Corporate, Community, Social and Media Partners Help Bay Area Black Expo Prepare For 21st Succesful Exhibition

-- Underscoring Health, Education, Community, Business, and Personal Development September 8-9, 2012 at the Oakland Convention Center --

Oakland/San Francisco Bay Area, CA (BlackNews.com) -- The original "Black Expo" national tour was established in the mid-1970's in New York City. The Oakland, CA expo was eliminated from the national urban city tour in 1996. Refusing to allow the San Francisco Bay Area community to miss out on learning about available products, talents and services that the expo had to offer, licensed clinical psychologist and businesswoman Dr. C. Diane Howell established "Black Expo LTD," and independently-produced an adaptation of the touring exposition until her untimely passing in 2008.

With only a one-year interruption, Rose Lyles and Laura Wright brought a Black Expo back to the Bay Area with successful productions in 2010 and 2011 - both yielding 100% booth occupancy and over 7,000 attendees each year.

This year, marketing guru J. Alton Byrd has joined Lyles to co-produce the two-day affair. With energetic support from corporate, community, social and media partners, the event's producers plan for the 2012 Bay Area Black Expo to be the San Francisco Bay Area's largest and most comprehensive multi-ethnic trade expo ever. Bay Area Black Expo will take place Saturday and Sunday, September 8-9, 2012 at the Oakland Marriott Convention Center, 1001 Broadway, downtown Oakland, CA. Additionally, in recognition of outstanding Bay Area community partners, Bay Area Black Expo will host its inaugural Magnificent Seven Awards Gala (a black-tie affair) Wednesday, September 5th at the exquisite Mira Vista Golf & Country Club in El Cerrito, CA.

The spectacular 2012 Expo will showcase and celebrate San Francisco Bay Area's diverse community with offerings that will include the awards gala; entrepreneur workshops; healthy cooking demonstrations with Cuisine Noir Magazine and celebrity chefs; fitness classes; fraternity/sorority step show; celebrity "Inside the Artist Studio" interviews; a powerful spirit-led gospel show; and special celebrity guest performers and speakers, in addition to the many exhibits by art & craft, retail, social, corporate, and health care vendors and exhibitors. Admittance costs are: $10.00 general admission; $5.00 children, students with ID, and seniors. Tickets may be purchased at the door and online via PayPal at http://www.bayareablackexpo.com/event/tickets.

Generous and insightful Bay Area Black Expo 2012 partners that have signed on to-date to support the two-day event include: Budweiser, Pepsi, KBLX, PG&E, BART, Coliseum Lexus of Oakland, Sac Cultural Hub, Black Entertainment Monthly, First Friday's of the Bay Area, and Oakland Magazine. The highly anticipated event will serve as a platform where businesses, academic institutions, non-profit organizations, religious, health, and social service agencies can introduce and further educate minority communities about programs for self-improvement, as well as social and economic growth, despite discouraging statistics and information about the current status of the economy.

Bay Area Black Expo invites its neighbors - individuals, organizations, and corporations - to participate in and contribute to the empowerment of the community it serves.

EXHIBITOR APPLICATION http://www.bayareablackexpo.com/BABE-VendorContract2012.pdf Contact: Rose Lyles | Rose@BayAreaBlackExpo.com | 925-325-3166

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Corporate, Community, Social and Media Partners Help Bay Area Black Expo® Prepare For 21st Succesful Exhibition

Memphis-based Shelby Group International, which manufactures personal protective equipment, plans to move its corporate headquarters to Collierville and its distribution facility to Piperton.

As an incentive to build its headquarters in Collierville, the company was given a 10-year property tax and personal property tax reduction using the town's payment-in-lieu-of-taxes program.

Artist's rendering

Shelby Group International, which makes and sells personal protection equipment as MCR Safety, will build a 45,000-square-foot headquarters on Schilling Boulevard.

The Industrial Development Board granted the PILOT, which allows the company to pay 25 percent of its personal property and property taxes.

The company also received a retention PILOT from Shelby County under the same conditions. A retention PILOT is granted as an incentive for a company to remain in its current location.

SGI plans to build a two-story, 45,000-square-foot office building on Schilling Boulevard. The investment, counting personal property, will be about $10 million.

SGI will open a distribution center in Piperton, in Fayette County, which is one of the places it considered building its headquarters, Janet Geyer, assistant to Collierville's town administrator told the Collierville Board of Mayor and Aldermen, which ratified the PILOT.

"SGI owners are strongly committed to Tennessee and especially the Memphis area," Geyer.

She told the board SGI will move 103 full-time employees to Collierville. The median salary is $63,984.

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Shelby Group International will move headquarters to Collierville

GMDC has awarded Jerry Brown, former VP of industry and customer development for Unilever Home and Personal Care, its 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award to during its Dinner with the Chairman held this week at the 42nd annual 2012 General Merchandise Conference in Orlando.

The GMDC Lifetime Achievement Award was initiated in 1995, during the 25th Anniversary of the Association, to honor individuals who have been industry leaders and made significant contributions to the general merchandise and health beauty and wellness categories during their careers. The Lifetime Achievement Award recipient is recognized primarily for contributions to the industry as a whole, but also for his or her contributions to their own company and GMDC. The selection of the annual recipient is made by a special committee comprised of past GMDC chairmen of the board who are still active in the association and the GMDC executive committee.

Brown began his business career with Johnson & Johnson Baby Products. In 1980, he began a career with Chesebroughs-Ponds, Ragu Packaged Foods Division. He held numerous field and internal positions in three of Chesebroughs (now Unilever) Divisions: Ragu (Foods), Chesebrough Health and Beauty, and Prince Matchabelli (Cosmetics and Fragrances).

In 1996, he assumed a position in the industry and customer development department with Unilever. He was promoted to VP, industry and customer development for Unilever Home and Personal Care in 1998. He ended his tenure in December 2011 leading Unilevers industry and customer development Team. Brown currently serves on numerous industry committees and advisory boards including: GMDC, NACDS, RILA, FMI, CIES, NGA, IGA, SIFE, and BEEP. Over the years, Brown also served as GMDC HBW advisory board chairman, membership advisory board chairman, and was a long-time director of the Education Leadership Council.

Jerry has been an incredible contributor to GMDC and our industry for decades, stated Dave McConnell, president and CEO of GMDC. His recognition this evening is not only well deservedit is an incredibly popular selection amongst his peers and partners!

Jerry resides in The Villages, Fla. with his wife Glenna and spend most of their days playing golf. They have four children, are proud grandparents of 11 grandchildren, and have five great-grandchildren. About GMDC

GMDC (Global Market Development Center) is the premier global trade association dedicated to serving general merchandise and health beauty wellness retailers, wholesalers and suppliers.

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GMDC Awards Former Unilever Exec Jerry Brown Lifetime Achievement Award

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Personal (www.personal.com), a private personal network and data vault for individuals to manage and control access to their digital information, announced today that Jenny Abramson has joined the company to serve as Senior Vice President of Monetization & Partnerships. In this role, she is in charge of growing Personal through strategic partnerships and leading the companys monetization strategy.

Abramson comes to Personal after seven years at The Washington Post, where she most recently ran various start-up and turnaround ventures ranging from Washington Post Live (the companys live journalism division) to FW (Fashion Washington) to The Washington Post Magazine. During her tenure, she also ran multiple sales teams as well as the Sports Marketing team and played a leadership role in broader company innovation efforts.

Jenny is uniquely qualified for this role, bringing with her a proven track record of growing new business ventures, developing partnerships and hiring top talent, said Shane Green, co-founder and CEO of Personal. There is a rapidly increasing awareness that people, not companies, should own and control their personal data. Jenny will help both individuals to benefit from this powerful asset and companies to better serve those individuals.

Everyone is benefiting from consumers' information except, of course, consumers, said Abramson. I am excited to be at a company driving to change that by giving people control of their personal information and the ability to benefit from it. Joining Personal presents the rare opportunity to work with an incredible team that is at the center of this fundamental shift in our digital lives.

Abramsons passion for personal data and privacy dates back to her work as a Fulbright Scholar at The London School of Economics where she focused on the ethical, political, and legal implications of The Human Genome Project. In her work in the education sector leading Program Strategy & Development for Teach For America and running former D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhees Transformation Management Office, she continued to leverage the power of data as it related to student outcomes. Earlier in her career, Jenny worked in strategy consulting at The Boston Consulting Group for consumer product companies. Abramson graduated from Stanford University with a B.A. and M.A. and from Harvard Business School with an M.B.A.

About Personal

Personal (www.personal.com) provides individuals with the tools to create a private, personal network where they can control their identity and determine access to their data when connecting with people and companies. Built on a secure data vault, individuals can easily import, consolidate and manage just about any information in their lives all with the peace of mind that their data remains legally theirs and is never used or shared without their permission. http://www.twitter.com/personal.

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Washington Post Co. Exec Joins Personal

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03-06-2012 14:28 Teaching Online Facilitating Online Learning at WizIQ education online: and live event:

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Teaching Online: Facilitating Online Learning at WizIQ Education Online - Video

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAIy7AraDs8

04-06-2012 08:41

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Making the Most of Your Online Education by Kaplan University School of Prof. and Continuing Edu. - Video

ANAHEIM, CA--(Marketwire -06/04/12)- Thesys International, an education technology business that supports schools with a hybrid online/classroom approach to education, will display its belief in innovation by demonstrating the hybrid classroom via a video broadcast on The Teaching Channel's website, YouTube and Facebook, as well as possible inclusion in a fall PBS program called "Great Lesson Ideas." The Teaching Channel, a non-profit organization funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, approached Fairmont Preparatory Academy to be part of its video showcase with specific interest in highlighting Fairmont's use of the Thesys Hybrid Model.

In the video, Fairmont Preparatory Academy math teacher Mark Hassoun shows 9th-grade geometry students the "Fundamentals of Triangles and Quadrilaterals." Close-ups show students, who attend the Thesys International hybrid online/in-class summer course, using cut-out triangles to represent the angles of a quadrilateral as Hassoun guides them with visual explanations on a white board. The video demonstrates how the hybrid model offers teachers more time in the classroom for engaging, hands-on activities while the typical assessments, quizzes and "book work" is taking place outside school with Thesys' learning management system.

The video was produced by Wingspan Pictures, the production company working with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to create programming for The Teaching Channel and its 25,000 member viewers.

Thesys International and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation share a dedication to supporting innovations in learning. Through this opportunity with The Teaching Channel, Thesys hopes to share its enthusiasm for innovation via technology integration in the classroom and support the channel's founding principle that "inspired teaching, like any great art, should be seen." Watch the full video here: http://bit.ly/LiYimH.

Thesys International launched in 2010 and is a division of Fairmont Education Group, Southern California's leading educational provider. Thesys designs and implements hybrid learning programs designed to enhance high-school classrooms in an environment that supports schools and empowers educators. Thesys takes pride in building partnerships with schools to incorporate eLearning programs quickly and effectively, always allowing the administrators to shape the end product. By providing teachers with the tools they need to make educational environments relevant and inspiring to students, Thesys ultimately enhances student outcomes. For more information about Thesys' turnkey solutions, visit http://www.thesysintl.com.

About Thesys International LLC: Launched in 2010, Thesys International, LLC, is an educational service provider that supports schools with a hybrid online/classroom approach to education. As a division of the Fairmont Education Group, Thesys represents the culmination of thought, curricular innovation and evolution of the classroom Fairmont has supported since 1953. Thesys works alongside educators and provides CLRN-certified curriculum that works with schools' existing standards and protocols to help students reach their full potential. Thesys International is dedicated to providing high school students the optimal balance of online and in-person learning, making education more relevant for a new generation. For more information about Thesys' turnkey systems and its innovative hybrid education approach, visit http://www.thesysintl.com, call 714-234-2727 or email arudi@thesysintl.com.

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Thesys International's Hybrid Model Featured on The Teaching Channel

SAN JUAN, PR--(Marketwire -06/05/12)- A recent article from U.S. News discusses how the developments in mobile technology are prompting changes in the way people learn about medicine. As leading universities change their programs to offer mobile coursework, for both convenience and environmental reasons, many are considering how these changes will impact the future of online learning as well. Almeda University, a top online educator, has tracked the advancements of online resources and has also incorporated mobile delivery into its curriculum.

Both medical students and physicians are taking advantage of the benefits that mobile technology has to offer. U.S. News states that mobile devices help students and practitioners in developing countries better communicate and efficiently receive information on how to treat patients. Hospitals in America are adapting to these changes by implementing use of mobile technology to track patient progress and keep secure notes.

John Hopkin's University School of Medicine has paved the way for mobile healthcare development with their innovative mHealth program. Yale and Harvard are implementing similar programs to review student work and give individuals an opportunity to receive materials through mobile devices. Richard Smith, Almeda University Executive, responded to these developments enthusiastically, and stated that these achievements will become very strong elements for all educational providers.

However, some students may not welcome such a drastic change. Smith comments, "One of the complaints that Almeda University students have shared about working on their mobile devices is simply screen size. A 3" x 5" screen simply may never be large enough to properly display some of the newest education models."

Despite these concerns, he is encouraged by the way mobile technology is revolutionizing education. For example, Almeda University strives to connect students by offering them a chance to participate in the same coursework as another student halfway across the globe. These changes in mobile education only further the reaches of online education, and allow for a greater opportunity for improved communication.

The U.S. News article makes a point to demonstrate that such changes in mobile health care and education are only in their beginning stages, and that it may take some time for such practices to become widespread. Smith agrees, "Although it is unlikely smart phones and tablet computers will replace laptops and desktop computing for online education, they do perform well as study or homework tools. These mobile devices have more computing power than the average desktop had only seven years ago."

ABOUT:

Founded in 1997, Almeda University is committed to providing innovative online education resources and a cutting-edge curriculum. The school's mission is to help open doors for its students no matter which field or profession they choose.

Almeda University is unique even among other online institutions for its ability to accommodate a wide range of lifestyles and learning styles. Additionally, Almeda University accommodates academic interests in a variety of scholarly fields, ranging from business to theology.

To learn more about Almeda University, visit http://www.almedauniversity.org.

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Almeda University: Mobile Technology Radicalizing the Nature of Education

NEW YORK, June 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --McGraw-Hill Higher Education today announced an expansion of its groundbreaking content and course integration service, McGraw-Hill Campus, through a strategic partnership with Instructure. The partnership will enable a deeper integration of McGraw-Hill Campus within Canvas across the country, making it even easier for instructors and students to access the comprehensive digital resources provided through McGraw-Hill Campus.

McGraw-Hill Campus, which launched last July, grants faculty and students universal access to McGraw-Hill's world-class course solutions and online resources from within their college's existing LMS whether or not they use a McGraw-Hill title. The service is available at no additional cost to the institution. McGraw-Hill Campus provides users with single sign-on access to all of McGraw-Hill Education's digital content from any LMS, streamlining and simplifying the user experience. For example, when a professor signs on to the Canvas platform, he or she is automatically signed on to and can access McGraw-Hill Campus' vast selection of cross-discipline resources. With one click, instructors and students can instantly browse, search and access the entire library of McGraw-Hill instructional resources and services including e-books, test banks, PowerPoint slides, animations and learning objects. Faculty can discover new resources to prepare for class, create tests/quizzes, develop lecture material and integrate interactive content.

"This integration simplifies access to educational content and makes it easier for instructors to take advantage of McGraw-Hill's world-class curriculum," said Brian Whitmer, Instructure co-founder and vice president of Products.

For current McGraw-Hill customers, McGraw-Hill Campus also integrates with the company's other leading digital solutions, including McGraw-Hill Connect (all-digital teaching and learning platform), McGraw-Hill Create (state-of-the-art custom-publishing platform), McGraw-Hill LearnSmart (online adaptive study tool), Tegrity (a fully searchable lecture capture service), ALEKS (adaptive assessment and learning tool) and eventually SimNet (interactive, simulation-based software).

"The digital transformation of education is beginning its next stage and requires a new level of access and integration," said Brian Kibby, president, McGraw-Hill Higher Education. "As educational resources increasingly move online, instructors and students are demanding greater access to more and better content as well as an integrated experience that's totally seamless. By partnering with Instructure, we're bringing institutions the best of both worlds: our high-quality content combined with hassle-free digital integration. The end result is a richer and simpler learning environment that enhances teaching and learning."

McGraw-Hill Campus also eliminates the need to register and log in with multiple services and websites the No. 1 reason why professors and students reach out for technical support, according to McGraw-Hill's extensive field research. By reducing technical issues for students, faculty and IT administrators, McGraw-Hill is reducing the amount of time that schools and instructors spend dealing with IT problems, allowing them to focus on what matters most teaching and learning and enabling students to succeed by eliminating obstacles to accessing engaging digital learning.

Some 312 higher education institutions have already implemented McGraw-Hill Campus, which is expected to continue to expand. With its first-ever integration with Blackboard in 2010, McGraw-Hill Education has led the industry in offering course integration services across all tools and platforms, whether they are proprietary to a publisher, school or other provider.

About McGraw-Hill EducationMcGraw-Hill Education is a content, software and services-based education company that draws on its more than 100 years of educational expertise to offer solutions, which improve learning outcomes around the world. McGraw-Hill is the adaptive education technology leader with the vision for creating a highly personalized learning experience that prepares students of all ages for the world that awaits.The company has offices across North America,India,China, Europe, the Middle East andSouth America, and makes its learning solutions available in more than 65 languages. For additional information, visithttp://www.mheducation.com/.

About Instructure Instructure is focused on helping institutions improve education through technology. Founded in 2008 by two computer science graduate students, Instructure builds Canvas the only simple, open learning management system native to the cloud. Instructure services more than 150 post-secondary and K-12 educational institutions. Investors include OpenView Ventures Partners and Tomorrow Ventures.

Contact:Tom Stanton McGraw-Hill Education (212) 904-3214 Tom_Stanton@mcgraw-hill.com

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McGraw-Hill Higher Education Partners with Instructure to Enable Seamless Access to Best-in-Class Resources via the ...

Personal trainer Edith "E" Leclerc, front, holds a water aerobics class Tuesday at the Pelican Bay Club House in Daytona Beach. (N-J | Steven Notaras)

When body building and figure competitor Edith "E" Leclerc went to her first water aerobics class a few years ago, she wasn't expecting a challenging workout led by an 84-year-old instructor.

Leclerc, 49, however, was surprised to find that water aerobics class at Pelican Bay sent her heart rate racing as she plunged through the water's resistance. After a few months of going to the class, she lost two inches from her waistline.

Eventually, Leclerc volunteered to teach the class for free. But when the economy put a halt on her income from her real estate properties in 2007, Leclerc needed a job.

"I didn't want to hate waking up every morning," Leclerc said. "So I wrote down my passions and thought about how I could make a living doing what I love."

Leclerc's passion for health led her to become a certified personal trainer in 2007. She now teaches four water aerobics classes a week at Pelican Bay. She also started Water Boot Camp -- an intense cardio water workout that combines swimming, weights and relay races. The average age of participants for boot camp is 30 to 40 years old, Leclerc said. This month, she will begin teaching boot camp classes at MG on the Halifax in Holly Hill, which will be open to the public.

"We do 30 to 50 reps of each exercise super fast," she said. "It exhausts the muscles and is a lot of cardio."

When she was 25, Leclerc moved to the area from Canada's province of Quebec. Unlike most young women, Leclerc had trouble gaining weight and began working out with a friend who was training for a body building competition. She soon decided to enter one herself. She competed in two body building competitions before she switched to figure competitions. In 2008, the mother of two placed third in the Debbie Kruck Classic figure competition in Daytona Beach.

"It requires a lot of self-discipline and I find that I go through some of the same struggles as my clients when it comes to nutrition," she said. "But as a personal trainer, I need to be an example for others."

Three days a week Leclerc, who now resides in Ormond, leads a group of women who reside in Pelican Bay through an hour-long senior water aerobics class that combines weights and strength and cardio exercises. She's been leading the same core group of women -- many of them in their 70s and 80s -- for the past six years.

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Ormond Beach woman's passion for fitness leads to new career as personal trainer