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The International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC) announced today that Maura Harty has been appointed by the Board of Directors to be the organization’s new President and CEO.

Harty previously worked for ICMEC from 2008 to 2010 as Senior Policy Director of the organization’s Koons Family Institute on International Law & Policy.  In that role she worked with foreign leaders to create a global missing children’s network to protect children and supervised the organization’s efforts to implement new legislation and strengthen existing international child pornography laws.  Between 2010 and 2012 she served as the President and CEO of Make-a-Wish Foundation Mid-Atlantic.

Harty is also an experienced diplomat with 29 years of experience at the U.S. Department of State.  During her tenure at the State Department, she served as Special Assistant to Secretary of State George P. Shultz; Executive Assistant to Secretary Warren Christopher; U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Paraguay; and Executive Secretary of the Department under Secretary Colin Powell.  From 2002 until she retired in 2008 she served as Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs.  Most recently she returned to the State Department in 2012 where she has been a part-time Inspector with the Office of the Inspector General.

Harty will succeed ICMEC’s long-term President and CEO Ernie Allen who created the organization and has headed it for the past sixteen years.  Under his leadership, ICMEC became the leading international resource used today by governments and policymakers around the world on the issues of child abduction, child sexual exploitation and child sex trafficking.  He built a global missing children’s network involving 23 nations, trained law enforcement in 121 countries and worked with parliaments in 100 countries to enact new laws on child pornography.   Earlier this year Allen announced plans to retire at the end of October.

Consumers can now purchase the Huawei Ascend Mate2 4G LTE on Newegg, the leading electronics-focused e-retailer in North America. The device is offered online at http://www.newegg.com/store/Huawei-Device-USA-Inc in both black and white colors, and retails for $300.00 USD. There is no sales tax for customers outside of California, Indiana,New Jersey or Tennessee. Consumers who purchase the device also receive one reverse charge cable, free of charge.

Since its launch, the Ascend Mate2 has received critical acclaim for its powerful quad-core 1.6 GHz processor and a long-lasting 3900mAh lithium polymer battery that lets you enjoy a half-day of web surfing on a single charge. Featuring unique power-saving technology that improves performance by more than 30 percent versus other smartphones in its class, a single charge can let you: stream three movies in a row, surf the web for 12 hours, talk for 25 hours, or listen to 100 hours of music. The Ascend Mate2 is like a hybrid of bests: the best battery, the best screen, the best selfie experience – all rolled into one.

A new study released today, by the ADP Research Institute^®, a specialized research group within ADP^®, a global leader in Human Capital Management (HCM), reveals a gap in confidence for midsized businesses when it comes to the U.S. economy.  The study shows that while only 15 percent of midsized businesses are confident that the U.S. economy will improve in the next 12 months, more than half, or 51 percent, expect they will see improvement in the industry in which they work.  The annual study also uncovers top concerns of midsized business owners.  This year the cost of health coverage and other employee benefits, the complexities of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the level and volume of government regulations were the top three concerns of midsized businesses.

The ADP Research Institute^® defines midsized businesses as those with 50 to 999 employees.  According to the National Center for the Middle Market, midsized businesses represent nearly one-third of private sector U.S. GDP and contribute to more than a third of U.S. jobs.

“Midsized businesses, those that live between Main Street and Wall Street, are major drivers of the U.S. economy,” said Anish Rajparia, President of Major Account Services at ADP.  “The concerns and trends highlighted in this report provide valuable insights into this significant, yet understudied business sector.”

In its third year, the study examines the concerns, perceptions, challenges and plans of more than 750 business owners and executives at U.S. midsized companies.  This year’s findings point to the following top three concerns for midsized business owners and executives:

1. Sixty-nine percent are concerned with the cost of health coverage and other benefits
2. Fifty-four percent are concerned with health care reform legislation
3. Fifty-one percent are concerned with the level and volume of government regulations

Another key finding is that more than one-third of midsized businesses reported being fined or penalized for not complying with laws pertaining to how they manage their workforce.  Interestingly, of those fined, 58 percent did not know how much the fines cost and 47 percent did not know how many times they were fined.

Global business legend and pop culture icon Sir Richard Branson, founder of The Virgin Group, will deliver the opening keynote at the BlackLine Annual User Conference 2014 slated for Sunday to Wednesday, Nov. 16 to 19, in Chicago.  In his presentation, entitled “Screw Business as Usual,” Sir Branson is expected to draw on his business acumen spanning travel to telecommunications, health to financial services, and music to leisure, including building the world’s first commercial “spaceline,”as well as on his personal adventures and interests including competitive sailing and kitesurfing.

The following day Geoffrey Moore, renowned author of the iconic book “Crossing the Chasm:  Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers,” will share his insights on marketing technology products based on his experiences during the early start-up period in Silicon Valley.  A third keynote will be given by John E. Van Decker, vice president of research at leading information technology research and advisory company Gartner, and a world recognized expert on financial software systems and applications.  Mr.Van Decker will share his insights on the latest market trends and discuss how he sees leading-edge companies increasing efficiencies and mitigating compliance risk through process automation.

Accounting/finance managers and compliance executives around the world use the BlackLine Finance Controls and Automation Platformand its suite of applications to automate traditionally manual, labor-intensive and spreadsheet-driven accounting and finance processes.  BlackLine’s 2014 User Conference will attract senior accounting and finance professionals from leading brand name companies across the globe for the 4-day event.  Additional BlackLine User Conference speakers will include senior finance executives from many BlackLine client companies and partner firms.