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LifeSpeak Inc. Announces Annual General and Special Meeting Voting Results

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–  Company also announces leadership changes

TORONTO, June 19, 2024 /CNW/ – LifeSpeak Inc. (“LifeSpeak” or the “Company”) (TSX: LSPK), the leading whole-person wellbeing solution for employers, health plans and other organizations, today announced the results from its Annual General and Special Meeting of Shareholders (“the Meeting”) held on Wednesday, June 19, 2024.

All seven nominees listed in the Company’s management information circular dated May 7, 2024, were duly elected as Directors of the Company, to hold office until the next annual meeting of the shareholders, with the following results:

Nominee

Votes “For”

Percentage

Votes “Against”

Percentage

Michael Held

37,457,236

99.893 %

39,981

0.107 %

Nolan Bederman

37,448,236

99.869 %

48,981

0.131 %

Sanjiv Samant

37,456,486

99.891 %

40,731

0.109 %

Caroline Starner Dadras

37,454,729

99.887 %

42,488

0.113 %

Kevin Smith

37,451,229

99.877 %

45,988

0.123 %

Mario Di Pietro

37,434,986

99.834 %

62,231

0.166 %

Rajesh Uttamchandani

37,359,886

99.634 %

137,331

0.366 %

The complete biographies of the elected Directors and further details about the Company’s corporate governance practices are available at www.LifeSpeak.com.

At the Meeting, MNP LLP was re-appointed as auditor of the Company for the financial year ending on December 31, 2024, and the Directors are authorized to fix their remuneration.

In addition, shareholders voted in favour of a resolution approving the unallocated options under the Company’s omnibus plan as more particularly described in the management information circular.

Shareholders also voted in favour (including on a disinterested basis) of a resolution approving the full conversion amount under the Company’s outstanding convertible loan as more particularly described in the management information circular.   

LifeSpeak Announces Leadership Changes 

LifeSpeak also announced today that Britt Morries recently joined the Company as Chief Technology Officer.

Mr. Morries has extensive technology leadership experience including Senior Portfolio Manager at Aon, Chief Technology Officer at Wellbeats, Chief Technology Officer and Chief Operations Officer at Palomar, and most recently, Startup Solutions Architecture Manager at Amazon Web Services.

Mr. Morries is responsible for leading the execution of LifeSpeak’s technology strategy. The strategy is focused on the Company’s whole-person wellbeing value proposition with foundations in AI designed to enhance the utility and relevance of LifeSpeak’s services. 

“We are excited about the impact Britt will have on our engineering, infrastructure, and quality assurance teams,” said Michael Held, Chief Executive Officer of LifeSpeak. “As well, we believe his addition substantially strengthens our senior management group given his deep background in technology leadership.”  

In addition, LifeSpeak announced today that Mike McKenna, Chief Financial Officer, departed the Company  on June 18, 2024, to pursue other opportunities.

“On behalf of the Board of Directors, I would like to thank Mike for his contribution to our going-public process, our acquisitions, and his dedication to LifeSpeak,” said Nolan Bederman, Executive Chair of the Company. “We wish him the best of luck with all of his future endeavors.”

The Company has an executive search process underway and expects to fill the permanent position of Chief Financial Officer in the coming weeks.

In the interim, Bryan Slapack has been appointed Interim Chief Financial Officer.

Mr. Slapack is an experienced executive with more than 12 years of financial and industry experience, including more than two years in senior roles at LifeSpeak. Most recently, he served as Vice President of Finance with the Company, where he led the functional areas of financial reporting and financial planning and analysis. A CPA, CA, Mr. Slapack brings solid financial expertise to the role, and deep familiarity with LifeSpeak’s operations and capital structure. Mr. Slapack holds a BBA in Accounting from the Schulich School of Business at York University.

About LifeSpeak Inc.

LifeSpeak is the leading whole-person wellbeing platform for employers and other organizations that brings together digital education with human support. Our suite of wellbeing products allows organizations to provide best-in-class content and expertise that scales, meeting each individual wherever they are on their personal wellbeing journeys. As the parent company to LIFT Digital, ALAViDA Health, Torchlight, and Wellbeats, LifeSpeak provides in-depth expertise across mental health, wellness, physical fitness, substance use, and caregiving. With more than 30 years of collective experience working directly with Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, insurance providers, and others across the globe, we understand the complexities of addressing wellbeing within organizations, which is why our digital and data-driven approach provides insights that uncover gaps in wellbeing at the organizational level, ultimately enhancing performance outcomes.

To learn more, follow LifeSpeak on LinkedIn: (http://www.linkedin.com/company/lifespeak-inc), or visit www.LifeSpeak.com.

Forward-Looking Information

This press release may include “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Such forward-looking information may include, but is not limited to, information with respect to the amortization schedule and loan repayments, the amount of senior indebtedness remaining, and the receipt of de minimus amounts from confirmed subscribers. In some cases, but not necessarily in all cases, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology and phrases such as “forecast”, “target”, “goal”, “may”, “might”, “will”, “could”, “expect”, “anticipate”, “estimate”, “intend”, “plan”, “indicate”, “seek”, “believe”, “predict”, or “likely”, or the negative of these terms, or other similar expressions intended to identify forward-looking information, including references to assumptions. In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, intentions, projections or other characterizations of future events or circumstances contain forward-looking information. Statements containing forward-looking information are not historical facts nor guarantees or assurances of future performance but instead represent management’s current beliefs, expectations, estimates and projections regarding possible future events, circumstances or performance.

Forward-looking information is necessarily based on a number of opinions, estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by LifeSpeak as of the date of this release, is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information.

Important factors that could cause actual results to differ, possibly materially, from those indicated by the forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, general market conditions, the Company’s ability to meet its amortization schedule in the future, decisions made by the Company’s lenders, third party reaction to the Private Placement, receipt of funds from the remaining subscribers as well as the risk factors identified under “Risk Factors” in LifeSpeak’s annual information form for fiscal year ended December 31, 2022 dated March 31, 2023, and in other periodic filings that LifeSpeak has made and may make in the future with the securities commissions or similar regulatory authorities in Canada, all of which are available under LifeSpeak’s SEDAR+ profile at www.sedarplus.com. These factors are not intended to represent a complete list of the factors that could affect LifeSpeak. However, such risk factors should be considered carefully. There can be no assurance that such estimates and assumptions will prove to be correct. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information, which speak only as of the date of this release. LifeSpeak undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking information, except as required by applicable securities laws.

SOURCE LifeSpeak Inc.

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DeepL unveils industry-first Glossary Generator to solve business communication and brand consistency challenges

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Enhanced DeepL glossary functionality – including new glossary generator, expanded language support and more – will boost global business translations, saving time, effort, and costs

COLOGNE, Germany, Sept. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — DeepL, a leading global Language AI company, today announced several updates to its glossary feature, which is a powerful tool that enhances translation consistency and accuracy by enabling professionals and companies to personalize translations for specific terms. The tool now offers the industry’s first smart glossary generator, which helps simplify and speed up the process of creating glossaries for translations. Glossary is also available in several new languages and within DeepL’s browser extensions and integrations, fitting seamlessly into existing workflows to offer an even more accessible and smooth user experience across the web and applications like Google Workspace and Microsoft 365.

“AI-powered translations are essential for businesses looking to overcome language barriers in today’s increasingly connected world, and DeepL’s powerful glossary tool takes this a step further by ensuring translations are personalized to a company’s unique phrases and needs,” said Christopher Osborne, VP of Product, DeepL. “We’re always looking for ways to improve the DeepL experience and drive even more value and ROI for 100,000+ customers worldwide, and these new capabilities make our glossary even more efficient, accessible and user-friendly – empowering teams to achieve the customization and consistency they are looking for, while minimising time spent on costly alternatives like manual translations or find-and-replace tools.”

For global businesses aiming to drive revenue growth, investing in brand consistency across all communications and languages is essential to ensure that every message—whether technical terminology, product names, or branded terms—resonates clearly with teams, customers, and markets worldwide. Consistent branding has been proven to increase revenue by 20% or more[1] and enhance visibility by 3 to 4 times[2] – however, maintaining this consistency can be expensive and complex. DeepL’s glossary tool simplifies this process, helping businesses and professionals easily create and scale high-quality, consistent multilingual communications across teams. With glossary, companies can create and manage custom translation glossaries to ensure that specific words or phrases are translated consistently according to their unique terminology.

DeepL’s glossary now offers the following expanded capabilities:

The industry’s first smart, AI-powered glossary generator: DeepL’s new glossary generator is a first-of-its-kind tool enabling teams to create custom translation glossaries with a simple file upload. Previously translated files can be leveraged to generate entries for personalized DeepL glossaries, reducing the need for manual work and significantly enhancing efficiency, enabling teams to facilitate more consistent communication at scale.Expanded glossary language functionality: Glossary now supports Korean, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, and Romanian translations, bringing the total number of languages to 16. This allows for more precise and nuanced translations across a wider range of linguistic contexts, helping businesses reach a broader audience.More convenient access across DeepL platforms: Users are now able to access and apply the glossary directly within the DeepL browser extensions for Chrome and Edge, enabling consistent translations across the web, including Google Workspace applications. Furthermore, the glossary can now also be applied directly within DeepL for Microsoft 365 integrations, including Word, Outlook, and PowerPoint. Additionally, the glossary can be accessed through DeepL’s web browser, desktop apps, and API.

Unlike other find-and-replace tools, DeepL’s glossary excels with its advanced contextual understanding and ability to process complex grammatical elements—such as case, gender, and tense—to deliver nuanced, natural-sounding translations. This results in substantial productivity gains, largely due to the time saved in post-editing. Blind tests with language experts show that DeepL reduces post-editing time by 30% compared to Google Translate and 20% compared to Chat GPT-4. Furthermore, DeepL requires significantly fewer edits, with Google Translate and Chat GPT-4 needing two to three times as many feedback rounds.

Glossary with DeepL Pro also offers enhanced data security, including proprietary data centers, the highest level of certification and compliance standards (ISO 27001 certification, GDPR/SOC 2 type 2 compliance), data encryption, and a commitment to never using Pro customer data to train models.

DeepL’s glossary generator is now available to Pro Advanced and Ultimate subscribers with support for TMX/DOCX/PDF files. It is initially available for glossaries in German, Spanish, Japanese, Italian, French, and Russian (to and from English), with more languages coming soon.

Learn more about DeepL Pro and try out glossary yourself here.

About DeepL

DeepL is on a mission to break down language barriers for businesses everywhere. Over 100,000 businesses and governments and millions of individuals in 228 global markets trust DeepL’s Language AI platform for human-like translation and better writing. Designed with enterprise security in mind, companies around the world leverage DeepL’s AI solutions that are specifically tuned for language to transform business communications, expand markets, and improve productivity. Founded in 2017 by CEO Jaroslaw (Jarek) Kutylowski, DeepL today has over 900 passionate employees and is supported by world-renowned investors including Benchmark, IVP, and Index Ventures.

[1] Marq, “2021 Brand Consistency Report”
[2] Demand Metric x Lucid Press, “Impact of Brand Consistency” Report, 2016

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/deepl-unveils-industry-first-glossary-generator-to-solve-business-communication-and-brand-consistency-challenges-302254939.html

SOURCE DeepL

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Agoda: Chinese Travelers Post a 137% Increase in International Searches for Upcoming Golden Week

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SINGAPORE, Sept. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Digital travel platform Agoda has revealed a 137% year-over-year increase in international accommodation searches from China for the upcoming Golden Week. China’s second Golden Week of the year takes place from 1 to 7 October.

Agoda’s accommodation search data reveals a shift in Chinese travelers’ preferences for Golden Week. Last year, the top five outbound destinations were Tokyo, Seoul, Osaka, Kyoto, and Bangkok, respectively. This year, Seoul has emerged as the number one destination, leapfrogging Tokyo. Bali is a new entry in the top five and takes third place. Bangkok and Osaka continue to be among the most searched destinations and complete the ranking in fourth and fifth, respectively.

Taking place from 1 – 7 October this year, Golden Week is a prime travel period for Chinese families looking to take advantage of the week-long break. Golden Weeks are celebrated twice a year in China, around Lunar New Year and China’s National Day.

Top Outbound Destinations for Golden
Week 2024

(Based on Agoda’s accommodation search data)

      1. Seoul, South Korea

      2. Tokyo, Japan

      3. Bali, Indonesia

      4. Bangkok, Thailand

      5. Osaka, Japan

Andrew Smith, Senior Vice President, Supply at Agoda said, “The increase in outbound travel searches for China’s Golden Week suggests a growing confidence among Chinese citizens to explore international travel. It’s great to see destinations close to China’s east coast like Seoul and Osaka featured in the rank, as well as holiday favorites Bangkok and Bali further south.  With the unique advantage of its ‘Asia hotels’ network, Agoda is committed to helping Chinese customers to experience the rest of Asia for less with its great value deals.”

Agoda continues to support travelers by offering over 4.5 million holiday properties globally, more than 130,000 flight routes, and over 300,000 activities, all of which can be conveniently combined in the same booking. For more information on travel options during China’s Golden Week, visit agoda.com or download the Agoda app.

About Agoda

Agoda, a digital travel platform, helps anyone see the world for less with its great value deals on a global network of 4.5M hotels and holiday properties worldwide, plus flights, activities, and more. Agoda.com and the Agoda mobile app are available in 39 languages and supported by 24/7 customer support.

Headquartered in Singapore, Agoda is part of Booking Holdings (Nasdaq: BKNG) and employs more than 6,900 staff in 25 markets, dedicated to leveraging best-in-class technology to make travel even easier.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/agoda-chinese-travelers-post-a-137-increase-in-international-searches-for-upcoming-golden-week-302254966.html

SOURCE Agoda

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AECOM supports the Highways Department in winning the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors Awards for innovative road safety technology

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HONG KONG, Sept. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — AECOM, the world’s trusted infrastructure consulting firm, today announced that a Road Defect Detection System (RDDS) technology it has developed in partnership with the Highways Department of HKSAR Government (HyD) has secured two prestigious awards from the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors (HKIS). This RDDS project, under part of the award-winning topic “Sustainability Strategy in Road and Tree Inspection by Advanced Geo-spatial Technology,” integrates advanced geographic information system (GIS) and artificial intelligence technologies to automatically detect road defects. The new technology aims to streamline the road inspection process, improving maintenance efficiency, effectively allocating resources and helping ensure public safety.

“AECOM is dedicated to delivering innovative solutions that meet our clients’ specific needs and address their complex challenges. From deploying the world’s largest tunnel boring machine for the Tuen Mun-Chek Lap Kok Link project to integrating GeoAI in our Road Defect Detection System, we harness emerging technologies to support the Highways Department in delivering landmark projects that span tunnels, bridges, highways, and now digital solutions,” said Ian Chung, chief executive of AECOM’s Asia region.

The jointly developed RDDS technology responds to the pressing need to effectively survey Hong Kong’s vast and complex road network. To provide a superior alternative to traditional inspection methods, the AECOM and HyD teams developed an approach that automatically detects defects from road images captured by a vehicle-based camera system.

Integrating the two organizations’ geospatial expertise, the technology uses AI to identify cracks and discolored road markings from road images, which can then be viewed on a web application platform that integrates data such as quantity, location, and severity for engineers to review and assess. The multi-step system simplifies the inspection process and allows for more efficient resource allocation — bringing greater efficiency to HyD’s road maintenance work and supporting a safer road network.

The HKIS honored the technology with the Innovative Surveying Award, which commends industry participants for outstanding project quality in innovative surveying technology, and the Post-occupation Category Grand Award, which recognizes the surveyors’ efforts in enhancing work efficiency and precision through innovative technology at post-occupation stage.

The HKIS Awards aim to recognize the outstanding achievements of Hong Kong surveyors. The awards align with the Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations, affirming surveyors’ exceptional accomplishments in sustainable development projects and their contributions to improving environmental outcomes and promoting a sustainable future for Hong Kong.

For more details about the project, please visit here.

 

 

About AECOM 

AECOM is the world’s trusted infrastructure consulting firm, delivering professional services throughout the project lifecycle – from advisory, planning, design and engineering to program and construction management. On projects spanning transportation, buildings, water, new energy and the environment, our public- and private-sector clients trust us to solve their most complex challenges. Our teams are driven by a common purpose to deliver a better world through our unrivaled technical and digital expertise, a culture of equity, diversity and inclusion, and a commitment to environmental, social and governance priorities. AECOM is a Fortune 500 firm and its Professional Services business had revenue of US$14.4 billion in fiscal year 2023. See how we are delivering sustainable legacies for generations to come at www.aecom.com/hk/.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/aecom-supports-the-highways-department-in-winning-the-hong-kong-institute-of-surveyors-awards-for-innovative-road-safety-technology-302253074.html

SOURCE AECOM

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