Researchers from Across the World Convened in Queens to Discuss Digital Methods and Theories Impacting the World

QUEENS, N.Y., Oct. 13, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Vaughn College hosted the sixth annual International Conference on Digital Technologies and Applications (ICDTA) on Friday, October 9 and Saturday, October 10. The two-day hybrid conference focused on the intersection of digital technologies, soft computing and intelligent systems, and how it impacts the world. Serving as a bridge between high-level engineering and practical business applications, the conference drew researchers from across the world from more than 30 different countries, both in-person and online.

“Hosting the conference at Vaughn College significantly elevated the institution’s global academic presence while providing students with invaluable professional growth,” said Dr Sanaa Faquir, assistant professor in Vaughn’s engineering and technology department. “By bringing top researchers and industry pioneers directly to campus, the college established indexed publication ties and opened the door for future institutional partnerships and research grants.” Dr. Faquir, who served as a conference moderator, also helped organize the event.

Two plenary sessions made up the in-person section of the conference on October 9. The morning plenary session featured guest speakers Wayne J. Levin, president and chief executive officer of Predictum Inc., Canada, and Dr. Philip Ramsey, vice president of data science and training at Predictum discussing how bad research costs the United States economy several billion dollars every year and steps that can be taken to reverse the trend. The plenary session concluded with guest speaker Dr. Kaoutar El Maghraoui, principle research scientist at IBM, discussing efficient LLM inference—the process of using a trained large language model to generate output text, code or data from an input prompt without changing the model’s learned weights.

The afternoon plenary session began with guest speaker Dr. Lobna A. Said, professor at Nile University, discussing hardware-efficient FPGA accelerators—hardware circuits built on a field-programmable gate array that speeds up scientific computing tasks by executing them directly in parallel custom logic—for a machine learning-based time-series. The session concluded with Dr. Amir Toliyat, assistant professor of information systems and informatics at City University of New York City-College of Staten Island, speaking about responsible AI for marketing decision support.

Online participants heard both panels on October 9 and oral sessions on October 10 covering multiple topics regarding both AI and the digital transformation of the workplace, how AI is impacting healthcare, business, marketing, education, aviation and several other fields, and the digital transformation of supply chains, health, education, energy, power grids, government and power sectors.

VAUGHN COLLEGE: Founded in 1932, Vaughn College is a private, nonprofit four-year college that enrolls more than 1,600 students in master’s, bachelor’s and associate degree programs in engineering, technology, management and aviation on its main campus in New York City and online. The student-faculty ratio of 18 to 1 ensures a highly personalized learning environment. Ninety-five percent of Vaughn College graduates, 71 percent in their field of study, are employed in professional positions or choose to continue their education within one year of graduation. The institution serves many first-generation college students and is recognized by the US Department of Education as a Hispanic-Serving Institution. In a study conducted by The Equality of Opportunity Project, and reported in The New York Times, Vaughn was ranked number one in upward mobility nationwide. For more information on Vaughn College visit http://www.vaughn.edu.

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SOURCE Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology

Deeper integration with Xplan as part of latest evolution of FAYBL agentic platform 

Highlights

AI financial advisory platform FAYBL appoints Xplan co-founder and former Iress Chief Executive Andrew Walsh as President (International) of FAYBLFAYBL is rolling out a deeper integration with Iress’ XplanRollout of FAYBL platform update – v2.5 – underway, with additional 6 firms onboarding

SYDNEY, Oct. 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — FAYBL, the agentic AI platform for financial advisers, today announced the appointment of experienced financial industry executive Andrew Walsh as the company’s President (International).

The appointment comes as FAYBL delivers deeper and richer integration with Iress’ Xplan as part of the latest evolution of its platform.

Mr Walsh is the co-founder of Xplan, the advice platform used by financial advisory practices across Australia, the UK, New Zealand and other markets, and led Iress as Chief Executive for 13 years.

As President (International) of FAYBL, Mr Walsh will lead its work with licensees, platforms and advice firms as the company moves to firm-wide rollouts in Australia and internationally.

Speaking about his appointment, Mr Walsh said: “I’ve spent much of my career building the systems advisers rely on every day. What’s changed now is that software can do more than store the work – it can help do it. FAYBL offers the capability to drive the adviser’s existing systems, safely and with the adviser in control, thereby unlocking the scaling potential of practices.”

Rollout of FAYBL V2.5 underway

Mr Walsh’s appointment comes as FAYBL commences the rollout of its latest platform update, FAYBL v2.5.

As part of the update, FAYBL’s AI agent (Faybl) now has the capability to work across client records, documents and file notes, tasks and workflow, the diary, portfolio, and modelling information.

Purpose-built for the highly regulated, high-trust environment of advice, Faybl integrates directly into existing software systems while maintaining strict guardrails that keep advisers and licensees in control. Moving beyond merely describing workflows to actively executing them, Faybl prepares models strategies, drafts documents, raises tasks, and records completed actions, with every action submitted for approval before any data is written back to other systems.

Chris Holmes of Wealth Laboratory said: “Faybl has brought the joy back to financial planning. The days of being weighed down by endless administration are gone, allowing me to focus on what I enjoy most – meeting with clients and developing meaningful strategies to help them achieve their goals. If the growing administrative and compliance burden is taking you away from your clients, I cannot recommend Faybl highly enough.”

While basic AI is now common in financial advice, it is used mostly for meeting notes and simple tasks, and leaves the adviser’s day largely unchanged.

By contrast, FAYBL V2.5 is an agent that effectively works with the adviser throughout the day. It will prepare client files before reviews, draft advice documents from the firm’s own templates, pre-fill fact-finds and flag what it couldn’t verify, and run the firm’s processes the same way for every adviser.

“I’m excited to have Andrew join our leadership team,” said Steven Goh, co-founder and CEO of FAYBL. “An AI agentic experience can transform the professional experience and economics of advice for the better. Andrew joining and V2.5 are big steps towards that.”

FAYBL V2.5 is available now to Profile Financial Services, Financial Advice Matters, Transition Wealth, Knight Group, Obra Wealth, Wealth Laboratory and many others. Further firm launches will be announced in November. Advisers at Count.ed 2026 can see Faybl working with Xplan at the FAYBL stand.

About FAYBL

FAYBL (YBL.ai Inc.) builds Faybl, an agentic AI platform for financial advisers and their teams. Fay works inside the systems advisers already use, including Iress’ Xplan, to carry out client and practice work under the adviser’s direction and approval. FAYBL is led by co-founder and CEO Steven Goh, President (International) Andrew Walsh and President (Americas) Doug Bewsher. It serves advice practices in Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom. www.faybl.com

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SOURCE FAYBL

California Lutheran University Center for Nonprofit Leadership workshop will provide nonprofit leaders with practical strategies to strengthen engagement, fundraising and mission-driven social media

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif., Oct. 13, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Marketing Maven CEO and president Lindsey Carnett will lead “Strategic Social Media for Nonprofit Growth and Engagement,” a three-hour virtual workshop presented by California Lutheran University’s Center for Nonprofit Leadership with support from the Santa Barbara Foundation on Wednesday, November 4, 2026 from 9 a.m. to noon.

Designed for nonprofit leaders, communications and marketing staff and board members, the workshop will provide practical strategies for using social media to build awareness, engage supporters and advance organizational missions. Participants will explore how different social media platforms can support organizational objectives, including volunteer recruitment, donor cultivation, event promotion, corporate partnerships and talent acquisition.

“Social media gives nonprofits an incredible opportunity to connect directly with the communities they serve, but being active online is only one piece of an effective strategy,” said Carnett. “This workshop is designed to give nonprofit leaders practical tools they can use to create meaningful content, strengthen engagement and turn their social media efforts into measurable support for their missions.”

Throughout the workshop, Carnett will guide participants through developing a social media strategy aligned with their organizational priorities and identifying the platforms best suited to reach their audiences. Attendees will learn strategies for creating compelling content, developing an efficient content calendar and using scheduling and analytics tools to maximize their time and impact. The workshop will also address organic and paid social media, current platform trends and ways to integrate social media into broader fundraising and marketing campaigns.

Support from the Santa Barbara Foundation provides nonprofit professionals serving Santa Barbara County access to professional development opportunities through Cal Lutheran’s Center for Nonprofit Leadership. The Nov. 4 workshop is part of the Foundation’s support for nonprofit learning and development in the region.

Carnett brings more than two decades of marketing and public relations experience to the workshop. As founder and CEO of Marketing Maven, an integrated marketing and public relations agency, her areas of expertise include public relations, social media, reputation management, search engine optimization and digital advertising. A Cal Lutheran alumna, Carnett also serves as a faculty lecturer for the university’s Center for Nonprofit Leadership and earned her bachelor’s degree in Spanish and communications with an emphasis in public relations and advertising.

The workshop will be held virtually via Zoom on Wednesday, November 4, 2026, from 9 a.m. to noon. Additional information and registration are available through Cal Lutheran’s Center for Nonprofit Leadership. Strategic Social Media for Nonprofit Growth and Engagement | Center for Nonprofit Leadership

To attend, please reach out to Sophia Coffaro at coffaro@callutheran.edu or Brewster King at brewsterk@callutheran.edu.

About the Center for Nonprofit Leadership

As the only management training center of its kind in the region, the Center for Nonprofit Leadership provides practical and affordable professional development opportunities for nonprofit leaders serving Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties. The CNL is committed to equipping nonprofit leaders with data-driven resources and training to support long-term success. To learn more, visit CalLutheran.edu/CNL or contact nonprofit@CalLutheran.edu.

About Santa Barbara Foundation
Founded in 1928, the Santa Barbara Foundation actively connects donors, nonprofits, government, businesses and the people of Santa Barbara County to take on the most challenging needs facing our region’s communities. Recognizing that its work depends on the strength of the social sector, the Foundation is committed to the health and vitality of local nonprofits. Knowing that together we can do more, the Foundation mobilizes charitable giving and connects their expertise to that of donors, nonprofits and residents to create meaningful impact on the communities of our county. SBFoundation.org. 

About Lindsey Carnett

Lindsey Carnett is a marketing and public relations professional who developed The Marketing Maven Method to simplify marketing by empowering leaders to make data-driven marketing decisions. Lindsey is the CEO of Marketing Maven, a research, digital and PR firm headquartered in Ventura County, and author of the recent book, The Marketing Maven Method: Secrets of a Maven.

A two-time honoree of Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Independently Owned Companies in America, as well as an Entrepreneur 360 Most Entrepreneurial Companies in America award recipient, Lindsey has taken her business expertise global to enlighten marketing peers and business leaders about best practices in using PR to drive engagement, improve organic SEO, and grow a positive online reputation.

Having spoken at high profile national marketing and consumer products conferences and guest lectured at universities, Carnett has gained the reputation as an expert in the field of marketing and public relations. Her areas of specialties include: Public Relations, Social Media, Reputation Management, Direct Response Marketing, U.S. product launches, SEO, GEO, Event PR, and Spanish Media. To learn more about Lindsey, visit www.LindseyCarnett.com.

About Marketing Maven:
With offices in Camarillo, Los Angeles and New York City, Marketing Maven is a full-service marketing and communications agency. With origins in direct response public relations, Marketing Maven has developed into a premier voice in brand strategy, social media, innovative media relations, market research, Hispanic marketing, digital advertising and search engine optimization (SEO/GEO). Marketing Maven leads the industry in utilizing advanced metrics to measure their clients’ marketing reach and providing competitive analysis unparalleled in the industry. For additional information about Marketing Maven, visit http://www.MarketingMaven.com.

Press Contact:

frank@marketingmaven.com

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SOURCE Marketing Maven Public Relations, Inc.