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LEARNING RESOURCES, HAND2MIND ACHIEVE FIFTH CONSECUTIVE TOP WORKPLACES HONOR BY ‘CHICAGO TRIBUNE’

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Employee engagement and unique culture play a pivotal role in educational toy companies’ ongoing success and recognition

VERNON HILLS, Ill., Nov. 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Sister companies Learning Resources and hand2mind have been recognized again as two of Chicago Tribune’s Top Workplaces for 2024, marking the fifth consecutive year each company has independently earned this special title and recognition, nominated purely by their own employees. Founded 40 years ago, Learning Resources is a trusted, family-owned manufacturer of educational toys, games and classroom products. Since 1965 hand2mind has been creating industry-leading supplemental curriculum and hands-on teaching tools that thousands of educators rely on in the classroom and parents have also grown to love.

These two sister companies continue to thrive thanks in large part to their loyal, dedicated team members who create award-winning educational resources and toys for children to use both at home and in the classroom. The teams at both companies have collectively strived to find new ways to help address the learning needs of children everywhere. From fine and gross motor skills development to social-emotional learning (SEL) and the Science of Reading, both Learning Resources and hand2mind provide an array of hands-on resources that bring learning to life. Philanthropy remains a top priority for the two mission-driven companies as year after year each has donated thousands of award-winning educational toys, resources, and more to underserved communities and schools. 

“Earning a Top Workplace Award for the fifth consecutive year is an outstanding accomplishment but one that honestly doesn’t surprise me. We truly have an amazing group of talented employees and committed leaders who genuinely care and live by our values each and every day. Through years of dedication and hard work we can all take credit for creating something very special here” said Sybil Worden, VP of Human Resources at Learning Resources and hand2mind. “This award simply helps us know we’re doing something right, and motivates us to keep going…our employees recognize it.”

Employees chose to speak up and leave comments throughout the survey that support the efforts of the organization as a whole, for example, “what motivates me is how we bring to life our core values, the impact we have on young children’s development, and all the great colleagues and management who make work fun,” and “I always recommend to friends and family that this is a great place to work because it is a truly mission-driven organization with great people and a ton of growth potential day in and day out.”

In the survey conducted on behalf of the Chicago Tribune, employees of Learning Resources and hand2mind were asked “why they love their job,” with responses such as: “growth and development aren’t just talked about, but they are truly supported in this organization,” and “our mission is ultra important, we are inspiring a love a learning in every child from every walk of life.” One employee noted, “I am encouraged to be entrepreneurial, creative, innovative in my day-to-day work. New ideas are always considered and we are encouraged to raise our hand with an idea,” and another employee stated, “because I come to work each and every day, and look forward to being among coworkers who have a similar mindset about creating an ultra high quality product to help children grow.”

When employees were asked “why they would recommend working here,” one employee stated “this place is a gem, and you have to work here to truly understand its uniqueness,” another said, “when you love what you do, you never work a day in your life, I can honestly say I love coming in to work every day,” and “our HR team does an absolutely amazing job focusing on culture each and every day, and always thinking of the little extra things to make each and every one of us feel valued and appreciated.”

Employees also shared things like “working here I know that I have the potential for personal growth, and I have the ability to fulfill a strong purpose-based mission through my work.” Another employee said that “I feel appreciated and like my actual personal life is taken into consideration here, I’m not just a robot performing a task. People care about me and always make a point to say family first.”

Chicago Tribune’s Top Workplace awards are evaluated solely through employee feedback, nomination and assessment. Per the Chicago Tribune, “a top workplace is considered successful because its employees enjoy their work, embrace their mission and feel like valued teammates.”

“In an era where many companies experienced high turnover, we have been fortunate to have turnover at an all-time low. I think the team here knows we are a “People First” place to work, and invest heavily to promote personal growth and development. We owe much of our success to our team and are honored to have attracted so many great people who are committed to our mission,” said Rick Woldenberg, Chief Executive Officer of Learning Resources and hand2mind. “Winning this Top Workplace Award for the fifth year in a row is an amazing honor and testament to our mission, our company culture and our values as a family-owned business.”

ABOUT LEARNING RESOURCES:
We’re Learning Resources®, and learning is where we play. Trusted by parents and teachers since 1984, our award-winning educational toys help kids develop a lifelong love of learning while building essential school-ready skills—from ABCs and 123s to screen-free coding and STEM, we make learning fun at every age, stage, and skill level. Discover countless ways to learn through play with our award-winning, top-selling products including Pretend & Play® Calculator Cash Register, Farmer’s Market Color Sorting Set and Toy of the Year winner Botley® the Coding Robot.

For more information, visit www.learningresources.com, or follow the brand on Twitter @LearningHandsOn, Facebook @LearningResources, and Instagram @learningresources.

ABOUT HAND2MIND:
At hand2mind, we believe children learn best by doing. For over 50 years, teachers and school administrators at thousands of schools and districts across the country have relied on our high-quality, hands-on materials to expand their core curriculum. Offering resources for math, science, STEM, and literacy, our mission is to support teachers, inspire students, engage parents, and champion learning by doing. For more information, please visit www.hand2mind.com or follow the brand on Facebook @hand2mindinc, and Instagram @hand2mindinc. 

Press Contact:
Nicole Curro
Nicole@carvecomms.com

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SOURCE Learning Resources

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Alianza Named One of Outside Magazine’s 2024 Best Places to Work

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PLEASANT GROVE, Utah, Nov. 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Alianza Inc., the leading cloud communications platform for service providers, has been honored as one of Outside Magazine’s 2024 Best Places to Work. This award reflects the vibrant and fulfilling workplace culture at Alianza, where employees are encouraged to thrive both professionally and personally.

Each year, Outside Magazine recognizes the top 50 best places to work in the United States that foster an exceptional culture by prioritizing employee well-being and the pursuit of outdoor passions. The selection is based on comprehensive employee feedback and the extensive benefits offered to Alianza employees.

At Alianza, employees enjoy flexible schedules, fully remote work options, and a range of wellness perks designed to enrich their lives in and outside of work. Benefits include an annual fitness reimbursement for gym memberships or outdoor gear, in-office yoga, corporate passes for skiing rock climbing, and golf, as well as a fleet of e-bikes for exploring the scenic Utah landscape. Alianza also covers full healthcare premiums and stocks its headquarters with a variety of healthy and fun food options.

“At Alianza, we work hard to create a supportive and balanced environment that empowers our employees to excel while doing the things that bring them joy and fill them with energy,” said Justin Cooper, executive vice president of marketing & platform alliances. “Our culture at Alianza is critical to unlocking employee success not only in our careers and contributions to the business, but also in our lives outside the office.”

This culture of connectivity to the outdoors, work-life balance, and personal wellness extends beyond the United States to Alianza teams in Latin America and Europe. For more information about Alianza and current career opportunities, visit www.alianza.com.

About Alianza
Alianza is the leading cloud communications platform for service providers. We help our customers supercharge growth, reduce costs, and transform into modern techcos. With Alianza, service providers can navigate the end of the softswitch era and upgrade to a cloud-native solution to power both legacy voice and next-gen cloud communications services — including cloud meetings, collaboration, and text messaging. Our team of experts is passionate about simplifying service delivery and ensuring first-rate customer experiences. Learn more about our solutions at www.alianza.com and follow us on LinkedIn and X

 CONTACT:
Alianza
Kimmie Greene
pr@alianza.com 

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SOURCE Alianza, Inc.

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OpenText Launches New Partner Enterprise Learning Subscription

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New program helps Partners build skills and gives customers confidence in their Partner choice

WATERLOO, ON, Nov. 18, 2024 /CNW/ — OpenText™ (NASDAQ: OTEX), (TSX: OTEX) announced a new Partner Enterprise Learning Subscription today at OpenText World 2024. The Partner Enterprise Learning Subscription gives Partners the ability to build the skills they need at scale and helps customers verify their Partner has the relevant product-related skills, giving them confidence in their choice of Partner.

It is another important investment by OpenText in its Partner Network and makes it easier for Partners to expand, build and sustain their OpenText practices. It gives Partners: a cost-effective training solution to address any skills gaps; visibility of capacity constraints and a way to resolve them quickly; insight into the skills available across their geographically dispersed teams; and the ability to adopt a just-in-time, on-demand learning approach, at scale.

The Partner Enterprise Learning Subscription provides flexible, unlimited access to all commercially available self-paced training, hands-on lab environments, and certification vouchers. Integrated with the Learning Subscription are training analytics that allow the Partner to measure content consumption and track skill acquisition. For the first time, a Partner will have full visibility of the certifications held within their company by practitioner, product and/or country. This view is even more important now that OpenText product certification is mandatory for individual practitioners in a Partner organization filling roles dealing with product installation, customization, administration, or other technical functions.

Joel Kremke, SVP Channel and Alliances at OpenText said: “Supporting our Partners to drive great customer outcomes is fundamental to our collective success. Ensuring every individual in the Partners’ teams has the right skills and product certifications to provide the high-quality advice and service that customers expect is crucial.

“High levels of training and product certification are a great way for Partners to stand out and gain the advantage in those competitive bids. It’s also great for customers who can confidently choose the right Partner for their project, safe in the knowledge that they have the right expertise to achieve a successful outcome.”

OpenText will also be relaunching its Partner Directory on OpenText.com, which will display all certifications held by each Partner organization. This will be an important tool for customers to identify and choose highly skilled practitioners and for Partners to differentiate themselves in their market.

Ensuring all Partners can effectively implement, and/or support OpenText products and solutions is vital to securing a great outcome for customers.

Availability
Partners can review learning paths and available product certifications as a starting point for evaluating the content they would need in a learning subscription or they can contact OpenText for more details regarding the new Partner Enterprise Learning Subscription.

About OpenText 
OpenText™ is the leading Information Management software and services company in the world. We help organizations solve complex global problems with a comprehensive suite of Business Clouds, Business AI, and Business Technology. For more information about OpenText (NASDAQ/TSX: OTEX), please visit us at www.opentext.com.

Connect with us:
OpenText CEO Mark Barrenechea’s blog
Twitter | LinkedIn

Certain statements in this press release may contain words considered forward-looking statements or information under applicable securities laws. These statements are based on OpenText’s current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections about the operating environment, economies and markets in which the company operates. These statements are subject to important assumptions, risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict, and the actual outcome may be materially different. OpenText’s assumptions, although considered reasonable by the company at the date of this press release, may prove to be inaccurate and consequently its actual results could differ materially from the expectations set out herein. For additional information with respect to risks and other factors which could occur, see OpenText’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other securities filings with the SEC and other securities regulators. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. Unless otherwise required by applicable securities laws, OpenText disclaims any intention or obligations to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Further, readers should note that we may announce information using our website, press releases, securities law filings, public conference calls, webcasts and the social media channels identified on the Investors section of our website (https://investors.opentext.com). Such social media channels may include the Company’s or our CEO’s blog, Twitter account or LinkedIn account. The information posted through such channels may be material. Accordingly, readers should monitor such channels in addition to our other forms of communication.

Copyright © 2024 OpenText. All Rights Reserved. Trademarks owned by OpenText. One or more patents may cover this product(s). For more information, please visit https://www.opentext.com/patents.

OTEX-G

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SOURCE Open Text Corporation

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SEI Expands SMA and UMA Solutions with Suite of Equity and Fixed Income Strategies

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New SEI-Managed and Third-Party Investment Options Further Bolster Flexibility for Advisors

OAKS, Pa., Nov. 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — SEI® (NASDAQ: SEIC) today announced the launch of a new lineup of separately managed account (SMA) strategies, offered through the Managed Account Solutions program1 and designed to increase flexibility in both equity and fixed income solutions. The additions include SEI-managed strategies and third-party strategies from exceptional global investment firms, including AllianceBernstein, Loomis Sayles, and Parametric Portfolio Associates.

Jim Smigiel, Chief Investment Officer and Head of SEI’s Investment Management Unit, said:

“We continue to integrate in-house expertise with premier third-party investment managers who share our commitment to innovation. Expanding our SMA offerings reflects our dedication to providing advisors with differentiated investment solutions that offer personalized strategies and access to, in our opinion, world-class portfolio management. We believe these offerings will provide advisors with robust options to help their clients achieve long-term financial success.”

With SMAs posting the strongest growth rate (24.4%) of any managed account product category in the last year,2 both SMAs and unified managed accounts (UMAs) continue to exhibit strong growth. Designed to help advisors better serve mass-affluent, high-net-worth, and ultra-high-net-worth investors, the new strategies include:

AllianceBernstein (AB): The AB Tax Aware™ Fixed Income (SMA) and AB Tax Aware™ Limited Duration (SMA) join the currently available AB Municipal Income Portfolio (SMA) and AB Municipal Impact Portfolio (SMA) strategies.Loomis Sayles: The Core Plus Fixed Income Managed Account, Core Fixed Income with Securitized Asset Fund Managed Account, Short Government Only Managed Account, and Government Only Managed Account join an existing set of strategies across equity, taxable fixed income, and tax-exempt fixed income categories.Parametric Portfolio Associates: The Custom Core Global ex-U.S. ADR strategy joins a robust existing set of Parametric’s Custom Core® Equity solutions.SEI Investment Management Corporation: The Systematic Global Dividend Yield Core and Systematic International Equity Core (ADR) strategies join the existing lineup of direct index equity solutions, and the Systematic Government Bond Core joins the Systematic U.S. Aggregate Bond Core and Systematic Municipal Bond Core strategies, seeking to provide risk-factor exposure similar to a benchmark index across broad fixed income markets.

With the growing demand for personalization in wealth management, advisors are increasingly integrating direct indexing, factor, and active investing solutions within custom SMAs to provide clients with greater personalization and tax control. SMAs offer individualized strategies run by distinct professional managers, while UMAs provide a comprehensive investment solution that combines multiple strategies within a single account structure. UMAs can also deliver sophisticated tax optimization that seeks to enhance after-tax returns, improve client outcomes, and reinforce an advisor’s value proposition.

Erich Holland, Head of Client Experience for SEI’s Advisor business, said:

“These new additions to our rapidly growing SMA and UMA solutions reinforce SEI’s ongoing commitment to enhancing the advisor experience with solutions that align with the complexities of modern wealth management. By integrating these solutions, advisors gain access to a powerful suite of strategies and tools designed to optimize portfolio management and help clients achieve their financial goals.

“This launch underscores our commitment to listening to our clients’ needs, as they continue to deliver compelling options to investors in a streamlined framework. As adoption and engagement advance, we continue to support advisors and deliver optionality across the breadth of our comprehensive capabilities with comprehensive solutions that integrate cutting-edge technology, investment innovation, and client-centric service.”

1SEI’s implementation vehicles include mutual funds, ETFs, and SMAs offered through SEI Mutual Fund Strategies and Managed Account Solutions.
2Cerulli Associates, The Cerulli EDGE, U.S. Managed Accounts Edition. 2Q 2024.

About SEI®
SEI (NASDAQ: SEIC) delivers technology and investment solutions that connect the financial services industry. With capabilities across investment processing, operations, and asset management, SEI works with corporations, financial institutions and professionals, and ultra-high-net-worth families to help drive growth, make confident decisions, and protect futures. As of Sept. 30, 2024, SEI manages, advises, or administers approximately $1.6 trillion in assets. For more information, visit seic.com.

Important Information
Information in the U.S. provided by SEI Investments Management Corporation (SIMC), a federally registered investment advisor and wholly owned subsidiary of SEI Investments Company (SEI). For those portfolios of individually managed securities, SIMC makes recommendations as to which manager will manage each asset class.

Neither SEI nor its affiliates provide tax advice. Please note that (i) any discussion of U.S. tax matters contained in this communication cannot be used by you for the purpose of avoiding tax penalties; (ii) this communication was written to support the promotion or marketing of the matters addressed herein; and (iii) you should seek advice based on your particular circumstances from an independent tax advisor.

Investing involves risk, including the potential loss of principal.

Company Contact: 

Media Contact:

Emily Baldwin

Kerry Mullen

SEI

Vested

+1 610-676-3262

+1 917-765-8720

ebaldwin@seic.com

kerry@fullyvested.com

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SOURCE SEI Investments Company

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