General News

Washington – September 25, 2026 -- The Association of Financial Counseling, Planning, and Education (AFCPE) has received a 2026 ASAE Power of Associations Summit Award for its FINRA Foundation Military Spouse Fellowship, a program that has certified 743 Accredited Financial Counselors since 2006 and supported more than 288,000 military families through their required experience hours.

ASAE recognizes AFCPE for solving military spouse underemployment through credentialed career pathways

The American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) presented the Summit Award to AFCPE for the Fellowship's dual impact: expanding workforce mobility for military spouses and strengthening financial readiness in military communities. The award was celebrated during ASAE's Summit Awards Dinner on September 22, 2026, at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC.

Washington – September 25, 2026 -- Gamblers scored 3.93 out of five on a standard financial literacy index versus 3.72 for non-gamblers, according to new research commissioned by the American Gaming Association (AGA), with 41% of gamblers classified as highly financially literate compared with 27% of non-gamblers.

Prediction market users overstate their mathematical ability, study finds

Sports bettors demonstrated the highest combination of mathematical confidence and objectively tested capability among all gambling segments surveyed. Prediction market users reported nearly equivalent confidence levels but performed on objective math tests at levels closer to non-gamblers, exposing a gap between self-assessed skill and actual ability.

Cambridge, Mass. – September 25, 2026 -- Zifo has been named runner-up in the 2026 CDISC AI Innovation Challenge for TLFGenix, its AI-driven pipeline for generating clinical trial tables, figures, and listings, marking the company's second consecutive year of recognition in the competition.

Zifo's TLFGenix converts statistical analysis plans into traceable clinical outputs

TLFGenix was recognized under Use Case 3: AI-Driven Tables, Figures, and Listings Generation, one of three use cases in the global competition. The system uses six specialized agents to digitize Statistical Analysis Plans into a structured logical model, profile ADaM datasets, generate an ARS-aligned analysis specification, produce R driver scripts, execute them in a network-isolated sandbox, and check schema and output consistency. Statisticians approve the analysis specification before code generation and sign off on each individual output.

Seattle – September 25, 2026 -- McGee Air Services has elected Ben Reed as President, effective Oct. 1, formalizing a role he has held on an interim basis for six months. Reed will oversee more than 3,200 employees managing ground services for Alaska Airlines' subsidiary across six airports.

Reed takes permanent control after six-month interim tenure

Reed was named interim President in March 2026 following his prior stint as managing director of operations at McGee's Seattle station, a post he held from November 2025 until his interim appointment. The board's decision converts that interim mandate into a full presidency starting Oct. 1, 2026.

San Antonio – September 25, 2026 -- Alta Home Lending has been selected by DRB Group, one of the nation's largest homebuilders, as its mortgage joint venture partner for the West, following a competitive search and extensive due diligence. The new venture, DRB Home Loans, will serve DRB homebuyers in Texas, Colorado and Arizona. DRB Group announced the partnership on September 23, 2026.

DRB Group ran Alta through builder-community reference checks before committing

Matt Wolf, VP of Financial Services at DRB Group, said the company vetted Alta through a rigorous process, including calls to references across the builder community. He said Alta's performance history held up and that the firm structured the venture around how DRB actually runs its business rather than applying a standard model.

Oulu, Finland – September 25, 2026 -- iLOQ, the Finnish smart access technology company that reported €150 million in turnover in 2025, has launched a new global brand campaign featuring Formula 1 World Champion Kimi Räikkönen and his son Robin Räikkönen.

Campaign extends a multi-year sponsorship from Kimi to the next generation of the Räikkönen family

Titled "The Next Generation Is Coming," the campaign builds on iLOQ's longstanding partnership with Kimi Räikkönen, now extended to Robin as he develops his own career in karting. Kimi Räikkönen retired from Formula 1 in 2021 after a career spanning more than two decades and now supports Robin as a mechanic, describing his role as offering options rather than instructions during Robin's development on the track.

New York – September 25, 2026 -- European companies participating in the UN Global Compact posted an average sustainability contribution score of 58.2 out of 100, according to the second edition of the European Private Sector SDGs Stocktake released around the United Nations General Assembly.

The study, compiled by UN Global Compact Networks in Bulgaria, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and Türkiye, analyzed 136 data points from 5,793 participant companies across 21 European countries. It marks the first attempt to quantify the private sector's contribution to the 2030 Agenda at this scale.

Health commitments outperform environmental action across Europe

SDG 3 on health recorded the highest contribution score at 73.6, while climate action under SDG 13 lagged at 45.8. Only 28.1% of responding companies have developed a climate adaptation plan, exposing a gap between stated commitments and operational execution.

New York – September 25, 2026 -- Global healthcare, investment, philanthropy and government leaders convened at a roundtable on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly to address a women's health gap that the World Economic Forum projects could exceed $1 trillion annually by 2040 if unaddressed. The session, titled "The $1 Trillion Case for Women's Health," was convened by Burjeel Holdings, a super-specialty healthcare provider operating across the UAE, Oman and Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Ambassador Reema Bandar Al-Saud calls for lifelong, integrated women's healthcare investment

HRH Ambassador Reema Bandar Al-Saud, Saudi Arabia's envoy to the United States, opened the roundtable with a virtual address urging governments to treat women's physical and mental health as interconnected rather than episodic. She argued that no nation can rely on half its population to drive economic growth while leaving their healthcare needs to chance.

Hong Kong – September 25, 2026 -- Eventus won Market Surveillance Solution of the Year for its Validus platform at the FOW Asia Pacific Awards in Hong Kong, marking one of 17 honors the firm has collected in the APAC region alone.

Validus platform secures back-to-back industry recognition across markets

The APAC win follows Eventus' fourth consecutive win in the same category at the FOW International Awards earlier this year. It also comes after the firm was named Best Trade Surveillance Solution in the July 2026 Capital Markets Technology Awards APAC and Trade Surveillance Product of the Year in the global Risk Technology Awards.

South Carolina -- A new Public Television segment filmed on September 25, 2026, at Sterling Contract Packaging's South Carolina facility examines how consolidating packaging design, engineering, and manufacturing under one operator is reshaping healthcare product distribution. The feature, part of the nationally syndicated "All Access hosted by Andy Garcia" series, positions single-source packaging models as an alternative to fragmented, multi-vendor supply chains that have historically caused delays and compliance failures in the medical device and OTC pharmaceutical sectors.