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Cordial Adds Accomplished Retail Leader as SVP of Strategy and Insights

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1 year ago

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Rob Garf joins enterprise marketing leader to accelerate AI innovation and help customers maximize ROI

SAN DIEGO, Feb. 20, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Cordial, the leader in messaging for enterprise retail marketing teams, announces hiring Rob Garf as SVP of Strategy and Insights. Spending his 25-year career as a retail practitioner, industry analyst, strategy consultant and software executive, Garf has helped accelerate digital transformation for iconic brands from around the world. Now, he’ll lead the strategy to help Cordial customers like Levi Strauss & Co, REVOLVE, PacSun, and Boot Barn automate and personalize messages across channels — accelerating customer lifetime value and profitability.

“With Rob’s incredible pulse on the retail industry, our customers will immediately benefit from his addition to the Cordial team,” said Jeremy Swift, CEO and co-founder of Cordial. “Throughout his career, Rob has built trust with leading brands by delivering data and insights — guiding retail executives to embrace innovative technology and navigate through major transformations. With Rob, we’ll continue to develop our scalable AI-native product that eliminates marketing guesswork and accelerates brands’ AI transformation.”

Garf most recently served as VP and GM of Retail and Consumer Goods at Salesforce, which he joined in 2016 after Salesforce acquired Demandware. As VP of Industry Strategy and Insights at Demandware, his team defined the cloud e-commerce platform category, focused on educating the market about their solutions, and built relationships with digital leaders to enable their transition to the cloud. At Cordial, he’ll define a new era of consumer engagement, helping the world’s biggest brands build real connections with their customers through AI-driven messages that matter and deliver real value. A National Retail Federation (NRF) Digital Council member, Garf was recognized as an NRF Top 50 Retail Voice and a RETHINK Retail Top Expert. He also serves on the Executive Leadership Committee for the Retail AI Council.

Garf joins Cordial at a pivotal moment in retail AI innovation. Through Cordial Edge — the company’s groundbreaking multimodal AI technology — brands can generate custom AI models that optimize for outcomes focused on customer revenue and profitability, rather than relying on generic approaches. Combining Cordial Edge’s capabilities with Garf’s deep expertise, enterprise brands can create highly contextualized campaigns that respond intelligently to each customer’s actions and behaviors.

“What drew me to Cordial was the confluence of three critical elements: innovative technology that consistently delivers positive outcomes, highly satisfied customers, and most importantly, a team of passionate experts aligned around a common mission,” said Garf. “The marketing technology space has evolved rapidly, and Cordial is uniquely positioned to enable its customers to unify fragmented data, leverage embedded intelligence, and automate personalized messages across channels.”

For more information about Cordial, please visit cordial.com.

About Cordial
Cordial’s technology helps companies like L.L.Bean, Orveon Global, PacSun and Boot Barn automate high-conversion messages across email, SMS, mobile apps, social media, direct mail and more, driving scalable revenue and lasting customer connections. Recognized by Snowflake as a “one to watch” in their Modern Marketing Data Stack 2025 and by Gartner in their 2024 Magic Quadrant for Multichannel Marketing Hubs, Cordial was also named a Strong Performer in The Forrester Wave™: Email Marketing Service Providers, Q3 2024, receiving the highest possible scores in six criteria, and named a fastest-growing company in the 2024 Inc. 5000. Connect with us at www.cordial.com.

Media Contact
Ryan Hecker
PANBlast for Cordial
cordial@panblastpr.com

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SOURCE Cordial

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XLCS Partners advises Concurrent Utility Services on sale to UniTek Global Services

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July 23, 2026

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NASHVILLE, Tenn., July 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — XLCS Partners, Inc., a leading middle market investment bank, is pleased to announce that it served as exclusive M&A advisor to Concurrent Utility Services LLC on its acquisition by UniTek Global Services, Inc., a portfolio company of New Mountain Finance Corporation (Nasdaq: NMFC) and its affiliates, and BTG Pactual Strategic Capital.

Headquartered in Miami, Florida, Concurrent is a licensed general and electrical contractor providing infrastructure development and maintenance services to electric utilities, telecom providers, and land developers throughout the Southeast United States. The company’s capabilities span overhead and underground utility construction, professional telecom services, emergency service restoration, in-building networks, environmental services, and data center development. Backed by a safety-first culture and an experienced workforce, Concurrent has built a strong regional platform and a reputation for quality across the markets it serves.

UniTek is a leading digital infrastructure services provider supporting the expansion of fiber and data center connectivity across the U.S. and Canada. With over 600 employees and 60 locations, UniTek delivers a full suite of infrastructure services. The acquisition of Concurrent accelerates UniTek’s Power Services Division, which launched in July 2025 to broaden the company’s maintenance, repair, upgrade, and new infrastructure development services for the power sector. Concurrent’s established Southeast footprint and power capabilities directly complement UniTek’s existing broadband and data center infrastructure platform, positioning the combined company to capitalize on growing demand for resilient, modernized power infrastructure. Concurrent will continue to operate under its established brand, maintaining uninterrupted service for its customers.

“Selling Concurrent was one of the biggest decisions of my career, and Anthony, Jay, and the XLCS team guided us through every step with professionalism and genuine care for our people,” said Steve Sarno, CEO of Concurrent. “They stayed fully engaged throughout, gave us honest and thoughtful advice, kept our best interests front and center, and delivered an outcome that exceeded our expectations. I would recommend them without hesitation to any owner considering a transaction.”

XLCS acted as the exclusive M&A advisor to Concurrent, and the transaction was led by Anthony Contaldo, Partner, and Jay Cremer, Vice President. The transaction was completed on July 1, 2026.

About XLCS Partners, Inc.

XLCS Partners is a leading global investment banking firm providing M&A advisory services. Visit www.xlcspartners.com for more information.

Media Contact: 
Kendra Span 
kspan@xlcspartners.com
615-379-7783

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SOURCE XLCS Partners, Inc.

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XLCS Partners advises Concurrent Utility Services on sale to UniTek Global Services

Published

50 minutes ago

on

July 23, 2026

By

NASHVILLE, Tenn., July 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — XLCS Partners, Inc., a leading middle market investment bank, is pleased to announce that it served as exclusive M&A advisor to Concurrent Utility Services LLC on its acquisition by UniTek Global Services, Inc., a portfolio company of New Mountain Finance Corporation (Nasdaq: NMFC) and its affiliates, and BTG Pactual Strategic Capital.

Headquartered in Miami, Florida, Concurrent is a licensed general and electrical contractor providing infrastructure development and maintenance services to electric utilities, telecom providers, and land developers throughout the Southeast United States. The company’s capabilities span overhead and underground utility construction, professional telecom services, emergency service restoration, in-building networks, environmental services, and data center development. Backed by a safety-first culture and an experienced workforce, Concurrent has built a strong regional platform and a reputation for quality across the markets it serves.

UniTek is a leading digital infrastructure services provider supporting the expansion of fiber and data center connectivity across the U.S. and Canada. With over 600 employees and 60 locations, UniTek delivers a full suite of infrastructure services. The acquisition of Concurrent accelerates UniTek’s Power Services Division, which launched in July 2025 to broaden the company’s maintenance, repair, upgrade, and new infrastructure development services for the power sector. Concurrent’s established Southeast footprint and power capabilities directly complement UniTek’s existing broadband and data center infrastructure platform, positioning the combined company to capitalize on growing demand for resilient, modernized power infrastructure. Concurrent will continue to operate under its established brand, maintaining uninterrupted service for its customers.

“Selling Concurrent was one of the biggest decisions of my career, and Anthony, Jay, and the XLCS team guided us through every step with professionalism and genuine care for our people,” said Steve Sarno, CEO of Concurrent. “They stayed fully engaged throughout, gave us honest and thoughtful advice, kept our best interests front and center, and delivered an outcome that exceeded our expectations. I would recommend them without hesitation to any owner considering a transaction.”

XLCS acted as the exclusive M&A advisor to Concurrent, and the transaction was led by Anthony Contaldo, Partner, and Jay Cremer, Vice President. The transaction was completed on July 1, 2026.

About XLCS Partners, Inc.

XLCS Partners is a leading global investment banking firm providing M&A advisory services. Visit www.xlcspartners.com for more information.

Media Contact: 
Kendra Span 
kspan@xlcspartners.com
615-379-7783

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/xlcs-partners-advises-concurrent-utility-services-on-sale-to-unitek-global-services-302833542.html

SOURCE XLCS Partners, Inc.

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Fathom Applauds Introduction of the FRONTIER Act, the First Federal Blueprint for Independent AI Verification

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50 minutes ago

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July 23, 2026

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Reps. Lori Trahan (D-MA-03) and Jay Obernolte (R-CA-23) introduce a bill to build a competitive marketplace of independent verifiers for frontier AI models.

WASHINGTON, July 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Fathom welcomes the introduction of the FRONTIER Act, the most complete federal framework yet for independent, third-party verification of frontier AI. The legislation is built to earn public trust as AI technology continues to accelerate. As frontier systems begin to take autonomous action in the world, the gap between what these models can do and our ability to keep them in check is widening. FRONTIER is the starting point to close that gap.

“AI governance keeps running into the same wall. The technology is hard to measure and it moves faster than any law can keep up with,” said Andrew Freedman, Co-Founder and CEO of Fathom. “Trying to write the perfect rules and freezing them in place won’t work. What will work is a competitive market of independent verifiers who are accountable for real-world outcomes and who the government can actually count on. The FRONTIER Act shows we can move fast and still get this right.”

The bill gets the fundamentals correct. It sets one public standard – the adequate mitigation of catastrophic risk – and holds both the AI companies and their independent verifiers accountable to it. FRONTIER does not freeze a single testing method into statute. Instead, it licenses competing verification organizations, allows them to sharpen their methods, and gives the government the power to revoke a license when a verifier’s work does not hold up in the field. That is how you build a system that keeps pace with the science instead of falling behind it.

Fathom thanks Reps. Trahan and Obernolte for their leadership, and for their courage in releasing a discussion draft, inviting scrutiny, and incorporating substantive improvements from across the field. One priority improvement as the bill advances: giving the government a fuller range of tools to act upstream – for pushing companies to close identified gaps in risk mitigation early, rather than only once a catastrophe is imminent. We are committed to working with these sponsors, committees of jurisdiction, and Congressional leadership to continue refining the bill in the weeks and months ahead.

About Fathom
Fathom is an independent nonprofit whose mission is to build a governance architecture that helps society navigate the transition to a world with AI by fostering trust, safety, and innovation. Fathom has developed and championed the independent verification model for AI and works with policymakers across the country to put it into practice. Learn more at http://fathom.org.

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SOURCE Fathom AI Inc.

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