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NCMA Announces New Chair and Vice-Chair of the Standards Consensus Body

National Contract Management Association

Charlie Williams and Penny White have been selected to serve as Chair and Vice-Chair of NCMA’s Standards Consensus Body (SCB). The SCB leads NCMA standards-setting activities and oversees the Contract Management Standard (CMS)™, an ANSI-approved standard that has been adopted by industry and agencies, including the US Department of Defense as the basis for their contract management competency framework. In 2018 NCMA was designated as an Accredited Standards Developer by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), an internationally recognized third party entity, solidifying NCMA as the foremost standards development organization for the contract management profession. Shortly thereafter, NCMA created the SCB to serve as the heart of its standards program, providing expertise to maintain ANSI accreditation. “This is a tremendous opportunity to advance the adoption of the CMS™ for more user categories,” said Kraig Conrad, NCMA Chief Executive Officer. “Charlie will carry us forward to the next level with his powerful history in defense acquisitions, and Penny brings in-depth industry experience which is critical to aligning certification standards across all categories of users of the CMS™.” Williams and White are joined by subject matter experts representing the wide range of CMS™ adopters, including federal, state, local, industry, and commercial contract management and acquisition-related functions. The National Contract Management Association (NCMA), which was founded in 1959 and is the world’s leading association in the field of contract management. The organization, which has over 18,000 members, is dedicated to the professional growth and educational advancement of procurement and acquisition personnel worldwide. NCMA strives to serve and inform the profession and industry it represents and to offer opportunities for the open exchange of ideas in neutral forums. To find out more, please visit www.ncmahq.org. Contact Details Jennifer Knowlton +1 571-382-1127 jennifer.knowlton@ncmahq.org Company Website https://www.ncmahq.org/

June 23, 2021 07:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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Khosla Leads $11M Round in Lexion, a Fast Growing AI-Powered Contract Management System

Lexion

Lexion, an AI-powered contract management system, announced an oversubscribed $11 million Series A round led by Khosla Ventures, with participation from existing investors Madrona Venture Group and Wilson Sonsini, bringing the total invested to $15.2 million. Kanu Gulati from Khosla Ventures will join Lexion's board. The Seattle based company plans to use these funds to scale go-to-market functions, drive further AI and product innovation, and grow the team, with a mission to offer a simple contract lifecycle management system (CLMs) that just works. Many CLMs on the market are complex, require an extensive amount of time and resources to implement, and a significant amount of change management to derive meaningful value. Lexion offers the opposite by delivering an intuitive system supported by a cutting-edge, AI-powered backend, that is simple enough for entire organizations to adopt, and takes just days to implement. “In-house lawyers spend far too much time on mundane tasks like checking if an active NDA exists, or manually filling out spreadsheets to track key dates and non-standard terms in their contracts,” said Gaurav Oberoi, co-founder and CEO of Lexion. “What makes Lexion special, in this rapidly growing industry, is that it’s a sophisticated AI product that’s incredibly easy to use, accurate, and fast, and eliminates rote work by automatically pulling these key data points from contracts. The result is that legal teams spend a fraction of the time on administrative tasks, and more time helping their teammates in sales, finance, and procurement win deals and grow the business.” According to Gartner, legal departments will increase their technology spend 300% by 2025, and yet only realize 30% of the potential benefit of their CLM investments because of the complexities of requirements gathering, change management, and user adoption. Oberoi believes that Lexion is perfectly poised to capture this demand by offering a pragmatic platform that solves immediate business needs through automation, and without unneeded complex features that go unused. “We invested in Lexion because their team has the rare combination of deep technical expertise in building sophisticated AI systems, and a proven track record in delivering SaaS applications that solve real problems,” said Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures. “This combination of cutting-edge technology, with simple and practical application, is exactly how the value of AI will get realized in corporations, and is why we think Lexion has a winning advantage in this space.” For two years in a row, Lexion was the only CLM recognized in CB Insights list of the 100 most innovative AI startups. Incubated at the Allen Institute for AI (AI2) in 2019, Lexion built a state-of-the-art NLP system that turns any contract text into structured data and delivers it in an intuitive repository with instant search, reporting, alerts, permissions, and integrations. In the last 6 months, Lexion has seen rapid growth, increasing revenues 400% and bringing on major brands like OfferUp, Blue Nile, and Outreach. “Lexion is an incredible addition to our toolkit, saving my team hours in filing, finding, and reporting on contracts”, said Nathan Garnett, General Counsel at OfferUp. “Not only was it quick to get up and running with all of our legacy agreements, but it’s also easy enough to use that we didn’t have to spend time on user training and rollout. Their integration with e-signature means all contracts are automatically filed away, and my team can focus on helping drive business results, instead of on administrative tasks.” Next, the company is expanding its offering to help legal teams manage the entire contracting process. Lexion is rolling out a new workflow module that allows customers to create customized intake forms, track the status of projects, manage drafts, secure approvals, and report on KPIs. Scheduled for full general availability in Q3 2021, Lexion’s end-to-end solution will serve as the hub for data driven legal teams to manage contracts from start to finish, with their signature focus on simplicity and easy adoption. About Lexion Lexion is an AI-powered contract lifecycle management system that just works. We’re on a mission to make the lives of legal teams easier so they can focus on more strategic work. We use best in class natural language processing technologies to make it 100x easier for lawyers and other corporate leaders to find the information they need in their contracts fast. Our solution is also incredibly intuitive and simple to implement. We are a spinout of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s artificial intelligence research institute (AI2) and we’re backed by the same investors that funded OpenAI (Khosla Ventures), helped launch Amazon (Madrona Venture Group), and have advisedGoogle (Wilson Sonsini). With a top notch and experienced team from Microsoft, Facebook, Google, AI2, and Amazon, we built a company that CB Insights ranked the #1 most promising AI legal tech startup in the world two years in a row (2020, 2021). Most importantly, fantastic brands trust Lexion to manage their contracts: Outreach, OfferUp, Blue Nile, and many more. Visit https://lexion.ai for more. About the Allen Institute for AI (AI2) AI2 was founded in 2014 with the singular focus of conducting high-impact research and engineering in the field of artificial intelligence, all for the common good. AI2 is the creation of Paul Allen, Microsoft co-founder, and is led by Dr. Oren Etzioni, a leading researcher in the field of AI. AI2 employs more than 100 top-notch researchers and engineers from across the globe. AI2 prides itself on the diversity and collaboration of our team and takes a results-oriented approach to complex challenges in AI. Learn more at allenai.org. About Khosla Ventures Khosla Ventures makes early-stage venture capital investments and provides strategic advice to entrepreneurs building companies with lasting significance. The firm was founded in 2004 by Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems. Khosla Ventures focuses on a broad range of sectors including artificial intelligence, agriculture/food, consumer, enterprise, financial services, health, space, sustainable energy, robotics, VR/AR and 3D printing. About Madrona Madrona ( www.madrona.com ) is a venture capital firm based in Seattle, WA. With more than 25 years of investing in early-stage technology companies, the firm has worked with founders from Day One to help build their company for the long run. Madrona invests predominantly in seed and Series A rounds across the information technology spectrum, and in 2018 raised the first fund dedicated to initial investments in acceleration stage (Series B and C stages) companies. Madrona manages over $2 billion and was an early investor in companies such as Amazon, Smartsheet, Isilon, Redfin, and Snowflake. About Wilson Sonsini For more than 60 years, Wilson Sonsini has offered a broad range of legal services focused on solving the challenges faced by the management and boards of directors of business enterprises. The firm is nationally recognized as a leader in the fields of corporate governance and finance, mergers and acquisitions, private equity, securities litigation, employment law, intellectual property, and antitrust, among many other areas of law. With deep roots in Silicon Valley, Wilson Sonsini has offices in Austin; Beijing; Boston; Brussels; Hong Kong; London; Los Angeles; New York; Palo Alto; San Diego; San Francisco; Seattle; Shanghai; Washington, D.C.; and Wilmington, DE. For more information, please visit www.wsgr.com. Contact Details Forrest Carman +1 206-859-3118 forrestc@owenmedia.com Company Website https://lexion.ai/

June 17, 2021 08:04 AM Pacific Daylight Time

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Hill Dickinson Selects Intapp Pricing Solution to Ensure Client Success and Maximize Profitability

Intapp

Intapp, a leading provider of industry-specific, cloud-based software solutions that enable connected professional and financial services firms, today announced that international law firm Hill Dickinson has selected the OnePlace Operations & Finance Pricing solution to maximize profitability and ensure continued client success. The UK-based firm will use Intapp’s AI-based technology to scope, price, resource, budget, and monitor engagements with increased flexibility and accuracy. Hill Dickinson already uses several Intapp solutions, including Conflicts, Time, Intake and Intapp Integration Service. Hill Dickinson, founded in 1810 with over 850 employees across nine offices in the UK, mainland Europe and Asia, specializes in all aspects of commercial law, from non-contentious advisory and transactional work, to all forms of commercial litigation and arbitration. The firm selected Intapp’s Pricing solution in large part because of interoperability with other Intapp offerings, particularly the Time solution. The integration between the two solutions will allow Hill Dickinson to better leverage time data for greater insight into pricing decisions, and will enable the firm to monitor progress of matters in real-time. “Clients today are asking their law firms to provide more value and clarity in their engagements than ever before, and our firm is no exception,” said Keith Feeny, Director of IT & Operations at Hill Dickinson. “We are extremely excited to continue our fruitful partnership with Intapp, and are confident that the pricing solution will improve our ability to generate meaningful insights into how our firm prices and scopes legal services. This will make us a more connected firm and help ensure better client outcomes, increased profitability, and more business for many years to come.” “Hill Dickinson is a firm that understands the importance of investing in technology and data insights to improve the delivery of legal services,” said Chris Kraft, General Manager, Operations and Finance Solutions at Intapp. “We are thrilled to see Intapp’s OnePlace solution playing a key role in the firm’s ability to more effectively plan, price and manage their matters to improve client value.” About Intapp Intapp makes the connected firm possible. We help professional and financial services firms better connect their people, processes, and data through AI-powered software solutions. Trusted by approximately 1,600 of the world’s premier private capital, investment banking, legal, accounting, and consulting firms, Intapp offers an end-to-end solution purpose-built to help modernize these firms. Intapp facilitates greater team collaboration, digitizes complex workflows to optimize deal and engagement execution, and leverages proprietary AI to help nurture relationships and originate new business. Intapp helps firms increase profitability and investment returns, operate more efficiently, and better manage risk and compliance. For more information, visit intapp.com and connect with us on Twitter (@Intapp) and LinkedIn. About Hill Dickinson Hill Dickinson LLP is a leading and award-winning international commercial law firm with more than 850 people including 185 partners and legal directors, with offices in Liverpool, Manchester, London, Leeds, Piraeus, Singapore, Monaco and Hong Kong. Hill Dickinson delivers advice and strategic guidance spanning the full legal spectrum. The firm acts as a trusted adviser to businesses, organisations and individuals across the globe and from a wide range of market sectors, advising on non-contentious advisory and transactional work through to all forms of commercial litigation and arbitration. For further information about the firm, please visit hilldickinson.com For the latest legal alerts and updates on the firm, follow Hill Dickinson on Twitter: twitter.com/hilldickinson Hill Dickinson on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/hill-dickinson-llp Contact Details Laura Herlihy +1 612-232-0062 laura.herlihy@intapp.com Company Website http://www.intapp.com

June 17, 2021 08:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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Cyvatar Raises an Additional $9 Million in Series A Round

Cyvatar

Cyvatar today announced that it has raised $9 million as part of its Series A financing to help scale and serve its rapidly growing customer base and continue to drive the adoption of its innovative cybersecurity-as-a-service (CSaaS) model. Escalating cybersecurity breaches and the need to address vulnerabilities across systems, networks, and apps fuel the security services market, expected to reach $193 billion by 2028. Additionally, the growth in hybrid and remote workers coupled with unsecured and unpatched BYOD devices further underscores the need for on-demand cybersecurity resources that include human talent, proven processes, and best-of-breed technology delivered from a single intuitive platform. Cyvatar has grown more than 200% since its debut in October. ATX Venture Partners led the round with additional participation from existing customer CORTEC and longtime Cyvatar investor Bill Wood Ventures. Cyvatar closed a $3 million seed round late last year, bringing the total amount raised over the last eight months to $12 million. “We’ve seen fundraising explode in the security space, in part as a result of the raft of ransomware, email compromise, and phishing attacks that have made people more aware of the problem and increased the need to fix it quickly and effectively,” said Chris Shonk, partner at ATX Venture Partners. “Cyvatar is an exciting addition to our dynamic portfolio and a natural fit alongside our other rapidly growing organizations. No other company we evaluated solves the problems of cybersecurity like Cyvatar. With Cyvatar CSaaS, security becomes as effortless as turning on the lights. There’s no better value for customers.” Cyvatar CSaaS offers security in a box for organizations of any size and any level of cybersecurity expertise--already more than 150 platform members have started the security journey with Cyvatar. Its mature sales and marketing engine makes it easy for new members to join and offers ongoing education and support for existing customers to continuously remediate evolving threats, safeguard critical systems, and boost compliance scores. "I can tell you that after implementing just three Cyvatar solutions, our security confidence is a lot stronger than it was before and our company as a whole is far more secure,” said Brent Fanguy, vice president of technology at CORTEC. “We applaud Cyvatar for pricing by employee count because it’s so easy to calculate and fit into our budget -- no counting servers or workstations, which is a nightmare. Cyvatar has delivered consistent value from our security spend, and we look forward to continuing to grow our partnership with them.” Whether customers need to speed their sales cycles, remediate after a breach, prevent future incursions, or respond to a third-party risk assessment, Cyvatar helps them achieve superior business outcomes every day. Click HERE to get started free and learn more about how Cyvatar is making cybersecurity effortless for every business. About Cyvatar Cyvatar is committed to effortless cybersecurity for everyone. As the industry’s first subscription-based, cybersecurity-as-a-service (CSaaS) company, it’s our mission to transform the way the security industry builds, sells, and supports cyber solutions. We empower our members to achieve successful outcomes by providing expert advisors, proven technologies, and a strategic process roadmap to guarantee results that map to their business drivers. Our approach is rooted in proprietary ICARM (installation, configuration, assessment, remediation, maintenance) methodology that delivers smarter, measurable security solutions for superior compliance and cyber-attack protection faster and more efficiently, all at a fixed monthly price. And because we’re a subscription, members can cancel anytime. Cyvatar is a global organization with operations around the world. Begin your journey to security confidence at cyvatar.ai and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube. About ATX Venture Partners ATX Venture Partners is an early-stage venture capital firm specializing in the South-Central US. The firm’s seed and Series A investments focus on software-as-a-service, IoT, e-commerce, AI, frontier commercial technologies and mobile applications. ATX Venture Partners brings institutional-grade funding, process and rigor to early-stage venture capital investments, and is the partner to propel portfolio companies forward to larger growth capital. The firm was founded in 2014 and is based in Austin, Texas. Visit www.atxventurepartners.com, and follow them on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Contact Details Cyvatar KC Higgins +1 303-434-8163 kc@cyvatar.ai ATX Ventures Meg Brigman +15127666462 meg@atxventurepartners.com Company Website https://cyvatar.ai/

June 17, 2021 07:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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CDFI Coalition Praises Biden Administration and Congress for Release of Rapid Release Funding for CDFIs.

CDFI Coalition

The CDFI Coalition applauds the release of $1.25 billion in emergency funding for Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), which will use these new resources to provide patient capital and technical assistance to businesses and projects in low-income rural and urban communities. “ Our mission is to encourage fair access to financial resources for America’s underserved people and communities,” said John Holdsclaw IV, President of the CDFI Coalition and Executive Vice President of the National Cooperative Bank. “The hard work and efforts of our CDFI Coalition members have forged an achievement today that will pay dividends across underserved, hard-hit communities and businesses. I’m proud that our voices brought action at the highest levels of government to the needs that exist.” Over the last 18 months, as the coronavirus was upending small community businesses, the CDFI Coalition worked with Congress to support and enhance the work of CDFIs in low- and moderate-income communities and communities of color. Congress ultimately provided new resources for CDFIs through a Paycheck Protection Act (PPP) set-aside and $12 billion in new funding for the CDFI Fund. The idea to significantly boost support for CDFIs originated in the House Appropriations Committee in 2020. HR 6800, The HEROS Act, included $1 billion in financial assistance for CDFIs to support businesses and communities impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. Later, in the December 2020 coronavirus relief package, the House provision grew to $1.25 billion in financial assistance for CDFIs, which was awarded Tuesday by the Treasury Department through the Rapid Response Program. The December 2020 legislation also included $1.75 billion through the Emergency Support and Minority Lending Program to support financial services in communities of color, as well as an additional $9 billion for the Emergency Capital Investment Program to support capital and services in low- and moderate-income, historically disadvantaged communities impacted by COVID-19. In total, Congress provided a record $12 billion to the CDFI Fund. These resources will significantly enhance the work CDFIs are already doing in low-income communities. In FY 2020, CDFI Fund financial assistance recipients made over 1,000,000 loans or investments totaling more than $25.4 billion. [1] The average size of each loan or investment was under $25,000. CDFIs also financed over 41,000 affordable housing units. CDFI loans and investments include $10 billion for consumer loans, $6.5 billion for home improvement and purchase loans, $3.9 billion for business and microenterprise loans, and $2.2 billion for residential real estate transactions. CDFIs also helped ensure PPP resources reached underserved communities, but not without some changes to the program. The initial round of PPP left many economically distressed communities behind. In April 2020, the Coalition led the way to establish a set-aside for CDFIs and other mission-driven lenders ­– Community Financial Institutions (CFIs). Newly armed with a PPP set-aside, CFIs went to work. According to data from the Small Business Administration (SBA), as of May 31, 2021, CFIs had made 1.6 million PPP loans (21% of all PPP loans) for $34 billion in PPP funds (11% of PPP loan funds offered). Loans made through CFI lenders had an average PPP loan size of $21,254, compared to $41,560 across all lender classes, demonstrating the focus of CFI lending to small and micro-businesses. In addition, nearly 40% of CFIs’ loans reached businesses in low and moderate-income communities, compared to 28% across all lending sources. Both the Rapid Response Program and the PPP set-aside helped CDFIs expand their reach in communities hardest hit by the coronavirus. CDFIs are using these resources to promote job creation, business opportunities in low-income, minority, rural and tribal communities across America. [1] Audit of the CDFI Fund’s 2020 financial statements by the Treasury Dept. Office of Inspector General About the CDFI Coalition The CDFI Coalition is the unified national voice of community development financial institutions. Formed in 1992 as an ad-hoc policy development and advocacy initiative, the Coalition of Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI Coalition) is the lead national organization in the United States promoting the work of community development financial institutions (CDFIs). Through its 150+ member organizations, the Coalition represents CDFIs working in all 50 states and the District of Columbia and includes community development loan funds, community development banks, community development credit unions, microenterprise lenders, community development corporations and community development venture capital funds. The CDFI Coalition coordinates industry-wide initiatives to increase the availability of capital, credit, and financial services to low-income communities across the nation. Read more at cdfi.org. Contact Details CDFI Coalition Greg Wilson +1 571-239-7474 greg@curleycompany.com Company Website https://cdfi.org/

June 16, 2021 03:12 PM Eastern Daylight Time

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NHS Test and Trace strengthen their cyber defences with Risk Ledger

Stockwood Strategy

NHS Test and Trace has selected British cyber security company Risk Ledger to manage cyber security risks in their supply chain as a proactive measure to mitigate the increasing risks the NHS and other critical national infrastructure organisations face from supply chain cyber-attacks. The Risk Ledger platform will give the UK government funded service all the tools they need to manage cyber security risks in their supply chain at speed for a low per-supplier cost - at least 60% cheaper than traditional solutions. Cyber security risks in the supply chain can include third parties failing to encrypt sensitive data when it is being transferred. NHS Test and Trace, established to track and help prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus in England, will take advantage of Risk Ledger's key innovation which is its secure 'social network' allowing organisations to connect and share risk data securely, quickly, and easily. This gives organisations like NHS Test and Trace unparalleled visibility of their supply chain and a comprehensive set of data to identify, measure and mitigate supply chain security risks at scale. Major supply chain cyber security breaches at Solarwinds and Microsoft in recent months have put the challenge of securing supply chains at the top of the agenda for organisations around the world. Minister for Digital Infrastructure, Matt Warman MP said: “The government is working tirelessly to secure the nation online and grow the UK's £8.9 billion cyber security industry as we build back better from the pandemic. We're helping SMEs develop innovative products and services and it's great to see Risk Ledger, one of the firms we've supported, win this contract to protect the Test and Trace system and support the national effort against coronavirus.” Risk Ledger's client base includes organisations like BAE AI, City of London Police, Telenor, Schroder's Personal Wealth and ASOS. Risk Ledger CEO and Co-Founder Haydn Brooks said: "NHS Test and Trace is essentially the biggest new start-up in the UK healthcare market so we are delighted they have chosen to take advantage of our ability to provide enhanced visibility of their supply chain risks. I am proud we will be part of the effort to secure this incredibly important supply chain. "Healthcare organisations and their supply chains handle lots of highly sensitive data and have a high rate of data breaches. We have already seen during the COVID-19 pandemic that bad actors are actively targeting supply chains to access data and cause disruption” added Haydn Brooks. Risk Ledger is a rising star of the UK's growing cyber security scene having won competitions run by the UK Government's National Cyber Security Centre, the tech industry body TechUK and most recently a winner in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport’s ‘Most Innovative UK Cyber SME of the Year’ competition in May. The company is also a member of the UK Government backed LORCA programme (London Office of Rapid Cybersecurity Advancement). About Risk Ledger Risk Ledger is a British company that manages cyber security risks in supply chains. Th process of supply chain security risk management ensures third parties who deliver critical services, have access to data, corporate networks, or any other status of business trust, maintain a good base level of cyber security controls to prevent bad actors using the third party as an attack vector. In 2019, Risk Ledger won the ‘Cyber Den’ competition at the 2019 CyberUK event run by the UK Government’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). At the time, Ian Levy, Technical Director at the NCSC said: ‘Our mission is to make the UK the safest place to do business online. We run the Cyber Den competition with DCMS to identify and provide a springboard for the most promising cyber security start-ups in the UK. Risk Ledger beat some excellent competition at this year’s Cyber Den event because their platform approaches supply chain security in a novel way that could revolutionise the way organisations understand the cybersecurity of their supply chains which is at the root of so many security incidents.’ Notable achievements - Risk Ledger was a finalist in the 'Most Innovative New Technology Award' category at the 2021 Water Industry Awards. - In March 2021, Risk Ledger won the South Summit Industry 4.0 innovation competition. - In May 2021, Risk Ledger was announced as a runner up in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport’s ‘Most Innovative UK Cyber SME of the Year’ competition. Contact Details Risk Ledger Bilal Mahmood +44 7714 007257 b.mahmood@stockwoodstrategy.com Company Website https://riskledger.com/

June 16, 2021 05:15 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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Increase In Early Retirement Forcing Americans to Collect Permanently Reduced Social Security.

Jennifer Lang Financial Services, LLC

Contact Details Jennifer Lang Financial Services, LLC. Jennifer Lang +1 870-413-6993 mail@jenniferlangfinancialservices.com Company Website https://www.jenniferlangfinancialservices.com

June 15, 2021 10:05 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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Velocity Global commits $1M to First Descents to expand adventure programs for young adults coping with multiple sclerosis

Velocity Global

First Descents (FD) has announced a transformative $1 million contribution from Velocity Global to support the expansion of adventure programs for young adults living with multiple sclerosis (MS). Funds will support program development and help reach more than 1,000 MS participants over the next 5 years. “First Descents serves people first to fill a gap in psychosocial supportive care for young adults living with MS. Velocity Global is honored to support the expansion of these programs through this donation and volunteer efforts from our global team,” said Ben Wright, founder and CEO of Velocity Global. “I have witnessed the healing impact of First Descents programs firsthand, and am proud our company is in a position to advance this important work.” Velocity Global and First Descents share a special partnership that transcends financial support. The two Colorado-based companies began as office neighbors at INDUSTRY Denver in 2014. Over the years, Velocity Global employees have volunteered on First Descents programs and fundraised while competing in the Ragnar Snowmass Relay and the TransRockies Run. In 2018, Velocity Global contributed $150,000 to pilot MS programming which began with a whitewater kayaking experience in Tarkio, Montana. “Velocity Global’s support will help us to serve more than 1,000 young adults living with MS in the coming years while investing in vital partnerships with patient advocacy groups and neurology clinics nationwide,” observes Ryan O’Donoghue, CEO, First Descents. “We want MS patients to learn about First Descents closer to the time of diagnosis and know that we are here for them. Velocity Global’s leadership support will make this vision a reality.” The National MS Society indicates there are approximately 1 million people living with multiple sclerosis in the United States with approximately 10,000 new cases diagnosed each year. Typically, MS is diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, with a median age of diagnosis at 34. Young adults living with MS can experience significant physical, neurological and psychosocial changes that often disrupt important developmental milestones. In addition to the complexities of clinical treatments and lifestyle implications, the relapsing and progressive nature of MS can be daunting, and can result in significant psychosocial distress. According to the National MS Society, clinical depression ranks among the most common comorbidities associated with MS. These realities have been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic where prolonged social isolation and apprehension for the future have taken a significant toll. First Descents is working with several renowned patient advocacy groups, including the Multiple Sclerosis Association of America (MSAA) to reach more people coping with MS. “There is an important need to support young adult MS patients with age appropriate programming that can improve their outlook and quality of life,” observes Gina Ross Murdoch, CEO, Multiple Sclerosis Association of America. “Staying fit and active - especially with peers living with MS - can greatly benefit patients’ mental and physical health. We are excited to work with First Descents and Velocity Global on the launch of these programs.” First Descents’ all-inclusive programs are free of charge to participants. All programs ensure ADA lodging compliance, a tailored Wahls protocol nutrition program, and fully-accessible outdoor activities. Further, programs are designed with careful consideration to mitigate heat sensitivity, balance issues, and fatigue. Ultimately, First Descents creates an environment where young adults with MS can reclaim their physical agency, explore new activities, and nurture lifelong supportive peer relationships. ### ABOUT VELOCITY GLOBAL Velocity Global accelerates the future of work beyond borders. Its platform enables businesses to employ remote teams and expand internationally through global expertise, best-in-breed technology, and scale. More than 700 brands rely on its Employer of Record model and infrastructure, also called an International PEO (Professional Employer Organization), in 185 countries and all 50 United States to compliantly employ thousands of supported employees, access global talent, and grow revenue. Named a “Leader” in Global Employer of Record services by prominent analyst firm NelsonHall, Velocity Global is a strategic partner to its clients through additional comprehensive services including Immigration, Independent Contractor Compliance to assess a workforce, and Agent of Record (AoR) to streamline payments to contractors globally. Founded in 2014, the company is headquartered in Denver, Colorado, with regional headquarters in Amsterdam, Bogotá, and Singapore, with local employees in 16 countries. ABOUT FIRST DESCENTS First Descents (FD) is a leader in adventure-based healing. Through outdoor adventure, community building, and lifestyle development, FD improves long-term survivorship and quality of life for young adults impacted by cancer, multiple sclerosis, and other serious health conditions. Headquartered in Denver, First Descents has served more than 10,000 participants over the last 20 years. Beginning in 2020, First Descents launched programs for healthcare workers on the frontlines of COVID-19. All services are fully-adaptive and free of charge. A Guidestar Platinum-ranked nonprofit, First Descents has been recognized on CNN Heroes and Outside Magazine's Best Places to Work. RESOURCES: First Descents MS Program Page Contact Details Velocity Global John Hall +1 720-650-4348 johnhall@velocityglobal.com First Descents Ray Shedd +12034999633 ray.shedd@firstdescents.org Company Website https://velocityglobal.com/

June 15, 2021 07:02 AM Mountain Daylight Time

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Secta Finance innovates the £10b private school fees model, making affordable finance options for parents

Stockwood Strategy

Fintech business Secta Finance has launched today to transform how private school fees are paid. Families are spending circa £10b every year to pay school fees for over 620,000 children and over the years there has been no innovation on the termly bill payments. Secta Finance has set out to change this and become an enabler for many more families considering private schooling but feel it is currently unaffordable. In collaboration with a number of financial institutions, Secta Finance has created a range of flexible and highly competitive finance plans that enable parents (and would-be parents) to spread the cost of private school fees over many years in a simple affordable way. The Secta Flexiplan enables parents to use the equity in their home to secure a facility that allows parents to draw funds flexibly within the first 5 years. Parents only pay interest on the amount they actually drawdown. If they don’t need to draw funds there is no cost. Parents can decide how much they draw; their monthly repayment amounts (subject to a minimum) and the term they repay over (up to 30 years). Also, there are no early repayment fees if they choose to repay in full. Below is an example* of how a Secta Flexiplan could be used to finance 5 years of private education. This example is based on one child, annual school fees of £15,000 per year and with the Secta Flexiplan being repaid over a period of 10 or 20 years. However, the amount borrowed, the term over which it is repaid and the monthly repayments can be adjusted to suit individual circumstances and preferences. Secta Finance has made it quick and simple for parents to get indicative quotes from their online platform. Thereafter they can engage with a qualified advisor to discuss their options and tailor a plan to suit their needs. Joe Hill, founder and CEO of Secta Finance commented: “How parents pay for private school fees is no longer fit for purpose. They are still paying large lump sums, sometimes, with expensive and inflexible means using credit cards or unsecured loans, that simply is not sustainable. Secta has set out to challenge this approach with a fresh lens and a clear pathway for parents to handle this significant expense. We want to create manageable and affordable finance solutions for school fees, much like the financial products people consider when buying a house or a car.” Contrary to popular belief, private education is not confined to the wealthy, but many middle class parents place a very high value on it and want to provide the benefits of a private education for their children. However, the costs can be prohibitive, especially for families with more than one child. Annual average school fees are in excess of £15,000 for day schools and in excess of £30,000 for boarding schools. Factoring in additional costs, a private education can cost an average of £325,600 per child for day school and £469,700 for boarders starting their schooling in 2019. Unsurprisingly, many parents find this a struggle. Research completed by Killik and Co suggests that private day school fees have increased by 403% since 1990. “Many parents make significant sacrifices to give their children a private school education. But it doesn’t have to be that way. It makes sense to have a solution whereby parents can spread the cost over a longer period of time if they wish (up to 30 years), to reduce the strain on their finances, but still be able to give their children a private education,” added Joe Hill. There are more than 2,500 independent schools in the UK catering for approximately 620,000 pupils. This represents about 7% of all UK school children and 18% of pupils over aged 16 years and older. The estimated school fee market value is approximately £11 billion. Secta Finance is working closely with schools who are keen to offer meaningful finance options for their parents. The company is also collaborating with independent financial advisors who are seeking flexible, efficient options for their clients. Parents are also directly engaging with the online platform to find out more about the options available to them. Looking ahead Joe Hill added: “We are creating opportunities for parents, for schools and for children. By offering finance solutions which are affordable, simple to understand, we will create a sustainable path for better outcomes. Our strategic aim is to expand the opportunity of private education to many more families and enable a sustainable relationship for parents and schools through the products that we offer”. ENDS *This is an indicative quote and does not constitute an offer or advice. Interest rate and solution terms will depend on your circumstances and the amount of the loan. Before you make a loan application, we will carry out a full review to establish your needs and preferences and if you meet the criteria, we will give advice and make a recommendation to you. All loans are subject to status. Please note that our product calculators show an indicative rate only and may not be suitable for you. Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up with your repayments. About Secta Finance Our mission is to relieve the pressure of private school fees by providing innovative, affordable finance solutions to parents. In doing so, we bring the outstanding benefits of private education within the reach of many more families, everywhere. Secta Finance Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Contact Details Secta Finance Bilal Mahmood +44 7714 007257 b.mahmood@stockwoodstrategy.com Company Website https://www.sectafinance.co.uk/

June 15, 2021 04:30 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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