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Dr. Lisa N. Herring Named President of PROPEL

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Champion of innovation in education and proven leader of partnerships and initiatives that empower all students

ATLANTA, Oct. 4, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Before the successful convening of the 5th annual National HBCU Week, PROPEL officially welcomed educator Dr. Lisa N. Herring as President. Herring, who most recently served as superintendent of the Atlanta Public Schools, is respected as a champion of innovation in education, having charted a longstanding history of success in propelling students to new heights of academic achievement. Herring also formerly served as superintendent of the Birmingham City Schools.

PROPEL also announced that the U.S. Department of Education named Dr. Herring as Strategic Advisor to the Secretary, where she’ll help shape the USDOE’s strategy to engage state and local officials. As the incoming president of the PROPEL Center, Dr. Herring is singularly enthused by the distinctive appointment, and the many potential ways in which the strategic role with the USDOE aligns with and complements her important work with PROPEL on behalf of America’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and their students.

Dr. Herring’s nearly 30-year track record of excellence, from classroom teacher to trailblazing edu-tech advocate and leader spans public and private environments. She has garnered numerous accolades for her staunch, future-focused leadership and unwavering dedication to students and their success. While with the Atlanta Public School system, she established the Ed Farm Teacher Fellows, Innovation Fellows and Code Clubs. During her tenure, the school system realized exponential corporate partnership growth, and achieved the highest three-year graduation rate increase in district history. Most recently, she was recognized for her leadership in generating private-public partnerships with Fortune 500 companies to forge stronger career pathways and reimagine learning for students.

PROPEL’s leadership is energized by the addition of the prominent and accomplished education executive. “Dr. Lisa Herring is a highly regarded and transformational leader in education, who has charted a longstanding and distinctive record of stewarding innovative approaches to learning. We are pleased to welcome her as the president of PROPEL,” stated Anthony Oni, Founder and Board Chair of PROPEL. “Dr. Herring’s wealth of experience in building and leading effective teams, pioneering technology integration in learning, and cultivating impactful industry partnerships clearly sets her apart as a leader. We are confident that under Dr. Herring’s stewardship, PROPEL will continue to empower HBCU students with significant opportunities for future-focused learning, economic opportunities, and leadership development.”

Dr. Herring thoughtfully echoes that sentiment. “As many people across the HBCU ecosystem are aware, PROPEL has made tremendous strides in moving forward its mission to elevate the educational experiences of, and career opportunities for the next generation of Black leaders across industry,” says Herring. “Being a proud graduate and a recent visiting lecturer at Spelman College, I am incredibly humbled by this opportunity, as it stands as a rare chance to bring the innovation that has long been my hallmark to this organization. My goal with PROPEL is to continue to do just that, while we blaze broader paths of opportunity for the coming generations of young HBCU scholars and leaders.”

About PROPEL
Supported by founding partners Apple and Southern Company, PROPEL is a first–of–its–kind innovation and learning hub for the entire HBCU community that will serve as a catalytic epicenter of instruction, providing students with the knowledge, skills, tools and resources necessary to transform the nation’s talent pipeline and workforce. Last month, Propel launched PROPEL Learn, a student-focused app designed to revolutionize the way HBCU students prepare for future job success. PROPEL Learn provides culturally-responsive content, curriculum and tech-focused micro-credentials that are co-developed by industry experts, distinguished HBCU faculty, and notable workforce collaborators.

About PROPEL Learn
PROPEL Learn is an app designed to empower Historically Black College and University (HBCU) students in their pursuit of future career success. With a user-friendly interface and an array of innovative, culturally-curated features, PROPEL Learn aims to bridge the gap between HBCU students and their professional aspirations. Through personalized career guidance, skill development resources and interactive networking opportunities, the app strives to foster inclusivity and diversity within industries, shaping a more promising future for HBCU students. To learn more about PROPEL Learn and the available micro-credentials, visit propelcenter.org.

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SOURCE PropelCenter.org

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Quickplay Launches Live Operations, Bringing AI-Enriched Orchestration and Operational Control to Live Broadcast Channels

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Operators can now control distributed stations, enforce standards network-wide, transform newscasts into social and vertical content, correct station errors in real-time all via a single console

AMSTERDAM , Sept. 3, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Quickplay, the Content to Value Operating System for media and entertainment, today announced Live Operations, a cloud-native, centralized management control plane for managing live broadcast and OTT channels. With it, operators can now manage scheduling, signal control, ad decisioning, clip production, and monitoring and observability from one console. AI is distributed across entire live broadcast workflows, enabling newsrooms to apply intelligence in completely new ways including across editorial. Quickplay will publicly debut Live Operations at IBC 2026, Hall 5.G86.

Ideal for broadcasters and streaming operators running live-linear and FAST channels, news organizations managing distributed stations without full-time on-site engineering staff, sports rights holders with regional blackout requirements, and multi-channel operators running multiple simultaneous channels, Live Operations provides operational control at scale. At a time when broadcasters spend approximately 75% of their time on technical workflows, this capability unchains them from those responsibilities so they can focus on delivering the high-quality live programming viewers depend on.

Most operators manage live across a stack of tools that don’t share signals: scheduling in one system, signal control in another, ad break management in yet another, with clipping handled as a separate post-production workflow entirely. When something breaks, teams find out late and must work across multiple systems to fix it.

“Many broadcasters today use AI to do smart things in metadata, in packaging, in ad decisioning, each creating individual value, yet completely disconnected from the others. With live programming, the time needed to connect these dots is time operators simply don’t have. Viewers will have moved on, as will the revenue,” said Paul Pastor, Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer, Quickplay. “AI at a single step creates value. But AI orchestrated across every step, across an entire broadcast network, creates compounding value. At IBC, we’re showcasing the power of this live AI workflow and highlighting the success Television New Zealand (TVNZ) and Gray Media are seeing with it.”

What Live Operations Does

Live Operations is the operator-facing control plane inside the Content to Value Operating System. From a single console, operators control:

Scheduler and EPG Management: Enables operators to manage metadata, and build and manage all content from one, centralized location including live events, VOD assets, slates, and replays. Unscheduled gaps and schedules conflicts are flagged and corrected before going live.Live Channel & Signal Control: Gives users control over what’s on air at each moment including input switching, slate insertion, fallback triggering, stream acquisition, and channel start and stop operations, all from a single dashboard.Ad Break and SCTE-35 Management: Enables users to automate ad break timing through SCTE-35 cues. Users can also view real-time metadata to improve ad decisioning, a revenue protection feature for ad-supported channels.Live Disruption and Fallback: Delivers automated and manual fallback protection for signal loss and unexpected disruptions. When the live input drops below configured health thresholds, the platform automatically routes output to a pre-configured looped VOD fallback asset without operator intervention. Fallback at any time can proactively be triggered at any time, and is local to the Quickplay platform, never dependent on an external signal source.Live-to-VOD and Clip Factory: Transforms each newscast into a catalog of distributable content automatically. AI analyzes live event recordings and packages it into a series of branded short clips, complete with new metadata, ready for verticalization and syndication, removing the burden of responsibility from producers and reporters. Monitoring & Observability: Ensures real-time visibility into every layer of the live delivery chain via a unified dashboard.

“Live has no margin for error,” said Juan Martin, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer, Quickplay. “Live Operations challenges today’s status quo by eliminating the need for disconnected systems so that if something breaks down during a live broadcast, teams are notified and a fix is in process in real-time. No dead air, no missed SCTE cues, no failed signals. This is AI doing what it should do, backed by the assurance of a Content to Value Operating System purpose-built to support transformation.”

Live Operations is a part of Quickplay’s Content to Value Operating System which connects every step of digital media production and monetization into one smart system, built on five engines: Stream, Enrich, Activate, Engage, and Maximize. Live Operations lives within Stream, which delivers broadcast-grade, scalable streams for live, VOD, catch-up, and virtual channels. As a part of the larger system, Live Operations is inherently connected to other engines, bringing the value of true orchestration to the entire workflow of a broadcast network.

Quickplay will showcase Live Operations at IBC 2026 in Hall 5.G86. Schedule your meeting here.

About Quickplay

Quickplay is the Content to Value Operating System for media and entertainment, connecting every stage of the content lifecycle, from creation to monetization. By applying intelligence where it drives measurable impact, Quickplay enables broadcasters, sports operators, streamers, and creators to turn their catalogs into revenue. Quickplay powers 2.5 billion streaming minutes per month, with 5 billion ad impressions served and 99.999% streaming uptime.

Quickplay was founded by four innovators with deep media and entertainment technology experience from AT&T, McKinsey and Company, The Walt Disney Company, and Warner Bros. Discovery. Headquartered in Toronto, the company has offices in Los Angeles, San Diego, Chennai, and throughout Europe. For more information, visit quickplay.com.

Breakaway Communications for Quickplay
QuickplayPR@breakawaycom.com
+19087054596

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SOURCE Quickplay

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L.A. Works Brings Angelenos Together for Week of Service Marking 25th Anniversary of September 11

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LOS ANGELES, Sept. 3, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — This month, L.A. Works will bring Angelenos together for a week of hands-on service opportunities marking the 25th anniversary of September 11, 2001, supported by the 2026 9/11 Day Grant Program, administered by the nonprofit 9/11 Day in collaboration with AmeriCorps.

L.A. Works joins a nationwide movement to transform the anniversary of 9/11 into America’s Day of Doing Good, reclaiming the day as an annual moment of national reflection, unity, and action. With more than 100 million Americans now having little or no personal memory of September 11, 2001, local service projects ensure future generations remember not only the tragic events of that day, but also the extraordinary compassion, courage, selflessness, and spirit of unity that emerged in its aftermath.

Through projects supporting first responders and Eaton Fire survivors, L.A. Works is giving Angelenos a tangible way to honor those who were lost and those who responded to the tragedy while fostering a stronger sense of connection and shared responsibility across our communities.

The week’s flagship events include:

September 9: Beautification at the Frank Hotchkin Memorial Training Center for emergency service heroes with fire engine restoration, painting and plantingSeptember 13: Fire mitigation at Barnsdall Art Park by clearing high risk invasive plants and disposing of brush

“September 11 was a terrible day of loss, and twenty-five years later, we have an opportunity to honor those who were lost and put in harm’s way by choosing service,” said Deborah Brutchey, Executive Director of L.A. Works. “When people come together to care for their neighbors, we strengthen the connections that hold us in community. That’s something we can choose to carry forward.”

Learn more at www.laworks.com.

ABOUT L.A. WORKS
Since 1991, L.A. Works has united Angelenos and inspired action for a more equitable LA. As the only nonprofit in Los Angeles that mobilizes tens of thousands of volunteers each year across a wide range of interconnected issues, L.A. Works organizes and recruits volunteers to directly impact vulnerable communities while strengthening the fabric of civil society. In 2025, L.A. Works volunteers gave more than 175,000 hours of service, which represents $7,024,500 in added capacity for nonprofits across Los Angeles County. More at www.laworks.com.

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AI Transformation Firm SoftSnow Named an OpenAI Select Partner

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SoftSnow, an AI transformation partner that helps mid-market organizations build AI-first operating models, today announced that it has been named an OpenAI Select Partner within the OpenAI Partner Network.

CHICAGO, Sept. 3, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — SoftSnow, an AI transformation partner that helps mid-market organizations build AI-first operating models, today announced that it has been named an OpenAI Select Partner within the OpenAI Partner Network.

“Being named an OpenAI Select Partner reflects the way SoftSnow already works with clients: bringing OpenAI’s frontier models to organizations and building them around how each team already works,” said Reid Valfer, Co-Founder and Co-CEO, SoftSnow.

The OpenAI Partner Network is a global program for partners to build, sell, and deliver AI solutions with OpenAI. It brings together partners with deep industry expertise, delivery capabilities, and customer relationships while equipping them with resources, enablement, and support to help enterprises adopt OpenAI frontier models and products and turn them into measurable impact.

As an OpenAI Select Partner, SoftSnow will continue working with OpenAI to help organizations build, deploy, and scale AI solutions responsibly and effectively. This work will help organizations get more useful work from every token and stronger performance per dollar with GPT‑5.6, while using ChatGPT Work to turn ambitious goals into finished work. By integrating strategic planning, precise technical execution, and structured change management, SoftSnow transforms AI from concept into a tangible catalyst for measurable growth and lasting cultural change.

SoftSnow supports organizations across financial services, professional services, real estate, construction, marketing, and manufacturing as an embedded operator, building AI agents and workflows around how each team works and guiding adoption from there. Its work includes automating supplier pricing and estimating workflows for a construction products distributor and delivering agents for a marketing and advertising agency to speed up new-business responses, among other engagements.

Looking ahead, SoftSnow plans to expand its OpenAI-related offerings, invest in talent and enablement, and scale customer deployments, helping customers translate AI ambition into business outcomes.

Learn more about the OpenAI Partner Network: https://openai.com/business/partners/

About SoftSnow

SoftSnow is an AI transformation partner that helps mid-market organizations build AI-first operating models. Working as embedded operators, the SoftSnow team maps where AI creates the most value through its AI Opportunity Matrix™, then builds the role-specific agents and workflows that turn those priorities into daily work. The team also guides the change management and training that make adoption last. SoftSnow is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Learn more at https://www.softsnow.ai.

Media Contact

Gabriela Belli, SOFTSNOW LLC, 1 (312)848-8570, info@softsnow.ai, https://softsnow.ai/

View original content:https://www.prweb.com/releases/ai-transformation-firm-softsnow-named-an-openai-select-partner-302867396.html

SOURCE SOFTSNOW LLC

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