Alpha Phi Alpha’s Alpha Alpha Lambda Chapter to recognize Walthour at its Centennial Gala for his leadership in expanding access to capital and economic opportunity across New Jersey

SHORT HILLS, N.J., Sept. 16, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Blueprint Capital Advisors announced today that Jacob Walthour Jr., Chief Executive Officer of Blueprint Capital Advisors and Founder of Power100 by Blueprint Capital Advisors, will be recognized as the Financial Empowerment & Equity Honoree at the Alpha Alpha Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.’s Centennial Gala in New Jersey.

Walthour, a member of Alpha Phi Alpha since 1987, will be recognized as the celebration’s Financial Empowerment & Equity Honoree for his commitment to expanding economic opportunity and access to capital for all New Jerseyans. Walthour has been a committed advocate for marginalized communities and businesses in the state and drew attention to the wide disparities that exist in New Jersey in the areas of education, health care, income and wealth. He coined the phrase “Two New Jerseys” in his New Jersey Senate testimony in 2019 —underscoring the economic divide between communities benefiting from growth and those too often left outside it.

“New Jersey has extraordinary talent, communities and institutions, but our state is strongest when opportunity reaches everyone,” said Walthour. “I have always believed access to capital can strengthen businesses, families and communities. To be recognized by my brothers, who are themselves among the most distinguished members of their professions and communities, deeply humbles me. We are carrying forward the legacy of Brothers Thurgood Marshall, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., John H. Johnson and W.E.B. Du Bois, who understood that leadership carries a responsibility to create opportunity for others. There is still important work ahead, and I remain committed to building a New Jersey where more people can participate, grow and prosper.”

“Jacob Walthour represents the legacy-driven leadership our Centennial Gala celebrates — professional excellence, service and a commitment to expanding economic opportunity,” said Fred Davis Jr., President of the Alpha Alpha Lambda Chapter. “His trailblazing leadership in financial services, his work in New Jersey and his advocacy for greater access to capital embody our theme, ‘Brotherhood, Business, and Benevolence: Remaining Legacy Driven,’ and the values Alpha Alpha Lambda has championed for 100 years.”

The Centennial Gala will be held on Saturday, September 19, 2026, from 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM at the Hanover Marriott, 1401 NJ-10 E, Whippany, New Jersey. The keynote speaker will be Dr. Randal D. Pinkett. Dr. Pinkett serves as Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO of BCT Partners, a global, multi-million-dollar research, training, consulting, technology, AI and data analytics firm. The gathering will commemorate a century of service by the Alpha Alpha Lambda Chapter while celebrating individuals who embody its longstanding commitment to leadership, achievement and community advancement.

About Blueprint Capital Advisors

Blueprint Capital Advisors is an investment management firm led by Founder and Chief Executive Officer Jacob Walthour Jr. The firm is committed to delivering institutional investment solutions while advancing broader access and opportunity within the financial services industry.

About Power100 by Blueprint Capital Advisors

Power100 by Blueprint Capital Advisors recognizes and convenes influential leaders across the institutional investment community, creating opportunities for connection, visibility and engagement among professionals shaping the future of capital.

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SOURCE Blueprint Capital Advisors

The QKS Group SPARK Matrix™ provides competitive analysis & ranking of the leading Integrated Bank Payments Platform vendors.Finastra has received strong ratings for its Integrated Bank Payments Platform. The platform demonstrates high performance across both technology excellence and customer impact parameters.

PUNE, India, Sept. 16, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — QKS Group announced today that it has named Finastra as a 2026 technology leader in the SPARK Matrix™: Integrated Bank Payments Platform, 2026.

Pradnya Gugale, Principal Analyst at QKS Group, states, “Finastra’s Modern Global PAYplus and Payments To Go provide a centralized payment orchestration platform that unifies RTGS, instant, mass, and cross-border payment processing within a single, configurable engine. Its canonical data model with native ISO 20022 processing enables financial institutions to standardize internal payment processing while generating clearing-specific output formats, reducing reliance on external transformation layers.

The addition of OperatorAssist extends operational intelligence across the payments lifecycle by introducing GenAI-powered, human-in-the-loop support for investigations, repair recommendations, and exception handling. Supporting payment services such as proxy-based payments, request-to-pay, cross-border instant payments, and ML-driven intelligent routing, Finastra offers a resilient and configurable payment platform, reinforcing its position as a SPARK Leader in the 2026 SPARK Matrix for institutions seeking centralized control, operational efficiency, and payment modernization.”

The QKS Group SPARK Matrix™ includes a detailed analysis of the global market dynamics, major trends, vendor landscape, and competitive positioning. The study also provides a competitive analysis and ranking of Integrated Bank Payments Platform providers in the form of the SPARK Matrix™. The study provides strategic information for users to evaluate different vendor capabilities, competitive differentiation, and market positions.

“Banks are under increasing pressure to modernize, manage their costs effectively, and meet evolving customer demands. Technology has a significant role to play here,” said Barry Rodrigues, EVP Payments at Finastra. “This recognition is testament to the strength of our payments portfolio and our commitment to helping banks and financial institutions modernize payments with confidence, accelerate innovation, and deliver seamless payment experiences across multiple rails, schemes, and geographies. We’re proud to support banks around the world as they build the next generation of modern payment rails.”

Additional Resources:

For more information about FINASTRA, visit HereComplimentary Download – SPARK Matrix: Integrated Bank Payments Platform, Q3 2026

About FINASTRA

Finastra provides the mission-critical software that powers thousands of financial institutions in more than 100 countries – including many of the world’s leading banks. Its technology helps financial institutions move money as well as extend and service loans that financial services businesses and consumers rely on every day. Backed by Vista Equity Partners, Finastra combines deep financial services expertise with secure, reliable and scalable technology to help customers modernize operations, accelerate innovation, and grow their businesses in a rapidly evolving industry.

Media Contact

Caroline Duff

Global PR Director
T +44 (0)7917 613586
E caroline.duff@finastra.com
finastra.com

About QKS Group

QKS Group is a global advisory and consulting firm focused on helping clients achieve business transformation goals with Strategic Business and Growth advisory services. At QKS Group, our vision is to become an integral part of our client’s business as a strategic knowledge partner. Our research and consulting deliverables are designed to provide comprehensive information and strategic insights for helping clients formulate growth strategies to survive and thrive in ever-changing business environments.

For more available research, please visit Research

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New platform unites healthcare signals, AI-powered engagement led by Grace, and a proprietary network of curated, bundled-payment care partners to help employers, TPAs and healthcare innovators lower costs and close care gaps before they become claims.

DALLAS, Sept. 16, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Lyric Health today announced the launch of its Healthcare Operating System, a platform built to help self-funded employers, third-party administrators (TPAs) and healthcare innovators turn fragmented healthcare data into coordinated member action.

Built on more than a decade of virtual care delivery and healthcare technology development, the operating system unites data integration, intelligent automation, AI-powered engagement, clinical services, an in-house and curated provider network, and care navigation within a single, connected platform — with one goal: identify meaningful healthcare opportunities earlier, engage members at the right moment, and guide them to the most appropriate, highest-value care.

A market with no shortage of data — and a coordination problem

Employers, TPAs and health plans are contending with a familiar set of pressures: healthcare premiums and out-of-pocket costs that continue to strain budgets, long wait times and provider shortages that delay care and frustrate employees, rising rates of stress, burnout and behavioral health need, a growing chronic disease burden, and persistent gaps in health equity and access. At the same time, the market has responded with a proliferation of disconnected point solutions — telehealth apps, navigation vendors, wellness programs and chronic-condition tools — each addressing a slice of the problem without ever being asked to work together.

“The healthcare industry does not have a shortage of point solutions. It has a coordination problem,” said Rey Colón, Founder and CEO of Lyric Health. “Our vision is to create the operating system that connects healthcare intelligence with action. When we identify a signal, the value is not simply knowing that the signal exists. The value is engaging the member, guiding them to the right care and helping ensure the next step actually happens.”

From fragmented data to coordinated action

Lyric’s operating system is designed to close that gap by connecting signals from sources such as eligibility, claims, pharmacy, labs, clinical interactions, connected devices and other available health data with intelligent workflows that can initiate engagement and navigation. The model runs on a continuous sequence — Data → Signals → Intelligence → Engagement → Navigation → Care → Outcomes — so that instead of requiring members to navigate a fragmented healthcare system on their own, Lyric proactively identifies opportunities and coordinates the next best action across virtual care, primary care, behavioral health, specialty programs, centers of excellence and trusted external partners.

Grace: an intelligent interface within the orchestration layer

Powering that coordination is Lyric’s orchestration layer — the intelligence and workflow engine that turns a signal into an action. Within it sits Grace, Lyric’s AI-powered healthcare companion, who gives members a conversational front door into their journey. Today, Grace can manage the whole member experience; help members understand their benefits, triage the members needs and steer them toward appropriate care at the right time, coordinate scheduling and next steps, and stay engaged with their care plan — all grounded in the data and workflows behind the broader platform, not as a standalone chatbot.

A proprietary, curated network built for value

For the highest-cost, highest-variability episodes of care — procedures such as joint replacement and other orthopedic and musculoskeletal (MSK) surgery, imaging, infusion therapy and specialty medications — Lyric has built a proprietary, curated network of trusted care partners under direct, bundled-payment contracts. Rather than routing members into the standard fee-for-service system, Lyric’s operating system identifies members who may need these services early and steers them to credentialed centers of excellence within its network, with pricing negotiated and guaranteed in advance.

In one example from Lyric’s bundled-payment network, a total joint replacement episode was priced at roughly 170% of the Medicare baseline through Lyric’s direct-contracted network, compared with roughly 210% of the Medicare baseline under standard major medical benefits — meaningful savings realized alongside a more coordinated surgical and recovery experience for the member.

Lyric’s operating system is also built to flex around a partner’s existing infrastructure. Lyric currently powers 130 white-label brands, with partners leveraging the platform’s tools to build custom virtual care initiatives tailored to their population. That flexibility extends to network design as well: partners can bring their own network and use Lyric’s as added capacity or wraparound coverage, and can structure engagement as utilization-based programs, subscription models or fee-for-service arrangements.

A measurable return on investment

Results from Lyric’s proactive care model point to a measurable return on investment for the organizations that adopt it. Across its member population, Lyric has been associated with the following outcomes:

4:1 ROI — Clients are realizing a 4-to-1 return on investment through Lyric’s virtual care platform steering members to the best care destination73% reduction in unnecessary ED visits — When leveraging Lyric’s virtual consultations members avoided emergency department visits 73% of the time.93% member satisfaction — Plan members rated their end-to-end virtual consult experience in the highest satisfaction tier

For plan sponsors, that combination of lower claims spend, reduced administrative burden and stronger member engagement translates into a defensible, measurable return on investment — not just the promise of one.

Lyric’s Healthcare Operating System is available now to self-funded employers, TPAs and health plans. Lyric will share more on Grace’s expanded capabilities, the orchestration layer and outcomes data in the weeks ahead.

About Lyric Health

Lyric Health is an award-winning healthcare technology company helping employers, TPAs and health plans lower healthcare costs and improve member outcomes through intelligent coordination. Lyric connects data, virtual care, clinical expertise, member engagement and a trusted healthcare ecosystem to identify healthcare signals and guide members toward the right care at the right time.  To learn more please visit www.getlyric.com

Media Contact

Isaiah Colon
422791@email4pr.com
469.647.9314
www.getlyric.com

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SOURCE Lyric Health