“It’s an exciting time for Grapevine6! We are expanding at a great pace, growing the team, landing new customers and doubling down on innovation,” says Grapevine6 CEO Mike Orr. “We are in full transition from start-up to scale-up.”

TORONTO (PRWEB)
February 19, 2020

Grapevine6, a patented social and digital sales engagement platform, announces the appointment of co-founder Mike Orr as the Chief Executive Officer, effective February 19, 2020.

Prior to this role, Mike held the position of Grapevine6’s Chief Operations Officer, primarily responsible for overseeing product, customer success and professional services as well as finance and admin operations. In his role, Mike has continuously shown true thought leadership in the use of AI for digital sales enablement. Because of his passion for the sales and advisor experience, he frequently provides expert commentary in industry publications and speaks at conferences such as InVest, Salesforce World Tour – Toronto, Vestigo Ventures, Fiserv Forum, and NetFinance Interactive.

“It’s an exciting time for Grapevine6! We are expanding at a great pace, growing the team, landing new customers and doubling down on innovation. We are fully in transition from start-up to scale-up,” said Mike Orr, commenting on his appointment. “What gets me up in the morning is the opportunity to work with the most forward-thinking clients and the remarkable team we’ve been fortunate to assemble at Grapevine6. I’m looking forward to working with this group to take Grapevine6 to the next level.”

Prior to co-founding Grapevine6 team, Mike spent several years in management consulting working with some of Canada’s marquee brands. He led a strategic think tank and project management team at Cundari – on projects that won global awards and recognition including the prestigious Cannes Lions and Fast Company’s “Innovation by Design.” Mike earned his MBA in Innovation and Entrepreneurship from the University of Toronto, and a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from the University of Waterloo.

Wayne Gomes Named Chief Innovation Officer

Wayne Gomes, another Grapevine6 co-founder, has moved to the Chief Innovation Officer position to push company’s innovative strategies for content engagement across the customer experience. In this role, he will continue building on the foundation of the company’s disruptive, successful product in sales and advisor enablement. Having led development for Grapevine6’s key client relationships, Wayne is considered a trusted advisor and is able to partner with clients to bring innovation to market. Wayne has been involved in sales for over 20 years, and is an expert in building trusted relationships, having lived the problems he is now working to solve for relationship managers and salespeople.

Under Wayne’s leadership, Grapevine6 counts the largest wealth management firms and technology companies as clients. Also under his direction, Forrester named Grapevine6 a leader in the social selling space, citing them in The Forrester New Wave™: Sales Social Engagement Tools, Q2 2019 report. Download here.

Prior to co-founding Grapevine6, Wayne founded the Rich Internet Group, where he was CTO and Managing Director. Wayne then led Cundari’s Digital Practice as CTO to become the sixth most awarded digital agency in the world. Wayne holds the Hons. Bachelor of Applied Sciences degree from the University of Waterloo.

Additionally, Avi Pollock, President of Grapevine6, takes on direct responsibility for customer success and professional services to scale those organizations to make our clients successful. See press release for additional information on Avi’s appointment.

About Grapevine6:

Grapevine6 is a patented social and digital sales engagement platform that accelerates sales and marketing efforts. Launched in 2013, Grapevine6 uses artificial intelligence to provide the content that moves sales opportunities through the pipeline in a more efficient and effective way. Grapevine6 solves the content challenges faced in deploying employee advocacy, content marketing and social selling, and works with existing sales and marketing investments to increase ROI. Headquartered in Toronto and led by an award-winning team of engineers, Grapevine6 is now powering the global social selling program at some of the largest technology and financial services companies in the world. For more information, visit Grapevine6.com.

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NEW YORK (PRWEB)
February 19, 2020

Distinguished Programs, a national insurance program manager, today officially announces the promotion of Brandon Mercier to regional sales executive for the southeastern U.S. Mercier most recently served as a sales executive for Distinguished Programs Specialty division.

“Brandon’s strong attention to detail and understanding of the insurance market has made him a successful contributor to Distinguished Programs’ growth, and we believe he’ll continue to impress in this new role,” noted Kurt Meister, senior vice president of business development at Distinguished Programs. “Brandon is a valuable member of our team and a pleasure to work with, and his track record in successful sales demonstrates the agents and brokers he works with feel the same.”

In his new role as regional sales executive, Mercier is tasked with leading sales for all of Distinguished Programs’ insurance products across the Southeast.

Prior to joining Distinguished Programs in 2016, Mercier worked for Philadelphia Insurance Companies, where he began as an underwriter in 2009 and later served as a senior marketing representative. Mercier also holds a Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC) designation.

Mercier is a graduate of Kennesaw State University where he earned his bachelor’s in finance. He is based in Atlanta.

About Distinguished Programs

Distinguished Programs is a leading national insurance Program Manager providing specialized insurance programs to brokers and agents with specific expertise in Real Estate, Community Associations, Cultural & Historic Properties and Hospitality & Restaurants. Property and liability products are distributed through a national network of agents and brokers. Serving the same core markets and partnering with the most stable and reputable carriers, Distinguished Programs’ high limit umbrella programs remain the clear choice in its areas of specialty for superior coverage, competitive pricing, and attentive service. Through thoughtful innovation, stemming back to 1987, Distinguished Programs fosters growth and opportunities for its brokers, carriers, and employees. http://www.distinguished.com.

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John was a client for many years while he was at Fedway. His industry knowledge and hands-on use of our products bring insights to expand our customers’ success and strengthen our value to our customers.

BURLINGTON, Mass. (PRWEB)
February 19, 2020

Dimensional Insight, the maker of Diver® Platform, a data management and analytics solution, announced that John Kievit has joined the company as vice president of goods and services, industry strategy, and business development.

Kievit brings nearly 40 years of experience to the role, including work as an Administrative Vice President for both sales and marketing. He has handled multi-million-dollar portfolios during his years in the goods and services industry, many of which involved using Dimensional Insight’s products; he also spent many years in direct sales management.

“He brings a valuable and unique perspective,” says Fred Powers, Dimensional Insight’s CEO and co-founder. “John was a client for many years while he was at Fedway. His industry knowledge and hands-on use of our products bring insights to expand our customers’ success and strengthen our value to our customers.”

As part of his new role at Dimensional Insight, Kievit will create and align products and services to propel customers’ success. His experience and knowledge of the industry will help Dimensional Insight understand the needs of its customers and how they use its products.

“I am excited about this next chapter in my career and working as a solution provider for the first time,” says Kievit. “Dimensional Insight’s exceptional services and products proved to be valuable to the team at Fedway. I am excited to share my experiences and provide the industry with a greater understanding of Dimensional Insight, its products, and people.”

About Dimensional Insight

Dimensional Insight® is a leading provider of analytics, data management, and performance management solutions, offering a complete portfolio of capabilities ranging from data integration and modeling to sophisticated reporting, analytics, and dashboards. Founded in 1989, Dimensional Insight has thousands of customer organizations worldwide. Dimensional Insight consistently ranks as a top performing analytics organization by customers and industry analysts in its core market segments including healthcare, manufacturing, and beverage alcohol. For more information, please visit https://www.dimins.com/.

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Gurdip Singh

Kallik has enviable, mature and advanced enterprise labeling capabilities and a strong team supported by a bold and exciting roadmap.

BIRMINGHAM, England (PRWEB)
February 19, 2020

Enterprise Labeling leader Kallik has lined up a powerful new leadership team as the company prepares for its next wave of growth. It has also unveiled new branding, as trusted enterprise labeling becomes a strategic and critical priority in regulated, safety-sensitive markets.

Capitalizing on this trend, Chief Executive Officer Gurdip Singh and Chief Commercial Officer David Bennett will drive ambitious new expansion plans at Kallik, whose Enterprise Labeling solutions are ideally suited to the challenge. The company, a recognized international leader in helping brands transform global artwork and labeling creation and lifecycle management, has adopted the new mantra – ‘Trust in your label, trust in your brand’ – emphasizing the increasingly critical role global labeling consistency and quality plays in market confidence and public trust. This is particularly the case in regulated industries such as pharmaceuticals, medical device, chemicals and cosmetics.

Gurdip is a deeply-experienced practitioner and leader in life sciences company transformation. Before taking up his new CEO role at Kallik, he held senior life sciences industry leadership roles at CSC, then DXC Technology. Very much a people focused, hands-on leader, Gurdip has an impressive track record of driving organizational transformation in heavily-regulated industries, across leadership, governance and complex program delivery, in advisory and practitioner roles over the last decade.

David, who most recently served as VP of Strategy at Veeva Systems Europe, brings 30 years international software industry, life sciences and healthcare leadership experience to his new role at Kallik. His deep pharmaceutical market understanding, specifically in relation to complex global content management and compliance, gives him a detailed appreciation of the enterprise packaging and labeling challenges faced by Kallik’s clients. David previously led Documentum’s operations in Europe.

Welcoming his latest challenge, Gurdip commented, “Kallik has enviable, mature and advanced enterprise labeling capabilities and a strong team supported by a bold and exciting roadmap. That sets us up perfectly to meet the challenges of labeling and packaging for medical device manufacturers, pharmaceutical, chemical and cosmetics companies all over the globe, allowing them to achieve greater consistency and integrity in critical global processes.

“I look forward to bringing my business transformation, change management and modern technology experience to bear, and getting Kallik to its next stage of success. Our rebranding focuses attention on the importance of trust in the brands and labels of our customers; Kallik offers a very powerful proposition here which puts us in an ideal position for a transformational next stage of business growth. I am particularly passionate about the user experience, so will be continuously on the lookout for new ways to improve this for customers.”

Concurring with these sentiments, David added, “I am delighted to be working at such an innovative company as Kallik, which has always placed trust in its customers’ brand and labels at its core. Our new messaging and leadership team are part of a bold and exciting roadmap to meet the packaging and labeling challenges faced by our clients in the context of soaring regulations.

“I am looking forward to bringing my deep industry knowledge and leadership experience, specifically in relation to complex global content management and compliance to bear, to help grow the Kallik brand and business.”

About Kallik

Kallik, the enterprise labeling company, provides regulated industries with a definitive, end-to-end label management platform they can trust.

Medical device, pharmaceutical, chemical and cosmetics companies use Kallik to deliver trust in their labeling, integrity in their process and confidence in their brand.

Kallik’s cloud-based labeling platform, Veraciti™, enables compliance and delivers supply chain efficiency for all the artwork and content assets that make up product packaging, labeling and instructions for use (IFUs).

Kallik has offices in the UK and USA. More at http://www.kallik.com and on Twitter @WeAreKallik.

PR Contact

Carina Birt    

PR for Kallik

carina@sarumpr.com

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Mel Christopher to serve as Gold Shovel Association Executive Director

Gold Shovel has a proven track record of reducing life-threatening damages, and we will continue to engage all the damage prevention stakeholders to expand and ensure maximum effectiveness of the program.

TEMPE, Ariz. (PRWEB)
February 18, 2020

The Gold Shovel Association (GSA) board of directors has appointed Mel Christopher as Executive Director of its Gold Shovel Standard (GSS) program and appointed Cheryl Campbell as Vice Chair of the GSA Board. The GSS program works to eliminate damages to underground infrastructure through adoption of damage prevention safety management systems and use of performance-improving metrics.

Mr. Christopher is well-known within the energy and utility industries as a champion for public and employee safety. He has broad experience in the energy industry, with his most recent role as Senior Vice President at Pacific Gas & Electric. Mr. Christopher has actively participated in industry associations and has served on the Boards of various nonprofit organizations.

“Damage to underground infrastructure continues to be a threat to public safety and service reliability for everyone who provides services within this area,” said Mr. Christopher. “I look forward to helping reduce this impact, in order to ensure the safety of the public as well as improved service to customers. Gold Shovel has a proven track record of reducing life-threatening damages, and we will continue to engage all the damage prevention stakeholders to expand and ensure maximum effectiveness of the program.”

Mr. Christopher will replace Cheryl Campbell, who was named GSA Executive Director in early 2019. Ms. Campbell will join the GSA Board of Directors as Vice Chair and will continue to focus on additional board activities within the energy industry.

“Cheryl successfully spearheaded the reorganization of the Association in 2019 and under her leadership the group saw significant growth and strong collaboration among key stakeholders in damage prevention. We thank her for her leadership and service in this role and look forward to working with Mel as Executive Director and Cheryl on the GSA Board of Directors,” said Luke Litteken, Senior Vice President of Xcel Energy and chair of the GSA board.

Comprised of industry leaders who volunteer their time, the GSA Board sets strategic direction, defines policies including program certification guidelines, develops performance-tracking metrics, establishes membership dues and privileges, and provides high-level guidance on reporting software.

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About Gold Shovel Standard

Gold Shovel Standard (GSS) is a nationally recognized safety program committed to preventing life-threatening damages to buried infrastructure. GSS promotes common and transparent metrics and partnership in all aspects of damage prevention, enabling members to drive continuous improvement. Please visit their website at GoldShovelStandard.org.

About Mel Christopher

Mel Christopher has a record of improving utility operational performance, developing strong teams, reducing public safety incidents associated with natural gas operations, and improving safety performance of large and diverse workforces. Most recently, Mr. Christopher served as Senior Vice President, Gas Operations at Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E), one of the largest utilities in the United States serving more than 16 million people in Northern and Central California. By focusing on decreasing risk in utility operations and improving work processes, PG&E’s Gas Operations has reduced the damage rate to underground infrastructure by more than 60% over the last 5 years.

Mr. Christopher has been active with the Common Ground Alliance (CGA), Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA), and with the American Gas Association (AGA), serving as Chair of the Field Operations Committee in 2018. In 2019, he was appointed to the Boards of Directors for AGA, INGAA, and CGA where he served until leaving PG&E in November 2019.

Mr. Christopher has been active with United Way organizations including serving for many years on the Board of Directors for United Way of Central New Mexico. In this capacity, Mr. Christopher has assisted numerous nonprofits in providing important services to those in need. He has also served on the Boards for Campfire USA, New Mexico Council, and the 4H Council.

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Dr. Diana Oblinger, an education technology leader with more than 40 years of experience in higher education, joins Signal Vine’s Board of Directors

Signal Vine is excited to add Dr. Oblinger and her expertise, knowledge and understanding of how technology can be positioned to empower higher ed institutions to the team.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (PRWEB)
February 18, 2020

Signal Vine, the leading provider of blended SMS communication to students across the education industry, announced today that Dr. Diana Oblinger has been appointed to its Board of Directors.

Dr. Oblinger is an edtech industry expert with deep experience using technology to address higher education’s challenges and opportunities. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for Ellucian, the leading global provider for higher education software and services. She is also President Emeritus of EDUCAUSE, a nonprofit association of 2,300 colleges, universities and educational organizations whose mission is to advance higher education through the use of information technology. During her 12 years at EDUCAUSE, she led initiatives on student success, college completion, analytics and learning technologies as well as expanding the organization’s international reach.

Prior to her work at EDUCAUSE, Dr. Oblinger held various leadership positions in technology at the University of North Carolina, Microsoft and IBM. She has also held faculty positions at Michigan State University and the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Brian Kathman, CEO of Signal Vine, shares his excitement following the appointment.

“Signal Vine is excited to add Dr. Oblinger and her expertise, knowledge and understanding of how technology can be positioned to empower higher ed institutions to the team,” said Kathman. “Signal Vine has relied on Dr. Oblinger’s extensive knowledge in the past to facilitate discussions about the important relationship between technology and higher ed leaders. I’m looking forward to continuing our work together.”

Dr. Oblinger notes what she hopes to accomplish as a member of Signal Vine’s Board of Directors.

“I am honored to serve on Signal Vine’s Board of Directors, as the company’s mission is one I have shared throughout my career: to use technology to empower students so they can be more successful,” said Dr. Oblinger. “Signal Vine’s AI-powered technology can help higher ed institutions keep students on track and engaged with personalized, timely communications at scale. I’m thrilled to continue to support this important mission as part of Signal Vine’s team.”

Signal Vine is the leading higher education AI messaging platform transforming how higher education institutions reach, support and engage students throughout their academic life cycles. With more than 50 million student interactions, Signal Vine’s Blended Messaging® personalizes engagement using AI, workflow automation and one-to-one messaging to keep students on the path to success. Signal Vine has been improving enrollment and retention outcomes with a proactive approach across the entire campus and student life cycle.

To learn more, visit signalvine.com or view a demo: signalvine.com/text-messaging-platform.

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