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STAMFORD, Conn. and NEW YORK, — Freepoint Commodities LLC (“Freepoint”), a leading physical commodities and merchant finance firm capitalized by its management, employees and funds managed by Stone Point Capital (“Stone Point”), and MCS Capital Markets LLC (“MCS”), a broker dealer and capital solutions provider capitalized by affiliates of Stone Point, KKR & Co. L.P. (NYSE: KKR) and CPPIB Credit Investments Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (“CPPIB”), announced today that they have entered into a strategic alliance through which the firms intend to pursue opportunities to provide debt and equity financing solutions for clients in the energy and commodities sector. This strategic alliance mobilizes Freepoint’s deep expertise in the physical commodity markets and MCS’ demonstrated access to multiple forms of capital. Since its inception in January of 2013, MCS has completed approximately 50 transactions involving aggregate capital of more than $30 billion.

“We are pleased to partner with MCS, a firm we know well given our common affiliation with Stone Point, and hold in high regard. We believe that there are numerous underserved areas in energy and commodities that we can target by combining our focus with MCS’ structuring and distribution expertise as well as its access to flexible capital. Moreover, we believe that this relationship will allow us to provide a greater level of service to our clients,” said Freepoint CEO David A. Messer.

“We are excited by this strategic arrangement between Freepoint and MCS. We believe that the firms’ skill sets are highly complementary and will drive increased business activity,” said Chuck Davis, CEO of Stone Point.

“The executive team at Freepoint has a longstanding track record. We look forward to working with Freepoint to provide tailored solutions to our clients in this dynamic and capital intensive sector,” added Craig Farr, Head of Credit and Capital Markets at KKR and a Board Member of MCS.

About Freepoint
Founded in 2011, Freepoint is based in Stamford, CT with more than 250 employees worldwide. Freepoint is a merchant of physical commodities and a financer of upper and mid-stream commodity-producing assets. Freepoint also provides physical supply services and related structured solutions for counterparties. Private equity funds managed by Stone Point Capital, together with Freepoint management and senior employees, have provided Freepoint with committed equity capital. For further information about Freepoint, see www.freepoint.com.

About MCS
MCS is a merchant banking enterprise that provides a full range of principal and agency-based capital markets services to mid-market and sponsor-backed companies. The company offers debt and equity underwriting, syndication and advisory solutions to its clients across the capital structure. The company also makes certain principal investments to support client capital raising needs. MCS is a joint venture between the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Stone Point (through its Trident V fund) and KKR Capital Markets Holdings (together with its affiliates, “KKR”). It conducts securities activities through MCS Capital Markets LLC, its broker-dealer subsidiary. For further information about MCS, see www.merchcap.com.

About Stone Point
Stone Point Capital LLC is a financial services-focused private equity firm based in Greenwich, CT. The firm has raised six private equity funds – the Trident Funds – with aggregate committed capital of approximately $13 billion. In addition to the capital invested by the Trident Funds, Stone Point has secured approximately $7 billion of equity co-investments since 2001. Stone Point targets investments in the global financial services industry, including investments in companies that provide outsourced services to financial institutions, banks and depository institutions, asset management firms, insurance and reinsurance companies, insurance distribution and other insurance-related businesses, specialty lending and other credit opportunities, mortgage services companies and employee benefits and healthcare companies. For further information about Stone Point, see www.stonepoint.com.

About CPPIB Credit Investments Inc.
CPPIB Credit Investments Inc. is a multi-faceted global credit investment program wholly owned by the CPP Investment Board. With investments in the Americas, Europe and Asia, the team is focused on providing debt financing across the entire capital structure including term loans, high-yield bonds, mezzanine lending and other solutions for corporations.

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) is a professional investment management organization that invests the funds not needed by the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) to pay current benefits on behalf of 18 million Canadian contributors and beneficiaries. In order to build a diversified portfolio of CPP assets, CPPIB invests in public equities, private equities, real estate, infrastructure and fixed income instruments. Headquartered in Toronto, with offices in Hong Kong, London, New York and Sao Paulo, CPPIB is governed and managed independently of the Canada Pension Plan and at arm’s length from governments. At September 30, 2014, the CPP Fund totaled C$234 billion. For more information, please visit www.cppib.ca.

The U.S. Department of Commerce today announced the creation of a new web search tool to help U.S. companies easily search the federal government’s Consolidated Screening List (CSL). The CSL is a streamlined collection of nine different “screening lists” from the U.S. Departments of Commerce, State, and the Treasury that contains names of individuals and companies with whom a U.S. company may not be allowed to do business due to U.S. export regulations, sanctions, or other restrictions.

The CSL is also now available through the Trade Developers Portal Application Programming Interface (API) in an open, machine-readable format. By making the CSL available as an API, developers and designers can create new tools, websites or mobile apps to access the list and display the results, supporting private sector innovation to help disseminate this critical information in ways most helpful to business users.

“One of our key priorities at the Commerce Department is to unleash more of our data to help businesses make better decisions, innovate and become more globally competitive, ” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker. “Through collaboration with other federal agencies, we have made crucial information available to businesses and entrepreneurs in a free and easy-to-use format. The consolidation of screening lists also helps businesses ensure they are not working with bad foreign actors, thereby strengthening U.S. national security.”

It is extremely important for U.S. businesses to consult the CSL before doing business with a foreign entity to ensure it is not flagged on any of the agency lists. The U.S. agencies that maintain these lists have targeted the entities for various national security and foreign policy reasons, including illegally exporting arms, violating U.S. sanctions, and trafficking narcotics.

If a company or individual appears on the list, U.S. firms must do further research into the individual or company in accordance with the administering agency’s rules before doing business with them.

The CSL search tool and API are also deliverables under President Obama’s Export Control Reform initiative, which is strengthening the national security and the competitiveness of key U.S. manufacturing and technology sectors by focusing on current threats, as well as adapting to the changing economic and technological landscape.

During the process of creating the API, the Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration and Bureau of Industry and Security worked with the Departments of the Treasury and State to form an authoritative, up to date, and easily searchable list with over 8,000 company and individual names and their aliases. These improvements provide options to the downloadable CSL files currently available on export.gov/ecr.

In addition to the simple search tool, the CSL API is now available to developers through ITA’s Developer Portal. For more information about the search tool, API or CSL, please visit http://developer.trade.gov/consolidated-screening-list.html.

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 321,000 in November, and the unemployment
rate was unchanged at 5.8 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.
Job gains were widespread, led by growth in professional and business services, retail
trade, health care, and manufacturing.

Household Survey Data
In November, the unemployment rate held at 5.8 percent, and the number of unemployed
persons was little changed at 9.1 million. Over the year, the unemployment rate and
the number of unemployed persons were down by 1.2 percentage points and 1.7 million,
respectively.

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for adult men rose to 5.4 percent
in November. The rates for adult women (5.3 percent), teenagers (17.7 percent), whites
(4.9 percent), blacks (11.1 percent), and Hispanics (6.6 percent) showed little change
over the month. The jobless rate for Asians was 4.8 percent (not seasonally adjusted),
little changed from a year earlier.

The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was little
changed at 2.8 million in November. These individuals accounted for 30.7 percent of
the unemployed. Over the past 12 months, the number of long-term unemployed declined
by 1.2 million.

The civilian labor force participation rate held at 62.8 percent in November and has
been essentially unchanged since April. The employment-population ratio, at 59.2
percent, was unchanged in November but is up by 0.6 percentage point over the year.

The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to
as involuntary part-time workers), at 6.9 million, changed little in November. These
individuals, who would have preferred full-time employment, were working part time
because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time
job.

In November, 2.1 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force,
essentially unchanged from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.)
These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work,
and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as
unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the
survey.

Among the marginally attached, there were 698,000 discouraged workers in November,
little different from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.)
Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe
no jobs are available for them. The remaining 1.4 million persons marginally attached
to the labor force in November had not searched for work for reasons such as school
attendance or family responsibilities.

Establishment Survey Data
Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 321,000 in November, compared with an
average monthly gain of 224,000 over the prior 12 months. In November, job growth
was widespread, led by gains in professional and business services, retail trade,
health care, and manufacturing. (See table B-1.)

Employment in professional and business services increased by 86,000 in November,
compared with an average gain of 57,000 per month over the prior 12 months. Within
the industry, accounting and bookkeeping services added 16,000 jobs in November.
Employment continued to trend up in temporary help services (+23,000), management
and technical consulting services (+7,000), computer systems design and related
services (+7,000), and architectural and engineering services (+5,000).

Employment in retail trade rose by 50,000 in November, compared with an average
gain of 22,000 per month over the prior 12 months. In November, job gains occurred
in motor vehicle and parts dealers (+11,000); clothing and accessories stores
(+11,000); sporting goods, hobby, book, and music stores (+9,000); and nonstore
retailers (+6,000).

Health care added 29,000 jobs over the month. Employment continued to trend up in
offices of physicians (+7,000), home health care services (+5,000), outpatient care
centers (+4,000), and hospitals (+4,000). Over the past 12 months, employment in
health care has increased by 261,000.

In November, manufacturing added 28,000 jobs. Durable goods manufacturers accounted
for 17,000 of the increase, with small gains in most of the component industries.
Employment in nondurable goods increased by 11,000, with plastics and rubber products
(+7,000) accounting for most of the gain. Over the year, manufacturing has added
171,000 jobs, largely in durable goods.

Financial activities added 20,000 jobs in November, with half of the gain in insurance
carriers and related activities. Over the past year, insurance has contributed 70,000
jobs to the overall employment gain of 114,000 in financial activities.

Transportation and warehousing employment increased by 17,000 in November, with a
gain in couriers and messengers (+5,000). Over the past 12 months, transportation
and warehousing has added 143,000 jobs.

Employment in food services and drinking places continued to trend up in November
(+27,000) and has increased by 321,000 over the year.

Construction employment also continued to trend up in November (+20,000). Employment in
specialty trade contractors rose by 21,000, mostly in the residential component. Over
the past 12 months, construction has added 213,000 jobs, with just over half the gain
among specialty trade contractors.

In November, the average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose
by 0.1 hour to 34.6 hours. The manufacturing workweek rose by 0.2 hour to 41.1 hours,
and factory overtime edged up by 0.1 hour to 3.5 hours. The average workweek for
production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls was unchanged at
33.8 hours.

Average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 9 cents
to $24.66 in November. Over the year, average hourly earnings have risen by 2.1 percent.
In November, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory
employees increased by 4 cents to $20.74.

The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for September was revised from +256,000
to +271,000, and the change for October was revised from +214,000 to +243,000. With
these revisions, employment gains in September and October combined were 44,000 more
than previously reported.

New York, – The RAND Corporation today issued a report detailing the “successful approaches” of the 100,000 Jobs Mission integrating veterans into the private sector workforce. The coalition of 178 private sector companies also announced they have hired 190,046 U.S. military veterans through September 30, 2014, and is on pace to hire a total of 200,000 veterans by the end of the year.

RAND’s report – based on qualitative interviews with 100,000 Jobs Mission members representing diverse industries, size, geographic location, and coalition tenure – examines the successes and challenges of veteran hiring initiatives and offers recommendations for the Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Labor, employers, and individual veterans.

“Veterans offer a tremendous set of skills from their military service, and that’s why more than 190,000 have been hired by 178 coalition companies,” said Maureen Casey, director of Military and Veterans Affairs for JPMorgan Chase, a founding member of the coalition. “The 100,000 Jobs Mission is committed to hiring our veterans and applying the lessons from RAND’s report to continue preparing them for successful civilian careers.”

“Our report shows that companies are hiring veterans because they make great employees-it’s good business,” said Dr. Margaret C. Harrell, one of the RAND report authors. “The 100,000 Jobs Mission is a great coalition for veteran employment, because the companies both challenge one another and support one another, even among companies that compete for business. They are holding one another accountable for measurable outcomes, proving that this is far more than an encouragement campaign.”

The RAND report highlights lessons and best practices from members of the 100,000 Jobs Mission to enhance all private sector veteran employment efforts. Key findings and recommendations from the report include:

Recruitment
Companies are hiring veterans from all services and ranks – officers, noncommissioned officers, and former enlisted personnel – depending on education, skills, and salary level requirements, much the same as with non-veteran hires.
Job fairs that involve virtual technology or provide employers with an opportunity to filter resumes and screen candidates in advance appear to be more useful to companies.
Collaboration on veteran employment – such as sharing strong veteran job candidates -is an example of private sector competitors working together.
Challenges most cited by the companies interviewed include reaching veterans, skill translation, educating hiring managers, and degree requirements.
Performance
Most employers surveyed report veteran performance at the same level or better than non-veteran employees, but little data is available.
Retention
Most companies surveyed saw little or no difference between veteran and non-veteran retention, while a number of companies reported higher retention rates among veterans.
While most companies do not have retention programs that are specifically geared toward veteran employees, veteran employee resource groups and mentoring programs are common practices for supporting retention of veteran employees.
Recommendations
As the coalition continues to grow and more servicemembers transition out of the military, RAND suggests instituting industry-based coalition subgroups to increase collaborative interactions and facilitate industry-focused activities;
Encourage member companies to expand veteran employment efforts beyond recruitment to include career development and retention; and
Coalition companies should work closely with the Departments of Defense, Labor and Veterans Affairs to encourage transitioning servicemembers to register early in the Veterans Employment Center, expand training and internship programs and enhance the Transition Assistance Program (TAP).
“Comcast and NBCUniversal are proud to have contributed our insights on veteran hiring and support to the RAND study,” said Will Baas, head of Veteran recruiting initiatives for Comcast and member of the U.S. Navy Reserve. “We derive tremendous value from our membership in the 100,000 Jobs Mission and the unique opportunity to work in partnership with leading companies committed to hiring veterans.”

The report concludes that the 100,000 Jobs Mission maintains “a reputation for integrity” and “has built greater awareness among its member companies of the benefits of hiring veterans and successful approaches to integrating veterans into the private sector workforce. Individual companies are more cognizant of the role that each company can play in tackling a major societal issue.”

About the 100,000 Jobs Mission

Launched in 2011, the 100,000 Jobs Mission brings together companies committed to hiring U.S. military veterans and military spouses. The 178 companies now involved have pledged to hire 200,000 veterans by 2020. They hired 190,046 veterans through the third quarter of 2014. For more information on the 100,000 Jobs Mission, visit jobsmission.com.

Incubation Centre has opened in Portugal, ready to help entrepreneurs and start-up companies take space technology and services into non-space areas such as health, transport and energy.

Over the coming five years, the centre will help 30 Portuguese start-up companies to get their businesses going, creating at least 120 local high-tech jobs.

The companies will receive €1.5 million as seed incentive and be able to tap into an additional €7 million.

ESA incubator in Coimbra
The new incubator is managed by the University of Coimbra’s Instituto Pedro Nunes, or IPN, in collaboration with Science and Technology Park at University of Porto and DNA Cascais, a non-profit organisation that fosters entrepreneurship in Cascais and the greater Lisbon region.

With 18 years’ experience in business incubation, the institute has supported more than 200 technology and innovation projects.

At the inauguration on 5 November during the fifth Portuguese Space Forum, the management agreements were signed by Franco Ongaro, ESA Director of Technical and Quality Management, and Prof. Teresa Mendes, IPN President of the Board of Directors.

Incubator launch
Carlos Cerqueira, IPN’s Head of Innovation, noted that the new centre “has unique characteristics since it promotes the creation of start-ups based on state-of-the-art technologies tested in space applications, providing these new companies with the potential to create ‘disruptive’ innovations tailored for the global markets.”

The event was also attended by Portugal’s Minister of Economy, António Pires de Lima, Minister of Education and Science, Nuno Crato, Rector of the University of Coimbra, João Gabriel, and Vice President of Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (the national funding agency for science, technology and innovation), Pedro Carneiro.

Prof. Mendes added that the incubator helps “to accomplish IPN’s mission to support the technology transfer process and to stimulate the creation of new economic activity and skilled jobs in Portugal.”

Portuguese industry steps up in space
The Forum also saw a contract signed with Portugual’s Tekeve for the intersatellite communications link on ESA’s Proba-3 formation-flying mission.

The two satellites will accurately hold position at a distance of 150 m or more.

This contract highlights a key technology contributionby Portuguese companies in a very advanced mission.

Strengthening regional economic integration (REI) in the Asia-Pacific region by removing barriers to trade and investment remains the core mission of APEC and was one of the main themes for work in APEC in 2014. This year, APEC Leaders agreed on a series of outcomes that will help advance U.S. trade and investment interests, and build on APEC’s successes in this area over the past several years. Most notable among these are the establishment of an APEC fund dedicated to helping economies overcome specific obstacles to implementation of APEC and WTO commitments on supply chain and trade facilitation and the groundbreaking APEC commitment to reduce tariffs on a list of environmental goods to 5 percent or less by the end of 2015.

Environmental Goods- To ensure the full implementation of APEC’s ground-breaking 2011 commitment to reduce applied tariffs on the 54 products in the APEC List of Environmental Goods to five percent or less by the end of 2015, economies agreed to submit implementation plans by the time of the Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting in spring of next year. APEC is also undertaking technical assistance that will help economies fully implement their commitments.

Good Regulatory Practices- APEC economies continue to strengthen the implementation of good regulatory practices. This year Leaders agreed to take steps to improve the conduct of public consultations through using information technology and the Internet. This new approach presents enormous opportunities for regulators in the region to consult more effectively with stakeholders, both foreign and domestic, and gain the best possible understanding of the possible economic impact of regulations. APEC Ministers encouraged economies to provide innovative capacity building approaches to the implementation of good regulatory practices and the use of regulatory tools.

Electric Vehicles- To promote the widespread use of environmentally friendly, technologically-advanced electric vehicles, APEC economies agreed to several steps, including using international standards as the basis for regulations on electric vehicles; creating a priority list of international standards important for electric vehicles; working towards aligning regulations and avoiding regulatory divergences, particularly regarding electric vehicle charging; and establishing and APEC Electric Vehicles Interoperability and Research Center to help economies meet their regulatory alignment objectives. Through these steps, APEC will encourage greater electric vehicle production and use – and greater trade and investment opportunities – while advancing APEC’s green growth, connectivity, regulatory coherence, and regional economic integration objectives.

Supply Chain Performance- APEC Leaders agreed to accelerate technical assistance and capacity building to help economies improve supply chain performance, in support of the APEC-wide goal of a ten percent improvement in supply chain performance by the end of 2015. With a dedicated fund already in place, economies this year agreed to create a comprehensive capacity building plan for using the resources in this fund, and established a new body of public and private supply chain experts to advise the technical assistance and capacity building projects under the plan.

WASHINGTON — U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez issued the following statement about the October 2014 Employment Situation report released today: “October was another solid month of job growth, as our economy added 214,000 jobs and continued its strong, steady recovery. It was the ninth month in a row with greater than 200,000 new jobs (after revisions), and private employers have now created 10.6 million new jobs over the last 56 months. The unemployment rate fell to 5.8 percent, compared to 7.2 percent a year ago.

“Thanks to the ingenuity and innovation of both our workers and our businesses, as well as strong leadership by President Obama, we have climbed out of the worst economic crisis of our lifetimes. GDP is now significantly higher than it was before the recession. Consumer confidence is at its highest level since 2007. Rising home values are creating greater economic security for millions of people. For the first time in 20 years, the United States produces more oil than it imports. More people have access to affordable health care, and more students are graduating from high school.

“But clearly there is still unease in American households from coast to coast — and it comes from a very real place. There is still widespread economic inequality. Wages haven’t kept pace with productivity. We are in the middle of the strongest run of private-sector job growth in 16 years, but we need the same broadly-shared prosperity that we had in the late 1990s. Today’s rising tide is only lifting some boats, while too many others are struggling to stay above water. We have to do more.

“On Tuesday, the American people sent a clear message that they want Washington to get things done. They are working hard, and they expect Congress and the administration to do the same. They want us to cooperate on common-sense measures that enjoy broad public support.

“So, let’s invest in infrastructure to create good jobs. Let’s fix our broken immigration system to generate economic growth and increase wages. Let’s continue our bold investment in community colleges, helping more people get the skills and training they need to punch their ticket to the middle class. And let’s reward hard work by increasing the national minimum wage, following the lead of several states that overwhelmingly passed ballot measures this week.

“Together, let’s make sure that the benefits of a growing economy are felt in every community. Let’s find bipartisan solutions that build an even stronger economy that works for everyone.”

New York – JPMorgan Chase & Co. today released the first in a series of reports that lays out a specific roadmap for addressing the mismatch between the needs of employers and the skills of current job seekers. Specifically, this report provides a comprehensive look at available middle-skill healthcare and technology jobs in New York City and offers data-driven steps city policy makers, community colleges, training providers and private sector employers can take to fill these critical, good paying industry roles.

Later this year, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Jobs for New Yorkers Task Force will use the report results to develop data-driven skill-building workforce investments in the city. This new report, a core component of JPMorgan Chase’s five-year, $250 million New Skills at Work initiative, integrates current labor market information to identify middle-skill healthcare and technology occupations that are in high demand; expand workforce development and training programs; and establish career paths for advanced roles.

“New York City, like so many cities, must start training workers for the right jobs,” said Chauncy Lennon, JPMorgan Chase’s Head of Workforce Initiatives and a member of Mayor de Blasio’s Jobs for New Yorkers Task Force. “This report provides a laser-focused, data-driven pathway for New York to correct the mismatch between job skills and employment needs, and it arms city officials, job trainers and employers with the right tools to close this gap.”

“As Mayor, I’m focused on creating upward mobility for 21st century jobs by preparing New Yorkers for quality, well-paying jobs,” said New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. “JPMorgan Chase’s data-driven analysis will help the city gain a deeper understanding of the type of jobs available in the city’s healthcare and technology companies and better align education and training programs to fill these critical jobs and help our businesses grow.”

Skills Gap Key Findings and Recommendations

New York City’s healthcare and information technology sectors have high demand for middle-skill workers, commonly defined as people with more than a high school degree but less than a bachelor’s degree. Many of the middle-skill jobs highlighted in the report pay a good wage and offer career advancement. The report found that openings in the healthcare and information technology sectors represented 45 percent of the total postings for all middle-skill jobs in New York City between July 2013 and June 2014.

Healthcare

In 2013, there were over 423,000 healthcare workers in the city, and this number is expected to grow at a rate of 14 percent over the next five years. Yet 37 percent of healthcare occupations are middle-skill and, based on job postings, healthcare accounts for 31 percent of all middle-skill employment demand in New York City. There are over 25,000 job postings across positions in five healthcare occupation groupings that require a sub-baccalaureate credential. Middle-skill job postings in healthcare go unfilled for over a month compared to a few weeks for postings for entry-level positions, according to the report.

There are 35 middle-skill healthcare occupations with average earnings of $25 per hour in the New York City region. The report found that middle-skill healthcare roles from Registered Nurses to Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technicians offer the highest median hourly wages of any occupational group researched by this report. Occupational and Physical Therapy roles are in highest demand by employers and are projected to grow rapidly as the city’s population ages. Additionally, Radiology Technicians and MRI Technicians have strong demand, high wages and high projected growth rates, according to the report.

Earlier this year, JPMorgan Chase provided a $1 million grant to Phipps Neighborhoods, Montefiore Health System and Hostos Community College to support their Career Network: Healthcare partnership in the South Bronx. The goal of this employer-driven program is to secure employment and/or education for young adults through training and career exploration geared toward a healthcare-related field.

“Montefiore is proud to work with JPMorgan Chase and our local partners to offer young people in the Bronx a pathway to a promising career in health care,” said Steven M. Safyer, MD, President and CEO of Montefiore Medical Center. “Through training and career counseling, Montefiore, Phipps Neighborhoods, Hostos Community College, and JPMorgan Chase will educate and support young adults so they can achieve their full potential.”

Information Technology

New York City’s technology sector comprises nearly 66,000 jobs and is expected to grow by 15 percent over the next five years. Middle-skill jobs within the sector account for 16 percent of all of middle-skill job postings in the city, or a little more than 8,100 jobs. Notably, IT jobs are in high demand in the Finance and Insurance Sector at two times greater than national demand.

There are 10 selected middle-skill technology occupations with median hourly salaries that range from $26 to $56. All of these positions are in high demand, ranging from 2,500 postings for Information Security Analysts to more than 5,100 postings for Computer User Support Specialists. Job postings reveal that entry-level IT support roles, such as Help Desk or Entry Level Computer Support, account for over half (57 percent) of middle-skill IT jobs in New York. Upward roles such as Network Support, Help Desk Manager and Advanced Computer Support require more technical IT skills. Finally, advanced jobs like Database Administrator and Network Administrator require a bachelor’s degree and substantial experience.

“Available tech jobs aren’t just for people with bachelor’s degrees,” said Hagos Mehreteab, head of talent acquisition of AppNexus. “The JPMorgan Chase report reaffirms that New York City’s technology sector also desperately needs people that have specialized skills training and the motivation and passion for learning new things.”

Recommendations

Overall, the report reflects and builds on growing calls for a sector-based approach to meet employer needs for skilled workers and New Yorkers’ need for jobs in high-demand occupations. While transforming existing workforce development approaches is a complex undertaking, the report provides the following strategic recommendations to support existing training and community-based workforce efforts:

Sector-based collaboratives should use this report and data to clarify specific occupation demand and map career pathways from entry-level to middle-skills jobs.
Healthcare and IT companies can expand their own talent pool by providing work-based learning opportunities (i.e. apprenticeships and internships) and on-the-job training for these specific middle-skill occupations for incumbent and potential workers.
The city should market middle-skill jobs as an opportunity for good jobs with career advancement, especially for disadvantaged populations and New York City boroughs in order to expand the sector’s talent pipeline and ensure access to high-demand occupations reaches all communities.
Career pathway programs provide an effective approach for preparing low-skilled job seekers for middle-skill jobs because they can be designed to integrate basic-skills training with the technical training needed for middle-skills credentials and careers.
Public and private workforce funders can use the report data and specific job opening to direct workforce development investments that prepares job seekers for good jobs instead of low-wage work.
“Data drives every decision we make to better understand New York City’s complex labor market,” said Leslie Hirsch, Director of the NYC Labor Market Information Service at the Center for Urban Research. “With greater insights provided by JPMorgan Chase into New York’s technology and healthcare job market, policy makers, community colleges and job trainers can develop the right career pathway programs to address New York City’s employment needs.”

“Creating economic prosperity and economic opportunity are two sides of the same coin,” said Marlene Seltzer, President and CEO, Jobs for the Future. “We can’t grow our economy without also investing in the education and training of our workers for 21st century jobs. That’s why we are so excited to be working with JPMorgan Chase to identify and help meet the demand for New York’s high-growth middle-skill jobs.”

About the Skills Gap Report
JPMorgan Chase is releasing a series of skills gap report in nine metropolitan areas in the United States and four European countries. The reports draw from an array of data, including traditional and real-time labor market information and analysis from EMSI and Burning Glass Technologies, Inc. The reports focus on middle-skills occupation as defined by Economic Modeling Specialists International (EMSI) based on aggregated data from over 90 federal, state and private sources and a multi-variable technique that includes three criteria: family-sustaining wages, recent employment growth, and employment size. Burning Glass provided real-time labor market demand information from online job postings by aggregating and analyzing code data from multiple classification and occupation databases. Jobs for the Future integrated EMSI and Burning Glass data with other data sources like the analysis of longitudinal Quarterly Workforce Indicators from the U.S. Census Bureau, to write the report.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) is a leading global financial services firm with assets of $2.5 trillion and operations worldwide. The Firm is a leader in investment banking, financial services for consumers and small businesses, commercial banking, financial transaction processing, asset management and private equity. A component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, JPMorgan Chase & Co. serves millions of consumers in the United States and many of the world’s most prominent corporate, institutional and government clients under its J.P. Morgan and Chase brands. Information about JPMorgan Chase & Co. is available at www.jpmorganchase.com.

MILWAUKEE, — Understanding job seekers’ preferences and profiles is the first step to attracting top talent, concludes the 2014 Candidate Preferences Survey from ManpowerGroup Solutions Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO), an offering of ManpowerGroup (NYSE: MAN), the world’s workforce expert.

More than 200 active and passive U.S. job seekers representing a cross section of ages, incomes, career levels and industries, were asked about their use of and preferences for technology, social media and online platforms when researching and interviewing for jobs. Study results show that the nature and frequency of employer-candidate interactions should be driven by the type of talent employers wish to attract.

Candidate-focused online content and customized experiences attract the right talent

In the first of the five-paper series based on the survey, ManpowerGroup Solutions RPO recommends employers provide candidate-focused online content to create a customized and candidate-friendly experience in order to attract and engage the right talent. Employers must understand that while technology and social media can reinforce their brand and enhance their reach, technology cannot replace the impact of human interactions.

Jim McCoy, vice president ManpowerGroup Solutions and North America RPO practice lead added the following observations:

“Even as technology – and the awareness of new tools – continues to rapidly advance, the tried, but true methods of in-person and phone interviews, and more frequent, personalized interactions with hiring managers or recruiters remain the clear preference of job seekers across generations. Organizations should evaluate their talent acquisition strategy and customize job seekers’ experiences based on their preferences.

“The impact that high-touch – or human contact – has on a candidate’s recruiting experience cannot be overstated. A negative experience with a hiring manager or a recruiter may result in the right candidate rejecting a job offer.

“The content and functionality of employers’ websites and career sites matter. Since nine in 10 candidates use them as primary sources of information about employers, making them relevant, compelling and user-friendly should be a priority of employers.

“By maximizing their presence on, and engagement with, carefully selected social media, employers can attract and engage the right candidates faster and more efficiently.”

Key Candidate Preferences Survey findings

Following are some of the key findings about candidate preferences:

86% explore employers’ websites when researching positions online
36% report employers’ websites and career sites lack clear and relevant information
52% use search engine results, and 45% use peer recommendations to gather information about prospective employers and positions
Indeed, CareerBuilder and Monster top the list of most frequently used online job sites
30% use social media to get more information about open positions or employers; of these, more than 70% use Facebook, 43% each use Google+ or LinkedIn
72% prefer traditional, in-person interviews; 15% choose telephone interviews
One-size-fits-all approach to engaging prospective employees doesn’t work

As the talent shortage continues, human resources leaders are challenged to ensure sustainable talent pipelines for their organizations. A one-size-fits-all approach to engaging prospective employees does not work. Employers must evaluate their talent acquisition strategy and customize job seekers’ experiences based on the talent they want to hire. Only when employers consider the total value of candidate-centered experiences, will they be able to efficiently and effectively attract and acquire top talent to achieve their business objectives.

BURBANK, Calif., Today, Disney Accelerator powered by Techstars culminates in a Demo Day where its 10 participating companies will present their businesses to the investment and entrepreneurial communities, industry leaders and Disney executives. The Disney Accelerator participants have just finished a 15-week immersive program that gave them access to mentorship from more than 60 Disney executives as well as 70 entrepreneurs and investors from the business community, up to $120K in investment capital to develop their companies and special access to Disney resources from across the company.

The participating companies have reached many significant milestones during the Disney Accelerator. At Demo Day, Smart Toy, a company that makes toys that teach, talk, and interact with children, announced today that it has been acquired by Cartwheel Kids, a Los Angeles-based manufacturer of children’s products. In addition, SnowShoe announced that it had secured $2.2 million in seed financing and Choremonster and Codarica both launched mobile apps. Sphero also introduced its new Ollie product during the program, and Twigtale named as its editor-in-chief Dr. Harvey Karp, the renowned pediatrician and child development specialist.

“This group of start-ups has made tremendous progress evolving and growing their businesses in the past fifteen weeks,” said Kevin Mayer, Disney’s Executive Vice President, Corporate Strategy and Business Development. “It has been a fantastic learning experience for them and an opportunity for Disney to get in on the ground floor with a new generation of innovators. We look forward to the opportunity to work with all of these companies moving forward and to meeting a new set of participants next year.”

The companies participating in Disney Accelerator are:

ChoreMonster – ChoreMonster unites parents and kids with the most ridiculously fun and motivating family framework, so every home is a joyful place. choremonster.com
Codarica – Codarica creates seriously fun games that teach kids to code. codarica.com
Jogg – Jogg is a mobile video platform that changes the direction of how we engage our audience. joggapp.co
Naritiv – Naritiv is a marketing and analytics platform for micro-content, starting with Snapchat. naritiv.com
Sidelines – Sidelines is a people-powered content marketing platform that drives brand influence through discussions by expert fans. sidelinesapp.com
Smart Toy – Smart Toy is a learning toy that talks and listens to kids. Smart Toy can be customized to know your child’s name, teach lessons, and much more. smarttoylabs.com
SnowShoe – SnowShoe creates magic with a touch of plastic. SnowShoe-powered objects unlock digital content through your smartphone. snowshoestamp.com
Sphero – Sphero is the connected play company, fusing digital and physical play by creating toys and robots that you control with a smart device. gosphero.com
Twigtale – Twigtale builds happier families through personalization and expert-fueled storytelling. twigtale.com
TYFFON – TYFFON makes entertaining apps that put you in the center of the fun — founded by the creators of the ZombieBooth series, with over 30 million downloads. tyffon.com

About The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company, together with its subsidiaries and affiliates, is a leading diversified international entertainment and media enterprise with five business segments: media networks, parks and resorts, studio entertainment, consumer products and interactive. Disney is a Dow 30 company and had annual revenues of $45 billion in its Fiscal Year 2013.

About Techstars
The massive Techstars interconnected network of over 3,000 successful entrepreneurs, mentors, investors, and corporate partners help the most promising startups do more faster. With 13 programs worldwide, its mentorship-driven accelerators fund the best companies in the most entrepreneurial communities. Since 2006, 80% of the 500 companies from almost 40 Techstars programs have received funding, representing approximately $2 billion in market capitalization.

– See more at: http://thewaltdisneycompany.com/disney-news/press-releases/2014/10/disney-accelerator-showcases-10-start-ups-demo-day#sthash.RkF8iwxn.dpuf

Mercer, a global consulting leader in talent, health, retirement and investments, and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies (MMC), announced today that 247 companies have chosen the Mercer Marketplace exchange for their active and retiree exchange solutions. These relationships cover 500,000 employees and retirees and provide exchange access for more than 1,000,000 lives, including dependents. This represents nearly five times the reach of Mercer Marketplace when compared to 52 companies, 110,000 eligible employees/retirees and 220,000 lives of a year ago. Additional enrollments for 2015 will continue throughout 2014.

“The growth in people and companies attracted to our exchange platforms is a powerful demonstration of the broad applicability of Mercer Marketplace solutions,” said Julio A. Portalatin, Mercer’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “Our clients and their employees are confirming that we offer the most flexible and complete private exchange in the market that meets the real needs of a wider spectrum of companies. Further evidence of our momentum is the acquisition of 40 new clients not previously served by Mercer’s health business in addition to our continued growth with existing clients.”

A 2014 analysis of purchasing behavior on Mercer Marketplace showed that, given the opportunity to choose from a range of benefit options, many consumers purchased lower-cost medical plans. That, combined with access to Mercer Marketplace network arrangements, care management and prescription drug programs, allows employers to achieve up to 15% medical plan cost savings. In addition, Mercer Marketplace drove an average savings of 10% on the cost of life and disability benefits. These savings are enjoyed by both employers and employees.

“These savings result from Mercer Marketplace’s purchasing power combined with consumer decisions to purchase coverage that is more appropriate to their personal needs,” said Sharon Cunninghis, Mercer Marketplace Leader. “The fact that employers were able to achieve significant cost savings while offering their employees the ability to personalize their benefits is exciting news. This satisfaction from both companies and individuals gives others confidence in the exchange experience and positions this as one of the standard benefits models of the future.”

In addition to the employer active and retiree clients, several companies have selected Mercer Marketplace as the platform for delivering voluntary benefits, with 330,000 employees (730,000 lives including dependents) eligible to select benefits through this program. Mercer also provides access to individual medical insurance coverage to an additional 750,000 individuals through the firm’s relationship with GetInsured. While enrollment in these offerings may initially be modest, using Mercer Marketplace for delivery of voluntary benefits and individual medical insurance provides an avenue for both employers and employees to begin to experience the advantages the exchange platform offers.

In total, across the full range of its active, retiree, voluntary benefits only and individual medical, Mercer Marketplace will provide access to benefits to approximately 2.5 million lives in 2015.

To learn more about Mercer Marketplace, please visit

http://www.mercer.com/services/health/benefits-and-health-exchanges.html

About Mercer
Mercer is a global consulting leader in talent, health, retirement and investments. Mercer helps clients around the world advance the health, wealth and performance of their most vital asset – their people. Mercer’s more than 20,000 employees are based in 43 countries and the firm operates in over 140 countries. Mercer is a wholly owned subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE: MMC), a global team of professional services companies offering clients advice and solutions in the areas of risk, strategy and human capital. With 55,000 employees worldwide and annual revenue exceeding $12 billion, Marsh & McLennan Companies is also the parent company of Marsh, a global leader in insurance broking and risk management; Guy Carpenter, a global leader in providing risk and reinsurance intermediary services; and Oliver Wyman, a global leader in management consulting. For more information, visit www.mercer.com. Follow Mercer on Twitter @MercerInsights.

EU and US officials today ended a 7th round of week-long negotiations in Washington, D.C. (US) on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), a new EU-US trade and investment deal. The EU’s Chief TTIP Negotiator, Ignacio Garcia Bercero, made a statement at the end of the round.

We have again had a week of productive discussions. Negotiations are now moving smoothly into the textual phase, where discussions are based on specific textual proposals.

1. Negotiators’ discussions
1.1. Regulatory pillar

During this round, much of the focus has been on the regulatory pillar of the future agreement. This week all the regulatory elements of TTIP were discussed, both in terms of horizontal disciplines (regulatory coherence, TBT, SPS) as well as on specific sectors identified in previous rounds such as pharmaceuticals, cars, chemicals or engineering.

As regards horizontal disciplines, we are now fully engaged in discussions based on textual proposals. An important challenge is going to be to establish a strong framework for cooperation that allows EU and US regulators to tackle new regulatory challenges based on high levels of protection.

On sectors, technical work is making steady progress in identifying concrete outcomes that save unnecessary duplications while fully respecting the mandates of our regulators. This work is very much guided by the regulators, who have again participated actively.

As you know, we consider the regulatory part of TTIP to have the potential to deliver the most benefits. It is also the most challenging part of these negotiations, because it is highly technical and requires the most innovative thinking. Despite this, I believe we are making good progress.

Let me recall three key considerations for our negotiations discussions on the regulatory pillar. These concern standards, the strategic dimension, and compatibility:

1. Standards

We have made an unequivocal and firm commitment: nothing will be done which could lower or endanger the protection of the environment, health, safety, consumers or any other public policy goals pursued by EU or US regulators.

Commissioner-designate Malmström reaffirmed in her European Parliament hearing this Monday that decision-making on new regulations will remain subject to existing democratic controls.

2. Strategic dimension

Enhanced regulatory cooperation is essential if the EU and US wish to play a leading role in developing international regulations and standards based on the highest levels of protection. The regulatory agenda therefore has a clear strategic dimension.

3. Compatibility

TTIP should deliver concrete results in terms of enhanced regulatory compatibility.

1.2. Rules pillar

We also discussed some elements of the rules pillar of the agreement.

We decided to focus our discussions and exchanges on four areas this week:
• energy and raw materials
• customs and trade facilitation
• intellectual property rights (IPR), and
• small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

1.3. Services

Finally, we also discussed services.

As you know, both the US and the EU put on the negotiating table before summer this year their respective market access offers.

Services offers are highly complex and technical. Our negotiators devoted most of the week to explaining to each other, in great detail, all the elements of those offers.

This is a key step in every negotiation, as we can only make further progress once each side has understood the scope of what the other has put on the table.

I would stress that our approach to services negotiations excludes any commitments on public services: governments remain free to decide at any time that certain services should be provided by the public sector.

2. Stakeholder events
In addition to negotiators’ discussions, a day of stakeholder events took place on Wednesday. I welcome the chance this gave negotiators to spend a full day engaging and exchanging views with representatives of civil society.

We have organised these sessions with stakeholders during each negotiating round. This time again, there were around 330 representatives of various interests and 64 presentations on all the areas covered by the negotiations.

Our engagement with stakeholders sends a clear message on both sides of the Atlantic. We all work on behalf of and for our citizens. So we need to listen to their ideas and respond to their concerns.

We also have the duty to explain the facts and the approach we are taking. Our dialogue must be open to all, continuous and in two directions throughout the negotiating process.
This is the only way we can ensure the final agreement responds to the high ambitions our leaders have set for us and reflects the expectations of our citizens.

I can assure you that Commissioner-Designate Malmström is fully committed to engaging in dialogue with civil society.

3. Political context
Finally, I understand that you will also have questions on how the broader political context is impacting the TTIP negotiations.

On the EU side, President-Elect Juncker highlighted TTIP as one of his 10 priorities for the new Commission. TTIP will therefore continue to have strong political support in the new Commission.

We will also continue working towards an ambitious agreement, and will not compromise on the protection of the environment, health, safety, consumers, data privacy, or any other public policy goals, nor on the right of governments to regulate.

We continue to be fully committed to these negotiations. It is in this spirit that we engaged with our counterparts this week in Washington, to progress as far as possible towards our goal of a comprehensive and innovative trade agreement.

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 248,000 in September, and the unemployment rate declined to 5.9 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment increased in professional and business services, retail trade, and health care.

Household Survey Data
In September, the unemployment rate declined by 0.2 percentage point to 5.9 percent. The number of unemployed persons decreased by 329,000 to 9.3 million. Over the year, the unemployment rate and the number of unemployed persons were down by 1.3 percentage points and 1.9 million, respectively.

Among the major worker groups, unemployment rates declined in September for adult men (5.3 percent), whites (5.1 percent), and Hispanics (6.9 percent). The rates for adult women (5.5 percent), teenagers (20.0 percent), and blacks (11.0 percent) showed little change over the month. The jobless rate for Asians was 4.3 percent (not seasonally adjusted), little changed from a year earlier.

Among the unemployed, the number of job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs decreased by 306,000 in September to 4.5 million. The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was essentially unchanged at 3.0 million in September. These individuals accounted for 31.9 percent of the unemployed. Over the past 12 months, the number of long-term unemployed is down by 1.2 million.

The civilian labor force participation rate, at 62.7 percent, changed little in September. The employment-population ratio was 59.0 percent for the fourth consecutive month.

The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) was little changed in September at 7.1 million. These individuals, who would have preferred full-time employment, were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job.

In September, 2.2 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force, essentially unchanged from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.

Among the marginally attached, there were 698,000 discouraged workers in September, down by 154,000 from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them. The remaining 1.5 million persons marginally attached to the labor force in September had not searched for work for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities.

Establishment Survey Data
Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 248,000 in September, compared with an average monthly gain of 213,000 over the prior 12 months. In September, job growth occurred in professional and business services, retail trade, and health care.

Professional and business services added 81,000 jobs in September, compared with an average gain of 56,000 per month over the prior 12 months. In September, job gains occurred in employment services (+34,000), management and technical consulting services (+12,000), and architectural and engineering services (+6,000). Employment in legal services declined by 5,000 over the month.

Employment in retail trade rose by 35,000 in September. Food and beverage stores added 20,000 jobs, largely reflecting the return of workers who had been off payrolls in August due to employment disruptions at a grocery store chain in New England. Employment in retail trade has increased by 264,000 over the past 12 months.

Health care added 23,000 jobs in September, in line with the prior 12-month average gain of 20,000 jobs per month. In September, employment rose in home health care services (+7,000) and hospitals (+6,000).

Employment in information increased by 12,000 in September, with a gain of 5,000 in telecommunications. Over the year, employment in information has shown little net change.

Mining employment rose by 9,000 in September, with the majority of the increase occurring in support activities for mining (+7,000). Over the year, mining has added 50,000 jobs.

Within leisure and hospitality, employment in food services and drinking places continued to trend up in September (+20,000) and is up by 290,000 over the year.

In September, construction employment continued on an upward trend (+16,000). Within the industry, employment in residential building increased by 6,000. Over the year, construction has added 230,000 jobs.

Employment in financial activities continued to trend up in September (+12,000) and has added 89,000 jobs over the year. In September, job growth occurred in insurance carriers and related activities (+6,000) and in securities, commodity contracts, and investments (+5,000).

Employment in other major industries, including manufacturing, wholesale trade, transportation and warehousing, and government, showed little change over the month.

In September, the average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls edged up by 0.1 hour to 34.6 hours. The manufacturing workweek was unchanged at 40.9 hours, and factory overtime edged up by 0.1 hour to 3.5 hours. The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls edged down by 0.1 hour to 33.7 hours.

Average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls, at $24.53, changed little in September (-1 cent). Over the year, average hourly earnings have risen by 2.0 percent. In September, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees were unchanged at $20.67.

The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for July was revised from +212,000 to +243,000, and the change for August was revised from +142,000 to +180,000. With these revisions, employment gains in July and August combined were 69,000 more than previously reported.

This is courtesy of www.dol.com

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, DuPage County Chairman Dan Cronin and the Chief Executives of Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry and Will Counties joined together with JPMorgan Chase, the Brookings Institution, founders of the Global Cities Initiative, and World Business Chicago today to launch Metro Chicago Exports. Metro Chicago Exports is an unprecedented regional collaboration that will help small and medium enterprises throughout the region capture export opportunities and strengthen the Chicagoland area’s network of regional service providers.

“Metropolitan areas like northeastern Illinois are the engines for economic growth in this country. And regions that work together perform better. Last year, I convened the economic development leadership from seven counties and the City of Chicago to explore opportunities for collaboration to further the region’s economic growth. I’m pleased to see that one of the first results of this group is the creation of Metro Chicago Exports,” Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said. “By increasing the export capacity of small and medium-sized businesses, we will enhance global competitiveness, foster innovative activity within firms, and positively impact the economy of our region.”

“Small businesses continue to be drivers of growth for Chicago’s economy. By helping businesses on the threshold of exporting to cross that divide further increases economic opportunity and job growth,” said Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. “Only one in twenty Chicago small businesses currently export their goods overseas, but by bringing together assets that exist throughout the Chicagoland area – access to ports, promotion services, transportation and more — Metro Chicago Exports can help these businesses to increase their global competitiveness, support local job growth and make Chicago a national leader in exports.”

According to data from a forthcoming Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program report, in 2013, the Chicago region was the nation’s fourth largest exporter at $65 billion, but ranked only 28th in the share of its economy that comes from exports. Despite high exporting volume, only six percent of the region’s small and mid-size firms currently export and, on average less than half of those firms export to more than one market.

Metro Chicago Exports will assist manufacturers and business service companies to reach new international markets. The pilot program will focus on three initial strategies:

Build the pipeline of export ready firms: use a data-driven approach to proactively target firms in high demand industries with specific opportunities in international markets; create clear export roadmaps for groups of firms and scale the reach of existing services
Strengthen the export ecosystem: serve as a concierge for firms and assist navigation through the network of regional services; develop opportunities for peer learning and mentorship to leverage the expertise of current exporters
Reduce the initial business costs to reach new markets: expand resources for firms to become market ready and reduce the hurdles to exporting faced by small firms, such as specialized market research, translation, sales missions, etc.
According to one estimate, there are up to 2,500 manufacturers in the Chicago region on the threshold of exporting that would be eligible to utilize the services of Metro Chicago Exports.

Metro Chicago Exports builds on the Global Cities Initiative, a joint project of the Brookings Institution and JPMorgan Chase, that aims to catalyze a shift in economic development priorities and practices resulting in more globally connected metropolitan areas and more sustainable economic growth. JPMorgan Chase has pledged an additional $500,000 to launch Metro Chicago Exports.

“The global marketplace is more complex, more challenging, and more receptive than ever,” said Melissa Bean, Chairman of the Midwest, JPMorgan Chase. “It’s critical that local governments and businesses work in partnership to build capacity to compete and succeed in today’s global environment.”

“This exports program is a powerful demonstration of Chicago’s leadership in a new form of economic development. Rather than shift jobs around a region, this multi-jurisdictional collaboration is growing jobs and opportunities by helping existing businesses expand through tapping demand abroad,” said Amy Liu, co-director of the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program and co-director of the Global Cities Initiative. “With the global marketplace more dynamic than ever, Chicago is right to act regionally and globally to ensure businesses and workers continue to prosper.”

Metro Chicago Exports is the product of a working group convened by Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle in December 2013 and comprised of leadership from Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry and Will Counties, and the City of Chicago. The group agreed to pursue outcome-based initiatives to grow the regional economy and build trust between regional partners while targeting specific industries.

“We welcome this initiative as a truly regional enterprise. As leaders in the collar counties, we know our small business owners wear many hats. They are Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, they manage employees, and market their goods and services. While they may want to move into international exporting, they may not know where to begin,” said Dan Cronin, DuPage County Board Chairman. “Metro Chicago Exports provides the expertise and opens that door for our collar county businesses. We believe the resulting market opportunities will grow jobs in our communities and create a more vibrant regional economy benefitting us all.”

Over the next six months, Metro Chicago Exports will focus its efforts on building organizational infrastructure, including hiring a managing director and forming an advisory council, as well as identifying firms to participate in the pilot program. Offices will be located in the City of Chicago and DuPage County.

For more information on Metro Chicago Exports, visit metrochicagoexports.com

Additional Comments on Metro Chicago Exports

“The regional export initiative clearly shows that the seven metro-area counties and the city of Chicago are serious about helping local entrepreneurs tap into growing international markets. Our local businesses create jobs, and expanding exports regionally accelerates local job creation and career opportunities for existing workers and for young people entering the workforce.”
– Chris Lauzen, Chairman, Kane County Board

“The creation of Metro Chicago Exports was an unparalleled regional collaboration to lend support to small and midsized businesses in the region. By working with existing exporting and international trade service providers, a tremendous amount of opportunity will be opened up for small and midsized companies to access foreign markets and grow their business.”
– John Shaw, Chairman, Kendall County Board

“Through this partnership, we can work together to encourage industry growth, as opposed to competing against each other for existing jobs, which is a zero sum game for the region. With 11 Fortune 500 corporate headquarters located in Lake County, we’ve benefited from the expanded global economy, and this pilot program offers the opportunity to assist more midsize companies expand their market place resulting in more jobs throughout the region.”
– Aaron Lawlor, Chairman, Lake County Board

“McHenry County is excited to collaborate on this unprecedented program to increase exports from the region. As all counties and Chicago look toward the future, working together to strengthen the region is in all our best interests. Our success should not be measured individually, but by the economic impact generated in our region and countries around the world.”
– Tina R. Hill, Chairwoman, McHenry County Board

“Helping our existing businesses export their products and services through the Metro Chicago Exports initiative is well timed. New global markets continue to open and the successful business of tomorrow is beginning to export today.”
– Larry Walsh, Executive, Will County Board

“We must recognize that the global economy has changed the formula for success. Cities and regions need to think and act in new ways to help our businesses succeed and grow jobs. Metro Chicago Exports is a great example of the way a region can collaborate to support businesses and help win in the global economy.”
– Richard M. Daley, Former Mayor, City of Chicago & Chairman, Global Cities Initiative

“A key component of Mayor Emanuel’s Plan for Economic Growth and Jobs, which WBC is currently implementing, is to expand the region’s strong export base to meet the demands of opportunities that cut across economic sectors. Companies that export effectively experience higher revenue growth and are more resilient to economic downturns. Through Metro Chicago Exports, we are coming together as a region to assist these companies, while enhancing Chicago’s global position.”
– Jeff Malehorn, President & CEO, World Business Chicago

Warren, Mich. – Macomb Community College and JPMorgan Chase today announced the Innovation Fund, a nearly $3 million effort to stimulate economic development and job growth among promising Detroit-area entrepreneurs and next-stage companies with high-growth potential.

Part of JPMorgan Chase’s $100 million commitment to Detroit’s economic recovery and managed by Macomb Community College, the Innovation Fund will provide valuable capital to entrepreneurs when it’s needed most – providing bridge funding at a pivotal time in business development between “family and friends” funding and the ability to attract mainstream financial investor funding.

Formally known as the Innovation Fund Macomb Community College, Powered by JPMorgan Chase & Co., this fund will provide grants, which do not have to be repaid, of up to $25,000 for start-up businesses that are taking the initial steps to get their very early stage idea ready for market introduction. The fund will make larger awards of up to $100,000 to advance the progress of emerging companies toward larger-scale equity funding. These larger awards, which must be matched dollar for dollar by the company, may be required to be paid back or the company may have to provide an equity interest to the Innovation Fund. This approach sustains the Innovation Fund and also instills fund recipients with a long-term commitment to enhancing the region’s entrepreneurial environment.

“JPMorgan Chase’s contribution is not only a commitment to the economic future of Macomb County, but a commitment to fostering an entrepreneurial ecosystem in southeast Michigan,” said Dr. James Jacobs, president, Macomb Community College, at an event today announcing the Innovation Fund. “Macomb County’s success is integrally tied to metro Detroit’s success. The Innovation Fund Macomb Community College represents an important, grow-your-own element in our local economic development strategy, while at the same time serves to cultivate the interests, skills and innovation of Macomb students and community residents, fueling economic momentum, investment and regional growth.”

JPMorgan Chase, through its foundation, is contributing $1 million to launch the Innovation Fund. Macomb is also providing $1 million from its Strategic Fund, which was authorized by the college board of trustees in late August 2014. Macomb will raise another $700,000, bringing the total commitment to $2.7 million.

“Detroit-area entrepreneurs are vital to southeast Michigan’s continued economic recovery, and the Innovation Fund will be a catalyst for creating sustained growth and employment throughout the region,” said Chauncy Lennon, managing director for workforce readiness at JPMorgan Chase. “This is a win-win for small businesses and Macomb students. Small businesses, like those in advanced manufacturing, receive needed capital and Macomb students obtain on-the-job training to prepare them for success in the workplace after school.”

The Innovation Fund is an integral part of the college’s new Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, which was also announced today, at the college’s 60th anniversary celebration. While the event honored the achievements of the past, it focused on new initiatives and commitments designed to contribute to the region’s future economic vitality. The center will be located on the college’s Center Campus in Clinton Township, initially providing meeting space and resources, such as mentors, for students seeking to start their own businesses.

“This major commitment and investment by Macomb Community College and JPMorgan Chase take the energy and momentum that are driving our communities, region and state forward to new levels,” said Michigan Governor Rick Snyder. “Michigan is home to unlimited talent and entrepreneurial spirit that will be further unleashed by this collaboration, resulting in more and better jobs. The entire region is primed for continued growth and this announcement and effort is an exciting step in that process.”

Both start-ups and emerging companies that are funded by the Innovation Fund will be required to provide meaningful employment opportunities for Macomb Community College students through internships. These experiences will contribute to students learning and developing valuable workplace skills, as well as exposing them to innovative approaches and inspiring them to develop entrepreneurial mindsets.

“Entrepreneurs are finding Detroit and its neighboring communities to be great places to start and grow their businesses,” said Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan. “The Innovation Fund will help fuel the economic growth of our entire region, and it is a great example of JPMorgan Chase’s ongoing commitment to a stronger Detroit.”

Selection of proposals to fund will be accomplished through an engaging and competitive process that benefits entrepreneurs participating, whether or not funding is granted. An advisory board composed of successful, local entrepreneurs will evaluate proposals and make funding recommendations, and serve as mentors.

The Innovation Fund Macomb Community College is modeled after a highly successful program established in 2007 by Lorain County Community College (LCCC), located in northeast Ohio. In five years, LCCC received more than 5,000 inquiries about their program, accepted more than 600 applications and made 99 awards valued at $5.7 million to 85 companies. As a result, the companies funded raised $61 million in add-on capital, provided more than 150 internships to students and created 314 jobs.

Earlier this year, JPMorgan Chase made a five-year, $100 million commitment to Detroit’s economic recovery. Working with community partners, JPMorgan Chase’s commitment is focused on supporting economic development, blight reduction, workforce development and small business growth. For more information, visit www.jpmorganchase.com/Detroit.

About JPMorgan Chase
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) is a leading global financial services firm with assets of $2.5 trillion and operations worldwide. The Firm is a leader in investment banking, financial services for consumers and small businesses, commercial banking, financial transaction processing, and asset management. A component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, JPMorgan Chase & Co. serves millions of consumers in the United States and many of the world’s most prominent corporate, institutional and government clients under its J.P. Morgan and Chase brands. Information about JPMorgan Chase & Co. is available at www.jpmorganchase.com.

About Macomb Community College
Established on Sept. 16, 1954, Macomb Community College (www.macomb.edu) is one of the nation’s leading community colleges, providing learning experiences to more than 48,000 students annually. With three campuses and a Michigan Technical Education Center that serves as its workforce development headquarters, Macomb nationally ranks in the top two percent in the number of associate degrees awarded by community colleges. The college’s comprehensive educational programming includes pre-collegiate experiences, university transfer and career preparation programs, bachelor-degree completion and graduate degree programs, workforce training, professional education and certification, and continuing education and enrichment opportunities.

WENTZVILLE, Mo. – General Motors will add a third shift at its Wentzville Assembly plant, creating an estimated 750 new jobs, to build the all-new Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon midsize pickups and Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana full-size vans.

Dealers have ordered nearly 30,000 Colorados, which is very high for early orders. With the midsize trucks, Chevrolet and GMC offer the broadest truck portfolio in the business. No other manufacturer is positioned to offer all truck customers the right truck to meet their varied needs.

To provide Colorado and Canyon customers with an even greater level of choices, Chevrolet and GMC have launched “build-your-own” sites within www.chevrolet.com and www.gmc.com. Both midsize models go on sale this fall.

Among the new trucks’ segment-leading features:

Available forward collision alert and lane departure warning
Class-leading payload capacity and trailering capacity of 7,000 pounds (3182 kg) when equipped with the max towing package
Configurations including an extended cab model with a 6-foot bed, a crew cab with a 5-foot bed and a crew cab with a 6-foot bed
Standard CornerStep rear bumper and easy lift and lower tailgate pioneered on the 2014 Silverado
Built-in OnStar 4GLTE connectivity that makes the truck a Wi-Fi hotspot capable of supporting up to seven devices.
The 750 third shift positions are in addition to the 1,315 new jobs at Wentzville that GM committed to with the launch of the new pickups and the addition of a third stamping press – two major investments totaling $513 million.

Wentzville Assembly currently employs approximately 2,600 hourly and salaried workers and operates two production shifts. The third shift is expected to begin in early 2015.

Wentzville’s third shift is the latest job-creating action by GM. Since June 2009, GM has announced U.S. facility investments of more than $11.2 billion and either protected or added approximately 27,000 jobs.

General Motors Co. (NYSE:GM, TSX: GMM) and its partners produce vehicles in 30 countries, and the company has leadership positions in the world’s largest and fastest-growing automotive markets. GM, its subsidiaries and joint venture entities sell vehicles under the Chevrolet, Cadillac, Baojun, Buick, GMC, Holden, Jiefang, Opel, Vauxhall and Wuling brands. More information on the company and its subsidiaries, including OnStar, a global leader in vehicle safety, security and information services, can be found at http://www.gm.com

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Hiring Our Heroes program announced today a partnership with Uber that will help the company bring 50,000 veterans, service members, and military spouses onto the Uber platform as partner drivers over the next 18 months. Uber is making its commitment as part of the U.S. Chamber’s Hiring 500,000 Heroes campaign. The company will utilize Hiring Our Heroes resources including its job fairs and online programs to help meet the goal.

“A commitment of this scale by one of America’s fastest growing companies sends a powerful message to both the business and military communities,” said Thomas J. Donohue, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “By pledging to bring on 50,000 veterans and military spouses, Uber is telling them that this is not about charity – this is about finding the strongest candidates in the civilian workforce. We look forward to working with Uber over the next 18 months to connect them with the best talent our country has to offer.”

“Veterans are some of our nation’s most talented and skilled leaders, and Uber has already benefitted from the leadership and reliability veterans bring to our platform,” added Uber CEO Travis Kalanick. “Uber and veterans working together is a win-win, and we are excited to expand their presence throughout our network and bring greater economic opportunity to military communities across the country.”

The Hiring 500,000 Heroes campaign launched in March 2012 with a goal of securing commitments from businesses of all sizes to hire half a million veterans, transitioning service members, and military spouses by the end of 2014. Uber’s pledge to onboard 50,000 military men and women is one of the largest commitments to date and brings the campaign close to its goal. To date, more than 1,700 companies have committed to hire over 460,000 veterans and military spouses and 275,000 hires have been confirmed.

Uber will work with Hiring Our Heroes through the new UberMILITARY program, which launched in conjunction with today’s announcement to help streamline the onboarding process for the military community. Uber’s recruiting efforts will include free rides to job fairs, special referral bonuses for UberMILITARY partners, waived city fees or deposits, and special information sessions and office hours.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation (USCCF) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce dedicated to strengthening America’s long-term competitiveness by addressing developments that affect our nation, our economy, and the global business environment.

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

Through the years the nation gave increasing emphasis to Labor Day. The first governmental recognition came through municipal ordinances passed during 1885 and 1886. From these, a movement developed to secure state legislation. The first state bill was introduced into the New York legislature, but the first to become law was passed by Oregon on February 21, 1887. During the year four more states — Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York — created the Labor Day holiday by legislative enactment. By the end of the decade Connecticut, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania had followed suit. By 1894, 23 other states had adopted the holiday in honor of workers, and on June 28 of that year, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.

More than 100 years after the first Labor Day observance, there is still some doubt as to who first proposed the holiday for workers.

Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a cofounder of the American Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor those “who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold.”

But Peter McGuire’s place in Labor Day history has not gone unchallenged. Many believe that Matthew Maguire, a machinist, not Peter McGuire, founded the holiday. Recent research seems to support the contention that Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J., proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. What is clear is that the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic.

The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, 1883.

In 1884 the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday, as originally proposed, and the Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a “workingmen’s holiday” on that date. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country.

The form that the observance and celebration of Labor Day should take was outlined in the first proposal of the holiday — a street parade to exhibit to the public “the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations” of the community, followed by a festival for the recreation and amusement of the workers and their families. This became the pattern for the celebrations of Labor Day. Speeches by prominent men and women were introduced later, as more emphasis was placed upon the economic and civic significance of the holiday. Still later, by a resolution of the American Federation of Labor convention of 1909, the Sunday preceding Labor Day was adopted as Labor Sunday and dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the labor movement.

The character of the Labor Day celebration has undergone a change in recent years, especially in large industrial centers where mass displays and huge parades have proved a problem. This change, however, is more a shift in emphasis and medium of expression. Labor Day addresses by leading union officials, industrialists, educators, clerics and government officials are given wide coverage in newspapers, radio, and television.

The vital force of labor added materially to the highest standard of living and the greatest production the world has ever known and has brought us closer to the realization of our traditional ideals of economic and political democracy. It is appropriate, therefore, that the nation pay tribute on Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation’s strength, freedom, and leadership — the American worker.

Fifty years ago, President Lyndon B. Johnson launched a series of programs aimed at restoring our nation’s fundamental promise of equality and opportunity. The Economic Opportunity Act, signed on Aug. 20 of 1964 as part of President Lyndon Johnson’s “War on Poverty,” established the Job Corps, a residential education and training program for disadvantaged young people ages 16-24. Today, nearly 2.7 million students have benefited from the Job Corps. At 125 centers in 48 states, students today learn the skills necessary to succeed in good jobs with high-growth potential in a dynamic economy. Graduates learn career skills in more than 100 areas – from automotive maintenance to information technology, from health care to hospitality, from construction to IT. Some have become doctors, judges and entertainment executives. All across the country, Job Corps centers are celebrating this historic milestone with demonstrations, open houses, local proclamations, and other events. We’re also sharing stories from some of the people whose lives have been most deeply transformed by the program on our blog.

Raising the minimum wage
The cost of living has increased significantly over the past five years but the federal minimum wage hasn’t. Raising it to $10.10 would benefit 28 million Americans, helping them better provide for themselves and their families. Right now, too many people are working harder but falling further behind just trying to make ends meet. We believe an honest day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay and will continue to make the case for a higher minimum wage.

Modernizing overtime protections
The Fair Labor Standards Act’s wage protections are intended to apply to most workers, including overtime pay for more than 40 hours of work per week. Unfortunately, the threshold for who qualifies for overtime pay hasn’t kept up with our modern economy. Under the current rules, you may not qualify for overtime even if you’re under the poverty line. That’s why we’re modernizing the rules to reward hard work and give more people a better chance of realizing their dreams.

Investing in apprenticeships
Registered apprenticeship programs are a win-win: they train workers for in-demand fields while providing a paycheck, and they help companies develop a skilled, loyal workforce. But apprenticeships have been undervalued in America for several decades and a popular myth persists that they’re only for traditional occupations. New grants will help us invest in and grow apprenticeships across the country.

Reinvigorating the workforce system
In recent years, more than 20 million people annually have turned to federal programs for basic education, job training and employment services. The recently signed Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act is a critical step toward helping workers and employers succeed in the 21st century economy. Together with our federal partners and communities nationwide, we will lead the road ahead.

Ensuring fair pay and safe workplaces
The federal government shouldn’t do business with companies that violate labor laws and exploit their workers. If you work hard, take responsibility and play by the rules, you deserve a fair shot at getting ahead. This is true for both workers and employers. We’ll be implementing a new executive order designed to protect employees, responsible businesses and taxpayers.

This is courtesy of www.dol.gov

Grinding coffee beans, a whirring blender, or the hiss of steaming milk are not the sounds you would expect to hear at a mayor’s town hall.

Last night (August 13, 2014), however, a Starbucks store on Alhambra Boulevard in Central Sacramento became the setting for a meeting with Mayor Kevin Johnson and over 50 community leaders dedicated to strengthening job training, placement and education opportunities for young people in the city.

Sacramento hosted the nation’s first Solutions City™ event. The U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) – of which Mayor Johnson is president – and Starbucks announced the national initiative in June to support local action and strengthen neighborhoods, particularly in the areas of access to education, support for returning veterans, and empowering youth.

It’s the first in a series of Solutions City community meetings Mayor Johnson’s office will host over the course of one year at Starbucks stores around Sacramento. Starbucks plans to collaborate with the USCM and share the best ideas across cities.

“We need to address how we reach the job seeker of the 21st century; particularly those who want to work in Sacramento’s technology, medicine, food science or clean energy sectors,” said Mayor Johnson. “Solutions City can be one way to bring us together and help identify a plan to meet our young people’s needs. Starbucks is critical to that equation because they can use their scale to mobilize resources and volunteers to support these solutions, and track and share their results.”

For Blair Taylor, Starbucks chief community officer, Solutions City is an example of the type of tangible, public-private model Starbucks is building to create pathways to opportunity for young people through initiatives like Starbucks College Achievement Plan or its commitment to hire 10,000 veterans and military spouses over the next five years. Beyond the company, Starbucks is also working with its broad supply chain to connect opportunity youth, those 16-24 year olds neither at work nor school, with new training, mentorship and employment opportunities through programs like Leaders Up.

“Together, we need to drive the solutions,” Taylor said at the event in Sacramento. “Under the vision and leadership our mayors, we can all come together to provide the skills, training and job opportunities our young people need to participate in the 21st Century economy.”

In the coming weeks, Starbucks will host similar town hall meetings with mayors in Columbus, Phoenix, Baltimore and Orlando.

“Mayors are problem solvers, rising to meet the challenges facing our communities every single day,” said Taylor. “Solutions City helps put a formal framework and tangible goals around what’s already occurring and uses Starbucks stores as gathering places for mayors and citizens to deliberately discuss issues and drive toward the best local solutions.”

At Wednesday’s meeting in Sacramento, participants addressed a number of topics to begin identifying their collective priorities for the year ahead.

“There are many jobs out here, but we recognize that young people need the right skills and training to get ready for these roles,” said participant Ron Groepper, Senior Vice President and Sacramento area manager for Kaiser Permanente.

Dr. Alex Taghavian, senior program manager at the Linked Learning Alliance, said there are a number of tried and tested job training and placement programs, but like others in the room, he acknowledged that young people need employers to “step up and provide capacity for work-based learning at scale.”

Taylor agreed that companies have an urgent role to play as he discussed the ways in which Starbucks and other companies can use their scale for good to create a more inclusive 21st Century economy.

For Mayor Johnson, Solutions City is an opportunity to prepare for what he has often referred to as Cities 3.0.

“If Sacramento is going to keep up with this pace, drive revitalization, and be the ultimate service provider, we need to become a lab and incubator of change,” said Mayor Johnson. “We need partners like Starbucks, who have the power to use their scale to help increase our reach and impact.”

Mayor Johnson will convene the Solutions City community every six-eight weeks over the course of the year. Check back on Starbucks Newsroom throughout September 2014 for updates from Solutions City town halls in Columbus, Phoenix, Baltimore and Orlando.

Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) today began accepting applications through October 1 from young companies interested in joining the new Wells Fargo Startup Accelerator, a semiannual boot camp for innovators whose technology ideas in payments, deposits, fraud, operations and other fields could shape future customer experiences in financial services.

Wells Fargo will make a direct equity investment of $50,000 to $500,000 in each selected start-up. The Startup Accelerator also will provide business planning expertise to firms in the six-month program, which is designed to continuously attract innovative ideas and stoke innovation across the Wells Fargo enterprise. Company subject matter experts and purchasing managers will offer workshops and individual coaching to the firms. Successful companies may become vendors to the bank.

“For Wells Fargo to work on big ideas and spark innovators inside our organization, we need to expand our access to new ideas at the edges of our industry,” said Steve Ellis, executive vice president and head of Wholesale Services at Wells Fargo, who noted that in 1995, Wells Fargo was the first major financial services company in the U.S. to give customers free Internet access to account balances. Wells Fargo also was first to offer a mobile service for businesses in 2007, he added.

“The Startup Accelerator adds a new cylinder to our corporate innovation engine,” said Ellis. “We’re taking a proven business model from the venture capital community and repurposing it as a strategy for connecting with start-ups whose ideas and growth prospects could add value to our business and our customers.”

Three innovative companies already have been selected and funded to pilot the Wells Fargo Startup Accelerator. They are:

Zumigo, San Jose, California: A developer of mobile services using a unique combination of location and mobile identity technologies to secure commerce and enable mobile marketing.
EyeVerify, Kansas City, Kansas: The creator of EyePrint ID™ that transforms a picture of your eye into a key that protects your digital life.
Kasisto, New York: The builder of state-of-the-art artificial intelligence technology that improves the consumer experience on mobile devices through intelligent conversation.
In addition to these three firms, the Startup Accelerator will give 10 to 20 young companies each year the opportunity to develop and refine products in a collaborative environment. Applications will be accepted twice per year, with a deadline of October 1 for this fall’s program. A Wells Fargo investment committee comprised of senior technology, venture banking, and innovation leaders will evaluate candidates and select participants. Prospects can learn more and apply online at https://accelerator.wellsfargo.com.

“We’re interested in any technology that could be used by an institution like Wells Fargo to better serve our customers or operate our business,” Ellis said. “Analytics, big data, mobile, security, and infrastructure are all important to us. We’re looking to engage with innovators beyond the edge of our own creative enterprise.”

Wells Fargo Wholesale Banking operates 50-plus lines of business serving U.S. middle-market and large corporates with annual sales of $20 million and higher. Among the products and business segments are Middle Market Commercial Banking, including a growing technology practice group, Government and Institutional Banking, Corporate Banking, Commercial Real Estate, Treasury Management, Wells Fargo Capital Finance, Insurance, International, Real Estate Capital Markets, Commercial Mortgage Servicing, Corporate Trust, Equipment Finance, Wells Fargo Securities, Principal Investments, Asset Backed Finance, and Asset Management.

About Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a nationwide, diversified, community-based financial services company with $1.6 trillion in assets. Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo provides banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance through more than 9,000 locations, 12,500 ATMs, and the internet (wellsfargo.com), and has offices in 36 countries to support customers who conduct business in the global economy. With approximately 265,000 team members, Wells Fargo serves one in three households in the United States. Wells Fargo & Company was ranked No. 29 on Fortune’s 2014 rankings of America’s largest corporations. Wells Fargo’s vision is to satisfy all our customers’ financial needs and help them succeed financially. Wells Fargo perspectives are also available at Wells Fargo Blogs and Wells Fargo Stories.