All posts by Neel Achary

Weis brings nearly 10 years of insurance industry experience to the company.

(St. Louis, Mo., March 10, 2023) Valley Insurance Agency Alliance (VIAA), a cohesive family of more than 160 independent insurance agencies in Missouri and Illinois, recently hired Brett Weis as Personal Lines Coach.

In this position, Weis will work with the alliance’s development team to achieve technology and revenue goals. He will coach new and existing team members on best practices for all property and casualty insurance issues including coverages, claims, carriers, and processes.

Weis has worked in the insurance industry for nearly 10 years. Prior to joining VIAA, he served as a personal lines department manager at an independent insurance group that served doctors nationwide. Weis earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from Missouri State University in Springfield, Mo. He holds licenses in Property & Casualty Insurance, as well as Life & Accident and Health or Sickness Insurance. Weis also has a Personal Lines Coverage Specialist (PLCS) designation.

“Brett brings the industry knowledge and experience our alliance members need to increase their revenue,” said VIAA’s co-founder Henry Powers. “His customer service background, along with the working relationships he builds with clients and carriers, make him an excellent addition to our growing team.”

Founded in 1991, Powers Insurance & Risk Management provides personal and business insurance, surety, risk management, and employee benefits. Founded in 2006, sister company Valley Insurance Agency Alliance generates more than $600 million in written premium and is the regional founding member for the Strategic Insurance Agency Alliance (SIAA), a $11 billion national alliance. The companies are headquartered at 6825 Clayton Ave. For more information, call (314) 725-1414 or visit www.powersinsurance.com or www.viaa4u.com.

Three-day program highlights an individualized approach for improving interpersonal skills.

Marianne Whelchel

(St. Louis, Mo., March 8, 2023) Psychological Associates (PA), a consulting company that improves business performance through its leadership and talent development services, will hold its Q4 Leadership: The People Skills Advantage™ program. The three-day intensive workshop will take place Tues., May 2 through Thurs., May 4 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The program will be held at the Charles F. Knight Executive Education & Conference Center located at One Brookings Dr. on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis.

The program’s individualized experience focuses on helping a company’s top talent improve team success through the people skills they need to engage and influence others. Q4 Leadership comprehensively identifies and adapts effective leadership behaviors with more intricate job-related feedback. The program combines the latest in instructional design along with PA’s six decades of pragmatic leadership development.

The workshop – which uses real-world issues and situations – is designed for C-level leaders, vice presidents, and general managers who will improve their interpersonal skills to break down silos and contribute to synergistic teams.

Psychological Associates’ facilitator Marianne Whelchel will lead the sessions. She brings more than 16 years of global leadership development, training, and human resources experience to the workshop. Whelchel has managed the design and delivery of leadership curriculum for over 6,000 leaders globally.

Psychological Associates helps clients select, develop, and retain their best leaders, enabling them to build exceptional organizations. Its exclusive Q4 Dimensional® Model of Behavior™ – an industry-renowned structure that categorizes observable actions into understandable groupings – inspires high performance while attaining comprehensive results. Consulting capabilities include talent assessment, leadership development, succession planning, people analytics, and executive coaching. Founded in 1958, Psychological Associates is headquartered at 8000 Maryland Ave. in Clayton, Mo. Reservations are required since space is limited. For more information, call (314) 725-7771 or visit www.q4solutions.com.

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The Art Exchange Project presents their 5th Group Art Show, ‘Pulse – Vibration of Life’

from 11 am to 7 pm from Sunday to Friday, March 5th to 10th, 2023

at The Stainless Gallery, Mira Corporate Suites, Mathura Road, New Delhi

The Art Exchange Project presents their 5th Group Art Show, ‘Pulse – Vibration of Life’ at The Stainless Gallery, Mira Corporate Suites, Mathura Road, New Delhi. Chief guest Gurpreet Singh (Founding partner of Aakar Design Consultants Pvt. Ltd.) inaugurated the exhibition on Saturday, March 4th, 2023. The exhibition will showcase works by 16 artists on a medium of their choice and will be on until Friday, March 10th, 2023.

Curated by the Founder of The Art Exchange Project and Visual Artist, Aarti Uppal Singla, the show will be a wreath of paintings, digital art, collages, photographs and ceramic pieces created by artists from Delhi and Mumbai which includes Aarti Uppal, Balesh Jindal, Devangi Sidharth, Dharmendra Singh, Divyaman Singh, Khushroo Kalayanwala, Jaspreet Kaur, Meena Vohra, Rashmi Rai, Shibani Sehgal, Shireen Khanna, Sushil Bhasin, Sushmita Choubey, Vidyasagar Hariharan, Winnie Singh and Yumi Onishi.

To make the event wholesome, there will be separate activities slated throughout the week at the gallery.

Mindfully chalked-out Workshops will be held on the topics:

• Sunday, March 5th, 2023: Doodle-n-Emotion by Sushil Bhasin at 2pm.
• Tuesday, March 7th, 2023: Drawing your Story by Winnie Singh at 3 pm
• Thursday, March 9th, 2023: World of Collages by Shibani Sehgal at 4 pm

Enriching Talks on:

• Sunday, March 5th, 2023: Flamingos in the City by Vidyasagar Hariharan at 4.30 pm
• Monday, March 6th, 2023: Artist’s Journey by Meera Vohra at 3 pm
• hursday, March 9th, 2023: Inspiring Demo on Acrylic Textures by Divyaman Singh at 12 noon.

Pulse – Vibration of Life is an ideology that brings out artists from the dullness and darkness that pandemic lashed out at the world. It is an opportunity for everyone, the artists and onlookers to feel alive and hear their hearts throb with energy and not just drift away with the flow of time. The colours used testify the very concept and the inspiration all these 16 artists hold within them.

As she brings forth such vitality, Aarti Uppal Singla says, “The past 2 years have not shown any mercy and with Pulse I want each one of us to feel that we are back on track and that life gives hope only when we want to see it. I am elated with the colours and techniques all the artists have chosen to express themselves and emerge out after a long period of containment of sorts. It is miraculous how creative minds using different mediums creating their individual pieces come together in union, in sync with one another. This is my ode to life and it’s vivacity. Hope is what keeps us moving on, afterall.”

Pulse – Vibration of Life is TAEP’s fifth group show. The others being Explorations at AIFACS in March 2017, Noir – the mystery unfolds at The Stainless Gallery in September 2017, Spaces – real and imagined at The Stainless Gallery in December 2018 and Viewpoints – Distinct diverse at The Stainless Gallery in December 2019.

About The Art Exchange Project:

TAEP is a free art community with the objective of getting people back in touch with their creative energies. Members include professional artists, designers, engineers, doctors, teachers, homemakers, students, and others for whom art is a significant part of their lives. TAEP members learn, teach and collaborate to make art. They are bridging the gap between art lovers and creators by bringing affordable art to people.

Normet has acquired Remion Ltd, a specialist in innovative business- and process-enhancing industrial internet solutions and advisory services situated in Finland. Remion employs a team of 28 professionals.

“We see Remion as a critical enabler for our digitalization strategy going forward. Remion’s capabilities in analytics and software development provide a foundation for us to utilize related skillsets in developing the Normet offering. We value Remion’s existing customer base and its significant growth opportunities. We look forward to working together with Remion to tap into these growth opportunities while ensuring that development and support continues with Remion’s existing customers”, comments Riku Helander, Senior Vice President, Services Business Line, at Normet.

“The change of ownership doesn’t change the focus for Remion. We look forward to developing IoT and analytics solutions for our customers and to further expand our customer base. Remion will continue to develop its offering and grow under new ownership”, comments Jukka Kivimäki, CEO at Remion.

Remion, founded in 2001, offers innovative IoT solutions and services for various industries, machine and equipment manufacturers, service companies and development organizations that are fundamental to efficient, forward-thinking operations. Remion is based in Tampere, Finland.

The acquisition was closed in February 2023. The parties have agreed not to disclose any financial details related to the transaction. After the acquisition, Remion continues to operate as an independent company as part of the Normet Group.

(Memphis, Tenn.) – The Tennessee Department of Health (TDH) awarded Southwest Tennessee Community College a $500,000 Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity (ELC) State Colleges and Universities grant last month to fund the college’s COVID-19 testing and community outreach efforts. Southwest will hire staff and redesign spaces on campus and outfit them with equipment designed to help the community engage in disease prevention.

“These funds are critical to our ongoing efforts to help protect the Mid-South from COVID-19,” Southwest Tennessee Community College President Tracy D. Hall said. “During the pandemic, we helped vaccinate nearly 40,000 residents at our Whitehaven and Gill centers. Our commitment to fighting COVID-19 continues with this effort to help fellow residents avoid infection through education and testing.”

Southwest will use the funds to hire three full-time health educators and two part-time support staff members who will operate free testing sites at the Macon Cove and Union Avenue campuses and the Whitehaven Center. All three locations will offer drive-thru and drop-in testing for Southwest students, faculty and staff and the greater Memphis community.

Health and Natural Sciences Dean Shelia Bouie says health seminars will begin as soon as this summer. “Our goal is to promote a healthier Memphis by providing access to accurate information about COVID-19 and other infectious diseases,” Dr. Bouie said. “A healthy community makes for a healthier college.”

President Hall says the funds will help the college address health disparities. “All of us have been touched by COVID-19 in some way, and communities of color were hit particularly hard,” President Hall said. We are grateful for these funds and intend to use them to address the health disparities surrounding infectious disease in our community,” Hall added. “The ultimate goal is to support our students and employees and greater community to stay healthy and strong.”

For more information about Southwest’s public health efforts, contact Dr. Shelia Bouie at sbouie@southwest.tn.edu.

Tempe, Arizona (March 6, 2023) – BWH Hotel Group is partnering with industry-leading hotel management company, Midas Hospitality, for the management of its urban, upscale boutique Vīb hotel in Tempe, Arizona. The Tempe hotel joined BWH Hotel Group’s global Vīb portfolio in 2022 as a shining example of the brand with thoughtfully designed spaces that invite collaboration and socialization while still offering flexible function with a stylish flair.

“We conducted a thorough search process in finding the right management company for our Vīb hotel in Tempe and we are pleased to be partnering with Midas Hospitality,” said Michael Morton, Vice President of Brand Management, BWH Hotel Group. “This hotel appeals to today’s modern traveler with a truly unique and engaging stay experience, and we believe Midas Hospitality will play an important role in the future success of this property.”

This hotel features a modern lobby designed for collaborating with peers, using as a place to work for the day, or socializing after a local sporting event. The versatile public space can also flex to provide an extended lobby with contemporary furnishings suitable for large events and functions. Its Food & Beverage offerings include being home to Arizona’s first Cousins Maine Lobster restaurant bringing Maine lobster to the heart of downtown Tempe. The lobby bar provides the perfect hangout spot to indulge in crafted cocktails, light dining and espresso beverages. The hotel also features a signature rooftop lounge offering guests breathtaking views of the valley.

“We’re excited to have been selected to manage the Vīb hotel in Tempe, Arizona. With continued expansion of third-party managed hotels across the nation, Midas Hospitality is honored to welcome this upscale, vibrant hotel to its portfolio,” said Linda Eigelberger, Senior Vice President. “Midas Hospitality specializes in delivering premium performance in revenue, market share, guest experience and profitability, and we look forward to continued partnerships together.”

Home to one of the country’s largest universities, Arizona State University, Tempe is the ideal location for this urban boutique hotel. Located adjacent to Tempe’s Valley Metro Light Rail, hotel guests will have easy access to local attractions in Tempe, Phoenix and Mesa. Tempe Vīb celebrates Arizona’s rich local culture and heritage with a unique art installation on the adjacent walking path to bridge the community to the hotel.

For more information on the Vīb brand, please visit BestWesternDevelopers.com and Vib.BestWestern.com.