Latest news with #JeffSmith
Business Journals
4 days ago
- Business
- Business Journals
South Florida ORBIE Leadership Award recipient: For World Fuel's Jeff Smith, innovation and a people-first culture are key to making an impact
Jeff Smith, who retired as chief operating officer of World Fuel Services at the end of 2023, has been named the recipient of the 2025 South Florida ORBIE Leadership Award. The honor recognizes a global career built on pioneering digital transformation and cultivating high-performing teams. Smith's leadership philosophy centers on a simple, yet powerful, idea: Talent and culture are the true differentiators of great companies. As COO of World Fuel Services, he turned that belief into action, cultivating efficiency and dexterity in how the company responded to challenges using LEAN principles and people-first decision-making. That operational precision was forged over more than 35 years of experience across continents and industries — from semiconductors to finance. Smith's career highlights, which he'll share during a keynote address at the South Florida ORBIE Awards celebration June 13 at The Diplomat Beach Resort, are a case study in iteration. At IBM, he led a global IT organization of 20,000 and spearheaded the company-wide Agile transformation. At Allied Signal/Honeywell, he launched a global SAP rollout across 17 countries, cutting projected timelines by more than half through an international team rooted in diversity of thought and unified by a shared goal. At Suncorp, following the economic downturn that started in 2008, he architected a transformation of the company's digital insurance self-service platform. His teams built it using the cloud, making the financial services provider one of the first to use cloud technology. In every challenge, Smith consistently applied what he learned early in his career at LSI Logic: that shared sacrifice, collective learning and scalable simplicity often outperform hierarchical command-and-control. 'My view is you should always give preference to the people doing the work over people leading the work,' he says. 'We're paid a premium to lead, so we should be homing in on creating a productive environment for them.' Smith breaks it down further: 'What does great mean? Is that small teams that are building great software? Does that mean great customer service? Does it mean that we can take a problem and break it up? I've spent my career kind of chasing that — the more you can make it clean and simple, the easier it is to scale.' His formula for high-performing teams prioritizes building diverse teams who are engaged by meaningful work. The work must be distributed at a sustainable pace, and finally, results must be continually measured and tracked. At IBM, he implemented a quarterly leadership review system that evaluated every leader on six tangible dimensions — team formation, work distribution, measurement, talent development, learning from others and influence. He also published Net Promoter Scores for leaders, asking direct reports whether they would recommend their manager or their squad to a peer. The transparency raised expectations and elevated performance across the organization. Smith's influence is still felt globally. He currently serves on the boards of ANZ Bank, PEXA and Sonrai Security. A native of Ohio and graduate of Miami University and San Jose State University, he's lived and led in the U.S., Australia and around the world. And while his accomplishments are many, what sets Smith apart is his ability to scale not just systems, but people. His advice to business leaders aspiring to be true community partners is to believe in the potential of people. He recalls a transformative insight from Steve Jobs, who once shared how Pixar hired musicians and artists to become software engineers because they had the grit and logic to succeed. 'We applied that in South Florida, too,' Smith says, 'creating career paths for people with nontraditional backgrounds. Don't look at it as a cost or as a contribution, that you're there to help people with money. You're there to help them find a great career and have a happy life. If you build the right environment, anyone can thrive.' Asked what makes a great leader, Smith advises not to get caught up in the noise of the company landscape. 'You want to create clarity of purpose, put together a good, productive environment, and inspire people to do great things. It's pretty simple.' From building software that transformed a global semiconductor industry, to reshaping IT at IBM, to coaching next-generation talent in Miami, Smith's legacy is one of clarity, compassion and continuous reinvention. The 2025 South Florida ORBIE Leadership Award celebrates not just a career, but a mindset — one that will continue to shape teams, cultures and companies for years to come.
Powys County Times
11-05-2025
- Powys County Times
More passengers leads to services call on Cambrian Line
A rail users group has called for more services to run through Powys by pointing to passenger numbers close to pre-pandemic levels. SARPA, the rail user group for the Cambrian Railway Lines, says figures show that the numbers using the lines are now at 98 per cent of the levels recorded before the Covid-19 pandemic. The group said passenger numbers are now expected to reach their highest point in recent history during the coming years, and are calling on Transport for Wales to increase services on the lines between Aberystwyth, Shrewsbury and Pwllheli. Dr Jeff Smith, the chair of SARPA, said: 'It's wonderful to see increased use of the railway, and this is what we need to see more of for environmental, economic, social, community and linguistic reasons. "If the service was to improve, increasing the number of trains, increasing the number of carriages and improving reliability, we could see passenger numbers growing faster still. "By introducing a full hourly service on the Cambrian Main Line, as has been promised since 1999, the line can have a very successful future. "The recent increase in passenger numbers is to be welcomed and Transport for Wales now have a golden opportunity to provide for the increasing demand for rail journeys and spark even more growth." In January Transport for Wales said it was investing in new trains on the line, and that operational work to allow more trains should be completed later this year. Plans for hourly railway service between Shrewsbury and Aberystwyth, from March 2026, will now run every hour only during the summer under plans announced last year, but a 4.30pm train from Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth will run year-round..
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Area lawmakers held Medicaid Roundtable
EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (WLAX/WWEUX) – As representatives in Washington look to push through a budget plan that includes cuts to Medicaid, some area lawmakers held a roundtable discussion over those cuts. State Senator Jeff Smith from Brunswick said more than 1 million Wisconsinites rely on Medicaid, including nearly 150,000 seniors, nearly half a million children, and 187,000 people with disabilities. He added that if federal funding gets cut, the state must either foot the bill or cut certain benefits. 'This is not welfare. This is something that has been earned and (is) part of our fabric in America for a long time. It reflects how we believe healthcare is a right, not a privilege, and we shouldn't turn it into a privilege.' Republican Congressman Derrick Van Orden said that he has introduced a resolution that would prohibit funding cuts to Medicaid or SNAP for seniors, pregnant women, and people with disabilities. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Time of India
25-04-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Zoom expands agentic skills with the launch of custom AI companion, zoom tasks, AI calendar scheduling
Zoom launched additional agentic skills across Zoom Workplace , delivering on the promise of agentic AI with the Custom AI Companion add-on, Voice Recorder, Tasks, and Custom Avatars, plus new features for Zoom Meetings, Zoom Team Chat, Zoom Whiteboard , Zoom Revenue Accelerator, and more. 'A year ago, we launched Zoom Workplace's AI-first capabilities, transforming how users work—helping them get more done, drive better results, and strengthen their relationships at work. AI Companion became a personal assistant across Zoom Workplace, plugging into all your favorite apps like Outlook, Office, Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Docs,' said Jeff Smith, head of Product for Workplace AI, Meetings, and Spaces at Zoom. 'Last month, we announced that AI Companion now includes a set of agentic skills so it can understand, plan, and get things done with minimal input from the user. We're further delivering on that promise by launching Custom AI Companion, agentic AI, and many other features. We continue to push the boundaries of innovation to bring our customers the very best AI-first solutions that drive productivity and collaboration.' Get more done with Zoom AI Companion across Zoom Workplace Zoom AI Companion helps users save critical time in their day by surfacing and organizing tasks, enabling them to scale their work, taking notes for them during Zoom Meetings and in-person conversations, and much more, so they have time to focus on what matters most. Zoom Tasks Between meetings, emails, chats, and calls, teams and individuals can get overwhelmed with keeping track of everything that needs to get done. Zoom Tasks with AI Companion helps surface, manage, and complete tasks across Zoom Workplace to get more done, and can aggregate tasks all within the centralized task management tab or embed tasks in a Zoom Doc for easy tracking. Get a curated to-do list: ZoomAI Companion can automatically generate recommended tasks and assign them to the right owner based on meeting summaries or be prompted to surface tasks from Zoom Team Chat, Zoom Mail, Zoom Docs, and more, quickly converting action items into actionable tasks to accept or delegate to to-dos faster: Zoom AI Companion can help users get started and complete tasks by providing insights and recommending next follow-through and visibility: Zoom Tasks can help everyone stay on track and in the know by utilizing the centralized task management tab, sharing and assigning tasks across accounts, and summarizing tasks using AI Companion. Zoom Tasks is now available for Zoom Workplace plans; with AI Companion capabilities available for eligible paid plans. Voice Recorder For in-person interactions, the AI Companion Voice Recorder can transcribe, summarize, and capture action items, so users can enjoy the benefits of AI Companion even when they're not on a Zoom Meeting or Zoom Phone call. Voice Recorder enables users to connect face to face, whether it's a spontaneous meeting or a planned one, and not worry about taking notes manually. (Available later this month on mobile and coming to Rooms this summer.) Streamlining collaboration with enhancements to Zoom AI Companion, Zoom Meetings, Zoom Spaces, and Zoom Team Chat Zoom prioritizes innovation, consistently delivering new and exciting products like Zoom Tasks, as well as improvements to its existing product lineup. To better support multi-lingual and global teams using Zoom Team Chat, Zoom is now using its own Small Language Model (SLM) optimized for specific AI skills to provide improved translations from eight languages (German, Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, Portuguese-Brazilian, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese) to English. Also in Zoom Team Chat, users can now mention people who are not in a chat/channel and share their contact info without having to add them to the chat/channel. (Available now.)Users can ask AI Companion to schedule meetings with multiple participants from the side panel in any product tab within Zoom Workplace. AI Companion will find the best times for all invitees by pulling data from across the platform and suggesting scheduling options for the user to confirm. AI Companion will then set up the Zoom meeting, add it to the participants' calendars, and generate suggested meeting topics and Zoom meetings, users can create private group chats 1:1 or with a specific subset of participants. They can even add a custom name to their group to help track multiple private chat groups at once and share links within the private group chats. (Available now.) Get better results with Custom AI Companion Custom AI Companion Starting today, organizations can tailor AI agents and skills to address their unique needs and drive efficiency across their organizations with the Custom AI Companion paid add-on. Custom AI Companion is powered by Zoom AI Studio , a low-code, drag-and-drop builder where admins can customize Zoom AI Companion for their organization. This summer, users will be able to connect beyond Zoom via integrated third-party AI agents with Custom AI Companion. To facilitate this integration, Zoom will support both Model Context Protocol from Anthropic and Agent to Agent Protocol from Google in Zoom AI Studio, making it simpler to integrate external AI agents with AI Companion. Bring Your Own Index (BYOI) With Bring Your Own Index (BYOI) , organizations can now connect AI Companion interactions to a wide variety of enterprise data sources like project management tools, cloud storage, email accounts, and customer databases through Amazon Q Business or Glean. For example, users can connect their Amazon Q Business index to surface relevant documents, emails, and project info in AI Companion to quickly gain context during a Zoom meeting. Custom Avatars for Zoom Clips Zoom Clips helps users easily share information without the need for a meeting. For example, if a user needs to walk a colleague through a document they drafted, rather than wait for both of them to be available, the user can simply record a Zoom clip and share it with their colleague. With Custom Avatars for Zoom Clips , users can now use AI Companion to create an avatar in their likeness, provide a transcript of the desired content, and allow AI Companion to generate a clip for them, saving them invaluable time without the need to re-record and helping them scale their efforts. Custom Avatars for Zoom Clips are designed with security and authenticity safeguards, including protection around the initial video creation. For example, gesture checks help detect the potential use of pre-recorded or manipulated footage, and video and audio watermarks indicate its AI origin. Custom Avatars for Zoom Clips are available now with the Custom AI Companion add-on and will also be available as a separate SKU, which is planned to be released in May. The Custom AI Companion add-on is available for $12 per user per month, with more capabilities expected this summer. To learn more about all of the features that are and will be available for Custom AI Companion license holders, visit the Zoom website and read the Zoom blog to learn more about how organizations can tailor AI Companion to meet their unique needs. Staying organized just got easier For those users who aren't Zoom Whiteboard users yet but would like to be, they can now easily convert boards from Miro, Mural, and Lucid to Zoom Whiteboard. (Available now.)To help users create more dynamic Zoom Whiteboards, templates have been enhanced with sticky notes and emoji stacks to make it easier to add objects to a board. AI Companion can also now summarize Whiteboard content. (Available now.) Strengthen relationships for better collaboration When users are given the right tools to connect with their colleagues and customers, enhanced collaboration is possible. Zoom is empowering users with innovations to help spark new connections and foster existing ones. Online Fax simplifies business communications by consolidating fax, SMS, and calls on one Zoom Phone number, eliminating the need for additional hardware, providers, complex setups, and extra billing. (Available now.)Prioritize urgent voicemails and extract key action items from Zoom Phone for Microsoft Teams with AI Companion, helping users stay organized and manage their time more efficiently. (Planned to be available later this month.)To save time and stay organized, the Zoom + Salesforce app provides users with AI-generated summaries of Zoom Phone calls directly in the app. (Available now.)To help users work smarter, faster, and more effectively, Workvivo AI, powered by Zoom AI Companion, helps users write better company updates, find answers more easily, and create more engaging surveys. (Available now.) To learn more about Zoom Workplace, visit the Zoom website . Empowering contact center and sales teams Enhancements to Zoom CX include new workforce management features designed to provide greater flexibility, precision, and efficiency in agent scheduling and staffing forecasts. These enhancements empower both supervisors and agents with advanced tools for optimizing workforce planning across multiple channels. Deferrable work forecasting enables Workforce Management admins to predict staffing needs for non-real-time communication channels such as email, social media, and voicemail to enable businesses to allocate sufficient resources across all customer touchpoints. (Available now.)Seat limits for agent scheduling allow supervisors to set minimum and maximum staffing levels at different times of the day, helping to optimize agent distribution throughout the week. (Available now.)Supervisors can also take advantage of the ability to create multiple forecast scenarios, allowing them to model different staffing strategies and analyze how changes in metrics and volumes might impact workforce needs. (Available now.)Enhancements to dynamic daily scheduling further improve flexibility using AI by optimizing weekly schedules to customize shift structures for specific days. For example, the system can pick days to be worked, implement shorter shifts on Saturdays, or incorporate additional activities beyond standard breaks and meals. (Available now.)Agent scheduling preferences allow employees to rank up to three preferred shift start times in quarter-hour increments to help balance workforce needs with employee preferences and enable increased job satisfaction and improved efficiency. (Available now.) Zoom Revenue Accelerator In today's high-velocity sales environment, teams are under constant pressure to move fast, stay aligned, and keep data consistent across fragmented tools and channels. The latest innovations in Zoom Revenue Accelerator use AI insights and automation to streamline execution and help teams close deals faster with greater consistency and confidence. A new AI playbooks feature for Zoom Revenue Accelerator introduces an always-on agent that can run on admin-configured sales methodologies such as BANT, SPICED, and MEDDICC on behalf of sales reps behind the scenes. Administrators can deploy out-of-the-box or custom frameworks to ensure a standardized, repeatable approach to sales execution based on organizational preferences. This new feature leverages advanced AI and LLMs to analyze sales conversations to surface key customer insights and automatically suggest updates to opportunity fields. This helps reduce manual data entry, keep CRM records accurate and up to date, and free up sales teams to focus on what they do best — selling. By reducing manual data entry and providing more accurate and consistent CRM records, sales teams can focus on selling Sales managers gain deeper visibility into team adherence to selected methodologies through tracking and reporting, enabling more effective coaching. For administrators, AI playbooks simplify the implementation of standardized or custom sales frameworks for a more structured and scalable sales process. Additionally, the introduction of deal explorer for Zoom Revenue Acceleratorenables sales teams to surface critical sales insights through natural language queries. By aggregating and analyzing information across the entire opportunity lifecycle, deal explorer eliminates the need to manually sift through multiple data sources. This helps sales reps save valuable time, improve sales execution, and stay focused on closing deals with greater confidence. For example, sales professionals can ask questions about a specific deal such as 'What are the next steps for this opportunity?' or 'Has pricing been discussed?' and receive contextual, structured answers based on a comprehensive analysis of calls, meetings, and CRM data. These new features are available now to Zoom Revenue Accelerator customers. Zoom expands industry offerings Frontline workers in industries like retail, manufacturing, first responders, and healthcare need solutions tailored to their specific needs. Zoom is launching two new products that will help save frontline workers time and boost efficiency. Zoom Workplace for Frontline: Zoom Workplace for Frontline, a purpose-built, AI Companion-based mobile solution for frontline workers will provide key on-shift communications and work management tools for frontline workers in industries such as retail, healthcare, manufacturing, hospitality, and others to help them be more connected and efficient in their daily tasks. To learn more about Zoom Workplace for Frontline, visit the Zoom newsroom. (Available now.)Zoom Workplace for Clinicians: Zoom and Suki, a leader in AI technology for healthcare, are partnering to provide AI-generated clinical notes to healthcare institutions. Zoom Workplace for Clinicians' clinical notes feature will help to streamline and automate clinical note-taking during in-person and virtual patient-physician interactions by allowing physicians to focus more on patients instead of paperwork. To learn more about Zoom Workplace for Clinicians, visit the Zoom newsroom. (Available now.)
NZ Herald
24-04-2025
- Business
- NZ Herald
Cement company's opposition to Hikurangi subdivision resolved out of court
Such complaints could hinder operations and future expansion of the quarry, which was a crucial source of limestone for its cement production, Golden Bay said. At mediation in February, Golden Bay and Hika representatives reached an agreement to accept the developer's earlier offer to make provision for various covenants, including a no-complaints (reverse sensitivity) one. The mediated agreement has since been considered and approved by Environment Court Judge Jeff Smith, who recently released details of it. Under the no-complaints (reverse sensitivity) covenant, anyone occupying or using the subdivision will be prohibited from complaining – directly or indirectly – about Wilsonville Quarry's approved operations. Judge Smith said he was satisfied the agreement was an appropriate response to Golden Bay's concerns. 'The agreement recognises the long-standing residential zoning of the land, in proximity to a Quarrying Resource Area and Mining Area, and the potential for effects on both the residential development and Wilsonville Quarry.' He said the no-complaints covenant would not have been the court's preferred way of resolving the dispute. However, because it was not the main solution agreed, he would allow it. The arrangement also included Hika agreeing to reduce the number of housing lots in the subdivision from 51 to 44 so a buffer zone could be extended between the subdivision and quarry, and to retain some natural land formations that would also have a buffering effect. 'The parties have taken a balanced approach in agreeing on changes to the [resource management] consent. Overall, I consider that the sustainable management purpose and the other relevant requirements of the [Resource Management] Act are broadly met', Judge Smith said. The cement company did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesman for Hika said he was pleased with the outcome of the mediation. While still an expensive process, it had saved both parties the need to go through more complex and time-consuming court proceedings. Hika has been developing land in Northland since the early 2000s. It was hoped economic conditions would be positive enough to begin earthworks at Hikurangi this October, the company said. The subdivision would provide affordable housing options that were badly needed and would complement one already being built by the He Puna Marama Trust to the south of the site. The agreed buffer zone to the north would extend one that already existed near Cinder Way and would be planted in native trees, creating a park-like area that would not only be an amenity for subdivision residents but also for the wider community, the company said. There would be a similar boundary of native trees alongside the border with State Highway 1 to visually enhance the area and to reduce traffic noise. Each new lot will be connected to the existing WDC water main and reticulated wastewater network. The main internal access will be via a new public road intersecting Boundary Rd. Right-turn bays will be added to SH1 at Cinder Way and King St, with approval from NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA).
