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Tell a Friend, Save on Travel! EF World Journeys Launches Cross-Brand Referral Program That Rewards Travelers to Inspire the People in Their Lives to Tour the Globe

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New benefit allows travelers to unlock savings on future trips by introducing friends and family to EF Go Ahead Tours, EF Ultimate Break, and EF Adventures

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 6, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — EF World Journeys, a leader in guided, experiential travel for adults from Gen Z to Baby Boomers, today announced the launch of a new referral program, a travel rewards benefit that can be redeemed across EF Go Ahead Tours, EF Ultimate Break, and EF Adventures.

Under the new program, travelers will receive $100 in travel credit for every friend who books a trip using their referral, with every fifth referral earning you $500 and no cap on total rewards earned. In short, the more friends or family who book from your referral, the more you save on your next trip.

Each year, guided trips across EF World Journeys’ portfolio bring travelers together through shared experiences that extend far beyond the journey itself. Many of those travelers continue to engage with the people they meet on tour, often exchanging photos, stories, and future travel inspiration well after returning home. The new referral program builds on the natural desire to share those experiences, offering travelers easy ways to connect and invite friends, family members, and fellow adventurers to experience a guided group tour for themselves.

“At EF, we’ve always believed that one of the most powerful parts of travel is the connections and communities we create along the way,” said Heidi Durflinger, CEO of EF World Journeys USA. “This referral program makes that even easier, giving our travelers a way to bring friends and family into the experience while continuing to grow a global community of people who choose to explore the world together.”

How it works: Give $100. Get $100.

Refer a friend: Any traveler who has taken a trip with or is currently booked on tour  with EF Go Ahead Tours, EF Ultimate Break, or EF Adventures can now share a personal referral link via email, text, social media, or their respective EF World Journeys mobile app. Friends must be new to EF World Journeys, 18 or older, and have a valid email address to qualify.Both travelers earn $100: When the referred traveler books, both receive $100 in travel credit. Rewards are issued 60 days after booking confirmation, and referrals must book within six months.Earn $500 on every fifth referral: Referring travelers receive $500 for every fifth successful referral. There is no limit to how many referrals can be made, and rewards NEVER expire.

To celebrate the launch of the new referral program, EF Go Ahead Tours is offering an additional limited-time incentive. For the month of May 2026, travelers who refer a friend that books an EF Go Ahead Tours trip will receive an extra $100 referral reward on top of the standard program credit. The promotional bonus applies exclusively to EF Go Ahead Tours bookings and is available for a limited time.

One program. Three brands. Built for every kind of traveler.

EF World Journeys’ referral benefits are available when booking across its entire portfolio of guided, experiential travel companies, allowing travelers to earn and share rewards regardless of which tour operator they or their friends or family choose.

EF Go Ahead Tours offers curated guided travel for adults of all ages, including multi-generational travel groups and private or customized group tours.EF Ultimate Break serves travelers ages 18–35 with social, immersive itineraries.EF Adventures provides hiking, biking, and multi-adventure trips for active adults with a focus on lifelong learning, wellness and community.

Because the referral program spans all three tour operators at EF World Journeys, credits can move naturally within families and friend networks whose travel styles differ.

For example, a traveler who just had a life-changing trip on EF Go Ahead Tours’ A Week in Greece can refer her college-aged daughter to EF Ultimate Break’s Europe’s Icons: London, Paris & Rome and both receive $100 towards their next tour. She can then refer her basketball coach who is a hiking enthusiast to EF Adventure’s Italy Hiking: The Dolomites — and earn again.

This cross brand traveler benefit ensures that no matter how or where someone chooses to book travel across EF Go Ahead Tours, EF Ultimate Break, or EF Adventures – the rewards follow.

For EF Go Ahead Tours, please visit: https://www.goaheadtours.com/about/referrals
For EF Ultimate Break, please visit: https://www.efultimatebreak.com/traveling-with-us/refer-a-friend
For EF Adventures, please visit: https://www.efadventures.com/about/referrals-program

About EF World Journeys
EF World Journeys  is a leader in guided, experiential travel. We connect cultures, communities, and people through guided, group travel with leading tour operator brands like EF Ultimate Break (adults 18-35), EF Go Ahead Tours (adults 35+), and our newest brand, EF Adventures, focused on adventure tours for the active traveler in you. EF World Journeys is part of EF Education First. For over 60 years, EF has planned guided tours with a focus on education and cultural immersion. EF offers travelers 24/7 global support, affordable payment plans, and supports tours in more than 400 destinations worldwide. Since 1965, EF has been committed to opening the world through education. At EF World Journeys, we do just that, helping people of all ages experience the magic of travel, connecting travelers with new places, cultures, and, best of all, a diverse community of people excited to explore the world.

About EF Go Ahead Tours
EF Go Ahead Tours offers more than 200 guided trips across six continents. Each carefully planned, expertly led tour makes it easy for curious travelers of all ages to get to the heart of a destination. With a maximum group size well below the industry average, each trip has the perfect balance of planned sightseeing and free time to explore.

EF Go Ahead Tours is a tour operator brand within EF World Journeys, one of North America’s leading guided, experiential travel companies.

Join EF Go Ahead Tours’ affiliate program, supported by AWIN and earn commissions on booked tours.

About EF Ultimate Break
EF Ultimate Break is the best way to experience the world for anyone 18-35. With over 175 trips, we handle logistics for everything that makes travel a great experience from accommodations to flights to amazing tour directors to memory-making excursions. Our affordable interest-free payment plans make international travel possible for every traveler. EF Ultimate Break is part of EF World Journeys, a leader in guided, experiential travel with tour operator brands that also include EF Go Ahead Tours (adults 35+) and EF Adventures (all ages, 14+ with adult supervision). 

Are you an influencer or creator who wants to lead tours with your growing audience? Earn commissions on each booking by joining our influencer-hosted tour program. 

Media partners can now participate in EF Ultimate Break’s affiliate marketing program and earn commissions for tour bookings. Click here to learn more.

About EF Adventures
EF Adventures is an education-based adventure travel company offering 40+ guided tours across 25 countries and 5 continents. Launched in September 2024 as part of the EF World Journeys family of experiential travel brands, EF Adventures builds on more than 30 years of EF’s global expertise in educational and cultural immersion.

Each small-group tour blends active exploration with authentic learning, inviting travelers to engage with local traditions, communities, and ecosystems through guided experiences like hiking, biking, and multi-adventure activities such as kayaking, yoga, ziplining, and more. Designed for varied fitness levels and age groups, the EF Adventures experience combines adventure-based activity with hands-on cultural discovery that transforms how people see the world.

EF Adventures invites publishers and creators to become part of its growing affiliate network. Earn competitive commissions on confirmed bookings by referring travelers to efadventures.com. Learn more and apply here.

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SOURCE EF World Journeys

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Trive Capital Announces Sale of EarthLink

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DALLAS, Oct. 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Trive Capital (“Trive”) is pleased to announce that it has closed on the sale of EarthLink, LLC (“EarthLink” or the “Company”) to a family office consortium consisting of WaveDivision Capital (“Wave”), The Pritzker Organization (“TPO”) and Stephens Capital Partners (“SCP”), in partnership with EarthLink’s management team. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, EarthLink is one of the largest internet service providers in the United States, serving over 500,000 internet and managed services customers nationwide. Through partnerships with several of the nation’s largest fiber and 5G providers, EarthLink has built an asset-light, nationwide network that can offer fiber internet service to more than 68 million homes.

Since Trive’s investment in EarthLink in 2018 as part of a corporate carveout, the Company has transformed from a legacy DSL and email business in precipitous decline to an asset-light connectivity platform serving over 500,000 consumers and small businesses nationwide. The Company has grown and will continue to grow based on its expanded fiber and 5G internet solutions and commitment to customer service for consumers and small businesses.

Shravan Thadani, Partner at Trive, stated, “EarthLink has been a true partnership between management and Trive in every sense of the word. The team built a differentiated, asset-light platform that gives consumers and small businesses real choice in how they get connected, and did so while standing up every function of the platform outside of its former, public parent. We are proud to have been a part of such an iconic brand’s journey and will continue to support Wave, TPO and SCP as they work with management to accelerate growth in the coming years.”

“During our partnership with Trive, we have taken one of the most trusted brands in the internet space and turned it into a trusted option for consumers and small businesses nationwide,” commented Glenn Goad, Chief Executive Officer of EarthLink. “As internet access has become one of the most important utilities in a consumer’s life, EarthLink has a renewed focus on making it easier for our customers to access the best internet options at affordable prices. Trive was critically important through and after the carve-out, and we are excited to partner with Wave, TPO and SCP to continue to grow EarthLink alongside our trusted fiber and 5G partners. Our collective goal remains the same: to provide the right technology at the right price, supported by a world-class customer experience.”

About EarthLink

EarthLink is an internet service provider offering fiber and 5G internet solutions for homes and businesses nationwide. With a focus on dependable connectivity, flexible plans, and customer-focused service, EarthLink provides broadband options designed to meet the needs of modern households and businesses. EarthLink is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia and serves over 500,000 customers. To learn more, visit earthlink.net.

About Trive Capital

Trive Capital is a Dallas, Texas based private equity firm with more than $8 billion of regulatory assets under management. Trive focuses on investing equity and debt in what it sees as strategically viable middle-market companies with the potential for transformational upside through operational improvement.

The Trive team is comprised of seasoned investment professionals who have been involved in over 250 middle-market transactions representing in excess of $10 billion in revenue across Trive’s targeted industry sectors and situations.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/trive-capital-announces-sale-of-earthlink-302914673.html

SOURCE Trive Capital

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Rondo Energy and Rio Tinto Advance Australia’s Largest Thermal Energy Storage Project

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GLADSTONE, Australia, Oct. 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Rondo Energy and Rio Tinto have started front-end engineering and design on the project for a 360 MWh storage / 30 MW discharge Rondo Heat Battery, supported by a grant from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).

ARENA’s funding for the project will be provided in stages, with an initial $3.6 million to complete front-end engineering and design work. Following successful completion of that study, ARENA will provide up to $38 million for deployment. ARENA has also approved up to $33.3 million in conditional contingency support, which would only be made available in defined circumstances to manage specific project risks, including cost overruns and electricity costs. 

If progressed, the project would be delivered at Rio Tinto’s Yarwun alumina refinery near Gladstone, Queensland and would be one of the first large-scale demonstrations of thermal energy storage for industrial process heat globally, and a world-first for the alumina industry.

Rondo Heat Batteries use abundant, low-cost midday electricity to charge, storing energy as high-temperature heat in refractory brick, and supplying energy as 24/7 continuous process heat to industry. Typically, the heat is delivered as steam, directly into an industrial facility’s steam network. Australia regularly has 4-6 hours of surplus solar-generated renewable electricity in the middle of the day, but industrial facilities need heat 24 hours a day, not just when the sun is shining. By charging when electricity is cheap and abundant and discharging continuously, Rondo Heat Batteries turn short periods of low-cost electricity into 24/7 delivery of low-cost steam. 

For energy-intensive industries such as alumina refining, Rondo Heat Batteries create a pathway to electrification that addresses both emissions and energy costs. Because the heat battery slots into the existing steam network, the facility’s processes run exactly as before — the only thing that changes is the energy for that heat: no longer from fossil fuels, but sourced from low cost electricity instead. The Yarwun study will assess the technical and economic viability of integrating the technology into refinery operations.

“This project shows how Australia’s abundant energy can become a competitive advantage for industry,” said Dr. Kira Rundel, Rondo’s Head of Australia. “Heat batteries allow manufacturers to use low-cost electricity to produce the reliable, round-the-clock heat their operations need. Australia’s largest heat battery will show how factories can cut emissions without increasing energy costs, helping Australian industry to increase global competitiveness and supporting local manufacturing jobs.”

Rio Tinto Pacific Operations Managing Director Armando Torres said: “Reducing emissions from alumina refining is complex, particularly when it comes to generating the high-pressure steam needed for our operations.

“This study will help us determine whether thermal energy storage can provide a technically and economically viable alternative to fossil fuels for part of Yarwun’s steam requirements.

“The best way to tackle challenges of this scale is through collaboration between industry, government, and technology partners. We welcome ARENA and Rondo’s support as we assess technologies that could help reduce our Scope 1 emissions while maintaining reliable operations at Yarwun.”

About Rondo Energy

Rondo Energy delivers firm heat and power, including combined heat and power (CHP), to heavy industry and provides power solutions and long duration storage to data centers. For industrial heat applications, Rondo Heat Batteries convert 4-6 hours of low-cost electricity into continuous 24-hour, high-temperature heat, delivered as steam or hot air up to 1,000°C. The heat delivered integrates directly with existing industrial equipment and processes, eliminating on-site emissions and running on lower cost energy. Rondo heat storage can integrate with steam turbines to deliver combined heat and power (CHP) for industry, and long duration power-to-power solutions for large energy consumers such as data centers. Built on proven refractory brick as the thermal storage medium, Rondo’s platform is engineered for multi-decade operation in the most demanding industrial environments.

Rondo Heat Batteries have been delivering firm heat and power at scale since 2023, with operational facilities serving customers in fuels and cement (including steam driving turbines for electricity) in the United States and in Asia. The next unit will come online shortly – a 100 MWh Rondo Heat Battery under construction in Europe for a chemical plant. Rondo is a global company based in California, with teams across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Australia. Providing heat and power solutions to the alumina industry is an area of focus for the company due to the strong fit of Rondo’s technology with the heat and power needs of the alumina industry.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/rondo-energy-and-rio-tinto-advance-australias-largest-thermal-energy-storage-project-302914664.html

SOURCE Rondo Energy

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14 Organizations Earn CHIME’s Highest Digital Health Most Wired Designation for 2026

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ANN ARBOR, Mich., Oct. 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME), the leading professional organization for digital health leaders, today announced 14 organizations have achieved Level 10 in the 2026 CHIME Digital Health Most Wired (DHMW) survey. Powered by Digital Health Analytics (DHA), the survey is CHIME’s global assessment of digital health excellence, with Level 10 as its highest designation.

Representing health systems across the U.S., this year’s Level 10 organizations demonstrated exceptional performance across the enterprise digital ecosystem, leveraging technologies, data, infrastructure, and strategic practices shaping modern care delivery. The prestigious designation recognizes organizations that have moved beyond technology implementation to integrate digital investment across clinical and operational environments, producing measurable value for their health systems, patients, and providers.

The 2026 DHMW survey maintains a rigorous scoring methodology designed to account for differences in organizational size, complexity, risk, and resources, creating an equitable measure of performance across diverse healthcare environments. The model evaluates organizations across 10 distinct segments, measuring both the foundational elements required for digital maturity and the advanced practices that demonstrate broader adoption, integration, and value.

“Healthcare is experiencing extraordinary technological acceleration, driven in large part by the rapid adoption of AI and increasingly sophisticated digital capabilities,” said Russ Branzell, President and CEO of CHIME. “As that pace intensifies, the Digital Health Most Wired Survey continues to provide a rigorous benchmark for evaluating whether technology is translating into meaningful progress. It gives leaders a data-driven view of performance, critical gaps, and opportunities for high-impact investment while setting an industry standard of excellence for responsible technology adoption. The Level 10 organizations recognized this year exemplify the leadership and innovation required to turn digital investment into measurable improvements in care delivery.”

The 2026 Digital Health Most Wired survey includes data from more than 45,000 facilities worldwide, offering a global view of technology adoption, investment and performance across healthcare organizations and the evolving role of digital health in care delivery, operations and the patient and provider experience.

Each participating organization received a customized benchmarking report through the Digital Health Analytics (DHA) portal, offering detailed insights into performance metrics across 10 key segments:

InfrastructureSecurityAdministrationSupply chainAnalytics and data managementInteroperabilityPopulation healthPatient engagementInnovationClinical quality and safety

Fourteen healthcare organizations achieved Level 10 distinction, the highest designation awarded through the 2026 CHIME Digital Health Most Wired survey. The recipients are Baptist Health System (Jacksonville, Florida); Bon Secours Mercy Health (Ohio); MetroHealth Medical Center (Ohio); MultiCare Health System (Washington); Northeast Georgia Health System (Georgia); NYU Langone Health (New York); Parkview Health (Indiana); Roper St. Francis Healthcare Services, Inc. (South Carolina); Stanford Health Care (California); UCHealth (Colorado); UNC Health (North Carolina); University Health (Texas); University of Utah Health (Utah); and UPMC (Pennsylvania).

Collectively, the 2026 Level 10 designees reflect a healthcare environment in which digital performance increasingly depends on the alignment of technology strategy, data, infrastructure, and organizational priorities with strong leadership and a sustained commitment to innovation. Their results demonstrate how leading health systems are converting digital investment into measurable gains across clinical and operational environments while establishing the foundations required to responsibly adopt emerging technologies at scale.

CHIME will formally recognize these distinguished Level 10 honorees on November 12, 2026, during the CHIME26 Fall Forum in Denver, CO, which runs from November 11-14.

For additional details on the 2026 Digital Health Most Wired survey and the complete list of all Level 7-10 award recipients, visit dhanalytics.org.

About CHIME 
The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) is the leading professional organization for digital health executives and leaders. CHIME provides a trusted, collaborative environment where members and partners connect, share best practices, advance professional development, and advocate for the effective use of information and technology to improve health and care in the communities they serve. For more information, please visit chimecentral.org.

About Digital Health Analytics (DHA)
Digital Health Analytics provides healthcare organizations, technology companies, and academic researchers with the data, benchmarking, and market intelligence they need to lead digital transformation — 365 days a year. Powered by the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME), DHA helps provider organizations supercharge their digital health transformation capabilities. For more information about DHA, visit dhanalytics.org.

For media inquiries, please contact:

Calli Dretke
Executive Vice President & Chief Digital and Marketing Officer
CHIME
734.665.0000
cdretke@chimecentral.org

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/14-organizations-earn-chimes-highest-digital-health-most-wired-designation-for-2026-302914691.html

SOURCE College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME)

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