We welcome back Congressman Conor Lamb (17th Congressional District) to Business as Usual.

In addition talking about upcoming COVID-19 relief measures, Lamb will talk about his priorities during the 116th Congress that include:

• Protecting Social Security and Medicare,
• Fighting for good jobs and strong unions,
• Making health care more affordable and
• Taking aggressive action to combat the heroin epidemic. 

The 17th Congressional District includes parts of Allegheny and Butler Counties, as well as all of Beaver County. Join us for this unique opportunity to connect with Congressman Lamb.

High-tech manufacturer Intervala, LLC, has been making serious headlines with acquisitions and facility expansions over the past year.

We welcome Intervala President and CEO Teresa Huber to talk about what's driving the company's extraordinary growth and detail its manufacturing capabilities.

Intervala manufactures complex, high-performance printed circuit board assemblies, electromechanical systems and cable and harness assemblies. Its customers are large, technology-driven companies primarily in the industrial, medical, transportation and defense industries.

Teresa is responsible for leading the company’s strategic direction and long-term growth. She has more than 25 years of management experience in strategic planning, operations and manufacturing, customer relations, engineering, supply chain, talent development and mergers and acquisitions within the electronics manufacturing arena.

The deadline is March 8, 2020 to apply for Ascender's Pre-incubation Bootcamp. The Bootcamp is a way for Ascender to support more entrepreneurs than it can incubate. The multi-day intensive program combines workshops, hands-on business planning, and access to experts to help move your business forward.

Pre-Incubation Bootcamp also allows us to get to know you! We want to make sure that we can fully support all of the entrepreneurs we accept into Incubation. 

Ascender Executive Director Nadyli Nunez gives all of the information need to ensure a successful application. Apply at https://ascenderpgh.com/incubation/.

We welcome James Julius, President and CEO of VISIMO, to discuss how his artificial intelligence/data analytics startup can simultaneously be used to combat vaccine disinformation on social media and also to prevent crashes of unmanned aerial vehicles used in disaster response and humanitarian aid missions.

VISIMO develops state-of-the-art data science tools and builds custom, interactive, and actionable cloud-based software. The company just won an Air Force "Agility Prime" Phase I Small Business Technology Transfer award to conduct research on innovative sense-and-avoid architectures for autonomous Orbs and UAVs.

So join the conversation as we demystify data analytics and detail how VISIMO makes data actionable for companies and organizations across industry verticals.

We are going to have an exceptional conversation with Eliada Griffin-El, PhD, Associate Professor of Management, Director of the Massey Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Robert Morris University.

Having a rich experience in creating ecosystems for entrepreneurial learning, Dr. Griffin-El has led the development of signature co-curricular and academic programs for promoting the entrepreneurial mindset and student-led venture creation at RMU. Her work includes spearheading high-profile community engagement, and overseeing the construction of the new Massey Center.

She will detail how the Massey Center’s vision is to be the epicenter of RMU’s innovative campus - serving as a regionally-relevant and globally-minded center of excellence - that cultivates leadership in workplace innovation and new venture creation, to positively impact society.

Recognizing the importance of leveraging business skills to positively impact critical social issues, the University of Pittsburgh Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business developed and launched its first-ever Super Analytics Challenge, a new community-based initiative. The 2021 challenge addresses the complex issue of homelessness in the Pittsburgh community and will formally run from March 19-26, 2021.

Hear from Sara Moeller, Associate Dean of Graduate Programs at the Katz School of Business, to get all of the details.

This episode of the UPMC Athena Podcast Series features Bhavini Patel, Founder of BeamData. 

Bhavini Patel’s relationship-building spirit and systems-thinking approach are valuable abilities; but what makes these traits so powerful is her commitment to forge actionable solutions and pay it forward by mentoring other women. Listen to learn more about Bhavini's incredible passion to help others.

Business as Usual welcomes Sister Linda Yankoski, President/CEO of Holy Family Institute, to discuss how addressing equity in education can lead to a more vibrant workforce.

By using a personalized, hands-on and technology-rich approach, Sister Yanoski will detail how the Holy Family Institute's Nazareth Prep is reinventing education critical to building and maintaining a diverse, competitive Pittsburgh workforce. Nazareth Prep is an independent Catholic high school that provides an affordable, progressive education that is real-world rigorous.

She will also discuss how secondary education and colleges need to rethink curriculum as entry-level jobs, technical and digital skills now outnumber all other skills combined in job descriptions across virtually every sector of the economy.

We are excited to be featuring the top-three finishers from the Pittsburgh Civic Hackathon.

It was two weeks ago that we partnered with RustBuilt for our second hackathon designed to find solutions for the civic good. And once again, the Pittsburgh tech community rallied to build some amazing solutions that we will introduce you to today.

First place winner CovacX is developing a platform to streamline the process for people to get their COVID-19 vaccines. Team leader Matthew Clark will fill us in on the project and its progress. Plus, we will welcome Logan Hammerschmitt of AdRider and Cara Giannandrea of Peer Support to detail their civic-minded tech solutions.

TechVibe Radio talks to Matthew Clark of CovacX, the winner of the Pittsburgh Civic Hackathon. CovacX is trying streamline the process for us to get #COVID19 vaccinations.

Plus, David Wible of work.software will fill us in on how his latest venture helps businesses better manage their operations and workforce.