Bridgestone Americas, Inc., a subsidiary of Bridgestone Corporation, has now donated $1 million in in-kind donations to Maplewood High School’s Automotive Training Center since it opened in 2015.

The automotive training center is a public-private collaboration with Metro Nashville Public Schools launched in August 2015 to benefit Nashville education. Since opening, 30 students have graduated from the program which provides hands-on experience working with top-of-the-line automotive technology and helps them learn the business practices necessary to run a retail store.

The in-kind donations represent contributions from Bridgestone Americas that include equipment, materials and internships, as well as Bridgestone employees providing training, plant tours, racing event opportunities and participation on the Academy Advisory Board. Additionally, Joe Venezia, president of Bridgestone Retail Operations, is presenting an additional cash contribution of $10,000 on behalf of Bridgestone Americas.

In April, students enrolled in the Maplewood High School’s Automotive Training Center visited Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham to assist in qualifying rounds for the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama. The students met with Cara Adams, chief engineer, Bridgestone Americas Motorsports, and her team of engineers to learn about the design and development process behind Bridgestone Firehawk race tires and took a guided tour of the Firestone tire mounting and balancing arena.

LSU Health New Orleans, Cumberland to partner

LSU Health New Orleans and Cumberland Emerging Technologies Inc. have entered into a collaboration agreement to develop new biomedical products.

With the shared goal of translating research discoveries into commercial products, the parties have agreed to combine their strengths to identify opportunities, based on research at LSU Health New Orleans. Based on the agreement, LSU Health New Orleans will present CET with unique therapeutic discoveries for their consideration to develop.

Some of the discoveries could lead to the formation of new biomedical companies which could be located in New Orleans. The potential development pipeline includes therapeutics for cardiovascular diseases, cancer, antifungals, as well as those emerging from drug repurposing.

CET will pursue new sources of funding for these LSU Health New Orleans projects through the Small Business Technology Transfer and Small Business Innovation Research and other grant programs.

Engineering firm opening new office in Nashville

Chicago-based engineering firm Alfred Benesch & Company has announced a new location in downtown Nashville at 700 Church Street that will open in July.

Currently operating in 34 locations in 16 states, including one in Brentwood, Benesch has been working on infrastructure improvements in Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville and Chattanooga for nearly a decade. In Nashville, Benesch has worked on the Metro Government Sidewalk Program, assisted Bell Construction with bridge erection plans for the New Division Street Extension and bridge/structural modeling for the John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge. On a statewide level, Benesch has worked with the Tennessee Department of Transportation on many large-scale transportation projects.

Emma partners with Campaign Monitor

Campaign Monitor has announced a partnership with Nashville-based Emma and Delivra.

The three products will become the new Campaign Monitor brand, offering email marketing solutions for business.

For more than 14 years, Campaign Monitor has been dedicated to delivering powerful products in an accessible and easy to use fashion, a principle that the family of brands share.

More than 250,000 organizations worldwide benefit from Campaign Monitor’s easy-to-use email solutions to send targeted emails and realize the value of email.

“The most important thing these three brands share is an incredible dedication to our customers,’’ says Wellford Dillard, CEO of Campaign Monitor.

“By bringing these companies together under the Campaign Monitor brand, our focus on the success of our customers has only gotten stronger. Our future product investments will be centered around helping our customers do more with less, helping brands drive more engagement and revenue from email, and helping marketers of every level grow as professionals.’’

Health company to sell products in Publix

Nashville’s b+b, a health and wellness company, has added Publix Super Markets to its list of retail locations.

The brand was founded by brothers Tony and Josh Breeden in January 2014 and launched in May 2017. For every b+b pain relief product purchased, the company donates one to their network of over 1,000 free health clinics and rural health centers across the United States. To date, over 2.5 million doses have been donated.

The Breeden brothers say, “The very purpose of our company is to make helping others as easy as possible. Partnering with supportive retailers like Publix helps us to achieve this goal on a large scale.”

The b+b products are also available in Walmart stores nationwide.

CarePayment launches expansion

CarePayment, a Nashville-based patient financial engagement company, is expanding its reach throughout the U.S. by partnering with several new health systems in states including Washington, Alabama, Michigan, New York and Ohio.

The company offers affordable payment programs to patients who need help paying medical expenses.

With the new partnerships and others, CarePayment is expecting a more than 130 percent increase in new patients served in 2018.

“In addition to providing patients with the highest quality of care, our partners are committed to supporting their patients’ financial health by offering payment plans to reduce the burden of rising out-of-pocket costs,” says Craig Hodges, chief executive officer of CarePayment.

“An estimated one-third of patients delay needed medical care due to costs, risking their health and likely higher bills down the road.

“We are proud to offer an easy-to-understand solution that allows patients to seek the care they need when they need it.”

Peabody study: iZone schools make gains

The Tennessee Education Research Alliance at Vanderbilt’s Peabody College reports iZone schools continue to show positive gains on student achievement after five years.

The study also shows students in the Achievement School District did not gain more or less than comparison schools.

The full report is entitled: “School Turnaround After Five Years: An Extended Evaluation of Tennessee’s Achievement School District and Local Innovation Zones.’’

Gary Henry, Patricia and Rodes Hart Professor of Public Policy and Education, and Vanderbilt Ph.D. students Lam Pham and Adam Kho, partnered with Ron Zimmer, director of the Martin School of Public Policy and Administration at the University of Kentucky, to examine student achievement gains in both of Tennessee’s largest school turnaround efforts – the state-run ASD and district-led iZones – after five years.

Examining data through the 2016-17 school year, the researchers expanded on a previous study evaluating these two school improvement strategies.

Asurion places 14th on Computerworld list

IDG’s Computerworld has placed Nashville-based Asurion on its 100 Best Places to Work in IT list for 2018.

The tech services company ranked 14th among large organizations on the list.

Among the reasons for the honor are Asurion’s award-winning tech teams driven by a culture of collaboration and entrepreneurialism, and the company’s cross-functional teams that combine product, design and IT disciplines to work together.

In addition, teams are empowered to innovate and test ideas, and are entrusted to make decisions autonomously to help drive improvements in speed, reliability and efficiency for employees and customers. This framework also provides employees with greater career challenges and opportunities for growth.

“Our entrepreneurial culture empowers good ideas to come from any employee across any function of the company,’’ says Barry Vandevier, Asurion chief operating officer.

“Our teammates value our lack of status quo and an environment that empowers continuous improvement and support for asking ‘How can we do this better?’

“This has enabled us to create programs that fully engage our employees in challenging and rewarding careers.’’

The General teams with CarAdvise

CarAdvise is adding Nashville’s The General, an auto insurance company, to its partner network.

A vehicle repair and maintenance platform, CarAdvise provides users with a cost-effective, simplified car repair and maintenance experience.

The General Garage will be made available at no cost to all of its policyholders as part of roadside assistance coverage.

This gives policyholders access to volume discounts at any of CarAdvise’s nationally integrated network of over 20,000 shops, including Firestone, NTB, Sears Auto, AAMCO as well as select dealerships and independent locations.

The digital platform helps users locate a repair shop, schedule service, approve work and pay, all from a smartphone.

Experian Health announces certification

Franklin-based Experian Health has announced its applications have earned HITRUST CSF Certified status for information security to manage risk, improve security posture and meet compliance requirements.

Experian is a health care industry leader for automating, integrating and transforming the front and back end revenue cycle management process, and committed to securely managing patient data and other healthcare transactions.

HITRUST CSF Certified status demonstrates that Experian Health has met key regulations and industry-defined requirements and is appropriately managing risk.

“The HITRUST CSF has become the information protection framework for the health care industry, and the CSF Assurance program is bringing a new level of effectiveness and efficiency to third-party assurance,” says Ken Vander Wal, chief compliance officer, HITRUST.

“The HITRUST CSF Certification is now the benchmark that organizations required to safeguard PHI are measured against with regards to information protection.”