Veritonic, the industry’s leading platform for comprehensive audio analytics and research, today announced its ability to deliver brands an unrivaled level of holistic data and analytics meticulously designed to aid in the creation and optimization of branded podcast initiatives.

The AI-powered Creative Measurement solution within the Veritonic platform provides brands with robust pre-market insights that delve into the emotional resonance, recall, and engagement of their audio content. With this actionable information in hand, brands can optimize their content for maximum impact, ensuring that every element of their branded podcast captures the attention and hearts of their target audience.

Moreover, Veritonic’s Competitive Intelligence solution grants brands access to a wealth of data related to their competitors' audio ads, distribution channels, and audience response. This comprehensive and proprietary information equips brands with the necessary tools to stand out amidst the noise, enabling them to strategically craft promotional ads that not only capture attention but also resonate on a profound level with their target audience.

As it relates to performance measurement, Veritonic’s built-for-audio Brand Lift and Attribution solutions allow brands to gauge if the ads they are using to promote their podcast are meaningfully increasing their reach and impressions, and if their CTAs are resulting in URL clicks, show shares, social media follows, and more.

“Branded podcasts are an incredibly effective vehicle for telling a brand’s story and increasing its reach,” said Scott Simonelli, CEO of Veritonic. “Similar to the creation and optimization of audio logos, audio ads, and podcast ads, data should be at the root of every decision that a brand makes around their podcast - from ideation to promotion and everything in between. We are committed to continuously innovating our platform and the data it provides to enable brands to make more informed decisions across all channels and formats where audio is utilized, while increasing their ROI.”

The exclusive provider of independent and holistic audio data and analytics, the Veritonic platform is supporting the audio strategies of leading brands, agencies, and platforms around the world. 

EXL , a leading data analytics and digital operations and solutions company, announced the appointment of Vishal Chhibbar as executive vice president and chief growth and strategy officer. He will report to Rohit Kapoor, vice chairman and chief executive officer of EXL and will be an executive committee member.

The appointment marks Chhibbar’s return to EXL after serving as the company’s chief financial officer from 2009 to 2019, where he instituted some of EXL’s foundational growth strategies. In his new role, Chhibbar will draw on his leadership experience, financial expertise, and knowledge of EXL’s business to spearhead EXL's growth, overseeing areas such as strategy, marketing, sales governance, mergers and acquisitions and partnerships.

“Vishal brings that unique combination of deep expertise grounded in the fundamentals with the vision and creativity to see the next big opportunity and seize it," said Kapoor. “As our business continues to grow at a rapid pace, driven increasingly by our work leading enterprise digital transformation initiatives and large-scale AI deployments, Vishal’s practical insights and keen instincts will be a tremendously valuable asset. I’m thrilled to have him back on the team.”

In his previous role, Chhibbar served as the chief financial officer at Brillio, a leading digital technology consulting and solutions company, where he played a pivotal role in guiding the organization through a period of unprecedented growth. Prior to that, he was the president and chief financial officer of EPIQ, a global legal tech-enabled service leader. With vast experience leading fast-growing digital solutions companies in highly volatile market environments, Chhibbar has overseen all aspects of strategy, mergers and acquisitions and financial planning initiatives. He has also served in various leadership roles across companies such as GE Capital, American Express Bank, and Xerox, and directed initiatives in Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, and the United States.

“This is an exciting time to join EXL while bringing a renewed focus on driving growth with our end-to-end service offerings that employ data management and analytics, generative AI capabilities, deep domain expertise and digital operations to deliver exceptional value to our clients,” said Chhibbar. “To achieve our growth objectives, we will continue to enhance our capabilities through key partnerships, strategic investments and M&A. I am privileged to have this opportunity to collaborate with the exceptional leadership of EXL and drive the growth strategy in this rapidly changing business environment.”

Karim Hijazi is a serial entrepreneur, a former US intelligence community contractor and the former director of intelligence for Mandiant. He will oversee the firm’s expanded focus on emerging technology platforms and evolving risks.

SCP&CO, a private investment and fund management firm focused on emerging technology platforms, today announced the appointment of cybersecurity industry veteran and renowned cyber intelligence expert Karim Hijazi to Managing Director and General Partner.

Hijazi joins the firm after a long track record as a successful cybersecurity senior executive and entrepreneur, where he founded several groundbreaking startups in the field of cyber threat intelligence. As SCP&CO’s new Managing Director, he will support the firm’s expanded focus on emerging technologies and platforms, particularly focusing on the opportunities associated with the evolution from Web2 to Web3 and cybersecurity, with a strong emphasis on new authenticity technologies to counter the growing uncertainties, risks and disruptive potential posed by rapidly evolving capabilities such as artificial intelligence (AI). Hijazi will work closely with the firm’s Fund Managing Director, Chris Pizzo, in creating a new investment strategy centered around these technologies.

“Karim is one of the world’s leading authorities on cyber risk and threat intelligence, and we’re thrilled to have him join our leadership team. He will play a key role in developing our investment strategy for the emerging field of authenticity technologies, which will be increasingly vital for businesses and consumers amid the massive changes now underway in AI, cybersecurity and Web3,” said Chris Rivera, president of SCP&CO. “Our executive team has over 100 years of combined experience in technology investing, since the initial dot-com era, and we are looking ahead to how these developing technologies will dramatically transform the world around us.”

“It is an honor to join SCP&CO, which has been an active investor in the technology industry for over 20 years. While many investors have been overly bullish on the upside potential of the benevolent use of these new technologies, SCP&CO is well aware of the growing risks, particularly with the intersection of AI and cybersecurity, which could have many dangerous implications for businesses, governments and society at large,” said Hijazi. “Ensuring the integrity and ethics of these technologies, and developing effective countermeasures for their worst abuses, will be a daunting challenge for our society – and a major focus for the firm moving forward.”

Hijazi is a 25-year veteran of the cyber intelligence and counterintelligence industries, and previously served as a contractor for the US intelligence community, cyber threat analyst to the global oil-and-gas industry, and as director of intelligence for Mandiant. He also founded multiple cybersecurity startups which pioneered new tactics in the cyber intelligence field, including early-stage breach detection, adversary infrastructure monitoring and botnet infiltration and seizure. During his tenure at Mandiant, Hijazi played a key role in the influential APT1 report released in 2013, which conclusively linked the People’s Liberation Army of China to widespread cyber espionage activity against US interests. He has also appeared many times on national TV as a cybersecurity analyst, including CNBC, Fox Business, Bloomberg, CNN, and more.

A widely recognized expert on emerging cyber threats, Hijazi will be a keynote speaker at the prestigious MENA Information Security Conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia this September. He also recently spoke at the Cybershield Summit in Riyadh, where he lectured international business leaders on advanced threats posed by AI and ML.

Over the last 20 years, SCP&CO has completed more than 100 transactions, totaling $2.2 billion of aggregate transaction volume. This includes over $255 million of principal and advisory transactions in the technology industry alone.

INTRODUCES INNOVATIVE 'POWERPACK' TO REVOLUTIONIZE THE INDUSTRY

ClickDimensions, the trailblazer in marketing automation solutions, today launched ClickDimensions PowerPack, their game-changing new product set to redefine the landscape of B2B sales and marketing. Designed to address the transformative changes in today's buying process and to leverage Microsoft's Power Platform, PowerPack introduces Simple Account-Based Sales & Marketing, a streamlined approach poised to revolutionize how small and medium-sized businesses engage with buyers, to deliver more effective outcomes. 

Simple Account-Based Sales & Marketing lies at the core of PowerPack, crafted from a fusion of ClickDimensions' unparalleled expertise in Sales & Marketing Automation implementations and insights from industry giants like Forrester, Gartner, and SBI. This cutting-edge POV represents a paradigm shift, empowering businesses of all sizes to optimize their revenue stack and revolutionize their sales and marketing strategies.

According to Mike Dickerson, CEO of ClickDimensions, "The biggest mistake companies make is organizing their Sales & Marketing efforts solely around their own selling actions, rather than aligning with the customer's buying journey. It's crucial to understand that businesses don't make buying decisions; instead, it's groups of 5-10 relevant individuals working within the organization who collectively decide to make a purchase."

Dickerson continues, "ClickDimensions PowerPack was specifically developed to address this gap by combining our deep understanding of CRM and Marketing Automation with industry-leading research and best practices. We have simplified the complex processes and systems associated with account-based strategies, making them accessible and affordable for all businesses, no matter their size."

PowerPack's revolutionary methodology is built on five fundamental actions necessary to execute Simple Account-Based Sales & Marketing:

1. Embrace the Buying Group: Instead of fixating on individual leads, prioritize understanding and engaging the collective Buying Group.
2. Organize around the Buying Journey:  Ensure that sales and marketing efforts are aligned with the needs of buyers at specific milestones, facilitating a smoother and more impactful customer journey.
3. Rethink Leads:  Redefine leads as contacts that have demonstrated genuine interest, allowing businesses to focus on the most promising opportunities.
4. Emphasize Opportunities:  By tailoring marketing messages and sales interactions to address the unique perspectives and concerns of each stakeholder, businesses can significantly improve their chances of success.
5. Unify Sales & Marketing: Break down silos and bring sales and marketing teams together by aligning their efforts and working in concert to deliver a consistent and compelling message throughout the buying experience.

By adopting the Simple Account-Based Sales & Marketing approach with PowerPack businesses can expect increased conversion rates and higher win rates, improved visibility into opportunities for both sales and marketing teams, and ultimately, accelerated growth.

Dickerson adds, "Until now, small and medium-sized businesses have been constrained by limited resources, hindering their ability to access and adopt the necessary technology to thrive. PowerPack levels the playing field, empowering these businesses to succeed in the modern B2B landscape."

Maniscalco Will Spearhead the Next Wave of Cutting-Edge Technological Advancements to Support Expanding AI Applications

Applied Digital Corporation Nasdaq: APLD “Applied Digital” or the “Company”, a designer, builder and operator of next-generation digital infrastructure that is designed for High-Performance Computing (“HPC”) applications, today announced the promotion of Michael Maniscalco from Executive Vice President of Technology to Chief Technology Officer (“CTO”) effective July 5, 2023. Maniscalco had served as the Company’s Executive Vice President of Technology since September 2021. In his new role as CTO, Maniscalco will lead Applied Digital’s advancements in supporting the demanding technical requirements for artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and services, including large language model training and graphics rendering.

“As Mike steps into the role of CTO, his technological prowess and command will only continue advancing our strategic expansion into supporting high compute workloads,” said Applied Digital Chairman and CEO, Wes Cummins. “He has proven to be a trusted partner and has been instrumental in our evolution from supporting blockchain to HPC applications. With the continued growth and market demand for AI compute and services, Mike will be responsible for securing key contracts and helping bring new facilities and customers online.”

Maniscalco joined Applied Digital with a deep technological acumen he built throughout his many years of entrepreneurism and network engineering leadership. Prior to joining Applied Digital, Mike founded multiple startups and held software and network engineering positions for Fortune 500 companies within the AI, IoT, financial, telecommunications, blockchain and healthcare industries.

“Applied Digital is a forward-thinking industry disruptor with an unmatched dedication and approach to powering the future of HPC and AI applications,” said Maniscalco. “I’m looking forward to continuing to boost Applied Digital’s AI offerings and bolster our roster of customers in my expanded role as CTO.”

This past month, Applied Digital announced its partnership with Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Inc. to deliver its powerful, energy-efficient supercomputers proven to support large-scale AI through Applied Digital’s AI cloud service. Recently, the Company also announced the launch of its Cloud Services that will provide high-performance computing power for high density applications. Following the launch of its AI Cloud Services, the Company signed its first two customers including agreements worth up to $180 million and $460 million over a 24-month and 36-month period, respectively.

Applied Digital’s next-generation datacenters are ideal for hosting HPC applications on premises. This solution provides high compute power, at a lower cost, to replenish the power density needed for AI/ML workloads.

Amanda Gourbault honored with Woman in PayTech – Spearheading Growth Award

CompoSecure, Inc. (Nasdaq: CMPO), a leader in metal payment cards, security, and authentication solutions, announced today that Chief Revenue Officer, Amanda Gourbault, was named the winner of the “Woman in PayTech – Spearheading Growth” category by FinTech Futures’ PayTech Awards 2023. Winners were announced on Friday, June 30^th at the gala dinner ceremony at the Merchant Taylors' Hall in London.

"I am immensely proud that Amanda has been honored with this award recognizing her unwavering dedication to our organization's growth and success,” said Jon Wilk, President and CEO of CompoSecure. “This accolade celebrates her outstanding leadership, relentless pursuit of excellence, and ability to inspire our entire team."

With 25 years of experience in the payment industry, Amanda Gourbault is a pioneer within the sector, as she continues to champion the proliferation of security solutions that promote a bank’s brand, simplify the consumer experience and improve payment authentication services. She has been lauded as a strategic visionary in the market with innovative approaches to solving complex problems. As CRO, she leads the company’s sales, pricing, marketing, revenue management, and international expansion activities while also enhancing CompoSecure’s highly inclusive culture by ensuring team members thrive and organizational outcomes and goals are met.

The PayTech Awards celebrate the most talented companies and individuals by recognizing excellence and innovation in the finance and payment industry worldwide. In selecting Amanda Gourbault for this award, the “Woman in PayTech” category recognizes an outstanding woman for her distinguished leadership and inspiring work in a paytech company and for positively impacting the paytech industry. This year’s ceremony celebrated remarkable achievements and breakthroughs in the payment technology sector, showcasing the industry’s brightest talents. There were a total of 37 winners and 27 highly commended entries across various categories.