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Senior Government Biometrics Executive Joins FaceTec Team

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John Bagocius named Director of Federal Sales

SUMMERLIN, Nev., Dec. 6, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — FaceTec announced a key addition to its executive team as the company expands its industry-leading position in global 3D Face Verification, and digital and mobile ID markets.

John joins an exceptionally talented FaceTec team. He will help lead the adoption of our UR® Code protocols by federal and state governments, and drive sales of our 3D Liveness and Face matching software as the globally-preferred standard in digital identity verification.

John Bagocius is a seasoned senior sales and management executive in the biometric industry with a highly successful 20-plus year track record of driving revenue growth and profitability in competitive government and commercial markets. John has excelled in business development, strategic marketing, and in leading high-performing sales teams, and has secured and managed key accounts while fostering long-term strategic partnerships.

“John joins an exceptionally talented FaceTec team. He will help lead the adoption of our UR® Code protocols by federal and state governments, and drive sales of our 3D Liveness and Face matching software as the globally-preferred standard in digital identity verification,” said Kevin Alan Tussy, FaceTec CEO.

John’s career achievements include spearheading the development and deployment of biometric technologies by government agencies, and achieving substantial year-over-year growth and significant ROI and market expansion for several organizations, particularly in public safety and government sectors.

John is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and served as a member of the prestigious White House Honor Guard performing duties at the White House, Pentagon, and Arlington National Cemetery. John also served as a member of the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit as part of a joint United Nations Task Force conducting operations in Africa.

“I am humbled by the opportunity to be joining such an amazing team of experts, thought leaders, and true evangelists in identity management. FaceTec’s approach to identity verification, focused on liveness-proven biometrics and binding the identity to the individual, is the most effective way to provide a person control, and safe and secure access to their identity, a necessity in today’s digital world. I look forward to working with our industry and government partners to help solve their identity challenges.”

As Director of Federal Sales for FaceTec, John will lead the company’s next phase of major international public sector relationships.

About FaceTec

FaceTec is a global force in the fight against identity fraud. For use on standard, ubiquitous digital devices, FaceTec’s patented biometric security software solutions provide exceptionally secure, remote, unsupervised identity verification and authentication, ensuring that only the legitimate account owner is allowed access to their valuable or sensitive digital services, assets, and systems.

Founded in 2013 and headquartered in the U.S. with additional staff in the UK, Brazil, Portugal, Mexico, Canada, and Singapore, FaceTec is the world’s leading provider of 3D face biometric Liveness and matching software, processing three billion-plus Liveness Checks annualized, protecting sensitive information in high-risk, high-value environments, including banking and finance, government, major ecommerce, global social networks, digital national IDs and mobile driver licenses, and much more.

FaceTec’s AI-driven technology employs advanced algorithms and deep learning models to accurately and securely verify, authenticate, and bind individuals to their accounts based on their unique face biometrics. FaceTec’s patented, industry-leading Certified 3D Liveness Detection and face matching, UR Codes, optical character recognition, know-your-customer, and age estimation technology anchor a secure chain of trust in the IDV process for reliable, trusted access to mobile and web applications.

FaceTec technology has been exhaustively tested against tens-of-millions of digital and physical spoof artifacts–including hi-res photos and videos, life-like masks, and mannequin heads–but also against much more sophisticated injection and bypass-type attacks, all now easily blocked. With ongoing, advanced AI development and the world’s only spoof bounty program, FaceTec continues to stay ahead of ever-changing attack methods.

For more information and business inquiries, please visit FaceTec.com. For media inquiries, please contact John Wojewidka at JohnW@FaceTec.com.

About FaceTec 3D Face Verification

FaceTec’s pioneering, patented 3D Face Biometrics are fast becoming the global standard in secure onboarding, KYC, and reverification, stopping ID fraud and unauthorized access for millions of users on six continents.

FaceTec’s 3D Face Verification Platform features:

100% data-sovereign, customer-run software: no user data is sent to FaceTecWorld-leading 3D Face Matching rate at 1-in-125 million FAR at less-than-1% FRRPatented UI generates data-rich 3D FaceMaps® from standard 2D camerasWorld’s-first UR® Codes enable secure, low-cost two-party identity verification$600,000 Spoof Bounty Program and Level 1&2 Certified 3D Liveness DetectionUnphishable 3D FaceMaps ensure trust without creating honeypotsSupport for all modern smartphones, tablets, and PCs with webcamsKYC/IDV Dashboard with integrated 1-to-N de-duplication to catch fraudstersWorld-leading 1-in-2 million FAR 3D FaceMap-to-2D-photo-ID matchingAnonymous, better-than-human 3D age estimation and 3D age checksFast, intuitive interface with 98-99% first-time-user success ratesEasy to integrate, customize, deploy, and manage

Developers can download FaceTec’s demo apps directly from FaceTec.com for iOS, Android, and any modern browser, and the developer SDKs are available free at dev.facetec.com.

About UR® Codes

FaceTec’s UR® Codes allow codeholders to prove with high confidence their legal identity, age, and the right to access their accounts or privileges, in-person and remotely. UR Codes have embedded within them digitally-bound biometric and legal identity information that ensures privacy-preserving, decentralized identity verification. As they store unique, signed face data, personal info, and legal identity data, UR Codes enable secure, low-cost, two-party identity verification at unlimited scale in any identity-related scenario from any issuing authority, such as a DMV, passport issuer, school, or employer. For more information visit the following resources:

An introduction to UR Codes
The UR Encoder Demo
Learn more at URCodes.com

About Liveness.com

Liveness.com is an educational resource for biometrics users, vendors, analysts, media, and regulators, providing a comprehensive history of Level 1-5 Presentation Attack Detection, Template Tampering, and Camera Bypasses, as well as explanations of methods and means for evaluation, certification testing, and bounty programs.

Media Contact

John Wojewidka, FaceTec, Inc., 1.415.997.9235, JohnW@FaceTec.com, FaceTec.com

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View original content:https://www.prweb.com/releases/senior-government-biometrics-executive-joins-facetec-team-302324514.html

SOURCE FaceTec, Inc.

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commercetools Named a Leader in 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Digital Commerce as AI Reshapes the Market

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commercetools is a Leader in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Digital Commerce for the seventh consecutive year.commercetools has been driving AI innovation on how enterprises build, operate and sell, including capabilities like Sphere, Commerce MCP and commercetools for Builders.commercetools is helping global enterprises modernize complex commerce operations and prepare for a future where both people and AI agents discover, shop and transact.

BOSTON, Oct. 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — commercetools, the digital commerce AI company, today announced it has been positioned as a Leader in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Digital Commerce. This marks the seventh consecutive year commercetools has been recognized as a Leader in the report.

As AI reshapes commerce, commercetools is expanding how it supports the enterprises who build and operate commerce experiences, and the shoppers who use them. Global enterprises including JD Sports, Nederlandse Spoorwegen, Chemist Warehouse and Mirion Technologies are using commercetools to modernize complex digital commerce, accelerate growth and adopt new AI-powered ways of operating and selling.

“Commerce is moving from systems that simply respond to human instructions toward systems that can increasingly understand, decide and act,” said Doug McNary, Chief Executive Officer at commercetools. “We’re proud to be named a Leader for the seventh consecutive year. Enterprises shouldn’t have to choose between the flexibility they need today and the autonomy they’ll need tomorrow. Our focus is giving them the technology to support both.”

Over the past year, commercetools has introduced new products and capabilities designed to bring AI across the commerce lifecycle:

Sphere: Brings together commercetools’ AI-native infrastructure and agent governance through Commerce MCP into a unified platform for enterprises to build, operate and sell with AI.commercetools for Builders: Helps anyone build, extend and evolve enterprise commerce faster with AI.AgentSphere: Lets enterprises build and manage AI agents to run commerce operations and agentic shopping, with appropriate guardrails to do so safely and at scale.Modular commerce offerings: Gives enterprises the flexibility to start with the capabilities they need and expand over time, accelerating time to value without requiring a full commerce transformation upfront.Commerce Integration Layer: Centralizes integration logic behind customer-facing experiences. Storefronts, mobile apps and AI agents connect through a unified layer hosted and maintained by commercetools.Smart Data Modeler: Uses AI to accelerate product data modeling, helping teams build the right foundation faster and reduce time-to-launch.

commercetools’ customers include large enterprises across retail, manufacturing, life sciences, healthcare and telecommunications in markets around the world.

To learn more about commercetools’ position as a Leader, download your complimentary copy of the 2026 Gartner Magic Quadrant report today.

About the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Digital Commerce

Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Digital Commerce Platforms, Aditya Vasudevan, Penny Gillespie, Sandy Shen, Jason Daigler, Mike Lowndes, 19 October 2026

Gartner and Magic Quadrant are trademarks of Gartner, Inc., and/or its affiliates.

Gartner does not endorse any company, vendor, product or service depicted in its publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s business and technology insights organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this publication, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

About commercetools

commercetools, the global digital commerce AI company, helps enterprises transform commerce for the AI era. Built API-native from the start and AI-first by design, our technology enables agentic shopping experiences, automates commerce operations and gives businesses the agility to modernize faster, innovate continuously and operate more intelligently.

More than 500 global brands, retailers and enterprise companies rely on commercetools to power their digital commerce. Together, they process more than $100 billion in annualized GMV, over 700 million orders and more than one billion customer records on our platform.

Media Contact: comms@commercetools.com 

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SOURCE commercetools

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Phylo’s Biomni Lab to expand the use of AI agents in scientific research at Bayer

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SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Oct. 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Phylo, Inc. announced today a partnership with Bayer to deploy Biomni Lab, Phylo’s agentic AI platform to accelerate scientific research and evaluation. 

Under the agreement, Phylo will provide Bayer with full access to its agentic platform that helps Bayer scientists bring together scientific literature, biomedical data, and analytical methods in one environment, reducing the manual effort required to assemble and assess evidence. The platform’s inspectable workflows preserve the context behind each result, allowing researchers to review the underlying sources, methods, and execution and apply their own scientific judgment. Bayer scientists will gain access to Biomni Lab for workflows focused on assembling literature and omics evidence for drug discovery.

“This partnership reflects our belief that AI should expand scientific curiosity, not just speed up routine work. Giving our scientists an AI partner that brings rigor to every step lets them explore more ideas, ask bolder questions, and find the insights that move drug discovery forward, ultimately accelerating the pace at which we can bring new medicines to patients,” said Sai Jasti, Senior Vice President, Head of Data Science & Artificial Intelligence, Bayer Pharmaceuticals R&D.

“For agentic AI to matter in research, it has to earn the trust of the scientists doing the work. Bayer’s selection of Biomni Lab is a strong endorsement of the scientific rigor and AI capabilities we’ve built into the platform,” said Kexin Huang, Ph.D., Co-Founder and CEO of Phylo. “Our vision is an AI-native operating system for biopharma, where every scientist can direct a team of AI agents to pursue complex research questions. With Bayer, we aim to show what becomes possible when AI capabilities meet deep scientific expertise: more hypotheses explored, more discoveries made, and new possibilities for medicine.”

About Phylo

Phylo’s mission is to bring the best agentic intelligence to every biomedical scientist. Its enterprise-grade AI platform, Biomni Lab, is the first Integrated Biology Environment—a unified workspace where scientists collaborate with AI agents across literature research, experimental design, biological data analysis, and scientific decision-making.

Biomni Lab is now used by leading global biopharma, including Bayer, Chugai Pharmaceutical and Ono Pharmaceutical. Phylo is based in South San Francisco, backed by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Menlo Ventures.

For more information, visit phylo.bio. To learn more about Biomni Lab, visit biomni.phylo.bio.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/phylos-biomni-lab-to-expand-the-use-of-ai-agents-in-scientific-research-at-bayer-302917080.html

SOURCE Phylo, Inc.

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Sandler Partners Welcomes Bryan Rias as Director, Sales Engineer, West Region

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New Hire Announcement | Independent Technology Distributor Sandler Partners grows its Sales Engineering team, adding Bryan Rias as Director, Sales Engineer, West Region.

REDONDO BEACH, Calif., Oct. 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Sandler Partners, the leading independent Technology Solutions Distributor, announces the addition of Bryan Rias as Director, Sales Engineer, West Region, further strengthening its dedicated sales engineering team and the technical support available to Partners in the West Region.

Bryan brings more than two decades of experience designing and delivering complex technology solutions, including enterprise and Cloud architecture roles at Lumen/Savvis and IBM focused on infrastructure modernization and customer success. His expertise spans automation, edge computing, disaster recovery, application performance monitoring (APM), and DevSecOps. In his role, Bryan will support Partners across the West Region, aligning early with them on strategy and leading thoughtful discovery to help them find the right fit for each client.

For Bryan, strong relationships and solid values guide his life and form the foundation of his professional success, a perspective that fits naturally within the Sandler Partners community. When he is not working, Bryan spends time with his family, including his wife, three sons, and a grandson, RVing, boating, and biking, along with pursuing his passion for freediving.

“Bryan brings the kind of hands-on experience our Partners value: he’s been in the room on complex deals and knows how to turn a customer’s needs into the right solution,” says Justin Marano, Chief Revenue Officer, Sandler Partners. “He came to Sandler for the freedom to work across best-of-breed Providers, and our Partners in the West will feel that right away. He’s collaborative, grounded, and focused on helping Partners win. I’m excited to have him on the team.”

“I’m excited to get to work alongside our Partners, helping them navigate complex opportunities and bring clarity to technical decisions,” says Bryan. “For me, it all comes back to relationships. When you build them on trust and shared values, the results follow for our Partners and their clients. That’s something that the Sandler community really embodies, and I look forward to getting to work with our Partners!”

About Sandler Partners
Sandler Partners helps empower its network of leading independent Sales Partners to deliver a comprehensive range of technology solutions to organizations worldwide, including Cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Connectivity, Cloud, Colocation, Mobility, Internet of Things (IoT), and Continuity. Its community-focused approach enables Partners to identify the right solutions for customers quickly and objectively from a diverse portfolio of 220+ Providers. Partner sales agents, VARs, and MSPs gain access to an innovative suite of sales tools within the Sandler Portal—including SCOUT, Solutions Finder, Scout for Solutions, and the Marketing Center—several of which are AI-powered, all backed by a robust support network, dedicated Sales Engineering expertise, and rich marketing resources. Together, these tools and resources empower Partners to focus on what they do best: delivering quality, value, performance, innovative solutions, unmatched expertise, and exceptional service to their clients. Members of the Sandler Partners community also benefit from the industry’s strongest negotiated agreements and a dedicated team committed to ensuring commissions are accurately identified, tracked, and paid. For more information, visit www.sandlerpartners.com.

Sandler Partners – Media Contact
Tina S. Dyksterhouse
tina@sandlerpartners.com
310-861-2295

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sandler-partners-welcomes-bryan-rias-as-director-sales-engineer-west-region-302916413.html

SOURCE Sandler Partners

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