Join us at our 13th Annual PM Symposium to learn what it takes to be a next-generation Project, Program, or Portfolio Management leader. This PMI Chicagoland chapter signature event occurs Friday, October 6, 2023 (7:30 AM- 4:00 PM CDT). Attendance is in person at Harper College (1200 W Algonquin Road, Palatine, IL) or virtual. Participants can earn up to 15 PDUs representing all areas of the PMI Talent Triangle® by participating in this Symposium and six other on-demand sessions.
PALATINE, Ill., Sept. 25, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — PM Symposium offers attendees an all-day interactive learning experience. Presenters will share the personal experiences, insights, and best practices that enabled them to deliver exceptional client value and successful project outcomes. You’ll learn innovative ways to approach problems, grow your understanding of the latest trends and how they impact your projects, and gain skills to elevate your performance.
Event speaker topics include privacy considerations for data governance, the journey of delivering a complex project, current trends, future strategies for project managers, putting mental health literacy in the PMP toolbox, and leading complex healthcare organizations.
What can you expect by attending the PM Symposium?
Attend Onsite: The Wojcik Conference Center at Harper College, 1200 W Algonquin Road, Palatine, IL 60067-7398. Regular onsite member ticket $250, onsite non-member $275, student onsite $100. Register here
Attend Online: The event will be live-streamed to Zoom Events. No recordings will be available. Regular online member tickets are $200, online non-member $225, and student virtual $50. Register here
The PMI Chicagoland chapter would like to thank its event sponsors, Illinois Tech Stuart School of Business, Lewis University, Doane University, DePaul University, Elmhurst University, and Blue Cross Blue Shield.
About pmichicagoland.org (https://pmichicagoland.org) The PMI Chicagoland Chapter, winner of the prestigious 2022 PMI Chapter of the Year Award, enables members to network with other Project Management professionals and practitioners in a diverse range of industries in the Chicago metropolitan area. Membership benefits include sharing project experiences, effective project management techniques and tools, and valuable lessons learned.
Pull Quote
Learn from the best and brightest in the PM field, network with peers, and discover how to deliver greater value to your stakeholders. Don’t miss your chance to become a next-generation PM leader! — Raj Nair, PMI Chicagoland Chapter President
The SBB Research Group Foundation has named Christal Mae Concepcion Dita a STEM Scholarship recipient
CHICAGO, Sept. 25, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — The SBB Research Group Foundation named Christal Mae Concepcion Dita a recipient of its STEM scholarship. The $2,500 award empowers students to create value for society by pursuing higher learning through interdisciplinary combinations of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM).
Christal Dita, a junior, studies Biotechnology and Zoology at North Carolina State University. Previously, Dita worked alongside Ph.D. students at the Peng Lab at North Carolina State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine to investigate how genetic variations affect immunity. She is also a recipient of PixelPlex’s STEM Scholarship for an essay reflecting on the “publish or perish” issue in academic scientific research and how augmented reality can be used as a potential solution.
“Christal is a dedicated and impressive young scientist, and we are thrilled to support her work with this scholarship,” said Matt Aven, co-founder and board member of the SBB Research Group Foundation.
For eligibility criteria and more information on the Foundation’s STEM scholarship, please visit http://www.sbbscholarship.org.
About the SBB Research Group Foundation The SBB Research Group Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that furthers the philanthropic mission of SBB Research Group LLC (SBBRG), a Chicago-based investment management firm led by Sam Barnett, Ph.D., and Matt Aven. The Foundation sponsors the SBB Research Group Foundation STEM Scholarship, supporting students pursuing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) degrees. In addition to its scholarship program, the Foundation provides grants to support ambitious organizations solving unmet needs with thoughtful, long-term strategies.
Fostering independence and aging with grace and vigor for senior members of our community.
Curating a unique environment that embraces both the art and science of recovery for healing nagging injuries and improving strength.
Kim adds, “Here you’ll always receive personalized attention catered to your specific needs and goals. If you’re looking for a safe, comfortable and judgement-free setting, we’re the studio for you.”
About Core Wisdom: Core Wisdom, https://www.corewisdom.org, is a Pilates studio based in the heart of Boulder, CO. Founded in 2004, we offer a friendly and inviting environment where students receive instruction tailored to their individual needs, ensuring a personalized and transformative experience. With over 25 years of teaching experience, we are here to guide you every step of the way, regardless of your age, experience or goals.
The DFSC search committee selected Holly as the new executive director because of her strong background in nonprofit leadership, including extensive experience developing both contributed and earned income streams for many organizations and causes. Holly brings the full package of nonprofit skills to her new role, including fundraising, board management, partnership building, program delivery, communications, financial management, and public speaking. She has worked with organizations working at the local, state, national, and international levels and shines in a leadership role. In addition, Holly was also a professional documentary filmmaker and producer who raised money for and produced films that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and other premiere festivals or that aired on HBO and other major broadcast outlets. She brings her creative communications knowledge and resourcefulness to this new role as well.
In her first week on the job, Holly toured the Park Ridge neighborhood in Alameda County with local residents who had applied to participate in the DFSC Partners in Wildfire Prevention cost-sharing program. Local neighbors, the local fire marshall and staff, Cheryl Miller, and Holly toured the neighborhood to help residents form their plan for how to use cost-share funds to reduce fuel loads in their neighborhoods and reduce fire risk.
“All residents of Alameda and Contra Costa Counties living in high fire-risk areas need to take action against wildfire dangers,” Holly says. “I’m ready to advance DFSC’s mission by being active in the community, meeting with residents, forging new partnerships, and raising DFSC’s visibility even more.”
“HalcyonFT employees give their best every day, and we do the same by ensuring they have the best possible employee experience,” said Steffany Hofmeister, Director of People. “HalcyonFT is an incredibly collaborative environment where every team member is important, equal, and valued. We believe in culture, brand, and doing what is right, every time.”
Ms. Hofmeister cited the firm’s values of community, work ethic, and philanthropy as factors that contribute to employees’ high satisfaction. The firm hosts annual holiday events, quarterly team meetings, monthly dinners, and other events to maintain high morale and camaraderie among the 30+ geographically dispersed team members.
Sarah Lewis-Kulin, the Vice President of Global Recognition at Great Place To Work, emphasizes that certification is earned solely by the real-time feedback of employees regarding their company culture. “By successfully earning this recognition, it is evident that HalcyonFT stands out as one of the top companies to work for, providing a great workplace environment for its employees.”
Halcyon Financial Technology, L.P. (“HalcyonFT”), is an information technology services firm founded in 2010 by industry veteran Rodric O’Connor. Focused exclusively on serving financial services firms, HalcyonFT delivers outsourced IT solutions with a comprehensive understanding of industry trends, challenges, and expectations. HalcyonFT offers an unparalleled degree of professional IT service encompassing top-level strategic leadership from an award-winning CTO, along with the deep knowledge and focus of all staff in the specific requirements of the financial services industry. For more information, please visit‥http://www.halcyonft.com.
About Great Place to Work Certification™
Great Place To Work® Certification™ is the most definitive “employer-of-choice” recognition that companies aspire to achieve. It is the only recognition based entirely on what employees report about their workplace experience – specifically, how consistently they experience a high-trust workplace. Great Place to Work Certification is recognized worldwide by employees and employers alike and
About Great Place To Work®
As the global authority on workplace culture, Great Place To Work® brings 30 years of groundbreaking research and data to help every place become a great place to work for all. Their proprietary platform and For All™ Model helps companies evaluate the experience of every employee, with exemplary workplaces becoming Great Place To Work Certified™ or receiving recognition on a coveted Best Workplaces™ List. Learn more at greatplacetowork.com.
That’s prompted EPA to devise a “herbicide strategy” focused on conventional herbicides used in agriculture in the lower 48 states. Note that over half of the 1800 listed endangered and threatened species occur in Hawaii. EPA’s proposed herbicide strategy considers the potential impacts of agricultural herbicides to 400 listed plants and 500 listed animals that depend on plants. This strategy concerns WSSA because growers may lose herbicides and other crop protection products due to growers being unable to meet the EPA’s proposed ESA compliance requirements.
Growers need to be aware that the ESA prohibits a wide range of actions from:
Killing a member of an endangered or threatened species.
Altering the habitat of an endangered species in such a way that it affects its ability to eat or reproduce.
“If you have an endangered species in your state, county, or on your farm, the herbicide labels you used in the past will likely change,” says Bill Chism, WSSA ESA Committee Chair. “In some cases, growers in certain counties or areas could lose the use of one or more herbicides that they were able to use previously. The updated product labels could include new application timing requirements designed to reduce runoff, leaching, spray drift and other off-target impacts on threatened and endangered species and their critical habitats.”
Growers and land managers need to become familiar with how to access important application instructions online through EPA’s Bulletins Live! Two.
Mitigation Strategies The two main ESA mitigation strategies are methods to reduce spray drift and herbicide run-off through erosion.
To reduce herbicide drift risks, applicators will need to:
Incorporate downwind buffers
Use a larger spray droplet size
Use a maximum windspeed cutoff
To reduce the risk due to herbicide runoff or erosion, growers will need to incorporate multiple conservation practices such as:
Contour farming
Cover crops
Terracing
Mulching
Residue and tillage management
Grassed waterways
Vegetative filter strips
Violations can result in either civil or criminal penalties. The ESA allows civil penalties of up to $25,000 per violation, and criminal penalties of up to $50,000 and one year in prison per violation. It is therefore important for farmers and landowners to be aware if a listed species is present on or near their property in order to avoid causing unlawful take or altering its critical habitat.
“EPA’s reregistration of Enlist One and Enlist Duo herbicides last year shows what is to come,” says Chism. “The updated product labels include new application timing requirements designed to reduce runoff, leaching, spray drift and other off-target impacts on threatened and endangered species and their critical habitats. These products can no longer be used in certain counties,” he adds.
Besides potentially losing herbicide options, the WSSA is concerned that some ESA mitigation strategies are impractical for certain farms or ranches. The WSSA urges growers to submit comments to EPA on the proposed ESA mitigation methods and how it will impact their operations. To submit comments, please visit: http://www.regulations.gov and type “EPA-HQ-OPP-2023-0365” in the search box on top. There are a number of “Supporting & Related Material” files and a “Memorandum to Open Docket for Comment….” Comments can be submitted there. The deadline to comment is October 22, 2023 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern.
About the Weed Science Society of America The Weed Science Society of America, a nonprofit scientific society, was founded in 1956 to encourage and promote the development of knowledge concerning weeds and their impact on the environment. The Society promotes research, education and extension outreach activities related to weeds, provides science-based information to the public and policy makers, fosters awareness of weeds and their impact on managed and natural ecosystems, and promotes cooperation among weed science organizations across the nation and around the world. For more information, visit http://www.wssa.net.
Accenture, together with Avanade, is working with Amadeus to develop and pilot the travel assistant. Integrated with Amadeus’ Cytric Easy platform, the assistant will align travelers’ preferences with employers’ policies for a more efficient and cost-effective experience. The generative AI-powered interactive assistant will leverage Microsoft technologies, including GPT models from Azure Open AI Service, Microsoft 365 and Teams, to assist corporate travelers with elements of their journey (from planning, booking and pre-departure, through to the trip and post-trip). In a conversational style, the chatbot will ask for clarifications and make suggestions to propose the most appropriate travel or travel itinerary options.
Rudy Daniello, Executive Vice President, Amadeus Cytric Solutions, said: “The new Generative AI-powered chatbot will offer an enhanced way to book business travel, moving from a standard sequential display with predetermined filters to a dynamic, interactive conversational interface powered by ChatGPT. When fully realized, business travelers will be able to book trips with even greater ease, saving time.”
“Accenture’s collaboration with Amadeus and Microsoft accelerates the integration of generative AI-powered solutions in the travel industry, driving innovation and reinvention. Cytric Easy offers the corporate travel world new levels of efficiency, personalization and control whilst transforming the entire experience for the traveler,” said Miguel Flecha, managing director at Accenture, and account lead for Amadeus.
In addition, Amadeus is working with Microsoft on a new plugin for Microsoft 365 Copilot, which brings the power of next-generation AI to Microsoft’s workplace productivity tool. Currently in development, the Cytric Easy plugin for Microsoft 365 Copilot aims to make it easy for colleagues to quickly match and book travel itineraries in a single, sophisticated workflow within Microsoft 365 using natural language prompts. This integration aims to further streamline the travel journey to deliver an intelligent, and contextually aware end-user experience.
Feliz Montpellier, General Manager, Global Partners, Microsoft said, “We are at an extraordinary moment in the technology landscape, where AI is reshaping industries like travel and transforming how we work. Through expanded integrations between Microsoft and Amadeus, we will create more value for corporations and much more personalized and productive experiences for travelers.”
The collaboration is part of a wider vision to transform business travel, as well as ensuring that the generative AI solutions can be responsibly built and scaled globally. The three technology leaders are combining to create hyper-personalized and hyper-contextualized journeys, designed to drive maximum value from each trip, within Microsoft 365 and Teams.
By drawing on Amadeus’ unrivalled knowledge of the travel ecosystem and harnessing Cytric’s content and knowledge of the traveler as well as information on corporate booking policies and preferences, these new AI-powered tools aim to make the business travel booking experience more intuitive, driving both business efficiency and employee satisfaction.
Notes to the editors:
About Amadeus
Amadeus makes the experience of travel better for everyone, everywhere by inspiring innovation, partnerships, and responsibility to people, places, and planet.
Our technology powers the travel and tourism industry. Inspiring more open ways of working. More connected ways of thinking, centered around the traveler. Our open platform connects the global travel and hospitality ecosystem. From startups to big industry players and governments too. Together, redesigning the travel of tomorrow.
We are working to make travel a force for social and environmental good. A collective responsibility to protect and improve the people and places we visit, ensuring travel continues to make positive contribution to our world.
We apply innovation to meet new needs, to solve real challenges. Our truly diverse global workforce, made up of 150 nationalities, is passionate about travel and technology.
We are an IBEX 35 company, listed on the Spanish Stock Exchange under AMS.MC. We have also been recognized by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for the last 11 years.
Accenture is a leading global professional services company that helps the world’s leading businesses, governments and other organizations build their digital core, optimize their operations, accelerate revenue growth and enhance citizen services—creating tangible value at speed and scale. We are a talent and innovation led company with 732,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Technology is at the core of change today, and we are one of the world’s leaders in helping drive that change, with strong ecosystem relationships. We combine our strength in technology with unmatched industry experience, functional expertise and global delivery capability. We are uniquely able to deliver tangible outcomes because of our broad range of services, solutions and assets across Strategy & Consulting, Technology, Operations, Industry X and Accenture Song. These capabilities, together with our culture of shared success and commitment to creating 360° value, enable us to help our clients succeed and build trusted, lasting relationships. We measure our success by the 360° value we create for our clients, each other, our shareholders, partners and communities. Visit us at https://www.accenture.com.
During the past year, Booster has grown its fundraising service offerings, extending support to high schools, including sports teams and liberal arts programs. This expansion puts Booster on track to serve more than 7,500 K-12 schools in the upcoming school year.
“I want to reiterate our gratitude for all of the schools and groups that have chosen Booster as their year-round fundraising partner,” said Stephen Murray, President and COO of Booster. “With our expansion into high schools and groups, we can now make the lives of even more busy parent association leaders, teachers and coaches a little easier.”
New Fundraising Solutions
The company also unveiled an enhanced array of fundraising solutions, now including fitness fundraisers, an innovative fundraising platform, product sales, discount cards, custom gear options and more. The addition of these fundraising services gives Booster the ability to meet the unique needs of the students, teachers, group leaders and coaches it now serves throughout the school year.
“We’ve worked with [Booster] on multiple different variations of programs and products,” said Ashley Westbrooks, PTO President at Lakeview Elementary, which is entering its fourth year partnering with Booster. “We’ve done the glow dance, glow run, a fun run. This past spring we did the cookie fundraiser. We keep choosing Booster over and over because you just make our life so much easier. We have a great relationship. The communication is amazing. That’s why we’ve continued to use [Booster] for different things throughout the year.”
Strategic Partnerships
The fundraising company also announced two new strategic partnerships, which provide additional valuable resources to the schools that work with Booster. Booster’s 2023-2024 school year fitness fundraisers will feature exclusive content and prizes from Dude Perfect, family friendly YouTube stars with over 58 million viewers.
Booster has also teamed up with GoNoodle, a program used in over 96% of U.S. private and public elementary schools, to offer schools that work with Booster an exclusive discount to its new social emotional learning program, SuperNoodle. These collaborations enable Booster to extend even more benefits to the schools they serve, offering substantial discounts and facilitating student experiences that encourage inclusion, kindness and more.
Booster is excited to continue its mission of empowering schools with the necessary resources to fulfill their educational goals. Through innovative fundraising solutions, unwavering support and enduring partnerships, Booster remains dedicated to making a lasting impact on the lives of students and educational communities nationwide.
About Booster
Booster is the leading school fundraising company in the U.S. As the son of an educator, founder Chris Carneal created Booster in 2002 to help strengthen schools. Since then, Booster has offered ever-expanding fundraising services such as school fun runs, fundraising technology, spirit gear and promotional products, product sales and more to help schools thrive by increasing funds and inspiring students through fitness and character-building experiences. More than 800 team members serve 7,500 K-12 schools nationwide and have helped schools, groups and teams profit more than $600 million.
Based in Georgia, Booster embraces the virtues of gratitude, wisdom, care, courage, grit and celebration. These virtues guide every aspect of its business, from client care, leader development, product development and technical support to sales and marketing. Learn more at choosebooster.com.
Over the next 25 years, MediaSource pushed the industry forward, prioritizing innovative ways for public relations professionals to communicate and disseminate stories, elevating diverse voices, and telling stories on the cutting edge of health care communications. From creating the agency’s trademark Multimedia Release and digital delivery newsroom to pioneering brand journalism and leveraging social media for storytelling, MediaSource’s forward-thinking approach to communications has kept the organization at the forefront of PR.
Since its founding, MediaSource has secured over 100,000 placements for its clients — including placements in every major national outlet, like The New York Times and Wall Street Journal, and over 600 national network television appearances — accounting for a combined audience of more than 100 billion. But it’s the impact beyond the placements that really reach the core of the agency. MediaSource’s mission to tell impactful stories has made a difference in thousands of lives, helping medical experts raise awareness of important and life-saving work, connecting hundreds of thousands of patients to groundbreaking clinical trials and procedures, and improving health equity by telling stories that impact underrepresented communities.
“Our commitment to impactful storytelling has always been the North Star for MediaSource,” Arledge Powell said. “We’ve found a specialty in health care because we believe in the life-changing work our clients are doing, and our team of PR professionals is able to amplify stories with confidence because those stories match our own values and truly make an impact on the communities that are so important to us.”
That impact has been acknowledged through a variety of recognition from MediaSource’s peers. The agency has won multiple Emmy Awards for outstanding video campaigns and averages 20 awards per year, including PRSA Bronze Anvils, PR Daily, the PRSA Central Ohio PRism Awards and the Telly Awards. Competing against larger firms, MediaSource was selected Best Healthcare Agency an unprecedented four years in a row in the Healthcare PR and Marketing Awards by Ragan Communications.
The company prides itself on building long-standing relationships with clients, staff and its community. The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center was the agency’s first-ever client and still works with MediaSource today, in addition to an 18-year relationship with Nationwide Children’s Hospital, 10 years with National Jewish Health and nine years with Orlando Health. Four different MediaSource team members, including all three vice presidents, have been with the company for more than 12 years.
For Arledge Powell, a major honor came earlier this year, when MediaSource was certified as an official Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE) by The Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC). The certification represented both Arledge Powell’s work in founding MediaSource and the company’s commitment to diversity and equity, which is reflected in its partners and projects.
“Many of our clients have been a driving force for equity and inclusion especially within their own organizations,” Arledge Powell said. “We’re incredibly grateful to be working with people and brands that champion this message of diversity and expect their partners to do the same.”
Both internally and in conjunction with its bold and forward-thinking clients, MediaSource prioritizes staying on the cutting edge of marketing and public relations. From keeping a pulse on emerging social media and cultivating relationships with journalists in the changing news landscape to creating inventive ways of telling stories and utilizing the best in current technology, MediaSource aims to remain a leader in the field.
“We’ve built an innovative team that is constantly seeking new ways to excel for our clients and wants to move our industry forward,” Arledge Powell said. “MediaSource will continue to find the best and most relevant ways to tell stories and leverage emerging technologies and media to connect with audiences across the country. I’m excited for what the future holds.”
About MediaSource
MediaSource is a certified woman-owned communications agency that helps organizations meet business goals by combining storytelling with strategy. With a 25-year history of success, MediaSource understands today’s communications realities, allowing your brand’s story to be seen and heard by the right audiences. To learn about our health care public relations, video storytelling, thought leadership content and other specialties, visit mediasourcetv.com.
According to the Washington, D.C.-based Labor Council for Latina American Advancement, Latina Equal Pay Day, according to the California Commission on the Status of Women, “is the approximate day Latinas must work into the new year to make what a White non-Hispanic man made at the end of the previous year. Latinas typically earn only 55 cents for every dollar earned by white, non-Hispanic men and must work nearly 23 months to earn what white men earn in 12 months.”
Key Features of the SHENIX® App The SHENIX® app offers a range of resources and tools that cater specifically to the needs of Latinas:
Budget (Free) The built-in budgeting tool helps users gain a better understanding of their spending habits and identifies areas for improvement. It also encourages the practice of saving a percentage of income in a bank account and for retirement. Users can easily create new budgets whenever their salary changes, ensuring their financial plans are always up to date.
Financial Education (Free) The app provides access to a wealth of financial education resources, empowering Latinas with the knowledge and skills needed to navigate the complexities of personal finance. From basic concepts to advanced financial strategies, the SHENIX® app offers comprehensive educational materials to ensure Latinas are well-prepared to make informed financial decisions. Some topics covered include emergency funds, life insurance, retirement savings, credit score, college savings, access to capital, and portfolios.
Career Opportunities Latinas can explore various financial careers through the app, providing a gateway to exciting opportunities in the financial industry. SHENIX® connects users with positions and resources that can help them advance their careers and achieve financial success.
Wealth Planning Tools for Everyday Latinas and Business Owners (Free) The app offers wealth planning tools tailored for both everyday Latinas and business owners. Users can gain insights into their net worth, debt-to-income ratio, and other key financial metrics to make well-informed decisions regarding their personal and business finances.
English/Spanish-speaking Career and Financial Advisors (optional, paid services) Available to help with Roth IRAs, IRAs, SEP IRAs 401k, personal portfolios.
LATINA COMMUNITY—JOIN a Latina community committed to creating their financial legacy.
About SHENIX® SHENIX® is a innovative fintech company dedicated to providing educational resources and tools to empower Latinas in their financial journeys. With a deep understanding of the unique challenges faced by Latinas, SHENIX® is committed to equipping them with the knowledge and resources they need to make the best financial decisions for themselves and their communities. For more information, visit https://shenix.app/.
