New Feeder Fund Opens Macro Access for Canadian Advisors
Canadian advisors now have a domestic feeder fund that gives accredited investors access to Bridgewater Associates' flagship Pure Alpha strategy through a Wilshire‑managed account. The vehicle is structured as an Ontario mutual fund trust, with Oak Hill Asset Management acting as the fund manager and distributor across Canada. Pure Alpha leverages about 50 years of systematic research, trading roughly 200 liquid global markets to generate high excess returns with low correlation. The partnership builds on a two‑decade relationship between Wilshire and Bridgewater and expands macro exposure for Canadian clients.
McDonald’s Rolls Back the Years with Cards Collection
McDonald’s UK, together with Leo UK, has launched a nationwide “McDonald’s Cards” promotion that reimagines iconic brand characters, menu items and rituals as a collectible card set. The collection features 24 hand‑illustrated designs across four categories—Characters, Fans, Retro and Legendary—and...
Empower Your Contingent Workers with Mentorship
Mentorship is emerging as a strategic tool to integrate contingent workers—contractors, freelancers, and temporary staff—more quickly and effectively. Structured mentor relationships shorten onboarding, clarify project goals, and provide pathways for skill development and inclusion. Organizations that embed mentorship into the...
Research: How the “Accent Penalty” Determines Who Gets Heard
A new study of over 5,000 TED Talks and a 2024 experiment shows that speakers with non‑native English accents receive significantly fewer views, likes, and intended shares than native‑accented peers. The engagement gap remains even after adjusting for topic, expertise,...
Is Your Company Ready if Liquidity Returns?
CFOs are hearing early signs that liquidity is returning after years of capital scarcity, prompting a shift from cash preservation to strategic flexibility. The article urges finance leaders to assess whether their organizations are structurally prepared to deploy fresh capital...
Alibaba Just Launched an Enterprise Agent Platform, and a Whole Token Business Around It
Alibaba Cloud has introduced an enterprise agent platform designed to run multiple AI agents securely on real‑world workloads. The platform emphasizes document editing and workflow automation, and is paired with a token‑based business model that charges per agent interaction. Tokens...
Intercontinental Exchange Introduces ICE Private Credit Intelligence with Apollo as Anchor Partner
Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) announced the launch of ICE Private Credit Intelligence, a data‑infrastructure platform designed to bring public‑credit‑style transparency to the private credit market. Apollo Global Management is joining as the anchor partner, with ICE planning to add additional originators,...
HK’s Gaw Eyes Gulf ‘Retrenching’ with New Growth Fund
Hong Kong‑based Gaw Capital is establishing a new growth fund aimed at the Gulf region. The fund will reallocate capital that was previously earmarked for investments in the United States and Europe back to Gulf home markets. Andrei Rotaru, head...
What Deloitte’s 2026 Trends Report Says Leaders Want Tech to Fix
Deloitte’s 2026 Global Human Capital Trends report reveals that executives are expanding the list of business challenges they expect technology to solve, from talent shortages to employee wellbeing. The survey of thousands of leaders worldwide shows a growing demand for...
How I Coped with 40 Rejections – Farzana Rahman, CEO, Hexarad
Former NHS doctor Farzana Rahman pivoted to entrepreneurship, founding Hexarad, an AI‑powered end‑to‑end radiology platform that delivers diagnoses from CT and MRI scans. After enduring 40 rejections, she secured funding and partnership support from HSBC Innovation Banking, enabling rapid scale‑up....
Exclusive: Candex Extends Series C To $40M+ To Help Enterprises Easily Onboard Global Vendors
Candex has extended its Series C round to $40 million, bringing total funding above $120 million, with HSBC joining as an investor. The New York fintech acts as a master vendor, allowing large enterprises to pay one‑off or irregular suppliers without separate onboarding,...
HB Exclusive: Enseo Introduces New Corporate Identity
Enseo, a 26‑year hotel technology provider, unveiled a new corporate identity to signal its strategic evolution from hardware manufacturer to an integrated software platform. The rebrand highlights a unified solution that merges in‑room entertainment, managed Wi‑Fi, marketing tools, property monitoring...
Future Is Training Its AI On Publisher First-Party Data
Future Media unveiled Helix, an AI‑powered audience platform that builds on its first‑party data assets. Helix replaces the legacy Aperture system in the U.S., adding predictive modeling and real‑time audience segmentation for outcome‑based campaigns. Early tests across 20 fashion, retail...
Frontline Leadership Under Pressure: Strengthening Supervisor Support to Improve Safety and Performance
A national survey of over 600 U.S. construction supervisors reveals mounting pressure to meet tight schedules while maintaining safety, with 45% admitting they prioritize deadlines over safety. Many supervisors lack clear protocols, and 67% have made safety decisions without company...
The Accidental Franchisor: Eddie Flores Jr. Kicks Off Restaurant Franchising & Innovation Summit with Candid Look at L&L Hawaiian Barbecue
Eddie Flores Jr., the accidental franchisor of L&L Hawaiian Barbecue, recounted the brand’s evolution from a single Honolulu drive‑in in 1976 to more than 235 locations across the U.S. and overseas. The chain’s Hawaiian identity, low‑cost franchise fee and word‑of‑mouth marketing...
Rapid7 Boosts Profitability, Simplification In Refreshed Partner Program
Rapid7 unveiled a refreshed partner program that lifts margins on deal registration and co‑sell, introduces an invitation‑only Platinum tier, and streamlines co‑sell structures. The new tier delivers higher rebates, custom demand‑generation, and early product road‑map access for top partners. Simplification...
Lands’ End Names First CMO in Nearly a Decade Amid Turnaround Push
Lands’ End appointed Sarah Sylvester as its first chief marketing officer in nearly ten years, signaling a renewed focus on brand building amid a turnaround. Sylvester, formerly executive vice president of marketing at Victoria’s Secret, brings over 20 years of...
Iran’s Hormuz Stranglehold Upends Markets and Geopolitics
Iran’s renewed aggression in the Strait of Hormuz triggered a sharp rebound in Brent crude, pushing prices above $103 a barrel, and sent U.S. diesel to a multi‑year high of $5 per gallon. Tehran’s threats to halt oil shipments through...
Malta Broadens Tourism Strategy, Courting LGBTQ Americans and Chinese Travelers
Malta is expanding its tourism outreach by targeting two distinct segments: U.S. LGBTQ travelers attracted by the island’s progressive rights record, and high‑spending Chinese tourists drawn to its Mediterranean heritage and English‑speaking environment. The dual campaign blends Pride‑focused messaging with...
Best Influencer Database Software in 2026
Influencer database software has become essential as brands scale creator programs, with 59.4% of marketers planning to raise influencer budgets in 2026. These platforms turn manual scouting into searchable, filterable datasets that include demographics, engagement, and cross‑platform reach. The article...
Joveo Named One of America’s Best Startup Employers 2026 by Forbes
Joveo has been named one of America’s Best Startup Employers 2026 by Forbes, placing it among the top 500 U.S. startups selected from over 20,000 companies. The ranking, which weighs employer reputation, employee satisfaction and growth, validates Joveo’s rapid scaling...
Survey on the Healthcare Financial Landscape Offers a Roadmap for Stakeholders
Zelis commissioned Datos Insights to survey over 2,200 health‑plan executives, employer‑benefits leaders and insured consumers, revealing mounting financial pressure across the healthcare ecosystem. The study shows that 63% of employers view price transparency as a key cost‑management tool, while 68%...
Oil Shock: Panel Urges Finance Ministry to Craft Strategic Energy Mitigation Framework
India’s parliamentary panel urged the Department of Economic Affairs to develop a strategic energy mitigation framework to shield the economy from oil price volatility. The report highlighted the need for a coordinated national strategy on critical minerals, calling for diversified...
Retail Media X Europe 2026: Why Retailers Need to Be in the Room This May
Retail Media X Europe will convene over 750 senior executives, brands, agencies, and tech innovators in London on 14 May 2026 to discuss the fast‑growing European retail media market, projected to reach £25 billion by 2026. The conference features three tracks—scaling networks,...
Help Us Write Electric Literature’s Next Chapter
Incoming Executive Director and Publisher Denne Michele Norris announced a $35,000 fundraising drive to sustain Electric Literature’s next phase. The nonprofit highlights its 17‑year legacy, including publishing its first book and securing competitive grants. Norris pledges to double down on...
Maruti Gets ₹5,786 Cr Income Tax Order; to Challenge Before Dispute Resolution Panel
Maruti Suzuki India received a draft income‑tax assessment of ₹5,786.4 crore for the 2022‑23 fiscal year. The company announced it will file objections before the dispute‑resolution panel. It emphasized that the order has no immediate effect on its operations, finances or...
Gartner: 67% of B2B Buyers Prefer a Rep-Free Experience
Gartner’s survey of 650 B2B buyers shows 67 % now prefer a rep‑free buying experience, while 45 % used AI tools during a recent purchase. The findings highlight a shift toward self‑directed, digitally mediated buyer journeys. As early interactions drop, static sales...
Bridge the Intergenerational Leadership Gap
The global workforce is now dominated by Millennials and Gen Z, who together comprise over 60% of employees and are projected to reach 74% by 2030. Meanwhile, CEOs and board members at S&P‑listed firms are aging, with average CEO age climbing...
Cooper University Health Care’s Curran Says Cross-Functional Collaboration Was the Key to Securing More Than 10,000 Edge Devices
Cooper University Health Care completed an 18‑month program that lifted device visibility from 25 percent to 100 percent across more than 10,000 IoT and medical devices. The effort relied on passive network‑monitoring tools, rigorous network segmentation, and a new security‑by‑procurement framework. A...
Northwestern Medicine’s Sama Says AI Optimization Requires a New Data Foundation
During HIMSS 2026, Northwestern Medicine’s VP Danny Sama warned that health‑system AI initiatives are outpacing investment in core data infrastructure. He noted that roughly 80 percent of effort is spent on AI while the underlying data plumbing remains underfunded, exposing technical debt....
New York-Presbyterian’s Linsangan Says Live Simulations Expose What Tabletop Exercises Miss
New York‑Presbyterian launched live downtime simulations across its ten hospitals after a cyberattack at a peer institution highlighted systemic vulnerabilities. The exercises, run during peak daytime hours on real patient scenarios, revealed that many clinicians lacked paper‑charting experience, struggled with medication...
What CIOs Should Know About Agent Protocols
AI agents are rapidly entering enterprise workflows, but divergent protocols such as Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol, Google’s Agent‑to‑Agent, and the open‑source Agent Network Protocol hinder seamless collaboration. These protocols were built on incompatible trust assumptions, forcing CIOs to write custom...
Attacks on UAE Energy Assets Increase as War Broadens
Iran and its proxies have intensified drone and missile strikes on UAE energy infrastructure, targeting both downstream storage hubs and upstream production sites. A fire at Fujairah port halted oil loading and forced berths to close, while a drone hit...
Google Knowledge Panel: What It Is & How to Get One
Google’s Knowledge Panel is an information box that appears in search results when Google identifies a recognized entity such as a brand, person, or place. The panel can occupy up to half of the visible SERP, offering facts, images, and...
Kuwait Returns To The Global Debt Market
Kuwait re‑entered the international sovereign market in September 2024, issuing an $11.25 billion eurobond – its first external debt sale since 2017. The issuance was enabled by a new debt law approved in March 2025 that authorises up to KD30 billion (≈$97 billion)...
Pensioners’ Demands Echoed: Parliamentary Panel Seeks Hike in Minimum EPS Payout, Say Rs 1000 Insufficient
A Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour has urged an urgent review of the Employees’ Pension Scheme’s Rs 1,000 minimum payout, which pensioners say is far below living costs. Protesters in Delhi are demanding the floor be raised to Rs 7,500 per month....
Should Job Promotions Be Linked to AI Use?
Accenture has announced that employee promotions will be directly linked to their adoption and effective use of artificial intelligence tools. The policy requires staff to meet defined AI competency metrics to qualify for career advancement. This move has sparked debate...
Barclays, Sage Partner to Simplify Business Admin
Barclays and accounting software firm Sage announced a strategic partnership aimed at streamlining administrative tasks for small and mid‑sized enterprises. The collaboration combines Barclays' business‑banking expertise with Sage's digital accounting, payroll and HR platforms to cut the time owners spend...
Smart AI Governance Speeds Innovation
The article argues that well‑designed AI governance accelerates, not hinders, innovation. It shows how vague or missing guardrails create hidden friction, eroding trust and slowing decisions. By focusing on clarity, intent, quality, and accountability, organizations can establish lightweight guardrails that...
OPINION: Retail’s $210 Billion Paid Advertising Blind Spot
Global ecommerce retailers—estimated at nine to twelve million—are collectively spending about $210 billion on paid digital advertising each year, yet confidence in the returns from that spend is eroding. The rise of privacy regulations, cookie deprecation and AI‑driven ad platforms has...
Miro’s CEO Is Betting AI Will Change How Teams Work
Miro, the browser‑based whiteboard pioneer, is launching an “AI Innovation Workspace” that embeds generative AI directly into its collaborative canvas. The new Sidekicks feature helps teams turn sketches into clickable prototypes and automates workshop outcomes, reaching over 250,000 organizations, including...
How Software Startup InsightSquared Wrestled with Creating an Optimal Sales and Marketing Strategy
Harvard Business School lecturer Mark Roberge uses the InsightSquared case to illustrate why SaaS startups often stumble when they rush to scale sales after a Series A. He argues that founders rely on superficial Excel forecasts instead of bottom‑up revenue models,...
Perion Is So Over The AI Hype Cycle
Perion CEO Tal Jacobson says the AI hype is merely a re‑branding of technologies the company has used for 15 years, and the firm is now building an AI media‑trading agent called Outmax. The platform allocates spend across CTV, DOOH,...
When It Comes to Getting a Pay Raise, You'll Probably Have to Ask for It
A new Payscale report finds that one in four companies only adjust pay for underpaid employees when the employee or manager explicitly asks. Pay‑transparency laws now cover 16 states and Washington, D.C., forcing salary ranges in job ads and prompting...
The Next Phase of Social Strategy: Giving Audiences Ownership of the Story
Social marketers are moving from one‑way authenticity to audience ownership, inviting fans to co‑create brand stories. Panels at Ragan’s Social Media Conference highlighted how gaming, National Geographic, Xbox and U.S. Soccer use two‑way conversation, repeatable formats, and layered content capture...
It’s Time to Get Serious About Post-Quantum Security. Here’s Where to Start.
Quantum computers are nearing practical use, threatening current encryption like RSA and ECC, with a potential "Q‑Day" as early as 2029. The economic fallout of a successful quantum attack could exceed $3 trillion, prompting CISOs and CTOs to prioritize post‑quantum cryptography...
Burberry’s Trench Coat Campaign Shows Luxury Marketing’s Shift to Social Platforms
Burberry’s latest trench‑coat campaign marks a decisive shift from traditional, season‑driven luxury advertising to a digital‑first approach. By tailoring assets for Instagram and TikTok, the brand can launch content in real time, reacting to viral moments and algorithmic boosts. The...
USTR Investigates 60 Economies over Forced Labour Enforcement
The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has opened Section 301 investigations into forced‑labour practices in roughly 60 economies, including China, the EU, India, Japan and others. The probes will assess whether these countries’ measures are unreasonable, discriminatory, or burden U.S. commerce. USTR...
PTC Completes Divestiture of Kepware and ThingWorx Businesses
PTC announced the completion of its divestiture of the Kepware industrial connectivity and ThingWorx IoT platforms to TPG, receiving $523 million in cash. After taxes and transaction costs, the net proceeds total roughly $375 million, which the company will allocate to an...
South Korea Caps Fuel Exports to Safeguard Supply
South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy imposed mandatory caps on refined fuel exports, limiting shipments to 100 % of the monthly 2025 volumes and introducing wholesale price ceilings for gasoline, diesel and kerosene. The measures, effective 13 March, aim to...