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Respected pharma data science pioneer Dr Ben Sidders to spearhead Biorelate’s next growth phase as Chief Scientific Officer

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2 years ago

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* Dr Sidders brings two decades of deep data science experience, honed across multiple therapeutic areas at Pfizer and AstraZeneca * He will build on Biorelate’s strong track record of leveraging advanced data science methods to extract critical knowledge from vast amounts of biomedical literature * These new data-derived insights are enabling drug developers to identify new targets with maximum market potential.

MANCHESTER, England, Sept. 5, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — Biorelate has announced the appointment of leading pharmaceutical industry data science expert, Dr Ben Sidders, as Chief Scientific Officer. Formerly Executive Director, Head of Early Data Science at AstraZeneca within Oncology R&D, Dr Sidders will spearhead a new growth phase for Biorelate, which leverages advanced data science methods to transform the focus and impact of drug discovery and development.

This prestigious appointment is an important endorsement of the great work we are doing, and we are delighted to welcome Ben on board. His scientific direction will give Biorelate an even deeper footing within modern drug discovery and development.

Dr Sidders has spent two decades leading data science teams at both AstraZeneca and Pfizer, to pioneer and apply novel data science methods for drug discovery in oncology, neuroscience and infectious disease.

Biorelate specialises in advanced data science methods for drug discovery to deliver robust, evidence-based intelligence to those making critical decisions about the next drugs to take forward. The actionable insights it distils, from across diverse ‘dark’ (previously unsearchable) knowledge assets and existing texts, ensure that investment is concentrated on the targets most likely to succeed in drug development – with a positive impact for patients, while delivering financially for the drug developer and its backers.

Dr Sidders, who has followed Biorelate closely since the company’s foundation in 2014, believes the company is at an important inflection point thanks to its proven technology and a significant opportunity to grow and scale. That’s as drug developers look to next-generation data science to transform their early research, and improve new drug candidates’ probability of success.

Of the opportunity Biorelate addresses, Dr Sidders said: “The pharmaceutical industry is rapidly adopting data science-driven approaches using artificial intelligence. This has meant a shift away from the traditional pharma R&D model (very low throughput, with heavy reliance on academic literature to determine new targets), towards an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-first approach.

“The risk with this approach is that researchers do not really understand the causality of their findings, which is critical if you want to develop a successful drug. Biorelate fills that gap by drawing on a wealth of data to develop causal models and explaining – mechanistically and in the appropriate context – what the next opportunities are and why. Crucially, Biorelate’s technology platform has causality built in – something that’s lacking in other AI approaches to drug discovery. It has proven adept at finding new targets, and has promise in other areas of the pipeline too, from biomarker discovery and patient stratification to the identification of promising drug combinations. This is a really exciting time for Biorelate, and for data science in drug discovery more broadly.”

Daniel Jamieson, Biorelate’s CEO, said: “This prestigious appointment is an important endorsement of the great work we are doing, and we are delighted to welcome Ben on board. His scientific direction will give Biorelate an even deeper footing within modern drug discovery and development.

“At AstraZeneca, Ben’s team was responsible for delivering data-driven, actionable insights to all parts of the company’s oncology portfolio, including advancing the understanding of disease. His years at Pfizer, and his extensive experience of all facets of drug discovery across major pharma, add richly to his understanding of what the industry needs now to transform R&D performance – insights and expertise we can now extend to our diverse client base.”

Dr Sidders’ personal fields of interest include immuno-oncology, network biology and the role of bioinformatics within drug discovery. He has a PhD in Molecular Biology & Bioinformatics from the University of London where his thesis focused on the development of predictive markers for the diagnosis of asymptomatic Tuberculosis. Ben holds patents for two clinical diagnostics and has authored over 30 scientific publications.

About Biorelate

Biorelate is a world leader in leveraging advanced data science methods to extract critical knowledge from vast amounts of pharmaceutical data and literature, significantly enhancing the discovery of novel biopharmaceuticals. Biorelate offers multiple product lines powered by its proprietary platform, Galactic AI™.

Galactic AI™ employs sophisticated natural language processing (NLP) and artificial intelligence (AI) to uncover hidden cause- and-effect relationships. This innovative platform provides unprecedented insights into disease pathways, enabling more precise and effective drug discovery. As the incredible progress of scientific researchers continues to compound the huge volume of growing and evolving biomedical data, Biorelate’s mission to curate knowledge to advance the world’s most promising biomedical innovations has never been so important.

Media Contact

Mira Nair, Biorelate, 44 07799153550, mira.nair@biorelate.com, https://biorelate.com/

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SOURCE Biorelate

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FULTON FINANCIAL CORPORATION APPOINTS DAVID S. SCHULZ TO BOARD OF DIRECTORS

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July 21, 2026

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LANCASTER, Pa., July 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Fulton Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: FULT) (“Fulton”) today announced the appointment of David S. Schulz as a member of its board of directors (the “Board”) for a term commencing September 14, 2026 and expiring at Fulton’s 2027 annual meeting of shareholders.

“We’re excited to welcome Dave to Fulton’s board of directors,” said Curt Myers, Fulton Chairman, CEO, and President. “Dave brings extensive financial leadership experience gained through more than a decade of service with publicly traded companies. His expertise in finance, strategic planning, risk, and mergers and acquisitions will provide valuable perspective as we continue to execute our growth strategy and create long-term value for our shareholders, customers and communities.”

With the addition of Schulz, Fulton’s Board will have 11 members, and he will serve on the Audit and Risk committees. Schulz has also been appointed to the board of directors of Fulton’s banking subsidiary, Fulton Bank, N.A.

Schulz served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Wesco International, Inc. (“Wesco”) from 2016 to June 2020, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Wesco from June 2020 to February 2026 and as Executive Vice President and Special Advisor to the CEO of Wesco from February 2026 until his retirement on May 31, 2026. 

Prior to joining Wesco, Schulz served as Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Armstrong Flooring, Inc. and was previously Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Armstrong World Industries, Inc. and Vice President of Finance of the Armstrong Building Products division.

Before joining Armstrong World Industries in 2011, he held various financial leadership roles with Procter & Gamble and The J.M. Smucker Company. He was also an officer in the United States Marine Corps.

In 2025, Schulz joined the board of Sterling Infrastructure, Inc., and he was appointed as chair of the audit committee in 2026. He also serves on the company’s compensation and talent development committee.

ABOUT FULTON FINANCIAL CORPORATION

Fulton, a $34 billion Lancaster, Pa.-based financial holding company, has more than 3,400 employees and operates more than 215 financial centers in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and Virginia through Fulton Bank, N.A. Additional information on Fulton can be found at https://investor.fultonbank.com.

Contact: Steve Trapnell
717-291-2739

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SOURCE Fulton Financial Corporation

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Octavio Marquez Elected to MSA Safety Board of Directors

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56 minutes ago

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July 21, 2026

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PITTSBURGH, July 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The Board of Directors of MSA Safety Inc. (NYSE: MSA), a global leader in the development of advanced industrial safety technology products and solutions, today announced that Octavio Marquez, president and chief executive officer of Diebold Nixdorf, has been elected to the company’s Board of Directors. His election was part of the MSA Board’s regular succession plans.

“We are very pleased to have the opportunity to add Octavio to the MSA Board,” said Robert A. Bruggeworth, MSA chairman. “He brings a broad range of executive leadership experience, including strategy development, capital allocation, business transformation and serving international markets, which will serve MSA well.”

“Octavio’s perspectives will be an asset to me and our entire Executive Leadership Team,” said Steven C. Blanco, MSA president and CEO. “It is a pleasure to welcome Octavio to MSA, and I look forward to working with him.”

Mr. Marquez joined Diebold Nixdorf in 2014 and has held senior leadership roles across the company’s Global Banking organization and its Americas region, including as executive vice president of Global Banking and senior vice president of the Americas. Before joining Diebold Nixdorf, Mr. Marquez held leadership positions at Dell EMC, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, IBM and NCR.

Diebold Nixdorf automates, digitizes and transforms the way people bank and shop. As a partner to the majority of the world’s top 100 financial institutions and top 25 global retailers, its integrated solutions connect digital and physical channels conveniently, securely and efficiently for millions of customers every day. Headquartered in North Canton, Ohio, Diebold Nixdorf employs approximately 20,000 employees globally, supporting more than 100 countries.

Mr. Marquez holds a degree in business and finance from Universidad Iberoamericana and has completed executive education programs at MIT Sloan, The Wharton School and The University of Texas at Austin.

About MSA Safety

MSA Safety Incorporated (NYSE: MSA) is the global leader in advanced industrial safety technology products and solutions. Driven by its singular mission of safety, the company has been at the forefront of safety innovation since 1914, protecting workers and facility infrastructure around the world across a broad range of diverse end markets while creating sustainable value for shareholders. With 2025 revenues of $1.9 billion, MSA Safety is headquartered in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania, and employs a team of approximately 5,300 associates across its more than 40 international locations. For more information, please visit www.MSASafety.com.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/octavio-marquez-elected-to-msa-safety-board-of-directors-302831265.html

SOURCE MSA Safety

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BlueFolder Field Service Software Launches New AI-Powered Features to Transform How Teams Work

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56 minutes ago

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July 21, 2026

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New AI capabilities instantly surface customer insights and transform technician notes into actionable summaries to help field service teams work faster, stay aligned, and deliver better service

AUBURN, Ala., July 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — BlueFolder field service software recently announced the launch of two powerful new AI features: AI-Powered Customer Summaries and AI-Powered Field Notes Summarization. Together, these capabilities are designed to eliminate the time-consuming, manual work of reviewing fragmented customer records and lengthy technician notes—giving field service teams instant clarity to respond faster, make smarter decisions, and deliver exceptional service.

BlueFolder expands it’s field service and work order management suite with two exciting new AI field service features.

Built directly into the BlueFolder platform, both features leverage artificial intelligence to automatically compile and summarize complex, unstructured data into clear, easy-to-read overviews. The result: technicians, dispatchers, and managers always have the context they need, right when they need it.

AI-Powered Customer Summaries

As field service organizations grow, customer information becomes increasingly scattered across emails, service request logs, and communication histories. BlueFolder’s AI Customer Summary feature addresses this challenge head-on by consolidating those interactions into a single, actionable snapshot.

Instead of manually digging through multiple records before a service call or customer interaction, teams can now access a real-time summary highlighting key concerns, past service activity, and recent updates. The feature goes beyond basic summarization and surfaces critical business insights such as equipment past due for maintenance, approaching warranty expirations, and proactive revenue opportunities, empowering teams to recommend follow-ups or upgrades directly from the customer record.

Built-in traceability links each summary back to its original source communications, so users can validate insights with confidence, ensuring both speed and accuracy in every customer interaction.

AI-Powered Field Notes Summarization

In many service organizations, technicians log updates across multiple visits, often resulting in long, fragmented notes that are difficult to review at a glance. BlueFolder’s AI Field Notes Summarization feature solves this by automatically condensing multiple technician entries into a structured summary that highlights key milestones, actions taken, and next steps.

Rather than scrolling through pages of updates, managers and dispatchers can immediately understand job status and determine what needs to happen next, improving alignment between field and office teams, accelerating decision-making, and reducing miscommunication. The feature is especially valuable for complex or multi-day jobs, where clear continuity and smooth technician handoffs are critical to delivering consistent service. It’s another featuring making BlueFolder’s work order management software capabilities stronger every day.

“History is one of the most powerful tools a service team has — the problem is it’s usually buried. BlueFolder’s new AI features fix that. Your team walks into every interaction already knowing the customer, knowing the equipment, and exactly where things stand. That changes the entire experience,” says John Shaw, VP, Technology, Service Operations.

AI as a Core Part of the BlueFolder Platform

The launch of these two features reflects BlueFolder’s broader commitment to embedding AI throughout its field service management software as an integrated layer of intelligence that makes every workflow smarter. Rather than requiring teams to change how they work, BlueFolder’s AI capabilities are designed to surface the right information at the right moment automatically, within the tools that technicians, dispatchers, and managers already use every day.

“AI is transforming what’s possible in field service, and BlueFolder is answering that call. These features are the result of deep platform expertise and a clear vision for where the industry is headed. We’re embedding intelligence throughout the platform because we know it makes our customers more competitive, more efficient, and better positioned to grow,” says Stephen Myslicki, Group President of Field Services.

Availability

Both AI-Powered Customer Summaries and AI-Powered Field Notes Summarization are available now to BlueFolder customers as optional, easy-to-enable features within the platform. They are part of BlueFolder’s growing suite of AI-driven capabilities designed to help field service organizations operate more efficiently and scale with confidence.

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SOURCE BlueFolder

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