Fintech PR
Zone & Co Strengthens Leadership Team with Two Key Executive Appointments to Drive the Next Stage of Growth
BOSTON and AMSTERDAM and SYDNEY, April 3, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Zone & Co, the leading provider of ERP-native software solutions for the CFO’s office, today shares the extension of its executive team with two seasoned tech-leaders: Chad Wonderling as Chief Financial Officer and Jessica Garrett as Chief Marketing Officer.
Both Wonderling and Garret bring close to two decades of experience in their respective domains at high-growth technology organizations, accelerating Zone’s ability to capitalize on its global momentum and drive industry leading innovations for managing back-office operations at scale.
Wonderling joins Zone with a history of leadership roles at pre- and post-IPO high-growth companies, most recently from Salesloft where he served as its Chief Accounting Officer. Garrett is an award-winning technology-marketing leader, who brings deep experience building out and leading revenue-driving global marketing organizations for both high-growth scale-ups and enterprise-level brands.
“We’re thrilled to have Jessica & Chad on board to help drive our next phase of growth and accelerate our ability to help transform back-office operations,” said Thomas Kim, CEO at Zone and Co. “Their track record in helping tech companies scale profitably while investing in a strong and open team culture will be immensely valuable in continuing to evolve our organization and to increase the visibility of and engagement with our platform globally.”
Prior to Zone, Wonderling spent five and a half years at Salesloft where he contributed to its exponential revenue increase, the Series D and E funding rounds, and a majority stake investment by Vista Equity Partners at a valuation of $2.3 billion. As Vice President & Corporate Controller at Rubicon Technologies, he was responsible for the company’s financial operations, financial reporting, treasury, and corporate development and acquisition integration, while influencing global expansion and growth. He also served as Corporate Controller & Head of Finance at the publicly traded company Ceres Global Ag (TSX:CRP) where he helped lead the revenue growth from approximately sub-$30 million to nearly $500 million.
“I’ve been fortunate to be part of several rapidly growing companies in my career, and the finance function can play a pivotal role in an organization,” said Wonderling, who is also a former customer of Zone. “Having purchased and used Zone’s solutions, I’ve realized the power they can provide firsthand. I look forward to being part of Zone’s growth story, and helping our customers’ finance, HR, and operations teams play an instrumental role in driving their growth.”
Garrett, who most recently served as Chief Marketing Officer at Cloud Academy, is a strategic and growth-oriented tech-marketing leader known for her ability to build high-performing, customer-focused, and data-driven marketing teams. During her 26 years of experience in driving growth and transformation across global tech organizations, she has repeatedly helped propel companies from $50M – $300M revenue growth, break into new markets with best-in-class CAC:LTV ratios, stand up new enterprise-class GTM motions for deep market penetration, and launch award-winning brand strategies.
“I am thrilled to join this visionary team at such a pivotal moment,” shares Garrett. “Our company’s trajectory is unmistakable, and I am eager to leverage our unique value proposition to captivate audiences and drive dominating growth. Zone’s commitment to transform the finance, HR and operations functions in an end-to-end way and ability to push the boundaries of out-of-the-box ERP software with such a strong and relevant portfolio, has resulted in impressive momentum that I’m excited to help capitalize on. We’ve only scratched the surface of its market potential and I look forward to helping unlock marketing-led growth.”
The addition of Wonderling and Garrett comes less than a year following the appointment of Thomas Kim as Chief Executive Officer in April of 2023. Under Kim’s leadership, the company experienced nearly 50% growth in 2023, welcomed over 1,500 new customers across Europe, Australia and North America all while expanding its partner-ecosystem and driving towards its overall platform strategy.
Zone also enhanced its portfolio with a new Payroll solution, introduced self-service implementation for its AP automation solution to reduce time-to-value with 50%, and is continuing to roll-out industry leading AI-capabilities across products, working towards a 99% decrease in manual data entry in key finance workflows.
About Zone & Co
The Zone platform is designed to help companies across industries scale, adapt and comply with ease, through forward-thinking cloud-solutions that revolutionize back-office operations. Built as native extensions of user’s cloud-ERP instances, the software effectively enhances its out-of-the-box capabilities and efficiencies, maximizes platform value and prevents data disparity. With solutions for complex billing & revenue recognition, advanced reporting, AP automation, Payroll and more, Zone allows finance, HR and operations professionals to integrate the entirety of order-to-cash, procure-to-pay, record-to-report and other critical back-office workflows with a single login. The company serves over 3,000 customers worldwide with an international team across hubs in Europe, North America, Australia and Asia.
To learn more, please visit: www.zoneandco.com or follow us on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/zoneandco.
View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/zone–co-strengthens-leadership-team-with-two-key-executive-appointments-to-drive-the-next-stage-of-growth-302107023.html
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DAZN ADVANCES GLOBAL EXPANSION WITH ACQUISITION OF FOXTEL, A LEADING AUSTRALIAN SPORTS AND ENTERTAINMENT MEDIA GROUP
- Milestone deal for DAZN’s position as the global home of sport.
- This acquisition establishes DAZN’s sports platform in Australia, one of the world’s most attractive sports markets.
- Foxtel Group will leverage DAZN’s global reach, industry-leading technology and extensive content portfolio to further enhance the viewing experience for Australian sports fans.
LONDON, NEW YORK, and SYDNEY, Dec. 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — DAZN, a world-leading sports entertainment platform, has today announced an agreement to acquire Foxtel Group (‘Foxtel’) from its majority shareholder News Corp and minority shareholder Telstra at an enterprise value of US$2.2 billion, subject to regulatory approval.
The acquisition establishes DAZN as a leader in sports entertainment in Australia – a highly attractive sports market – while also expanding DAZN’s global footprint and enhancing the group’s standing as the global home of sport. The addition of Foxtel to DAZN brings the Group’s pro-forma revenues towards US$6 billion and provides the additional content, expertise, and expansion opportunities to accelerate DAZN’s growth trajectory.
Foxtel is one of Australia’s leading media companies, with 4.7 million subscribers, who will benefit from DAZN’s extensive portfolio of sports content, platform technology, and global reach.
From its beginnings as Australia’s original pay-TV innovator, Foxtel has evolved to become a digital and streaming leader in sports and entertainment and the proposed transaction positions Foxtel for continued expansion as a digital-first, streaming-focused business. Foxtel will maintain its local character, led by the CEO, Patrick Delany, and his world-class management team.
DAZN, a sports streaming platform with a truly global reach, is committed to growing the global audience for domestic Australian sports across the 200 territories in which it is available.
Under the terms of the transaction, News Corp and Telstra will become minority shareholders in DAZN, enabling them to retain an interest in Foxtel.
Shay Segev, Chief Executive Officer of DAZN, said: “Australians watch more sport than any other country in the world, which makes this deal an incredibly exciting opportunity for DAZN to enter a key market, marking another step in our long-term strategy to become the global home of sport. Foxtel is a successful business that has undergone a remarkable digital transformation in recent years, and we are confident that our global reach and relentless pursuit of innovation will continue to drive the business forward and ensure long-term success.
“We are committed to supporting and investing in Foxtel’s television and streaming services, across both sports and entertainment, using our world-leading technology to further enhance the viewing experience for customers. We are also committed to using our global reach to export Australia’s most popular sports to new markets around the world, and we will continue to promote women’s and under-represented sports.
“We’re looking forward to working closely with Patrick Delany and his team, as well as News Corp and Telstra as shareholders in DAZN, to realise our ambitious vision for the future of sport entertainment.”
Siobhan McKenna, the Chairman of Foxtel, said the agreement with DAZN was international recognition of the transformation of Foxtel from an incumbent pay TV operator to a sports and entertainment digital and streaming leader. “Over the last seven years the Foxtel team, with the strong support of News, have achieved an extraordinary turnaround in an intensely competitive environment.”
Foxtel Group CEO, Patrick Delany, said: “Today’s announcement is a natural evolution for the Foxtel Group, having reinvented the company over the past five years as Australia’s most dynamic technology-led streaming company.
“Kayo and Foxtel provide Australian sports fans with access to the best Australian and international sport and shows, including AFL, NRL and Cricket with 4.7 million subscribers.
“We are excited by DAZN’s commitment to the Australian market. They are experts in the sports media business and can play a significant role in supporting Foxtel as the business grows its streaming capabilities, bringing a bigger and better service to customers across entertainment, news and sport. They are a perfect match for us as we look toward this next era of growth.
“We have been grateful for the support of News Corp while we reimagined the future of Foxtel. In 2019, when we merged Foxtel and Fox Sports we had many people questioning our future.
“After launching Kayo later in 2019 and BINGE in 2020, today we are the largest Australian-based streamer of sport and entertainment, we have stabilised our Foxtel base and launched Hubbl to help consumers find all the streamed content they love all in one place. This wouldn’t have been possible without the support and encouragement of News Corp.”
NOTES TO EDITORS
About DAZN
As a world-leading sports entertainment platform, DAZN streams over 90,000 live events annually and is available in more than 200 markets worldwide.
DAZN is the home of European football, women’s football, boxing and MMA, and the NFL internationally. The platform features the biggest sports and leagues from around the world – Bundesliga, Serie A, LALIGA, Ligue 1, Formula 1, NBA, Moto GP, and many more including the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup.
DAZN is transforming the way people enjoy sport. With a single, frictionless platform, sports fans can watch, play, buy, and connect. Live and on-demand sports content, anywhere, in any language, on any device – only on DAZN.
DAZN partners with leading pay-TV operators, ISPs and Telcos worldwide to maximise sports exposure to a broad audience. Its partners include Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Sky, Movistar, Telenet, Vodafone, and many more.
DAZN is a global, privately-owned company, founded in 2016, with more than 3,000 employees. The Group generated $3.2bn in revenue in 2023, having grown its annual revenues by over 50% on average from 2020 to 2023, through diverse revenue streams comprising subscriptions, advertising, sponsorship, and transactional. For more information on DAZN, our products, people, and performance, visit www.dazngroup.com.
About Foxtel
The Foxtel Group is one of Australia’s leading media companies with 4.7 million subscribers. Its businesses include subscription television, streaming, sports production and advertising. The Foxtel Group is owned 65% by News Corp and 35% by Telstra.
The Foxtel Group’s diversified business includes Fox Sports, Australia’s leading sports production company, famous for live sports and shows with the best commentators and personalities. It is also the home of local and global entertainment content and continues to be the partner of choice for the widest range of sports and international content providers based on established, long-term relationships, growing streaming audiences, and position as the largest Australian-based subscription television company.
View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/dazn-advances-global-expansion-with-acquisition-of-foxtel-a-leading-australian-sports-and-entertainment-media-group-302337997.html
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President Emmerson Mnangagwa met this week with Zambia’s former Vice President and Special Envoy Enoch Kavindele to discuss SADC’s candidate for the AfDB
President Mnangagwa, who is SADC Chairperson, reaffirmed his own country’s and SADC’s enthusiastic support for Zambian candidate Sam Maimbo
LUSAKA, Zambia, Dec. 20, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Special Envoy Kavindele released the following statement following the meeting:
“I am elated to witness the growing success and momentum of Sam Maimbo’s candidacy to become the next President of the African Development Bank. I am filled with gratitude to our friends across both SADC and COMESA for their continued support and good wishes.
Sam has garnered such wide consensus due to his being uniquely qualified to deliver the transformative change and empowerment our continent needs. Sam’s 30 years in development work is defined by driving outcomes, improving processes, and investing in people. The AfDB needs a hands-on leader who is laser focused on delivering results and who is unafraid of making tough decisions in order to best serve our continent. Sam is that leader. Sam has the track record and experience to drastically enhance the pace, scale, and impact of the Bank’s work in service of the people and governments of Africa.
Our region has a proud history of supporting fellow Southern Africans. For example, we all recall Lusaka’s role in hosting the African National Congress’ headquarters during the dark days of Apartheid oppression.
It therefore gives me no pleasure to observe my South African brothers, who have themselves leant on Zambia’s steadfast friendship over many decades, fail to rally behind both SADC and COMESA’s chosen candidate for the AfDB. Africa’s urgent economic development challenges demand transformational leadership at the AfDB, it is all of our responsibility to put forward the best candidate for the job. This is not the time or place for a government to act with narrow self-interest, we all must act in the continent’s and AfDB’s best interest.
I thank Sam Maimbo for his lifelong service to our entire continent, and I am eager to witness his enormous impact as President of the AfDB.”
LONDON, Dec. 20, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Heimdal Security shares a practical holiday cybersecurity checklist, offering expert insights to help businesses safeguard against cyber threats this festive season.
With reduced staffing, remote work setups, and a surge in online shopping creating heightened vulnerabilities, this guide offers actionable tips to enhance business security.
Going beyond basic advice, the checklist also highlights the most common holiday scams and features videos showcasing real-life examples of Christmas-themed cyber scams and effective prevention strategies.
Key Tips to Protect Businesses This Holiday Season:
- Strengthen endpoints: Ensure devices are updated with antivirus and endpoint protection software; consider Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) and application whitelisting.
- Prepare for phishing spikes: Train staff to identify suspicious emails, enforce robust email filters, and establish protocols for reporting unusual activity.
- Secure remote access: Mandate VPN usage, monitor unusual logins, and deactivate inactive accounts temporarily.
- Segment and shield networks: Isolate sensitive areas, deploy DNS security and advanced firewalls, and maintain full visibility over network traffic.
- Apply timely patches: Regularly update all systems and test patches in a controlled environment to minimize disruptions.
- Mitigate supply chain risks: Assess vendors thoroughly and limit their access to essential systems.
- Have a response plan ready: Tailor incident protocols for the holidays, create an on-call rotation for the IT team, and enable rapid action against suspicious activity.
“ Cybercriminals thrive on holiday distractions, but with proactive measures like phishing training, secure endpoints, and network segmentation, businesses can stay ahead of potential threats,” said Alex Panait, System Administrator at Heimdal Security.
Common Holiday Scams That Businesses Should Watch For:
Cybercriminals often tailor their tactics to exploit the festive season. The most common scams include:
- Spear phishing: Emails disguised as holiday bonuses or event invitations that steal credentials or spread malware.
- Malicious holiday E-Cards: Festive greetings that contain links deploying ransomware or spyware.
- Fake E-Commerce sites: Fraudulent websites offering discounts to steal payment information.
- Insider threats: Distracted or disgruntled employees mishandling or exploiting sensitive data.
- Corporate travel scams: Fake booking platforms targeting business travelers.
- Business email compromise (BEC): Fraudulent requests for urgent wire transfers during year-end financial rushes.
For more, read the full article here or watch the video on YouTube to see how these threats unfold and learn actionable prevention strategies.
About Heimdal:
Established in Copenhagen in 2014, Heimdal® empowers CISOs, security teams, and IT administrators to improve their security operations, reduce alert fatigue, and implement proactive measures through a unified command and control platform.
Heimdal’s award-winning cybersecurity solutions span the entire IT estate, addressing challenges from endpoint to network levels, including vulnerability management, privileged access, Zero Trust implementation, and ransomware prevention.
For further press information:
Madalina Popovici
Media Relations Manager
[email protected]
View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/stay-cyber-safe-this-holiday-season-heimdals-checklist-for-business-security-302337465.html
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President Emmerson Mnangagwa met this week with Zambia’s former Vice President and Special Envoy Enoch Kavindele to discuss SADC’s candidate for the AfDB