All posts by imreal

Innovest Systems Launches Participant Payment Portal for Defined Benefit Retirement Plans


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Innovest Systems, LLC

Innovest Systems announced today that it has launched its Participant Payment Portal, a web portal developed for participants in defined benefit retirement plans. The portal allows plan participants to view payment information and make updates to their personal information. The Participant Portal is already live and currently in use.

The Participant Payment Portal was developed in response to client requests for direct access for defined benefit plan participants. The portal leverages Innovest’s existing secure InnoVue3.0 infrastructure which allows for client branding, end-user self-registration and client configurability in terms of which components are displayed to end-users. The portal leverages responsive design and can be accessed through any type of device.

“We are proud to have been able to launch our Participant Payment Portal in under a year. Our existing infrastructure makes the rollout of new products and features much simpler than most other platforms. The team did an excellent job and we’re getting great feedback from current and prospective clients,” said Joanne Smith, chief operating officer of Innovest Systems.

The Participant Payment Portal allows users to view current, year to date and historical payment information, access plan documents and tax forms, view tax withholding status, update address information, update distribution destination details and split distributions to multiple destinations as applicable. The Participant Payment Portal went live in September 2019.

ABOUT INNOVEST SYSTEMS

Innovest Systems, LLC is a leading provider of financial technology solutions delivered to forward-thinking trust, wealth management, and retirement professionals. Innovest’s solutions empower its clients to acquire new customers, invest assets effectively, manage trust and investment portfolios efficiently, and flexibly report results to customers. Innovest has over $600 billion in assets under administration on its trust and wealth management platform servicing over three hundred global financial institutions.

The Innovest Trust & Wealth Management Solution provides a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)-based principal and income accounting, investment management and reporting system for institutions that need to control, account for and report on assets held in trust, wealth and retirement accounts. The Trust & Wealth Management Solution is comprised of the InnoTrust and InnoVue offerings from Innovest. InnoTrust is browser-based and is the core application deployed by Innovest to support the accounting and reporting needs of banks, trust companies, wealth management firms, retirement plan administrators and custodians. InnoTrust is also webservices/API enabled to more readily integrate with internal programs and third-party applications. InnoVue is browser-based and provides access for end clients to view account information anytime, anywhere.

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Declining Fertility Has Big Business Implications


Falling birth rates have big business implications

Falling birth rates have big business implications

Infant and maternity products are the canary in the coal mine

Continued declines in fertility in the U.S. are sure to have long-term sociological and economic effects, and some may be being felt right now. Destination Maternity last week filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and disclosed plans to shutter more than 180 of its stores and lay off hundreds of workers.

The company’s bankruptcy petition blames, among other things, persistently falling birthrates as to why it is facing distress.

“While competition from online retailers and other widely discussed factors may have had some role to play, Destination Maternity’s declining net sales in recent years have tracked fairly closely with the sharp decline in births in the United States,” says Demographic Intelligence Advisor Lyman Stone. “Had Destination Maternity maintained the exact same market share and product mix, but fertility rates had remained stable over the last 10 years, their net sales would have been more than 15% higher this year.”

Other companies that produce baby and children-focused products have also faced difficulties. Toys R Us and Babies R Us closed all of their retail locations in 2018 after previously warning that stagnant birthrates could negatively impact their business.

“Infant and maternity products are the canary in the coal mine. In a few years, we can expect to see weakness in the earnings reports for products aimed at older children, and, eventually, universities will face serious enrollment declines. From there, a smaller prime-age population will present challenges to many sectors of the economy, ranging from retail, to housing, to historically robust sectors like healthcare,” said Stone.

Given the serious economic implications of falling birthrates, it is crucial for businesses to have a clear picture of what their target audiences will look like in the future. The U.S. Fertility ForecastTM from Demographic Intelligence anticipates that the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) in the U.S. will slide to 1.70 children per woman in 2019 from 1.72 children per woman in 2018. Falling birthrates rates are hardly an American or even a Western phenomenon. In fact, Stone is tracking a worldwide decline in fertility, with rates seeming set to converge at about 1.6 to 1.7 children.

While births overall are declining, birthrates for certain groups and in some regions are rising. And some baby-related businesses are still experiencing growth. Demographic Intelligence helps clients orient their businesses to take advantage of these opportunities, even in a challenging environment.

The U.S. Fertility Forecast is typically more than 98% accurate in predicting U.S. birth trends

—————————————

About Demographic Intelligence

Demographic Intelligence (DI) is the premier provider of U.S. birth forecasts and fertility analytics for businesses with an interest in birth trends in the United States. DI provides reports and consulting services to companies in the following sectors: juvenile products, healthcare, media, financial services, consumer food, and household products. Demographic Intelligence is advised in its work by five leading family scholars: Princeton economist Alicia Adsera, University of Pennsylvania demographer Hans-Peter Kohler, University of North Carolina demographer Philip Morgan, economist Lyman Stone, and University of Virginia sociologist W. Bradford Wilcox.

CONTACT:

Demographic Intelligence

434-284-0808

Steve@USbirthrate.com

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Best Sanitizers, Inc. Offers Free Educational Article to Help Food Processors Fight Listeria in Their Facilities.


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Fighting Listeria in Food Processing Facilities.

We want to provide food industry professionals with the tools and equipment they need to reduce cross-contamination from Listeria in their facility.

Food safety professionals continually look for new and better ways to help control the risk of cross-contamination in their facilities. To help them in their efforts, Best Sanitizers, Inc. has released a series of educational articles designed to give food processing facilities, nutraceutical, and pharmaceutical plants the upper hand in the fight against cross-contamination in their facilities.

Their latest article focuses on fighting Listeria in a food processing facility. The article details specific characteristics of the pathogen and provides best practices for reducing its presence in a food plant. As discussed in the article, Listeria is a hard-to-kill pathogen that can easily hide and thrive, especially in hard to reach areas. Listeria can be spread through cross-contamination from hands, footwear, tools, and other high traffic areas in the plant. Best Sanitizers offers products and solutions, such as their Alpet branded line of hand soaps, hand sanitizers and surface sanitizers to help food processors reduce Listeria and other pathogens in their facilities.

The complete educational article, Fighting Listeria in a Food Processing Facility is available for free download.

“Our goal is to promote, and educate the industry on, best food safety practices,” states Ryan Witt, Best Sanitizers’ Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “We want to provide food industry professionals with the tools and equipment they need to reduce cross-contamination from Listeria in their facility.”

For more information on all of Best Sanitizers products and educational articles, please visit us at: http://www.bestsanitizers.com.

About Best Sanitizers, Inc:

Since 1995, Best Sanitizers, Inc. has been providing the Food Processing, Janitorial Sanitation and Healthcare industries with the highest quality hand soaps, hand sanitizers, surface sanitizers and dispensing options available. You’ll find our products helping processors large and small reduce the risk of pathogens throughout the US. Best Sanitizers was the first company to achieve an E3 rating for an alcohol-based hand sanitizer, and the first to achieve a D2 rating for an alcohol/quat-based surface sanitizer for food contact surfaces. Best Sanitizers continues to explore new and innovative ways to deliver hand hygiene and surface sanitation solutions.

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The Center for Responsible Enterprise And Trade (CREATe.org) Launches Grant Program To Fund Projects Focused on Advancing Leading Practices to Address Key Business Risks


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Center for Responsible Enterprise And Trade (CREATe.org)

“CREATe.org was founded on the principle that companies have the power to improve business integrity across corporate ecosystems, and ideally, to communities at large. We are excited to extend the mission of CREATe.org through this initiative,” stated Pamela Passman, President and CEO of CREATe.org

The Center for Responsible Enterprise And Trade (CREATe.org) today announces a new grant program designed to fund projects that advance CREATe.org’s approach of providing practical resources to educate organizations about leading practices for managing risk and improving governance and compliance.

Organizations or individuals interested in learning more can review the Request for Proposal (RFP) at http://www.CREATe.org/RFP. CREATe.org is allocating approximately $400,000 for this initiative. This amount will be divided across several grants to organizations. Written proposals are due to CREATe.org by midnight December 4, 2019.

Proposed projects should concentrate on ethics, compliance, corporate governance and/or risk management on one or more of the topics of CREATe.org’s areas of focus: anti-corruption (including the ISO 37001 Anti-Bribery Management Systems Standard); cybersecurity; intellectual property (IP) and trade secret protection; or in emerging risk areas (e.g., managing trade (sanction) compliance, the ethics and responsibilities of Artificial Intelligence).

“CREATe.org was founded on the principle that companies have the power to improve business integrity across corporate ecosystems, and ideally, to communities at large. We have focused our efforts on providing practical ways to help drive this change,” stated Pamela Passman, President and CEO of CREATe.org. “We are excited to extend the mission of CREATe.org through this initiative.”

Projects can take the shape of thought leadership, quantitative research, tools development, or the development of other resources. Regardless of the format, the project should provide practical tools, resources or information that will help companies advance leading practices on CREATe.org’s mission areas. These projects should also include ways to disseminate and broadly share these leading practices with the global business community.    

About the Center for Responsible Enterprise And Trade (CREATe.org)

The Center for Responsible Enterprise And Trade (CREATe.org) is a non-governmental organization (NGO) with a mission to promote leading practices in cybersecurity, intellectual property (IP) and trade secret protection, and anti-corruption.

To achieve our mission, CREATe.org conducts a range of activities – from publishing reports and whitepapers, working with leading practitioners and experts through Advisory Councils, and contributing insights to a range of publications and events – designed to provide practical resources to educate organizations about the leading approaches to managing risk and improving governance and compliance.

For more information, please visit http://www.CREATe.org.

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DUNMORE Introduces Aqua-Jet, a New Water-Based Inkjet Film to Support the Growing Digital Printing Market


Water-Based Inkjet Film Printer

Water-Based Inkjet Film Printer

According to Neil Gillespie, VP of Technology, “Developing a water-based inkjet film with fast ink drying allows printers to increase print speeds, which is critical for further adoption of water-based inkjet printing.”

Dunmore today announced Aqua-Jet, a new printable film that is compatible with water-based inkjet presses. This new water-based inkjet film provides excellent print quality and adhesion, fast ink drying, and water resistant properties. The water-based inkjet compatible film can be used for labels and other graphics applications. The standard Aqua-Jet product is a 50 micron thick, white polyester (PET) film with a matte printable surface. Dunmore has the flexibility to provide the coating technology on various substrates up to 80 inches wide.

In the label and graphics market, the adoption of digital presses continues to grow. Demands for shorter lead times and customization are driving the growth in digital printing. To service the needs of the market, Dunmore developed and commercialized a new water-based inkjet film ((https://www.dunmore.com/products/inkjet-film.html). Dunmore’s print receptive film technology supports critical printing requirements. Along with the standard print requirements, the new film has excellent water resistant properties. Aqua-Jet was tested on printers that use aqueous dye and pigment based inks. Print results showed good ink adhesion, fast ink drying, and excellent print quality.

Dunmore’s matte water-based inkjet print media is on a standard 50 micron white polyester film. Given the diverse needs across applications, the print receptive coating technology can be integrated with various types of PET film (https://www.dunmore.com/technical/pet-film.html), BOPP film, PVC film, and synthetic paper.

According to Neil Gillespie, VP of Technology, “Developing a water-based inkjet film with fast ink drying allows printers to increase print speeds, which is critical for further adoption of water-based inkjet printing. We are excited to support the label and graphics market with a product that can be used in new applications.”

About DUNMORE

Dunmore is a global manufacturer of engineered coated and laminated films and foils. Dunmore offers film conversion services such as coating (https://www.dunmore.com/services/toll-coating.html), metalizing and laminating along with contract film manufacturing and custom film product development. Dunmore produces coated film, metallized film and laminating film substrates for the aircraft, spacecraft, photovoltaic, graphic arts, packaging, insulation, and electronics industries. Dunmore is a Steel Partners company, ISO 9001:2015 and OSHA VPP Star certified. For complete information on Dunmore’s products, services and industries served, please visit http://www.dunmore.com.

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Lead Singer of Five Finger Death Punch, Ivan L. Moody’s Health and Wellness Company, Moody’s Medicinals, Debuts New Product Online and In-Person at The Grove in Las Vegas


Photo advertisement of Moody's Medicinals featuring Ivan Moody

Ivan Moody for Moody’s Medicinals

Moody’s Medicinals specializing in both cannabidiol (“CBD”) and non-CBD health and wellness products launched its first trailblazing line of high-quality products in June 2019. Today, they announced that a new range of sugar-free AM and PM shots, as well as a new personal CBD diffuser pen that can be enjoyed in three new formulas are now available online at moodysmedicinals.com. They will also be available in-person at an exclusive launch event in Las Vegas, attended by Ivan L. Moody.

The three new formulas for the personal diffuser pen are: Relax (made with organic blackberry and blueberry waters), Energize (made with organic grapefruit and orange waters) and Silver Bullet (made with menthol and mint with vitamin B12 and ginseng).

The Moody’s Medicinals AM Shot is a refreshing Raspberry Lemonade flavor and the PM Shot is a calming Lemon Iced Tea flavor. Both shots are certified pure CBD.

Ivan Moody realized that Moody’s Medicinals, as a health and wellness innovator, could provide better ingredients, quality, and potency across its products. “Moody’s Medicinals was created to support me whether I’m on the road, at a shoot, writing music, or just living life. Everyone knows that life is demanding, and that’s what Moody’s Medicinals helps the most with – life,” said Moody, creator of Moody’s Medicinals.

Five Finger Death Punch’s world-renowned lead vocalist, Ivan L. Moody, created the company because taking CBD helped him personally manage his anxiety symptoms, PTSD, and OCD. However, he noticed a gap in the marketplace concerning the extreme amounts of additives the competitors used. He set out to deliver a variety of CBD & non-CBD health and wellness products that do not contain sugars, alcohols, and unnecessary additives.

The official launch event for the new products will be at The Grove (4647 Swenson St, Las Vegas, NV 89119) on Saturday, November 2 at 1:00 p.m. This corresponds with the kickoff for Five Finger Death Punch’s U.S. headlining arena tour (through December 15 before heading overseas in the new year). The best-selling rock band’s two exclusive shows in Las Vegas are on November 1 and 2 at The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino (4455 Paradise Rd., Las Vegas, NV 89169).

“Whether it’s our AM and PM shots to help you start and finish the day calm and focused or if you use it to tame anxiety like I do, they’re special products. They keep me sustained when I’m unable to eat on a fixed schedule when I’m on the road, and anything that helps you manage your appetite is an obvious plus,” added Moody.

All of the Moody’s Medicinals product lines, including the new products, are available for purchase online at MoodysMedicinals.com.

The company continues to comply in full with all federal, state, and local laws, rules, and regulations as the company develops its CBD/hemp extract product lines. Moody’s Medicinals is a registered trademark of ILM Distribution, Inc.

For more information and promotions, please follow Moody’s Medicinals on the web at MoodysMedicinals.com and on social:

Facebook: MoodysMedicinals

Twitter: @MoodysMedicinal

Instagram: @MoodysMedicinals

To arrange interviews, reviews and for Ivan Moody and Moody’s Medicinals publicity inquiries, please contact:

Libby Coffey, PRIME PR GROUP, INC.

O: +1 626-676-4993

E: LCoffey@primeprgroup.com

Disclaimer: The Food and Drug Administration has not evaluated the statements made regarding these products. The efficacy of these products has not been confirmed by FDA-approved research. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. All information presented here is not a substitute for or alternative to information from healthcare practitioners. Please consult your healthcare professional about potential interactions or other possible complications before using any product. The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act require this notice.

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Innovation at the forefront of WesternU’s future


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Third-year WesternU COMP students Ian Wong, front, and Alex Oei try out the Eko DUO ECG + Digital Stethoscope during WesternU’s Innovation Day Oct. 29, 2019. (Jeff Malet, WesternU)

Western University of Health Sciences held Innovation Day Oct. 29, 2019 to showcase the many roles innovation and technology play in educating the next generation of health care providers.

The event, organized by WesternU’s Center for Innovation, featured hands-on learning opportunities and presentations by WesternU administrators and representatives of companies working with the University on a range of projects.

“Our job is to use innovation to motivate ourselves and our students to value it, to contribute to it, and to always ask the critical questions. How does this make me a better provider? How does it make us better educators?” said WesternU Senior Vice President and Provost David Baron, DO, MSEd. “We can all feel proud that our University has made the commitment to this. Not to take away from our core mission, but to add to it. To contribute to it. To say that we’re proud at WesternU on how we’re using innovation to help our students become better providers.”

Deans from the colleges of dental medicine, graduate nursing, optometry, health sciences and veterinary medicine talked about how each college has embraced innovation in collaborative and unique ways. Pomona Vice Mayor Victor Preciado presented a city proclamation to the Center for Innovation.

“We congratulate the Center for Innovation on a successful Innovation Day 2019,” Preciado said. “We are proud to have such a renowned organization in Pomona and we commend you for your outstanding leadership in innovation, entrepreneurship and education in the field of medicine. We wish you and your impressive staff and students the best in all your future endeavors.”

Senior Vice President for Research Devendra Agrawal, PhD, MBA, said WesternU already has a lot of strong research taking place in each college. His goal is to bring these researchers together.

“How we can integrate the research activities and expertise of our faculty in such a manner that we can realize the potential of the intelligence and the brilliance of our faculty and develop a collaborative, multidisciplinary research program. That is what my initiative is,” Agrawal said. “I’m trying to identify the expertise and the different resources, and then bring them together in a multi-disciplinary manner.”

His office has created research clusters that will meet regularly to share resources and ideas.

Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Clive Houston-Brown, EdD, said a critical aspect of supporting innovation is facilitating connectivity into action and collaboration.

“If you are going to have innovation you must have that human element. You must have the ability to interact with one another,” he said. “As we design a conference room that used to be just a table and chairs, we now infuse it with a lot of technology to make sure that collaboration can go on not just in that room but elsewhere across the world. So when we have partnerships in places like Ireland we have the ability to communicate across the waters.”

A panel discussion on artificial intelligence (AI) featured experts from Southwest Research Institute and ElectrifAI.

“We obviously are a big believer in the future of AI as it relates to health care,” said WesternU Chief Innovation Officer Nicholas Webb. “If you think about the challenges we have in health care, they are to deliver a lot more health care much more quickly and more accurately. So when you’re looking at lots of data and you’re trying to have accurate outcomes from that data, and you want to increase speed, really the best way to do that is to have the machine do the heavy lifting.”

Shahin Rahman, vice president of data science at ElectrifAI, said his company is working with medical schools on admissions. The goal is not to replace the admissions committee or admissions process, but to use AI to empower those entities in a way that will benefit both the institution and the students.

How are students best matched to a particular university so that both the institution and the student are successful as possible? Trying to predict a result that is four or five years in the future is difficult. Traditionally, universities have looked at standardized test scores and grade point average, but is this enough? Rahman said.

“Can we do better? Can we empower that admissions committee so they can spend time and attention on relevant information rather than get overloaded by a flood of information?” he said. “That’s where we try to bring a more streamlined process and to bring some level of consistency into that process, and we want to go beyond just the standardized exams, or GPA. Reading through thousands of essays, that is time consuming. Can we extract key information from the essay that will be predictive of the student’s fitness to the program that the institution provides?”

David Chambers, principal engineer at Southwest Research Institute, said his company’s markerless motion capture can identify joint locations and estimate their poses from a single camera.

“The really cool thing about this, outside of high-performance athletics, (is that) we can do these for medical studies as well,” Chambers said. “There is a lot of correlation with gait. There is correlation of injury with the way you recover. There is a lot that can come out of this data. It’s very information-rich, and it’s something that we have been applying specifically looking at gait analysis for predicting dementia earlier than other predictors.”

Innovation Day also provided hands-on activities that promoted teamwork, problem solving and design thinking. The first session of the Cupcake-A-Thon was won by first-year College of Podiatric Medicine students Katherine Gutierrez and Nesem Mergen and WesternU guest Nadia Jam. The challenge was to design a bridge using cupcakes, Rice Krispies treats and other materials. Their team decided to use Rice Krispies treats as the foundation and build from there, Gutierrez said.

“We really like working with our hands,” she said. “It’s fun to be able to do something hands-on.”

She also enjoyed learning more about innovation at WesternU.

“I’m excited about the technological advances we are making that are being put into practice,” Gutierrez said. “Part of lifelong learning as doctors is to be able to keep up with technology and serve the public.”

WesternU’s iSquad, led by College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific Associate Dean of Academic Innovation Edward Barnes II, MD, FACP, facilitated another hands-on exercise, “Can You Make It Better?” Participants studied several futuristic heath device mobile tools and used the tenets of design thinking to think of ways to improve that device. Among the devices were a Bluetooth blood pressure cuff and a Butterfly iQ ultrasound device.

“What I hope participants walk away with is expanding their knowledge on the tenets of design thinking and empowering them to grow a larger capacity to be creative in the way they approach problems,” Barnes said.

“It was interesting to see all the technology being developed and what other new things that could come out from this,” said third-year COMP student Elenie Philippas, who participated in the iSquad activity. “I want to go into family medicine, so I think that all these new technologies can help in the clinic, especially if you are in a rural area and doing family medicine where you don’t have available professionals like specialists.”

Stay Metrics Releases Case Study on PS Logistics’ Success Using Driver Rewards, Surveys


News Image

“We won’t cut corners to grow.”

Stay Metrics, the leading provider of driver retention tools for motor carriers, announces a new case study on PS Logistics (PSL). The latest addition to the company’s ongoing Success Metrics series shares the story of how one of the nation’s largest flatbed carriers has sustained rapid growth over the last 15 years by maintaining a complete commitment to drivers. You can read the full case study on the Stay Metrics website.

PSL and its partner carriers operate a combined fleet of 3,200 trucks. The company uses the Stay Metrics Drive for Gold Rewards Program to recognize drivers for performance, for compliments, for clean inspections and many other professional achievements.

The privately branded rewards program keeps drivers engaged by earning points from various recognition categories. As points accumulate, drivers redeem them for tens of thousands of items or travel options through the fleet’s Drive for Gold online portal.

Stay Metrics also administers driver onboarding surveys for PSL. The surveys check-in with new driver hires during critical periods of early employment to gauge their attitudes and expectations and to determine if their expectations match the realities of the job.

PSL receives immediate alerts if any responses indicate that a driver has an elevated risk of leaving. With these insights, PSL managers have been able to successfully intervene with high-risk drivers to prevent turnover.

“PS Logistics has been a quiet leader in the open deck sector over the years and consistently outperforms its peers in driver retention. I believe this success is a result of the company’s culture shining through and reflects its commitment to investing in retention tools, like what we do, to help improve the lives of drivers,” said Tim Hindes, Co-Founder and CEO of Stay Metrics.

The case study also examines the strategies PSL uses to excel among its peers in the trucking industry, such as giving drivers a choice in loads and using a percentage pay model. Both strategies reflect the company’s core commitment to fairness.

“We won’t cut corners to grow,” stated Scott Smith, Chief Executive of PSL based in Birmingham, Ala.

The full Success Metrics case study on PSL is available to anyone at no cost on the Stay Metrics website. Carriers that have been featured in past case studies include Load One, Liquid Trucking, Brady Trucking, and Ag Transport.

About Stay Metrics

Stay Metrics is a retention strategy firm. We’re passionate about partnering with transportation companies to help them increase driver retention and commitment. Our Stay Ahead™ platform amplifies your driver feedback. It encompasses our suite of driver lifecycle surveys and the Stay Metrics Reportal; which includes intervention opportunities, customizable reporting tools, and comparative industry data. In addition, our Driver Rewards platform gives carriers a custom-branded tool to sustain a driver-centric culture based on ongoing appreciation and engagement. The Stay Metrics’ team provides ongoing advice, insights, best-practice ideas, and industry-based research that supports our clients’ ongoing continuous improvement initiatives.

Stay Ahead of driver turnover. Stay Ahead of your competition. Stay Ahead with Stay Metrics.

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Four AHSG Executives to Speak at 2019 Staffing Industry Analysts Conference


American Health Staffing Group (“AHSG”) has announced that four company executives have been selected as speakers at the 17th Annual Healthcare Staffing Summit this November.

Hosted by Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA), the Healthcare Staffing Summit welcomes leaders from across the healthcare staffing industry to generate insights, strategies and a best practices approach to the ever-changing demands of this diverse segment. The summit delivers opportunities for driving growth through expert speakers, thought leadership, valuable networking and interactive sessions.

AHSG’s featured panelists at this year’s conference include Brian Schwidder, Chief Technology Officer; Jay Somera, President of Thaxton Interim Leadership; Bev Colan, Senior Vice President; and Paul Barrett, Managing Director of BelHealth Investment Partners, LLC, and Board Director of AHSG.

“It’s an honor to have such tremendous representation from AHSG at this year’s SIA Conference. With four executives being asked to speak, we take it as a testament to the amazing, forward-thinking individuals we have leading our organization. We’re looking forward to a great week with some thoughtful discussion and perspective from different corners of the industry,” Mark Smith, CEO said.

“We look forward to welcoming leaders from across healthcare staffing to this year’s Summit,” said Barry Asin, President of SIA. “As industry experts bring together compelling insights on the evolving healthcare landscape and we explore the implications of technology-driven change on the business model of staffing firms, I’m excited for conversations that will help drive the industry to higher levels of performance and impact.”

About American Health Staffing Group:

AHSG is a national and diversified healthcare staffing platform, serving 2,500+ endpoints across health systems, hospitals, and outpatient clinics in all 50 states. Headquartered in Edmond, Oklahoma and with additional offices in Michigan, Oregon, South Carolina and Texas, AHSG’s six divisions span across high growth and resilient segments of healthcare staffing including nursing, allied health, pharmacy, interim leadership, dialysis, and technology. AHSG is a portfolio company of BelHealth Investment Partners, LLC.

For more information:

Contact: Cade Webb, Lead Marketing Associate

Phone: 405-697-2038

Email: cwebb@ahsstaffing.com

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2020 iaedp™ Symposium Presents World-Class Keynote Speaker Line-Up


“To be able to engage with these accomplished professionals at one time and in one place is so significant — an extraordinary opportunity,” said Bonnie Harken, Managing Director at the iaedp™ Foundation.

The International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals (iaedp™) 2020 Symposium will feature world-class keynote speakers to headline its annual conference, slated for March 26-29 in Orlando at the Omni at ChampionsGate.

“To be able to engage with these accomplished professionals at one time and in one place is so significant — an extraordinary opportunity,” said Bonnie Harken, Managing Director at the iaedp™ Foundation. “Their collective mission is not only to discuss their latest research, but also to share their wealth of experiences.”

The keynote speakers will provide their presentations to nearly 900 eating disorder healthcare providers expected to attend the 2020 iaedp™ Symposium.

The Brain That Changes Itself and Eating Disorders

Norman Doidge, M.D., is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, essayist, and poet, on faculty at the Departments of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, and Columbia University, Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research. He is a Training and Supervising Analyst at the Toronto Institute of Psychoanalysis. His book, The Brain

that Changes Itself was chosen by the Dana Brain Foundation USA’s journal, Cerebrum, from among the 30,000 books written on the brain, as the best general book on the brain.

While eating disorder behaviors and attitudes may be rigid, this does not mean that the brains of patients with those disorders are rigid or lack plasticity; the illness is in part a product of how they use their plasticity, which is a product of their development. We will discuss approaches to the common developmental inhibitions, conflicts and psychodynamics, self-fragmentation, trauma, hopelessness, borderline personality organization and pathological defenses in the therapy of eating disorder patients. The important role of imbalances between our two hemispheres in eating disorders, and right hemisphere-based dissociation from the body, will be highlighted. The lecture will illustrate how to combine a thought and emotion-based, neuroplastically-informed, hemisphere-balancing psychotherapy, with neurofeedback and other modalities, to help patients access their full neuroplastic potential, stimulate dormant brain functions, improve self-regulation and neuromodulation, and develop a more integrated, differentiated view of themselves. When this occurs, patients can develop more life- affirming goals that make ED behaviors less necessary or attractive to them, so that they can grow out of a reliance on them, and mature psychologically at the same time

The Brain That Changes Itself and Eating Disorders

Norman Doidge, M.D., is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, essayist, and poet, on faculty at the Departments of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, and Columbia University, Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research. He is a Training and Supervising Analyst at the Toronto Institute of Psychoanalysis. His book, The Brain

that Changes Itself was chosen by the Dana Brain Foundation USA’s journal, Cerebrum, from among the 30,000 books written on the brain, as the best general book on the brain.

While eating disorder behaviors and attitudes may be rigid, this does not mean that the brains of patients with those disorders are rigid or lack plasticity; the illness is in part a product of how they use their plasticity, which is a product of their development. We will discuss approaches to the common developmental inhibitions, conflicts and psychodynamics, self-fragmentation, trauma, hopelessness, borderline personality organization and pathological defenses in the therapy of eating disorder patients. The important role of imbalances between our two hemispheres in eating disorders, and right hemisphere-based dissociation from the body, will be highlighted. The lecture will illustrate how to combine a thought and emotion-based, neuroplastically-informed, hemisphere-balancing psychotherapy, with

neurofeedback and other modalities, to help patients access their full neuroplastic potential, stimulate dormant brain functions, improve self-regulation and neuromodulation, and develop a more integrated, differentiated view of themselves. When this occurs, patients can develop more life- affirming goals that make ED behaviors less necessary or attractive to them, so that they can grow out of a reliance on them, and mature psychologically at the same time.

Sabine Wilhelm, PhD, is the Chief of Psychology and the Director of the Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders Program at Massachusetts General Hospital. She is a Professor of Psychology (Psychiatry) at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Wilhelm is recognized as a leading researcher in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), and tic disorders and has published 240 articles and reviews on cognitive functioning, prevalence and treatment outcomes of these disorders.

John Levitt PhD, CEDS, FAED, F.iaedp has more than 40 years’ experience working with eating disorders, self-injury, trauma, and the complex relapsing client. He has been an active participant in the fields of eating disorders, family therapy, and trauma as a clinician, consultant, program developer, supervisor/trainer, and presenter. He has taught widely, co-authored one book, co-edited three other books, and has numerous publications.

Dena Cabrera, PsyD, CEDS, President iaedp™ Board of Directors, will introduce Dr. Levitt and will share with the audience why iaedp™ believes that this topic is very important for patients, providers, and third party payors.

Gina Barreca PhD has appeared, often as a repeat guest, on 20/20, The Today Show, CNN, the BBC, NPR and, yes, on Oprah to discuss gender, power, politics, and humor. Her books include the bestselling They Used to Call Me Snow White But I Drifted: Women’s Strategic Use of Humor, It’s Not That I’m Bitter, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying About Visible Panty Lines and Conquered the World, If You Lean In, Will Men Just Look Down Your Blouse, and Babes in Boyland: A Personal History of Coeducation in the Ivy League. Of the other six books she’s written or co-written, several have been translated into to other languages–including Chinese, Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese and German. Called “smart and funny” by People magazine and “Very, very funny. For a woman,” by Dave Barry, Dr. Barreca was deemed a “feminist humor maven” by Ms. Magazine. Novelist Wally Lamb said “Barreca’s prose, in equal measures, is hilarious and humane.” Her latest book is If You Lean In Will the Men Just Look Down Your Blouse? is filled with insight, lessons, comfort and confessions. If You Lean In cheers and challenges women to come together and speak up.

Annie Heiderscheit, PhD, MT-BC, FAMI, NMT, is a board certified music therapist with 18 years of clinical experience and degrees in music therapy, education, and counseling. She has completed advanced training in the Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music and is a fellow through the Association for Music and Imagery. She is also trained in Neurological Music Therapy and is an endorsed facilitator with Remo in HealthRhythms Group Empowerment Drumming. Dr. Heiderscheit has conducted research utilizing guided imagery and music with adults in chemical dependency treatment and utilizing music to reduce stress and anxiety during mealtimes with eating disorder patients. She is collaborating on a research grant through the National Institutes of Health to study the use of music intervention to reduce sedation in mechanically ventilated patients. Dr. Heiderscheit has authored articles and book chapters on the use of music therapy in various settings. She is a graduate faculty member at the Center for Spirituality & Healing and clinical music therapist with The Emily Program.

Ralph Carson, LD, RD, PhD is a nutritionist and exercise physiologist with over 40 years of experience currently Senior Clinical and Scientific Advisor for the Eating Recovery Center and BED Program and a consultant for Pine Grove Behavioral Health and Addiction Center in Hattiesburg, MS. He is an active member on the board of the International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals (iaedp) and author of The Brain Fix: What’s the Matter with Your Gray Matter, over 20 scientific published articles and several textbook chapters. Dr. Carson will review the research and literature on the use of music in therapy.

Dan Tomasulo Ph.D., TEP, MFA, MAPP teaches Positive Psychology in the graduate program of Counseling and Clinical Psychology at Columbia University, Teachers College and works with Martin

Seligman, the Father of Positive Psychology in the Masters of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) program at the University of Pennsylvania. He is Director of the New York Certification in Positive Psychology for the Open Center in New York City and on faculty at New Jersey City University. Sharecare has honored him as one of the top 10 online influencers on the topic of depression. He authored Happy Together: Using the Science of Positive Psychology to Build Love that Lasts; Confessions of a Former Child: A Therapist’s Memoir; Action Methods in Group Psychotherapy: Practical Aspects; American Snake Pit: Hope, Grit, and Resilience in the Wake of Willowbrook. His newest book (on bookshelves in the spring) is about hope and includes practical interventions to use with patients to instill hopefulness.

About the iaedp™ Foundation: Since 1985, the International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals has provided education and training standards to an international and multidisciplinary group of various healthcare treatment providers and helping professions. For more information on the 2020 iaedp™ Symposium, visit iaedp.com.