Norm Lewis Additional cast members include Tony nominee Forrest McClendon, Rosena M. Hill, Darlesia Cearcy, John Henry Cox, Alan H. Green, Aisha de Haas, Isaiah Johnson, Nahal Joshi, Jacob Ming-Trent, Paul O’Brien, Ben Schrager, Michael Sharon and Nick Wyman. Mandela: A New Musical will also feature 60 members of the Keystone State Boychoir and Pennsylvania Girlchoir. David Glenn Armstrong will direct. View Comments Star Files Soon to appear as the title role of The Phantom of the Opera, Lewis received a Tony nomination for Porgy and Bess, and has also starred on Broadway in Miss Saigon, The Who’s Tommy, Chicago, Side Show, The Wild Party, Amour, Les Miserables, Sondheim on Sondheim and The Little Mermaid. His film and TV credits include Scandal, All My Children and Les Miserables in Concert: The 25th Anniversary. With music, lyrics and a book by Steven M. Fisher, the new show will use original South African folk songs to tell the story of the love and loss between parent and child as audiences are transported through different stages of the late South African President’s life. He’s soon to make Broadway history in The Phantom of the Opera, but first, Tony nominee Norm Lewis will take on another iconic figure: Nelson Mandela. The leading man will play the title role in an industry reading of Mandela: A New Musical on March 31. read more
Are you willing to help combat obesity in Georgia? University of Georgia Extension needs interested Georgians to test the new Walk Georgia website by registering for the program and logging physical activity online.Walk Georgia is a Web-based program offered with no registration cost to all Georgians. As a part of UGA Extension, the program is based in communities across Georgia. Extension agents and program staff throughout the state plan community events, meet residents in person and provide incentives in their counties.Pilot session participants can register for the testing phase of the new Walk Georgia website at pilot.walkgeorgia.org and begin tracking their physical activity data online. Participants can create and join groups, or join as an individual. Customizable sessions and goals will be available soon. A $1 million, three-year grant from The Coca-Cola Foundation allowed for a complete renovation of the Walk Georgia website and the improved program offerings. Goals of this better equipped Walk Georgia program include reaching 100,000 Georgians and decreasing obesity by 5 percent in all Georgia counties over the next three years.Through the new Walk Georgia website, participants can log on and track their physical activity year-round. The website now scales to mobile devices and will be integrated with popular social media outlets. Improvements to the Walk Georgia system also make it better suited as a worksite wellness program. Walk Georgia is also being adapted for classroom use. Schools, districts and entire systems can participate in Walk Georgia; competition between classes, grades or schools can be enabled by teachers simply logging aggregate activity data for their class. Walk Georgia-based lesson plans will be available for elementary school teachers this year.Willing participants in the website’s testing phase are asked to log on to pilot.walkgeorgia.org, create an account and begin logging their activity. Sign up for the weekly Walk Georgia newsletter during the registration process or visit the daily blog at blog.extension.uga.edu/walkgeorgia/ to keep track of the pilot’s progress. Email questions and feedback to walkga@uga.edu. read more
Sign up for our COVID-19 newsletter to stay up-to-date on the latest coronavirus news throughout New York A 54-year-old Mastic man was killed when he crashed his motorcycle in Rocky Point over the weekend.Suffolk County police said Russell Pallace was riding a Harley Davidson eastbound on Route 25A when he sideswiped a Cadillac before Pallace turned around and fled southbound on Rocky Point Road, where he crashed into several trees shortly before 9 p.m. Sunday.Pallace was pronounced dead at the scene.There was minor damage to the Cadillac but the driver was not injured.Seventh Squad detectives impounded the motorcycle, are continuing the investigation and ask anyone who has any information about either of the crashes to contact them at 631-852-8752
Offer consistency across all communication channels. While research shows most consumers prefer to receive promotions via email, your members want options. Be prepared to meet them in any channel they want. Monitor the service quality of your communication channels, making sure the branding, look and feel are uniform so members receive a consistent experience.Can you catch your members’ attention in a mere 5-30 seconds? Yes, if you engage them with content they care about. The better you know what members what, the better prepared you are to respond to their felt needs. And this makes your credit union a valuable financial partner … for life. 65SHARESShareShareSharePrintMailGooglePinterestDiggRedditStumbleuponDeliciousBufferTumblr,Ron Daly Ron Daly is the president and CEO of Virtual StrongBox, a secure, end-to-end member engagement platform that can be integrated into various workflow processes to provide high-risk Enterprise IT firms … Web: www.virtualstrongbox.com Details Surveys repeatedly show that credit unions have strong member relationships. As a whole, the credit union community received an enviable 85% in last year’s American Customer Satisfaction Index, compared with 76% for banks. With a satisfaction record like that, credit unions should be sitting in the “catbird seat.” Yet, we hear from many that a lot of their members only use one or two services, while some barely use them at all.The fact is satisfaction isn’t the same as engagement. Your members may be content enough with your customer service. They may have no complaints about your savings rates. But are they connected enough that they would turn to you first for a financial need? Would they take pride in telling others about your credit union?PeopleMetrics bases customer engagement on four factors: retention (how likely customers are to keep doing business with you); extra effort (the likelihood they will go out of their way to do business with you); advocacy (whether they will refer your institution to friends or family); and passion (their emotional response to the customer experience).The big deal about engagementCustomer engagement is a hot topic today … and with good reason. Gallup describes it as a customer’s “emotional or psychological attachment to a brand, product, or company – and the definitive predictor of business growth.” In a 2014 poll, Gallup found that consumers are beginning to feel more confident in the economy; yet, their behavior is different since the financial crisis. Before making financial decisions, people research and compare more today; they’re cautious about ensuring they receive value. And they ask for recommendations, mostly from their circle of friends and family.In its report, “Why Customer Engagement Matters So Much Now (July 2014),“Gallup noted that consumers will give more money to businesses they feel emotionally connected to, but they will ignore, or even oppose, those they feel provide them no value. Further, fully engaged customers account for 23% more profitability than the average customer. And, in the financial industry, fully engaged customers bring in 37% more annual revenue than unengaged customers.Think of it like this: For most businesses, the number of unengaged or minimally engaged customers is between 20-30%. If you serve 100,000 members, that’s 20,000-30,000 people who don’t feel strongly about your credit union!The grab for attentionSo, how do you move lukewarm members into the engaged column? It’s challenging. Today’s consumers aren’t just busy – they’re distracted. A recent Oracle survey of 2,000 adults discovered you have less than 30 seconds to attract their attention. And Microsoft’s own study found it’s more like 8 seconds, linking the falling attention span to smartphones and our increasingly digital lifestyle, which forces people to switch their attention quickly between different channels.Consumers may be preoccupied, but they’re also choosy – and hungry for meaningful information. Oracle found that the influx of digital information and access to multiple devices has made consumers more selective about paying attention to messages from brands. They aren’t interested in mass marketing; instead, consumers want quick, easy-to-read content that is relevant to their wants and needs. This requires engaging with them and keeping them interested while they jump from one channel to another.The surprising, best way to reach membersText. Email. Online. Mobile. In-branch. Call center. ATMs. Website. Social. People have many ways to plug in today. Yet, the No. 1 channel where consumers stay focused the longest is email. Oracle’s research showed that 50% of consumers spend an average of 5-30 seconds on incoming marketing emails, citing its unobtrusive, opt-in nature for making it the top attention getter. But just 32% of consumers spend that much time on promotional texts, followed by only 27% reading social marketing messages.While it’s important to be in all the channels your members are, be aware that for marketing messages to make a lasting impression, email continues to reign. Here are a few other tips for breaking through the attention barrier:Make member engagement a priority. Treat your inactive or minimal-use members like they just joined. Using onboarding techniques, you may pique their interest in products or services they didn’t know you offer. Provide information on what’s available and invite them to tell you their financial goals, what life events they may be facing, and how they’d like to communicate. Use data to stay in touch. Some say a downside of today’s communication technology is it limits opportunities for personal touches. But technology also can help you understand members’ needs in ways that weren’t possible just a few years ago, increasing your member connections. For example, you can learn from the data in your core system, loan-origination platform, social sites and elsewhere. Many DigitalMailer clients gather their organized data for input into our adEngine to be analyzed and used to automatically drive one-to-one communication with personalized messages based on members individual financial service needs. read more
32SHARESShareShareSharePrintMailGooglePinterestDiggRedditStumbleuponDeliciousBufferTumblr,Robert O’Hara Robert O’Hara, vice president of strategic alliances at GrooveCar, is a veteran of the credit union industry having worked as director of lending and operations at a Long Island … Web: www.groovecarinc.com Details What does innovation look like? The definition is the process of translating an idea into a product or service that creates value. Swing open the front doors to your credit union, where can you be innovative?When it comes to enhancing your financial products and service offerings to members, sometimes the most obvious place to start is where the growth potential is. The growth in auto loan originations continues to climb in 2017, and this is a great place to look. Online auto buying directly linked to your website is very innovative. Providing an online location where you can digitally serve members with what they want and need during the car buying process is easier than once thought possible. Just recently, Chase Bank introduced Chase Auto Direct, an online resource to improve the traditional car buying process and Bank of America is currently testing out their own platform in select markets before their grand launch. However, credit unions have been offering this to their members for over a decade. If you are a credit union with an online auto buying platform, pat yourself on the back. If not, listen up. Even if you have one, have you reviewed it to ensure you are optimizing it for your members and growing your auto loan portfolio?The online research and shopping habits of consumers is a simple, yet hard to ignore statistic: 85% of car buyers are shopping online! Out of that number, less than 1% is satisfied with the process. Credit unions are in an enviable position to change this perception. Members trust credit unions. That is a good thing because the online universe is large and unpredictable. There are millions of internet sites dedicated to auto buying vying for your members’ attention. These sites exist because consumers spend on average 14 hours over 4 months researching before making their vehicle purchase. Proof of concept has already been vetted. Don’t let members be taken advantage of, or burned. Provide them with a trusted, feature-rich resource of their own, through you while you find out which of your members are car shopping.Once you have a resource, the work doesn’t stop there, simply splashing fancy vehicles across the screen won’t do it. A true buying site includes the ability to help members calculate payments, learn about trade-in values, understand about traditional financing versus leasing, building a vehicle of their dreams and saving their information, and finding out what new and pre-owned inventory is available in their area. Helping members and being a valued resource can be accomplished. Try working with a vendor who understands the online world of car buying and the innovation of staying ahead of trends. Behind the fancy web pages that makes it attractive to members, is a resource that should work for you as well. Yes, lead generation needs to be part of the equation. Your credit union will benefit from the ability to interact with members at different stages of research and buying, this builds business. Equally as important, you should be able to customize the site to match your wants and needs while also highlighting the dealers you have solid relationships with. Your goal is to close the auto shopping and buying circle.Being innovative also involves messaging and engaging with the member. I am sure there are many credit union sites that are beautiful and useful, but if no one knows about them; they aren’t really a service to anyone. It’s not hard to imagine how Chase will push the message out to customers about their auto buying resource. Credit unions should be doing the same and can easily through partnering. In-branch messaging, email marketing, direct mail, staff engagement and all other touch points should be part of your credit union’s strategy to promote your auto buying site.It really does matter how innovative your credit union is. Credit unions are doing an incredible job with a market share of total financing. In Q1 2017, credit unions were up 2% over the same period in 2016, during this time banks’ market share went down by 2.3%. Loan terms continue to increase and dominate the market. Gaining in popularity is the 73 to 84 loan term that is experiencing an increase of 3.6% over 2016, credit unions known for their great rates are positioned to take advantage of this trend. Going back to innovation, payment calculators will help members looking to finance understand the payment as your rates are built in. Help members understand how rate translates into payments they can afford and what it means to them as they enter longer term loans. Advertising rate alone will not bring them in.Portfolio balances, loan amounts, and auto payments are reaching record highs. Members are looking to be serviced, make it easy for them to do more business with their credit union. The credit union movement is powerful, be the resource your member is looking for! read more
The role of the chief executive officer has changed drastically over the past decade. Where CEOs once focused on such traditional duties as running the credit union and overseeing operations, they are now responsible for the overall health of the financial institution, which requires a deeper understanding of regulatory requirements, technology issues and even personnel and staffing challenges. To provide effective oversight of all operations and procedures, CEOs must focus on three key IT management issues to ensure their institutions continue to grow and are successful in the new year: efficiency and effectiveness, reducing risk, and gaining a competitive advantage.1. Efficiency and EffectivenessPeople: Successfully attracting and retaining top talent is key to running an efficient and effective financial institution. Credit unions often spend time and effort recruiting and training staff only to lose them to more competitive salary opportunities in the market. While credit unions are accustomed to planning for the departure of the CEO, president or other senior executives, the critical and pervasive nature of technology is leading many institutions to expand succession planning to include other key personnel as well. continue reading » ShareShareSharePrintMailGooglePinterestDiggRedditStumbleuponDeliciousBufferTumblr read more
Biden’s COVID Response Should Center on People, Not Just “Bugs and Drugs,” by Kiera Butler. Epidemiologist Gregg Gonsalves learned lessons from the HIV/AIDS epidemic that are useful today.TOP COMMENTSQUOTATION“Before the military coup in Chile, we had the idea that military coups happen in Banana Republics, somewhere in Central America. It would never happen in Chile. Chile was such a solid democracy. And when it happened, it had brutal characteristics. And it lasted 17 years.” ~~Isabel Allende, Interview with Bill Moyers (2003)TWEET OF THE DAY- Advertisement – x – Advertisement – But with time running out for avoiding the worst impacts of climate change, every possible action—from local green ballot initiatives to a new federal position of “climate czar” to financial regulatory reforms—is on the advocacy agenda. Already, climate advocates are celebrating a shift in momentum. “Simply because we have a Republican Senate that isn’t representative of the majority of Americans who want action on climate change, doesn’t mean that things like a Green New Deal aren’t happening already,” Southard said, noting that green ballot initiatives passed in several cities. “The Green New Deal isn’t just a piece of legislation; it’s a vision for an economy that moves us off of fossil fuels. There’s a lot Biden can do, from stopping the Keystone Pipeline to banning fracking on public lands.”Environmental groups issued a list of actions on climate that the administration can take—without Congress—within days of taking office, including declaring a national climate emergency under the National Emergencies Act. But flipping the Senate to blue remains a huge priority.THREE OTHER ARTICLES WORTH READINGThe Social Media Managers Are Not Okay, by Marta Martinez. They’re on the front lines of a relentless and overwhelming news cycle that is pushing them to the edge.How We Got Here, by Sophie Novack. Texas’ health system has been underfunded, understaffed, and unprepared for years. Here, COVID-19 found the perfect place to spread.- Advertisement – BLAST FROM THE PASTAt Daily Kos on this date in 2010—Republicans don’t do bipartisanship:While the Broders of the world continue their partisan game of calling for Democrats to be bipartisan, it’s obvious to anyone paying attention that they really only intend for a unilateral Democratic capitulation. It was obvious from the moment President Obama took office that his sincere desire to work across the aisle would only be taken advantage of, and that it would be seen as a sign of weakness. After a year of Democrats negotiating down their health insurance plan until it most resembled Romneycare or the 1993 Republican plan, for which the Republicans gave it not a single vote and now call for its repeal, nobody any longer should be buying into the myth of bipartisanship. While the president continually calls for bipartisan cooperation, the Republicans continually make clear that they will not compromise, will continually try to move the goalposts, and that despite the Democrats having not investigated any of the many horrendous crimes of the Bush-Cheney administration, there now is nothing about the Obama administration the Republicans won’t obsessively investigate. As I’ve been saying for some time, it shouldn’t surprise anyone if they send a fact-finding team to Kenya to search for the “real” birth certificate. The Democrats need to stop buying into a myth that means but their own destruction. read more
Thirteen prominent Hong Kong democracy activists appeared in court on Monday charged with holding an unauthorized gathering to mark the Tiananmen Square crackdown, the latest in a string of prosecutions against protest leaders in the restless financial hub.Last month tens of thousands of Hong Kongers defied a ban on rallies to mark the June 4 anniversary of Beijing’s deadly 1989 crackdown against students pushing for democracy.The annual vigil has been held in Hong Kong for the last three decades and usually attracts huge crowds. It has taken on particular significance in recent years as the semi-autonomous city chafes under Beijing’s increasingly authoritarian rule. Among them are Jimmy Lai, the millionaire owner of the openly pro-democracy Apple newspaper, veteran democracy activists such as Lee Cheuk-yan and Albert Ho as well as young campaigner Figo Chan.When asked if he understood the charge, Lee invoked the hundreds who were killed by Chinese tanks and soldiers at Tiananmen. “This is political persecution,” he said. “The real incitement is the massacre conducted by the Chinese Communist Party 31 years ago.”Some of those charged on Monday — and many other leading democracy figures — face separate prosecutions related to last year’s huge and often violent pro-democracy protests.China’s leaders have rejected calls to give Hong Kongers universal suffrage and portrayed the protests as a plot by foreigners to destabilize the motherland.Earlier this month Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law aimed at stamping out the protests once and for all.The law targets subversion, secession, terrorism and foreign collusion, with sentences including life in prison. But its broad phrasing — such as a ban on encouraging hatred towards China’s government — has sent fear rippling through a city used to being able to speak its mind.Police have arrested people for possessing pro-independence or autonomy material, libraries and schools have pulled books, political parties have disbanded and one prominent opposition politician has fled.The law bypassed Hong Kong’s legislature and its contents were kept secret until the moment it was enacted. It empowered China’s security apparatus to set up shop openly in Hong Kong for the first time, while Beijing has also claimed jurisdiction for some serious national security cases — ending the legal firewall between the mainland the city’s independent judiciary.China has also announced global jurisdiction to pursue national security crimes committed by anyone outside of Hong Kong and China, including foreigners. This year’s vigil was banned for the first time with authorities citing coronavirus measures. At the time local transmission had largely been halted.But thousands turned out to hold candles in their neighborhoods and in Victoria Park, the traditional site of the vigil.Police later arrested 13 leading activists who appeared at the Victoria Park vigil.All appeared in court on Monday to be formally charged with “inciting” an unlawful assembly, which carries up to five years in jail. Topics : read more
The home at 24 Annie St has character features including timber floorboards.After some negotiations, Mr Joseph upped his bid to $1.17 million and Mr Curtain called the property on the market. With no further bids forthcoming, the property was declared sold. Mr Hicks said he thought $1.17 was more than fair for a home on a big block in such a great position in New Farm. “The buyer was happy, the seller was happy so that made for a great day,” he said. Mr Hicks said the property was character listed so it couldn’t be moved but it could be renovated and raised. The home at 49 Glenwood St, Chelmer was passed in at auction.A Chelmer home named Australia’s “most viewed” on realestate.com.au for last week failed to sell at auction on Saturday. The post-war cottage with a renovation designed by Shaun Lockyer Architects was passed in at $1.45 million. Marketing agent Peter May of Place Graceville said 49 Glenwood St attracted plenty of interest and he expected a good result despite the property not selling at auction. “It won’t be long before there is a sold sign on that one,” he said. The auction of 24 Annie St, New Farm attracted a small crowd.Place Bulimba marketing agent Shane Hicks said five buyers registered to bid but only two raised their paddles. Auctioneer Paul Curtain opened the auction to bids just after 9am and was met with silence before Brian Joseph eventually placed an opening bid of $800,000. Mr Joseph was bidding on behalf of his daughter Sally Joseph, a nutritionist living in northern New South Wales. Mr Joseph’s opening volley was countered by a phone bidder and the pair continued to bid back and forth until a $1.14 million bid from Mr Joseph stalled proceedings. The Chelmer home has high ceilings, timber accents and feature brickwork.A crowd of more than 80 people turned up for the auction but only one bidder spoke up. The auction began with an opening bid of $1.2 million from a phone bidder.Auctioneer Matthew Condon countered with a vendor bid of $1.3 million and the phone bidder came back with another $50,000. Auctioneer Matthew Condon welcomes buyers to the auction of 49 Glenwood St.The auction paused for negotiations and the sole bidder increased their bid to $1.4 million.Mr Condon placed a second vendors bid of $1.45 million and the property was passed in. Mr Condon said there were other interested parties who weren’t able to bid under the auction conditions. BRISBANE IS HOME TO AUSTRALIA’S MOST POPULAR HOUSE More from newsMould, age, not enough to stop 17 bidders fighting for this homeless than 1 hour agoBuyers ‘crazy’ not to take govt freebies, says 28-yr-old investor6 hours agoIn New Farm, a character cottage sold at auction for a seven-figure sum despite a sluggish start to bidding. The 582sq m property at 24 Annie St sold for $1.17 million on Saturday, April 8. Brian Joseph won the auction of 24 Annie St on behalf of his daughter, Sally Joseph.Mr Joseph said his daughter planned to lease the house for the time being. “Sally liked the condition of the property, the elevated position and the location close to good restaurants,” he said. “She liked that it had some good off-street parking and an opportunity to renovate with that big yard at the back. “She envisions one day moving up here and renovating it but that’s not in the near future.” read more
John McGrath, founder of the Australian Real Estate Conference.A RECORD 4150 agents and industry players will attend the annual Australasian Real Estate Conference (AREC) on the Gold Coast tomorrow and Monday to hear from experts from a variety of industries about how to be standout performers in their business. It is the 20th annual AREC and the sixth on the Gold Coast. More from news02:37Purchasers snap up every residence in the $40 million Siarn Palm Beach North7 hours ago02:37International architect Desmond Brooks selling luxury beach villa1 day agoThe conference, to be held at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre, brings together thousands of industry players from throughout Australia to learn from local and international speakers. While the event is mainly attended by Australian delegates, this year it is a truly international mix with attendees coming from Ireland, South Africa and Thailand. AREC founder John McGrath (pictured), of McGrath Real Estate, said this year’s event was designed to address the world of disruption facing the real estate industry. “Each year it is our commitment to provide AREC delegates an even better speaker line-up than the year before,’’ he said.“I have no doubt that this year’s speakers are by far the best ever.” read more