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IRIS Expands HR Marketplace to Help Customers Unlock Employee Potential and Improve Retention

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New partnerships with Cornerstone and StaffCircle bring powerful learning and performance management tools to the IRIS ecosystem 

LONDON, May 7, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — IRIS Software Group (IRIS), a leading global provider of accounting, education, HR, and payroll solutions, has announced new strategic partnerships with Cornerstone OnDemand and StaffCircle to enhance its HR Marketplace offerings. As workforce planning and employee retention rise to the top of the HR agenda, driven by ongoing talent shortages, rising costs, and shifting employee expectations, IRIS is helping businesses meet these challenges head on. These new partnerships offer HR leaders access to powerful, easily integrated tools to boost engagement, performance and development without added complexity. The new partnerships are now live in the IRIS HR Marketplace, giving customers immediate access to comprehensive workforce agility through Cornerstone’s Galaxy platform, and AI-assisted performance management through StaffCircle.

Recent research indicates that 77% of the global workforce is either not engaged or actively disengaged with their workplace, making it difficult for businesses to reach organisational goals. In contrast, businesses with an engaged workforce experience an 18% increase in staff productivity, a 23% increase in profitability, and a 78% decrease in absenteeism. A key driver of engagement is access to meaningful learning and development opportunities, which not only support individual growth but also underpin effective succession planning and long-term employee retention. 

Stephanie Coward, Managing Director for HCM at IRIS, said: “With employee disengagement and retention challenges at an all-time high, businesses need powerful, flexible tools to build and support high-performing teams. Our partnerships with Cornerstone and StaffCircle bring more choice to our HR Marketplace, giving businesses access to cutting-edge workforce management solutions that integrate seamlessly with their existing software. By enabling access to performance and learning platforms in one place, we’re empowering HR leaders to create dynamic environments where employees can grow, contribute and stay.” 

Delivering a complete employee lifecycle solution

Cornerstone enhances IRIS’ capabilities by integrating workforce agility solutions that make it easier for organisations of any size tor sector to elevate their people, support self-directed learning, career mobility, and development. With access to over 51,000 in-demand skills and a vast library of premium content, Cornerstone enables businesses to drive continuous growth, remain competitive, and achieve long-term success. 

“Today’s business challenges can’t be solved with yesterday’s tools. HR leaders need integrated, intelligent solutions that not only respond to talent shifts but anticipate them,” said David Wood, GVP Alliances at Cornerstone. “Together with IRIS and StaffCircle, we’re streamlining that complexity by putting the power of AI-driven development, performance, and skills strategies right at their fingertips. This collaboration brings our workforce agility solutions directly to HR leaders who need them most – delivering immediate value, seamless integration, and the flexibility to grow at pace.” 

Similarly, StaffCircle connects IRIS’ HR offerings with its AI-driven performance management, skills-based development, and real-time engagement tools creating a comprehensive approach to talent management. StaffCircle’s platform enhances career development and succession planning – a top priority for 49% of organisations – by providing tools that help identify high-potential talent, create competency frameworks, and build structured development plans. This enables HR teams to nurture leadership pipelines, foster internal mobility, and ensure long-term business resilience by cultivating the next generation of leaders within the organization.

Mark Seemann, CEO & founder of StaffCircle, said: “Our strategic partnership with IRIS adds significant value to the IRIS ecosystem. Employee Performance and Development are top priorities for customers, and by integrating with a platform as robust and intuitive as StaffCircle, IRIS is equipping HR and L&D leaders with the tools they need to support, grow, and retain their people. Together, we’re enabling smarter, faster decision-making, underpinned by real-time people data.” 

IRIS’ HR Marketplace provides businesses using IRIS Cascade with the opportunity to streamline processes further with unique API integration, developed using IRIS’ own technology – eliminating the need for manually importing and exporting data between systems and mitigating the risk of error, inefficiency, and duplication. IRIS Cascade delivers a fully-integrated, centralised HR and payroll solution, used by more than 260,000 employers and managing 800,000 employees.

Media contact:    
IRIS Software Group    
news@irisglobal.com   

About IRIS Software Group   

Founded in 1978, IRIS Software Group is a global provider of mission-critical, cloud-hosted software solutions and services to more than 100,000 customers across 135 countries. IRIS is a trusted partner to businesses, finance, HR and payroll teams, educational organisations, and accountancy firms of all sizes, providing innovative operational solutions that streamline complex processes, maintain compliance, and unlock growth. Through simplifying, automating and providing insights on everyday mission-critical tasks for organisations of all shapes and sizes, IRIS ensures customers can look forward with certainty and confidence. IRIS is certified as a 2024 Great Place to Work® in the UK, Ireland, India, Romania, Canada and the USA. Follow IRIS on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. More information on its award-winning software solutions can be found here.        

About Cornerstone

Cornerstone powers the potential of organisations and their people to thrive in a changing world. Cornerstone Galaxy, the complete AI platform for workforce agility, meets organisations where they are. With Galaxy, organisations can identify skills gaps and development opportunities, retain and engage top talent, and provide multimodal learning experiences to meet the diverse needs of the modern workforce. More than 7,000 organisations and 140 million users in 186 countries use Cornerstone Galaxy to build high-performing, future-ready organisations and people today. 

About StaffCircle

Founded in 2017, StaffCircle is an award-winning performance management and employee development platform used by 150+ UK and US mid-market businesses. StaffCircle empowers organisations to drive performance, increase engagement, and build strong career pathways through its unified, data-rich platform. More information on StaffCircle’s award-winning software solutions can be found here.

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Chelsea FC announces multi-year sleeve partnership with Sokin, the business payments and FX platform

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Chelsea FC name fast-growing fintech platform as Principal Partner

LONDON, Oct. 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Chelsea Football Club has today announced a multi-year partnership with Sokin, the embedded finance and payments company used by businesses worldwide. Sokin will be named a Principal Partner and Official Business Payments and FX Partner of Chelsea FC and Chelsea FC Women.

As a Principal Partner, Sokin will be represented on the sleeves of the Chelsea FC men’s, women’s and academy home, away, and third kits from the 2026/27 season.

The partnership brings together two ambitious London-headquartered organisations with worldwide reach – a club with millions of fans across the world and a fintech platform through which businesses move more than $11 billion a year. A club of Chelsea’s scale works in many currencies every day, with partners, competitions and supporters around the world, and needs a financial partner built to handle that.

Sokin gives finance teams business payments, multi-currency accounts, foreign exchange, checkout and treasury in one place, so they spend less time juggling banks and providers and keep more of what they move.

As Official Business Payments and FX Partner, Sokin will simplify how Chelsea FC sends, receives and manages money in the currencies the club operates in.

The Sokin logo will feature on the sleeve of the Chelsea shirt for the first time [when the men’s team host Tottenham Hotspur at Stamford Bridge on Saturday 24th October.]

Jason Gannon, President at Chelsea FC said:

“At Chelsea, we seek to partner with organisations that share our ambition and innovative mindset. Sokin’s expertise in business payments, and their focus on making both simpler for the businesses they serve, makes them a natural fit for the Club. We are pleased to welcome Sokin to the Chelsea family and look forward to working together in the years ahead.”

Vroon Modgill, CEO and founder at Sokin said:

“Chelsea plays on the biggest stage in world football, and its business runs in dozens of currencies. Sokin was built for that with regulated, multi-currency payments and foreign exchange for organisations that operate internationally. We’re proud to be the platform behind the business payments and FX of one of the most iconic teams in football. Sokin’s platform serves businesses in more than 170 countries. We’re thrilled to be partners for the season ahead. An organisation as sophisticated as Chelsea doesn’t leave its finances to chance.”

About Sokin

Sokin is the financial layer global business runs on. Businesses can transact, convert and hold money in 70+ currencies across 170+ countries. Some businesses use Sokin to manage global finance in-house. Others build it into their products to power financial experiences for their customers. Businesses move more than $9 billion a year on licenses Sokin holds in 36+ countries and infrastructure Sokin owns. Founded in 2019, Sokin has raised over $100 million from investors including Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital and Prysm Capital.

About Chelsea Football Club

Chelsea Football Club is one of the biggest, most successful football clubs globally and our men’s team are reigning world champions, having won the four-yearly FIFA Club World Cup in 2025. Our women’s team, Chelsea Women, are also multiple trophy winners.

Founded in 1905, Chelsea is London’s most central football club, based at the iconic 40,000-capacity Stamford Bridge stadium. Nicknamed the Blues, the club lifted the Champions League for the first time in 2012 and domestically has won the Premier League five times, the FA Cup eight times, the Football League Cup five times and the Football League Championship once, in 1955.

The Chelsea Women’s team have enjoyed a huge amount of success and in 2025 won the FA Women’s Super League for a sixth consecutive year and the eighth time overall. The Women’s FA Cup has been won on six occasions. We have also captured the FA Women’s League Cup four times as well as reaching the UEFA Women’s Champions League final in 2021. In two seasons, 2020/21 and 2024/25, a domestic treble of trophies was secured.

The Chelsea Foundation boasts one of the most extensive community initiatives in sport, helping to improve the lives of children and young people all over the world.

Media Contacts:

Taina Biggs
taina.biggs@sokin.com 

Nerissa Chesterfield
nerissa.chesterfield@chelseafc.com 

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Amy Johnson Appointed President of GDIT

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RESTON, Va., Oct. 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) announced today that Amy Johnson has been appointed as president of GDIT, effective November 3.

Johnson is a 27-year veteran of General Dynamics Mission Systems, where she held increasingly senior roles in engineering, engineering management and business leadership across cybersecurity, defense electronics, space and intelligence systems, most recently as vice president and general manager for Space, Cyber and Intelligence. She earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer science and computer systems engineering. 

“Amy has a proven track record of leading teams to solve complex and highly technical challenges for our customers,” said Phebe Novakovic, CEO of General Dynamics. “I am confident that her dynamic leadership, operational rigor and deep commitment to our values and culture will deliver value to our customers, employees and shareholders.”

GDIT delivers digital modernization, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and software development solutions to the U.S. federal government, defense, intelligence agencies and other customers. It is a business unit of General Dynamics, a global aerospace and defense company that offers a broad portfolio of products and services in business aviation; ship construction and repair; land combat vehicles, weapons systems and munitions; and technology products and services. General Dynamics employs more than 120,000 people worldwide and generated $52.6 billion in revenue in 2025. More information is available at gd.com.

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Yazan Al Homsi Invests US$500,000 in Toronto Drone Maker Arcanus Aerial Systems

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Private investment comes as Arcanus builds out Canadian manufacturing capacity for autonomous aerial systems

DUBAI, UAE, Oct. 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Yazan Al Homsi, a UAE-based investor and managing partner of Catalyst Communications DMCC, has invested US$500,000 in Arcanus Aerial Systems Inc., a Toronto-headquartered developer and manufacturer of unmanned aerial systems for defence, public safety and critical infrastructure customers. Al Homsi is an investor only and holds no operational, advisory or board role with the company. Other terms were not disclosed.

Arcanus is a Canadian-controlled company. It currently lists more than 15 platforms across heavy-lift, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), cargo, strike and counter-drone missions. According to the company, its published line-up includes:

AB 516e: a long-endurance vertical take-off fixed-wing aircraft rated for three hours of flight.AE 401: a counter-drone interceptor with a top speed of 300 km/h.AC 5250: a cargo platform with a 250 kg payload and a range of more than 2,300 km.

Alongside defence, Arcanus markets its systems for wildfire detection, search and rescue, Arctic sovereignty, border and maritime patrol, and pipeline and power line monitoring.

The company has spent 2026 assembling its domestic production base. In April, Arcanus signed a binding term sheet with Portugal-based Beyond Vision, granting it rights to manufacture, commercialize and support Beyond Vision’s unmanned aerial systems in Canada.

In June, Arcanus announced a five-year agreement appointing FeralX Systems Inc. as a non-exclusive Canadian contract manufacturer for several of its platforms.

“Canada has the engineering talent to build these systems at home, and recent years have shown how much depends on having that capacity domestically,” said Yazan Al Homsi. “What stood out to me about Arcanus was the manufacturing groundwork already in place: licensing, a production partner, and a range of aircraft that serves wildfire crews and search-and-rescue teams alongside defence customers.”

About Yazan Al Homsi

Yazan Al Homsi is a UAE-based investor and managing partner of Catalyst Communications DMCC, which he founded in Dubai in 2018. He was previously based in Vancouver, where he founded Founders Round Capital in 2017 and built a track record of investments in early-stage and small-cap companies. He earned a finance degree from McGill University in 2004 and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation. Before turning to investing, he spent more than a decade with PricewaterhouseCoopers in the Middle East, rising to director and focusing on transaction due diligence and valuation.

Media Contact
Catalyst Communications DMCC
catalyst-wire@protonmail.com

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