RALEIGH, N.C., Sept. 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Thales Academy, the network of K–12 classical schools located in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia, is adding a new “HVAC by CaptiveAire” HVAC technician certification course for high school seniors through its Luddy Institute of Technology (LIT) pre-engineering elective program. Designed in partnership with Bill Griffin, PE, President of Engineering and Manufacturing at CaptiveAire® (Thales Academy founder, Bob Luddy’s commercial ventilation company), this new program aims to offer students an immediate pathway into an in-demand career upon graduation, with all requirements completed during a daily 50-minute twelfth-grade elective class taken both semesters.

“I am thrilled to see this valuable vocational certification opportunity available through our Thales Academy high school program,” says Bob Luddy, Founder & Chairman, Thales Academy, and Founder & President, CaptiveAire Systems. “Our students are smart, capable, and responsible, and to be able to kick off a lucrative and rewarding career right out of high school is a great gift to many who prefer to avoid the higher education debt trap and start their careers immediately.”

Students who successfully complete the program will graduate from high school with the following accolades: A factory HVAC tech fundamentals credential, comparable to an associate’s degree from a community college; certification as a CaptiveAire Paragon HVAC Factory Certified Technician; EPA 608 Certificates (Core, Type II, and optionally, Universal); OSHA 10 Certification, as well as the opportunity to travel to CaptiveAire’s Research & Development Headquarters to interview with the President of Engineering and Manufacturing.

Students in the HVAC by CaptiveAire course will learn about and master HVAC design, practice professional skills related to the career, and prepare for and complete necessary certification exams/paperwork. They will also receive exposure to various fields of engineering, including mechanical, manufacturing, chemical, aerospace, and electrical engineering. Topics covered in the course include: psychrometrics; load calculations; duct design and manufacturing; electrical schematics; installation; troubleshooting and repair; brazing with the CaptiveAire Brazing Academy in Youngsville, NC; professional conduct; driver safety (defensive driving course with BRAKES); and more. Students in the course also will receive mentorship from and immediate access to CaptiveAire’s nationwide network of engineers and technicians as well as a guaranteed interview with CaptiveAire for a technician apprenticeship.

“The Luddy Institute of Technology at Thales Academy is a strong high school pre-engineering program, and I was honored to help design this course to equip future engineers with advanced knowledge and skills, facilitate immediate job options, and provide a rich, apprenticeship-level outcome for these students,” explains Bill Griffin, PE, President of Engineering and Manufacturing at CaptiveAire, and lead curriculum consultant on the HVAC at CaptiveAire course at Thales Academy.

“We are excited about offering students a career option directly out of high school (and a potential source of income to fund higher education or other goals as desired) as well as a strong foundation of knowledge, hands-on experience, and certifications for future engineers,” states Kim Tully, Luddy Institute of Technology and Industrial Arts Lead at Thales Academy.

Tully continues, “HVAC & Refrigeration Technician was recently listed #6 on Indeed’s Top 10 Most In-Demand Jobs (June 2026), citing a $77,728 median salary, and news of a nationwide HVAC Technician shortage this year adds job security to those in or entering the field, so this is a fantastic opportunity for our students.”

Interested families can learn more about Thales Academy, schedule a visit, and apply online at: www.ThalesAcademy.org.

About Thales Academy

Thales Academy is a K–12 network of classical schools that assists parents in cultivating virtuous, critical thinking, compassionate individuals and seeks to deliver the highest quality education at the lowest cost to parents and the community. Thales Academy fosters high standards of accountability, academic achievement, life skills, and civic responsibility through the use of an educational program rooted in Direct Instruction (K–5) and classical curriculum (6–12), with an emphasis on character development and practical skills development across all grades. This comprehensive curriculum creates a firm foundation for Thales Academy graduates to embody our Top 15 Outcomes and achieve success in various professions, continued studies at top colleges and universities, and other future endeavors. www.ThalesAcademy.org

About CaptiveAire®

CaptiveAire is on a mission—Fresh air everywhere. CaptiveAire’s Paragon HVAC delivers the best of the great outdoors indoors—up to 100% outdoor air—fresh, filtered, and dehumidified. Built on decades of learning as the nation’s leader in kitchen ventilation systems, CaptiveAire is transforming HVAC. CaptiveAire’s one system, one source solution to HVAC maximizes comfort, health, safety, efficiency, and price. With 2,100+ employees, 125+ North American sales and engineering offices, 6 U.S. manufacturing plants, and nationwide service team, CaptiveAire remains committed to continuous innovation and superior service. www.CaptiveAire.com

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/thales-academy-to-offer-hvac-by-captiveaire-hvac-technician-certification-elective-course-for-high-school-seniors-302889528.html

SOURCE Thales Academy

The second wave of Spiro’s Experiential Marketing Impact Report (EMIR) moves beyond whether experiences work to identifying the design choices most closely associated with trust, connection and purchase intent.

LAS VEGAS, Sept. 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Spiro®, a global experiential agency, today released EMIR: The Deeper Dive, the second wave of its Experiential Marketing Impact Report (EMIR), which examines how live experiences influence people and business outcomes.

The inaugural 2025 report established the business case for experiential, finding meaningful relationships between live experiences and outcomes including trust, advocacy, purchase intent and action.

Now, The Deeper Dive asks the next question: What makes some experiences work harder than others?

Based on research with 2,000 additional B2B and B2C live-event attendees, the report looks more closely at the design choices behind an experience and how those decisions relate to what people think, feel and do afterward.

“Marketers already know a great experience can be powerful. The harder questions are why it worked, what actually mattered and whether you can do it again,” said Carley Faircloth-Kilmurray, Global Chief Marketing, Strategy & Brand Experiences Officer at Spiro.

Spiro calls this the Effectiveness Era: moving the industry conversation from proving experiential works to understanding why it works and how to make it work better.

“If we understand more about what makes experiences effective, we can bring that evidence into the strategy and design process from the beginning, and make stronger decisions about the experiences we create,” said Faircloth-Kilmurray.

Among the findings:

People trust people. Knowledgeable staff increased brand trust for 43% of attendees, while 54% engaged by talking with a real person.

Clarity earns attention. 40% said a clear, easy-to-understand benefit made an experience worth their time.

Participation builds intent. Hands-on participation was associated with substantially higher purchase intent, with 85% of deeply engaged attendees reporting they were more likely to purchase.

“This research gives teams a stronger foundation for deciding what to prioritize, what to measure and what to change next time,” said Beki Winchel, VP, Marketing at Spiro. “The more we learn about what works, the better we can get at designing for it.”

From Research to Practical Application

The growing EMIR toolkit helps experiential marketers put the research to work, with a Maturity Assessment Workbook to identify where they can improve, plus a Finance Conversation Guide to build stronger internal investment conversations.

To download EMIR: The Deeper Dive and explore the strategic EMIR toolkit, visit Spiro.com.

About Spiro

Spiro is a global experiential agency built around a simple belief: great experiences create stronger bonds between brands and customers. We call that Brand Gravity™. Through strategy, creativity, production and measurement, Spiro creates experiences that strengthen those relationships and turn them into meaningful customer and business outcomes. Learn more at spiro.com.

Media Contact
Melissa Burns
Senior Director of Marketing
mburns@thisisspiro.com

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/spiros-newest-emir-research-reveals-what-makes-brand-experiences-more-effective-302889310.html

SOURCE Spiro

AI File Renaming, AI File Validator and AI File Routing agents remove repetitive document work inside firms’ existing workflow

ATLANTA, Sept. 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Financial Cents today announced the launch of three AI agents — AI File Renaming, AI File Validator and AI File Routing — that remove repetitive document work from accounting and bookkeeping firms’ daily workflow. All three are available free on every Financial Cents plan, bringing effortless AI functionality to thousands of accounting and bookkeeping firms across North America.

The launch comes as small firms report a widening gap between using AI and getting value from it. In Financial Cents’ recently released State of AI in Bookkeeping & Accounting: 2026 Report — based on the company’s original survey of nearly 500 accounting and bookkeeping professionals across North America — 95% of firms said they are already using AI in some capacity, yet only about one in five could point to a clear, measurable return. The most-cited barrier to getting more value out of AI wasn’t cost, trust or skepticism, but the time required to learn and roll out a new tool.

Financial Cents built its agents around that specific problem. Rather than asking firms to adopt a new system or design an implementation plan, the agents work instantly inside the workflows teams already use, and each firm decides how much the agents handle on their own.

“Almost every firm we surveyed is already using AI, but very few are getting measurable value from it,” said Shahram Zarshenas, co-founder and CEO of Financial Cents. “The holdup isn’t skepticism, but time. That’s why we built these agents on the simple belief that good AI should ask nothing of you and your team. It shouldn’t require a new rollout, a separate workflow or a formal training day. It should immediately take repetitive work off your team’s plate, making that work better instead of just faster. And you should always stay in control of any work with your name on it.”

AI File Renaming addresses the daily nuisance of sifting through confusing file names in search of the correct document, and then having to rename the file by hand once you locate the one you need. This agent scans each file the moment the client uploads it and applies the firm’s naming convention automatically, while preserving the original file name as part of the historical record. Firms can choose to have the agent save new names independently or wait for a human to approve the suggestions first.

AI File Validator targets incorrect documents. Often, when a client uploads the wrong file (e.g., the wrong type or wrong period), no one notices until a staff member opens it hours or days later, by which point the work has already stalled. This agent checks each document against the request and accounting period at the moment of upload, gives the client clear feedback in the portal if a file appears to be incorrect and lets them fix it on the spot before it ever reaches the firm’s team.

AI File Routing tackles the busywork of sorting client uploads into the right folders by hand. This agent reads each uploaded file the moment it lands on a client task, matches it to how that client’s folders are already organized and files a copy in the best-fit folder while leaving the original on the task — automatically when it’s confident, or as a suggestion staff approve first.

Across all three agents, Financial Cents keeps the firm in control by surfacing what the agents are doing, flagging low-confidence decisions for review and leaving the final call to the team. The agents run inside Financial Cents, which is SOC 2 certified and encrypts data in transit and at rest.

The launch is part of a broader effort to give small firms an honest, practical view of AI. Alongside the agents and the newly released research report, Financial Cents also recently published the AI edition of Two Cents Magazine, featuring insights from industry experts and real firm owners, operators and staff across roles, firm sizes and locations. The goal is to give accounting and bookkeeping professionals at small and growing firms a clear look at what’s truly useful, what’s noise and how AI actually helps at this scale.

“The most important thing a firm can do right now is stay curious and keep human judgment in the loop,” Zarshenas added. “That’s what the research and this issue of the magazine are really about: cutting through the noise so firm owners can see what’s working for firms like theirs and decide for themselves what the right approach is.”

AI File Renaming, AI File Validator and AI File Routing are available now, free on every Financial Cents plan. Existing customers can turn them on under Settings > AI Agents, and firms new to Financial Cents can start a 14-day free trial at financial-cents.com. Learn more about all of Financial Cents’ AI features at financial-cents.com/artificial-intelligence.

About Financial Cents
Financial Cents is a leading practice management platform built to help accounting and bookkeeping firms streamline workflows, improve collaboration and scale without chaos. Thousands of firms across North America rely on Financial Cents to manage their work, clients and teams in one place. Learn more at financial-cents.com.

Media Contact

marketing@financial-cents.com

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/financial-cents-launches-ai-agents-to-eliminate-accounting-busywork-302888776.html

SOURCE Financial Cents