Professional & Business Services

New York – September 29, 2026 -- Brand experience studio DE-YAN has appointed Jonathan Akwue as its first President, hiring the former Translation chief and ex-Publicis Groupe executive as the firm builds on a year of double-digit headcount growth and an industry-first ROI certification.

Akwue arrives from Translation after more than 25 years across network agencies

Akwue previously served as President and Global Media Lead at Publicis Groupe, with earlier stints at Digitas UK and Lost Boys. Based in New York, he will work alongside founder and CEO Dejan Jovanovic to deepen client relationships and expand the studio's scope. He is the second senior network-agency executive to join DE-YAN in under two years, following Chief Creative Officer Jason Kreher, who arrived from Wieden+Kennedy and Maximum Effort in 2025.

Denver – – September 29, 2026 -- Executives targeting AI-driven headcount reduction are nearly half as likely to fund the upskilling needed to realize AI efficiency gains, according to new research from Businessolver released as part of its 11th annual State of Workplace Empathy study.

Cost-cutting executives skip the training investment that enables AI payoff

Among the 27% of C-suite leaders who name cost savings through headcount reduction as a top AI investment goal, just 18% also prioritize AI upskilling, compared with 35% of CXOs who do not pursue headcount reduction. The gap widens on predictive analytics investment, where only 21% of cost-cutting leaders prioritize it versus 44% of their peers.

Huntersville, N.C. – September 29, 2026 -- Rubbermaid Commercial Products (RCP) will host 11 appreciation events across the United States ahead of National Custodian Day on October 2, personally recognizing an estimated 1,250 custodial and facility maintenance professionals.

RCP marks fifth year of Behind the Scenes of Clean initiative

The program, launched in 2022, has hosted more than 250 recognition events nationwide and honored around 25,000 custodial and facility maintenance professionals since inception, according to the company, a unit of Newell Brands.

Events span cities including Mooresville, Atlanta, Orlando, Chicago and Naples

Local teams working across workplaces, healthcare facilities, public spaces, hospitality venues, transportation hubs and entertainment destinations will be recognized face-to-face at the 11 gatherings.

New York – September 29, 2026 -- Burford Capital has released its latest Burford Quarterly, revealing that cost has become the leading factor UK general counsel and law firms weigh when deciding whether to pursue disputes, ahead of legal merits alone.

Cost overtakes legal merit as top litigation driver, new research shows

The research, conducted with The Lawyer, surveyed UK GCs and law firms on 2026 litigation trends and found commercial considerations increasingly shape whether cases proceed. Legal finance is emerging as an established tool for managing both capital and risk in dispute decisions, according to the findings.

Amsterdam – September 29, 2026 -- Nearly $300 million in European spend has now moved through Arkestro's predictive procurement platform, with regional volume growing 93% year over year, the company announced at DPW Amsterdam 2026.

Baseline spend in international procurement events surged 330% from 2024 to 2025

Arkestro projects a further 47% increase in 2026 as existing global customers extend the platform into additional European teams, categories and supplier networks. The company said the growth reflects enterprises seeking faster procurement decisions amid market volatility.

Platform users across Europe grew 78% year over year

Arkestro's buyer and supplier interactions now span 34 countries, and customers running completed European procurement events have generated approximately 10% average savings, the company said.

London – September 29, 2026 -- Nearly a third of the most AI-capable employees say they are very or extremely likely to quit their employer within a year, even as access to learning and development resources for the broader workforce dropped 8 percentage points, according to PwC's 2026 Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey of nearly 50,000 workers across 48 countries.

AI use jumps 10 points while training access shrinks

Some 64% of workers report using AI at work in the past 12 months, up 10 points year on year, and daily Generative AI use rose from 14% to 22%. Yet only 51% say they have access to the learning and development resources they need, down from 59% last year.

Menlo Park, Calif. – September 28, 2026 -- Global consulting firm Protiviti has surpassed one million meals donated through its Birdies for Meals program following professional golfer Matt Fitzpatrick's victory at the FedEx Open de France at Le Golf National.

Fitzpatrick's win triggers 25,000-meal donation, pushing program past milestone

Fitzpatrick closed with rounds of 65-64-65-70 to finish at 20-under-par, securing a three-stroke victory and his fourth title of the season. The result triggered a 25,000-meal donation under Protiviti's Birdies for Meals campaign, lifting the program's cumulative total to 1,010,000 meals since its 2021 launch. Fitzpatrick alone has generated 162,000 meals this season.

Chicago – September 28, 2026 -- Explorance has released Metrics That Matter (MTM) 10.0, a platform update built to help learning and development teams prove that training programs close organizational skills gaps.

Platform shifts focus from course completion to skills verification

MTM 10.0 lets organizations build structured skills taxonomies using Skills and Skill Categories, including 30 standard benchmarkable categories. Courses can be mapped directly to the skills they are designed to develop, and administrators can manage these mappings at scale through bulk Excel-based tools.

Toronto – September 25, 2026 -- Jobber has launched two new integrations, a Plugin in ChatGPT and a Connector for Claude, that let home and commercial service businesses pull their Jobber account data directly into leading AI chat platforms.

New MCP integrations connect Jobber data to ChatGPT and Claude

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) integrations allow service pros to ask ChatGPT or Claude questions about clients, properties, jobs, quotes, invoices, requests, and visits, with answers grounded in their actual Jobber account. Users can also dictate or paste call and job notes into the AI tools, which then update the corresponding client, property, and request records inside Jobber.

Bengaluru – September 25, 2026 -- Keystone, a global advisory firm, has launched Keystone India with Bengaluru as its first hub in the country, planning to hire talent and expand its workforce over the next two years to serve multinational clients navigating India's regulatory complexity and AI disruption.

Bengaluru team to serve Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, Goldman Sachs and Amgen

The new Bengaluru office will support global technology, manufacturing and financial services companies including Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, Goldman Sachs and Amgen, along with India's largest law firms, as they navigate market structure, litigation exposure and platform risk. Keystone CEO Jeff Marowits said the launch reflects the firm's long-term commitment to India as a strategically important growth market, with substantial investments in talent planned over the next two years.