Latest news with #FredTurner
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Sun Life and Beyond Sport launch second year of "Hoops + Health" program boosting investment to help young people get active
The community program has helped over 14,000 people across six market Asia get active through basketball in its first year, with a goal of helping 45,000 people by end 2025. HONG KONG, April 7, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Sun Life, in partnership with global sport for social change foundation Beyond Sport, has announced the extension of its "Hoops + Health" philanthropy program for the second year, with the goal of helping 45,000 young people get active by the end of 2025 by providing safe spaces, coaching programs and equipment in underprivileged communities. Building on the success of the first year of the program, Sun Life will increase its investment from 1 million CAD to 1.5 million CAD, underscoring its commitment to combating rising youth physical inactivity, which is a significant risk factor for chronic conditions like diabetes. Given the concerning rise in diabetes among young people, helping people to get active and keep fit will be critical. The Hoops + Health program uses the power of basketball to help kids stay fit and feel strong, both physically and mentally. It reaches young people across six locations - Hong Kong SAR, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Singapore – particularly focusing on marginalized youth. This second year of the program aims to reach 31,000 people, building on the 14,000 reached in 2024. After breathing new life into five basketball courts and hosting a series of community events last year, Sun Life is gearing up to do even more in 2025, focusing on three key areas: equipment donations and court maintenance; basketball coaching and training workshops; and free basketball events and activities. As part of the Hoops+Health program, initiatives include: In Hong Kong SAR and Vietnam, Sun Life is expanding its existing partnerships with the Basketball Association of Hong Kong, China (BAHKC) and the Saigon Heat, to deliver free youth basketball sessions. In the Philippines and Indonesia, Sun Life is making basketball equipment donations to schools in low-income areas to encourage children to be more active in celebration of their 130th and 30th anniversaries respectively. In Malaysia and Singapore, basketball activities and events for many community groups, particularly focused on young players and coaches. David Broom, Chief Client and Distribution Officer at Sun Life Asia, said, "It's amazing to see the difference the Hoops + Health program has made in helping kids and young people get active playing a sport that they love. By increasing our investment in the initiative, we want to help more young people to live healthier lives. At Sun Life, we believe that every child deserves the opportunity to grow up strong and healthy, and we're committed to making that a reality across Asia." Fred Turner, Executive Director at Beyond Sport, said, "The Hoops + Health program exemplifies the power sport holds to provide solutions to urgent social challenges. By leveraging basketball, we are creating a platform that not only improves physical health but also fosters community engagement and personal development among youth. We are excited to see how our expanded efforts will further enrich the lives of thousands of children across the region." About Sun Life Sun Life is a leading international financial services organization providing asset management, wealth, insurance and health solutions to individual and institutional Clients. Sun Life has operations in a number of markets worldwide, including Canada, the U.S., the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, Mainland China, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Bermuda. As of December 31, 2024, Sun Life had total assets under management of $1.54 trillion. For more information, please visit Sun Life Financial Inc. trades on the Toronto (TSX), New York (NYSE) and Philippine (PSE) stock exchanges under the ticker symbol SLF. Note: All currency figures are in Canadian dollars, unless otherwise stated. About Beyond Sport Beyond Sport is a global foundation that leverages sport's transformative power to address today's critical social issues. It champions people, programs and communities that use sport to build opportunity and equity, creating a more inclusive and progressive world. Since 2008, the foundation has raised more than $20 million to promote social change. It has granted over $12.3 million to 539 initiatives across 77 countries in addition to vital capacity-building tools, supporting leaders to create lasting impact. Learn more about the Hoops + Health program with Sun Life at Media Relations Contact:Becky Marshall Director, Communications, Sun Life Asia T: +852 6171 0312E: Iris NgAccount DirectorT: +852 9838 3501E: View original content: SOURCE Sun Life Asia Sign in to access your portfolio
Forbes
25-03-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Enabling Surge Production: Meet The CEO Who Has Done It
Technicians working in a laboratory getty With uncertainty about tariffs and other government policies growing, companies need more flexibility in their operations. That is, they need to ability to surge production quickly, as they also need the capability to cut costs quickly. President Trump's tariffs and likely retaliation provide extreme cases where this may be necessary. Companies without access to inexpensive raw materials may have to hunker down. But other businesses may see opportunity as foreign competitors become uncompetitive. Most business leaders understand cost-cutting well, but ramping up production—especially quickly and without damaging quality—is more a black art. Thus the benefit of looking deeper into the topic. Fred Turner, CEO Curative KELLY BAUCH Fred Turner, the founder and CEO of Curative, has ramped up quickly and ramped up slowly, as well as pivoted to different lines of business. His methods are not so much a roadmap for other business leaders as an idea map. That is, his experience highlights a way of thinking that can help others determine their own solutions to their particular challenges. Before trying to gain flexibility, though, business leaders should consult my guide for how to know when increased supply flexibility is important. The need for quickly changing production capacity comes from the economic concept of demand elasticity. Sometimes the demand for a particular good or service changes quickly. When that happens, producers that can quickly meet the demand will profit. But when demand falls, those who cannot cut costs quickly will face severe problems. Turner faced the challenge of rapidly rising demand in the middle of the pandemic. His business was testing for sepsis, a serious condition in which the body reacts improperly to an infection. The Covid pandemic hit in the company's first year of business, and Turner realized that they had the capability to provide Covid testing. That pivot meant a huge increase in demand. Looking at constraints was one key element of the game plan, Turner explained to me on a video call. Laboratory capacity was much lower than swabbing capacity. If they administered as many tests as possible, they would create a backup in the laboratory, delaying test results by days. But test results that take a week to get back from the lab were not very useful. So the company throttled back on swabbing. They matched the throughput available at the bottleneck: the lab. Turner cites the classic book, The Goal, by Eliyahu Goldratt. (My own copy was close at hand, and Turner grinned when I held it up to the camera.) Goldratt's theory of constraints led to a focus on different parts of the process that held up throughput. Later, times swabs were in short supply. Turner argues for 'orthogonal supply chains.' He describes this concept as not trying to compete for the same materials that everyone else is trying to buy. His team found an alternative product that would work, got it certified, and satisfied demand. This approach works best, Turner says, with end-to-end control of the software. Leadership needs to understand the bottlenecks in the overall process. If data at various stages of production are not up-to-date and accessible simultaneously, then the management team cannot diagnose problems. Predicting demand surges is not always possible, but Turner's company developed a great solution. The lab test for Covid is usually presented as a positive or negative, but the lab knows the level of infection, called viral load. Those results are usually not useful for an individual, Turner said. In the aggregate, however, the average viral load at a testing location predicts future demand for tests. Viral load probably predicted infection rates, which in turn predicted test demand. The Covid testing was a great example of rapid ramp-up, but our conversation shifted to a planned ramp-up. Curative is currently offering group health care insurance with no deductible and no co-pays. That presented the company with two potential bottlenecks: finding staff for the member on-boarding process, and finding healthcare providers for the group members. The resolution was controlled growth. The company asks every member to join a video call about how their unique system works. That causes a need for many people in January, the most common time for health plan changes. Normal hiring of employees by their client companies is spread more evenly through the year, but adding a large number of employees from a single company causes a surge of demand for onboarding appointments. Curative's solution is to carefully control their pace of growth. Controlling growth comes through pricing, Turner says. They look for the sweet spot, whereby the pricing leads to profitability with growth, but not so much growth that service suffers. Another tool for growing rapidly with less stress on production capacity is allowing no customization of plans. Large employers may ask for a plan with some details changed from the usual offering. That raises the difficulty level for health procedure authorizations, which also leads to more mistakes, leading to more correction work. As Turner explained this, I recalled the headaches of a bank trust department with a large number of special employee benefit plans. Customized plans were the major source of errors at the large bank where I used to work. Summarizing Fred Turner's lessons as I understood them, business leaders should begin with viewing the process as a whole. Having good data from start to finish is crucial. If not a single software platform, as Turner suggests, then work to get the different systems to share data seamlessly and in real time. With data in hand, identifying bottlenecks begins the ramp-up process. Then anticipating subsequent bottlenecks will be necessary. Predicting surges, though difficult, will help tremendously. At times, throttling back demand will be critical to good service to those you serve. You'll certainly want to ramp up production, but don't sell more than you can with good service. Finally, when a particular product or service that is a necessary input becomes hard to buy, look orthogonally—in a different direction—for another product that might do the job. And although Turner did not specify it, a can-do attitude seems to permeate his experience, especially when the market asks a CEO to surge production.
Yahoo
24-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Two legendary rock bands coming to The Mill this summer
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — The Mill has announced Bachman-Turner Overdrive and The Marshall Tucker Band will be coming to the concrete venue July 25, as part of the Hoosier Lottery Concert Series. Bachman-Turner Overdrive (BTO) rose to fame with hits like 'Takin' Care of Business' and 'You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet.' BTO's sound is a distinct blend of hard rock and classic pop, remaining as vibrant and electrifying as it did when Randy Bachman and Fred Turner formed the band in the early 1970s. Joining BTO on July 25 will be one of the pioneering forces in Southern rock, The Marshall Tucker Band. The Marshall Tucker Band is known for hits like 'Can't You See' and 'Heard It in a Love Song.' Their music has been described as a fusion of rock, country, jazz and blues. Tickets will go on sale February 28th at 10 a.m., and ticket prices are $85 for VIP Standing Pit, $60 for VIP and $35 for GA. For more information about this performance and other live shows at The Mill, click here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
