hosted an interactive fireside chat with HFR’s Brandice Daniel, Bowie State University’s Professor Danielle Brown and kate spade’s Jennifer Lyu, centered around the role that identity and emotions play in mental wellness. kate spade new york has been championing women’s empowerment and mental health for over a decade. The brand is committed to using its platforms and channels to destigmatize mental health and provide women and girls with access to culturally competent mental health resources and support.

Photo credit: BFA/Sansho Scott