Choice Hotels International Appoints Dominic Dragisich as President & Chief Executive Officer

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Choice Hotels International, Inc.

Aug 31, 2026, 09:00 ET

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Dragisich Has Served as Interim Chief Executive Officer Since May 2026

Dragisich is a Proven Leader with Over 20 Years of Industry, Financial, and Operational Experience

NORTH BETHESDA, Md., Aug. 31, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Choice Hotels International, Inc. ("Choice Hotels" or "the Company") (NYSE: CHH), one of the world's largest lodging franchisors, today announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Dominic Dragisich as President and Chief Executive Officer and to the Board of Directors, effective August 31, 2026. Dragisich has served as Interim Chief Executive Officer since May 20, 2026.

"Dom has been a proven, exceptional leader for nearly a decade at Choice Hotels. Since stepping into the role of Interim CEO, Dom has advanced strategic priorities and fostered a performance-driven culture across the company. He brings an innovative mindset, a deep appreciation for attracting and developing great talent, and a clear vision for the future of the business," said Stewart Bainum Jr., Chairman of the Board of Directors for Choice Hotels International.

Bainum added, "The Board conducted a comprehensive search and evaluated a strong slate of internal and external candidates. Through that process, we concluded that Dom is the right leader to build on Choice Hotels' recent momentum, execute our strategy, and drive long-term value for our franchisees and shareholders. We look forward to partnering with Dom and are confident in his ability to position Choice Hotels for success."

In his nearly 10 years with Choice Hotels, Dragisich has held roles of increasing responsibility across the Company, including Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President of Operations and Chief Global Brand Officer, and Chief Growth and Strategy Officer. He has played a pivotal role in the Company's growth, helping lead major acquisitions and advancing key strategic initiatives that have expanded the Company's portfolio, reinforced its competitive position, and created long-term value for franchisees and shareholders. Prior to joining Choice Hotels, Dragisich served as Chief Financial Officer at XO Communications, where he successfully returned the company to top-line growth and increased profitability. Earlier in his career, Dragisich held senior finance and operational positions at Marriott International, NII Holdings, and Deloitte Consulting.

"I am honored by the Board's confidence and grateful for the opportunity to continue leading Choice Hotels," said Dragisich. "With a talented team, a higher-quality portfolio, a more accretive and diverse pipeline, and significant opportunities ahead, we are entering this next chapter from a position of strength. We remain focused on disciplined execution, accelerating growth, and strengthening our brands capitalizing on our commercial investments. I am excited to continue advancing our strategy and helping our franchisees succeed while delivering exceptional experiences for our guests."

About Choice Hotels®  

Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH), is one of the largest lodging franchisors in the world, with over 7,500 hotels, representing more than 650,000 rooms, in 49 countries and territories. A wide-ranging portfolio of 22 brands that includes full-service upper upscale, midscale, extended stay, and economy properties enables Choice® to meet travelers' needs in more places and for more occasions while driving more value for franchise owners and shareholders. The award-winning Choice Privileges® rewards program and co-brand credit card options provide members with a fast and easy way to earn reward nights and personalized perks. For more information, visit www.choicehotels.com. 

Forward-looking Statements

Information set forth herein includes "forward-looking statements." Certain, but not necessarily all, of such forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, such as "expect," "estimate," "believe," "anticipate," "should," "will," "forecast," "plan," "project," "assume," or similar words of futurity. All statements other than historical facts are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current beliefs, assumptions, and expectations regarding future events, which in turn are based on information currently available to management. Such statements may relate to Choice's financial outlook, leadership transition process, strategic plans and priorities, value creation, portfolio quality, brand strength, franchisee performance, guest experience, growth rate and plans related thereto, among other matters. We caution you not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements do not guarantee future performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors. 

Several factors could cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed in or contemplated by the forward-looking statements. Such risks include, but are not limited to, changes to general, U.S. and foreign economic conditions, including access to liquidity and capital; changes in consumer demand and confidence, including consumer discretionary spending and the demand for travel, transient and group business; the timing and amount of future dividends and share repurchases; future U.S. or global outbreaks of epidemics, pandemics or contagious diseases or fear of such outbreaks, and the related impact on the global hospitality industry, particularly but not exclusively the U.S. travel market; changes in law and regulation applicable to the travel, lodging or franchising industries, including with respect to the status of our relationship with employees of our franchisees; the potential impact of changes in laws and regulations generally, or the interpretation thereof, including, without limitation, those relating to taxes, wages, labor and immigration; foreign currency fluctuations; changes in global interest rates and rate differentials; variability and unpredictability in trade relations, sanctions, tariffs or other trade controls; governmental action or inaction relating to the federal budget, including funding lapses and government shutdowns; impairments or declines in the value of our assets; our assumptions underlying our critical accounting estimates; operating risks common in the travel, lodging or franchising industries; changes to the desirability of our brands as viewed by hotel operators and customers; changes to the terms or termination of our contracts with franchisees and our relationships with our franchisees; our ability to keep pace with improvements in technology utilized for our marketing and reservation systems and other operating systems; our ability to grow our franchise system; exposure to risks related to our hotel development, financing, franchise agreement acquisition costs and ownership activities; exposures to risks associated with our investments in new businesses; fluctuations in the supply and demand for hotel rooms; our ability to realize anticipated benefits from acquired businesses; impairments or losses relating to acquired businesses; the level of acceptance of alternative growth strategies we may implement; the impact of inflation; information technology, cyber security and data breach risks; introduction and integration of artificial intelligence technologies; climate change; our sustainability strategy; ownership and financing activities; hotel closures or financial difficulties of our franchisees; operating risks associated with our international operations; political instability, geopolitical conflicts and terrorism; labor shortages; the outcome of litigation; and our ability to effectively manage our indebtedness and secure our indebtedness. 

These and other risk factors are discussed in detail in the Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

Investor Contact

Allie Summers, Senior Director, Investor Relations

IR@choicehotels.com 

Media Contacts

Dana Stambaugh, Senior Director, Strategic Communications and PR

MediaRelations@choicehotels.com

Edelman Smithfield

CHH@edelmansmithfield.com

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Stockpress launches Content Portals to turn digital assets into branded content destinations

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Aug 31, 2026, 09:00 ET

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Content portals give marketing and brand teams a way to turn the content they already have in their DAM into beautiful, curated destinations that update automatically as their content changes.

BOSTON, Aug. 31, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Stockpress, the Digital Asset Management (DAM) platform built for marketing, brand and creative teams, announced the launch of Content Portals, a new way for organizations to turn the content inside their DAM into curated, branded destinations for sales teams, partners, customers, press and other audiences.

Rather than sharing links to folders of files, Content Portals let teams bring together brand assets from across their workspace and layer in approved colors, fonts, calls to action, and more — all as a beautiful, branded web page that's easy to share.

See how Content Portals let you turn your workspace content into a branded, shareable destination that updates itself automatically.

But these aren't just static share pages. Content Portals pull directly from the files and Collections inside Stockpress, so they reflect what's actually there — whether that's a new File Version or a Smart Collection surfacing content based on rules you set. That means living brand guides, campaign hubs, and resource centers, with no manual updates or rebuilds. Learn more about Content Portals.

According to Stockpress's own research, 53% of teams say collaborating on files with clients, agencies, and partners is one of their biggest challenges, while 67% report people working outside the system their company chose, often because it's simply easier to get content another way.

The challenge isn't just sharing files — it's controlling exactly what each audience sees, without exposing the wider workspace. Teams need to bring together selected content from different parts of their DAM, add context, and create an experience designed specifically for the audience receiving it.

Content Portals are built for those moments. The DAM remains the single place where all assets are stored and managed, while the Content Portal becomes the curated destination you share externally — giving each audience exactly what they need, without giving them access to everything behind it.

Stockpress is seeing Content Portal being used to create:

Living brand guidelines with current logos, colors, fonts, photography, downloadable assets, and usage guidance.

Sales enablement hubs for a single destination for current presentations, product imagery, videos and case studies.

Partner resource centers where retail or agency partners can see a carefully curated selection of approved content without needing to navigate the wider DAM.

Campaign hub that brings together messaging, creative, video, and files from across a workspace.

Always-current media centers with approved logos, executive headshots, press releases and product imagery.

"We've always given customers ways to share the files and Collections they manage in Stockpress. Content Portals give them something different — control over the experience itself," said Jessica Storry, CEO and co-founder of Stockpress. "You can bring together assets from across your workspace, explain how they should be used, and present them beautifully. Because it all stays connected to Stockpress, the destination stays current as your content changes."

Content Portals are available now in Stockpress. Every plan includes one Content Portal, while Premium plan customers can create unlimited Content Portals for different teams, audiences, and use cases.

Stockpress sees the launch as part of a broader shift in Digital Asset Management — from simply storing and organizing content to making it more accessible and easier for teams to use.

About Stockpress

Stockpress is an AI-powered Digital Asset Management (DAM) platform built for marketing, creative, brand, sales, and operations teams that need to organize, find, manage, and share digital content without the complexity or price of traditional enterprise DAM software.

Stockpress brings images, videos, documents, and other digital assets into one centralized workspace, with AI-powered search across visual content, on-screen and scanned text, and spoken words, automatic tagging, facial recognition, duplicate detection, Collections, version control, permissions, secure sharing, and integrations.

Every paid Stockpress plan includes unlimited users, giving organizations enterprise-grade DAM capabilities that are simple to implement, easy to use, and affordable to scale.

Company contact:

Ian Parkes - ian@stockpress.co

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Phoenix Tower International Signs New $6.5 Billion Multi-Jurisdiction Financing USA - English

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Phoenix Tower International

Aug 31, 2026, 09:00 ET

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BOCA RATON, Fla., Aug. 31, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Phoenix Tower International ("PTI"), a leading global wireless communications infrastructure provider, announced today that it has signed a new $6.5 billion multi-jurisdiction financing to consolidate its existing loans and provide substantial additional capacity to support further growth across both existing and new markets globally.

The transaction comprises $5.365 billion equivalent term loan facilities, $635 million equivalent delayed draw term loan facilities and a $500 million revolving credit facility, and spans all of PTI's 23 jurisdictions across Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the United States. Proceeds from the facilities will be used to: (i) repay existing indebtedness, including related fees and expenses; (ii) fund capital expenditure requirements and acquisitions; and (iii) fund working capital requirements. The transaction is targeted to close by the end of September.

"This multi-jurisdiction transaction gives PTI the capital structure and flexibility to continue investing in infrastructure that connects communities worldwide. The strong lender appetite reflects the discipline and vision that have driven our growth for over a decade, as we have expanded our wireless infrastructure platform and delivered value-added solutions to our customers. We believe that the existing network architecture will face significant strain in the coming years from AI traffic and continued growth in data consumption. This financing positions us to continue delivering for our customers globally, helping them achieve their goals in partnership with PTI," said Dagan Kasavana, Chief Executive Officer of PTI.

"We are very pleased to have signed this $6.5 billion financing — the largest of its kind for a privately held tower company in our industry. The transaction reflects the confidence our lending partners have in PTI and the strength of our team's execution across 23 jurisdictions. It will enable us to simplify our capital structure, reduce borrowing costs, and access incremental capital to support future growth. We're pleased to partner with such a strong lender group as we continue to expand our global platform," said Michael Bremer, Chief Financial Officer of PTI.

About Phoenix Tower International

Phoenix Tower International (PTI) is an independent, globally active tower company headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida (USA). The company owns and operates more than 33,000 mobile network sites across 23 countries and, as a neutral host infrastructure provider, offers open access to all mobile network operators.

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Phoenix Tower International Signs New $6.5 Billion Multi-Jurisdiction Financing USA - English

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Phoenix Tower International

Aug 31, 2026, 09:00 ET

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BOCA RATON, Fla., Aug. 31, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Phoenix Tower International ("PTI"), a leading global wireless communications infrastructure provider, announced today that it has signed a new $6.5 billion multi-jurisdiction financing to consolidate its existing loans and provide substantial additional capacity to support further growth across both existing and new markets globally.

The transaction comprises $5.365 billion equivalent term loan facilities, $635 million equivalent delayed draw term loan facilities and a $500 million revolving credit facility, and spans all of PTI's 23 jurisdictions across Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the United States. Proceeds from the facilities will be used to: (i) repay existing indebtedness, including related fees and expenses; (ii) fund capital expenditure requirements and acquisitions; and (iii) fund working capital requirements. The transaction is targeted to close by the end of September.

"This multi-jurisdiction transaction gives PTI the capital structure and flexibility to continue investing in infrastructure that connects communities worldwide. The strong lender appetite reflects the discipline and vision that have driven our growth for over a decade, as we have expanded our wireless infrastructure platform and delivered value-added solutions to our customers. We believe that the existing network architecture will face significant strain in the coming years from AI traffic and continued growth in data consumption. This financing positions us to continue delivering for our customers globally, helping them achieve their goals in partnership with PTI," said Dagan Kasavana, Chief Executive Officer of PTI.

"We are very pleased to have signed this $6.5 billion financing — the largest of its kind for a privately held tower company in our industry. The transaction reflects the confidence our lending partners have in PTI and the strength of our team's execution across 23 jurisdictions. It will enable us to simplify our capital structure, reduce borrowing costs, and access incremental capital to support future growth. We're pleased to partner with such a strong lender group as we continue to expand our global platform," said Michael Bremer, Chief Financial Officer of PTI.

About Phoenix Tower International

Phoenix Tower International (PTI) is an independent, globally active tower company headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida (USA). The company owns and operates more than 33,000 mobile network sites across 23 countries and, as a neutral host infrastructure provider, offers open access to all mobile network operators.

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Govee and Texas A&M Athletics Announce Official Smart Lighting Partnership

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Govee

Aug 31, 2026, 09:00 ET

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COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Aug. 31, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Govee, a global leader in smart lighting, today announced a new partnership with Texas A&M Athletics, becoming the Official Smart Lighting Partner of Texas A&M Athletics. The deal was brokered by Aggie Sports Enterprises, the exclusive multimedia rights holder for Texas A&M Athletics powered by Playfly Sports, the sports industry's leading revenue maximization company. Through the "Light Up Aggieland" campaign, Govee will bring the energy, traditions and pride of the 12th Man beyond Kyle Field and into the homes of The 12th Man, offering Aggie fans new ways to celebrate every game, every season and every moment that brings the community together through personalized smart lighting experiences.

Govee and Texas A&M Athletics Announce Official Smart Lighting Partnership

"Govee has always believed that lighting can be a powerful way for people to express who they are and what they care about," said Eric Wu, CEO of Govee. "Through 'Light Up Aggieland,' we hope to help Aggie fans bring that pride into their homes through personalized lighting experiences inspired by the moments, traditions and celebrations that matter to them. It is about helping Aggie pride shine through every game, every season and every home in Texas."

"We're excited to welcome Govee as the Official Smart Lighting Partner of Texas A&M Athletics," said Tom Severino, General Manager of Aggie Sports Enterprises. "Govee shares our passion for innovation and elevating the fan experience, and together we'll introduce new opportunities that celebrate Aggie Athletics and create lasting memories for the 12th Man."

As the No. 1 brand for household permanent outdoor lights in the U.S.*, Govee will also sponsor the 4th Quarter LED light show at Kyle Field, joining Texas A&M Athletics in bringing this signature game-day tradition to life for the 12th Man. Fans can look forward to the light show's debut on September 5, when the Aggies open the 2026 season at home against the Missouri State Bears. More moments will unfold throughout the "Light Up Aggieland" campaign, with Govee and Texas A&M Athletics bringing additional experiences and surprises to the Aggie community.

During the campaign period, customers will receive 10% off when purchasing two eligible Govee products, making it easier to create a more connected and personalized lighting experience across multiple spaces in the home.

*Source: Euromonitor International Co., Ltd., based on the sales value of household permanent outdoor lights in the USA across retail channels in 2025; household permanent outdoor lights refer to lighting fixtures designed for fixed, year-round installation on household building exteriors (such as eaves, facades, and decks); research completed in June 2026.

About Govee

Govee has been revolutionizing the smart living experience with innovative, ambient lighting solutions since 2017. From living spaces, gaming setups, and outdoor areas, Govee's smart home tech is not just visually stunning, but also functional - transforming small everyday moments into more personalized and brighter engaging lighting experiences. Embracing the idea that users should "Life is Colorful", Govee pushes the boundaries of what lighting can do by blending design, and utility. To learn more about Govee, please visit govee.com.

About Texas A&M Athletics | Home of the 12th Man

Founded in 1876, as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, Texas A&M began as the state's first land-grant institution and today boasts a global network of more than 650,000 living current and former students. Since their first sporting event in 1894, the Aggies have won more than 30 team national championships and claimed 160 conference titles. One of the most successful athletics departments in the nation, Texas A&M ranked No. 12 in the most recent Learfield Directors' Cup standings and is one of 10 Division I institutions to finish in the top 25 of the prestigious ranking of athletics success in each of the last 20 years. For more information, visit www.12thMan.com.

About Playfly Sports

Playfly Sports, the sports industry's leading revenue maximization company, drives growth for its partners across the sports ecosystem – including 2,000+ brands, 100+ professional teams, 65+ college athletic departments, all U.S. local sports networks and associated streaming platforms, and other marquee properties. Its fan engagement platform allows its partners to reach and engage over 85% of all U.S sports fans. Playfly builds and implements custom strategies across media, sponsorship, premium experiences, ticketing and fan engagement offerings through proprietary data, innovative technology and compelling storytelling. Playfly operates an expansive portfolio of services with a data-driven and fan-focused approach to maximize revenue yield in key growth areas, such as media, sponsorship, ticketing, premium experiences and fan engagement offerings. Founded in September of 2020, Playfly Sports is now home to approximately 1,000 team members located across 43 U.S. states and internationally dedicated to maximizing the impact of highly passionate local sports fans. The company has been named a Best Place to Work in Sports by Sports Business Journal, Front Office Sports, and Newsweek. To learn more, follow Playfly Sports on social media platforms or visit www.Playfly.com

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Lockheed Martin Ventures and Sumitomo's Presidio Ventures Back Diffraqtion

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Diffraqtion

Aug 31, 2026, 09:01 ET

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Strategic investors join as Diffraqtion caps its pre-seed with $10M total funding, following on-sky demonstrations, advancement under its DARPA program, and NASA awards in orbital debris tracking and orbital edge computing.

SOMERVILLE, Mass., Aug. 31, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Diffraqtion, an MIT and University of Maryland spinout building quantum camera platforms for defense and space sensing, today announced strategic investments from Lockheed Martin Ventures and Presidio Ventures, the venture arm of Sumitomo Corporation, bringing total funding to over $10M.

Following strong investor interest, Diffraqtion elected to cap its pre-seed, which also includes SBI US Gateway Fund with Plug and Play, Collaborative Fund, and TekVentures, with follow-on participation from existing investors Aether VC, milemark•capital, and ADIN.

Diffraqtion caps its pre-seed with $10M total funding

The investment follows seven months of rapid progress since the round's first close led by Ground State Ventures, announced in January 2026. The company completed on-sky demonstrations at a partner observatory, distinguishing closely spaced objects. Its DARPA Direct-to-Phase-II SBIR advanced into its second option period, and NASA has since selected Diffraqtion for an SBIR Phase I in orbital debris tracking and named the company winner of its $100,000 Space to Soil Challenge for adaptive sensing and onboard processing.

Diffraqtion's quantum cameras resolve detail below the diffraction limit, the hard resolution floor that the aperture of a lens imposes on every conventional optical system. By sorting incoming light by its shape rather than its brightness, they measure information conventional cameras discard, reducing the aperture and compute needed to classify far-away objects. Company simulations indicate that the approach can resolve features up to 20 times smaller, and that onboard processing classifies targets orders of magnitude faster than conventional pipelines. The method is passive and draws on quantum estimation theory rather than quantum computing, without using qubits or cryogenics.

The new funding takes the technology into its first fielded camera, with flight heritage planned through a hosted payload on a partner spacecraft. To lead the effort, Diffraqtion has appointed Peter Kazlas as Head of Engineering. Kazlas brings 25 years of experience taking novel optics from lab bench to volume production, including at E Ink and QD Vision, acquired by Samsung.

"For as long as cameras have existed, seeing farther has meant building bigger optics," said Johannes Galatsanos, CEO and Co-Founder of Diffraqtion. "Our cameras break that paradigm, delivering better mission capability at a fraction of the aperture, size, and cost. Now we're building our first fielded camera and preparing for operational engagements in space domain awareness and reconnaissance."

"What excites us about Diffraqtion is how they're applying quantum-enabled imaging to extract more information from light and improve target detection and classification with smaller, more efficient sensing systems," said Chris Moran, Vice President and General Manager of Lockheed Martin Ventures. "We invest in technologies with the potential to shape future mission capabilities, and this team's rapid progress from laboratory development toward flight demonstration is particularly promising."

"What drew us to Diffraqtion is that the same physics advantage applies whether the camera is observing the sky or the earth, or guiding a physical system," said Ross Leav, SVP at Presidio Ventures. "As the venture arm of Sumitomo Corporation, we see significant opportunity to bring this capability to industrial and commercial markets globally, and we're excited to support the team as they move into deployment."

About Diffraqtion

Diffraqtion builds quantum camera platforms that let machines resolve detail beyond the limits of conventional optics, pairing photonic hardware with a proprietary model layer that turns raw imagery into real-time intelligence. The company is developing the technology for space domain awareness and reconnaissance, with applications across drones, autonomy, and precision inspection. Diffraqtion is an MIT and University of Maryland spinout headquartered in Somerville, Massachusetts.

Media Contact: media@diffraqtion.com | www.diffraqtion.com 

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Opalescence™ Teeth Whitening launches Opalescence™ Go™ Advanced Prefilled Whitening Trays

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Aug 31, 2026, 09:01 ET

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SOUTH JORDAN, Utah, Aug. 31, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Opalescence™ whitening, the #1-selling professional teeth whitening brand, is introducing Opalescence Go™ Advanced prefilled whitening trays, the next generation of take-home teeth whitening, featuring an intuitive one-step application process.

Opalescence™ Teeth Whitening launches Opalescence™ Go™ Advanced Prefilled Whitening Trays

Opalescence Logo

The innovative whitening tray design removes the need for an outer placement tray, reducing packaging waste and simplifying use. Each patented UltraFit™ tray is prefilled with whitening gel, ensuring consistent distribution and precise placement during treatment. Ready to use straight from the package, the flexible trays adapt to any smile for a comfortable fit with no light required. Opalescence Go Advanced whitening trays are clinically proven to whiten teeth up to 5 shades for quick, visible, professional results. Available in 15% hydrogen peroxide concentration with a refreshing Cool Mint flavor, Opalescence Go Advanced whitening is designed by dentists to be gentle on teeth.

"My patients want fast, long-lasting, at-home teeth whitening they can trust and use safely while still getting top-tier results," says Opalescence Whitening's Chief Clinical Officer, Dr. Jaleena Fischer-Jessop. "By pairing the UltraFit tray with our advanced whitening formula, we're offering a straightforward, effective, and convenient way to brighten smiles."

With more than 150 million smiles whitened, Opalescence is the brand trusted around the world for a whiter smile. Get professional results at home, easily and comfortably, with Opalescence Go Advanced whitening. Learn more here.

About Opalescence™

35 years ago, Opalescence™ teeth whitening products burst onto the dental market, pioneering the modern teeth whitening landscape with its sticky, viscous gel formula and custom-scalloped soft trays. Since then, the brand has expanded to provide a variety of innovative teeth whitening solutions to patients through their dentist. Known as the most-researched teeth whitening brand, Opalescence whitening has proudly whitened over 150 million smiles and has now become the world's #1-selling professional teeth whitening brand.

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Texas' Tallest Tower Completes Construction Two Months Ahead of Schedule

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Aug 31, 2026, 09:01 ET

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More than 6,800 skilled workers and 150 trade partners helped DPR Construction build Austin's 74-story Waterline, "a city within a city" that combines five distinct uses and integrates with the downtown environment

AUSTIN, Texas, Aug. 31, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- DPR Construction, a forward-thinking, self-performing builder, announced construction completion of Waterline, the 74-story mixed-use tower at 98 Red River Street. The tower rises 1,025 feet above downtown Austin and stands as the tallest building in Texas. Construction wrapped up in 48 months, two months ahead of a 50-month planned schedule. 

Spanning 2.7 million square feet with a footprint of more than three acres, the tower integrates residential, hotel, office, retail and parking into a single vertical destination—what one partner described as "a city within a city." It also creates a vibrant new ground-level connection to Waterloo Greenway's 13-acre Confluence, which opened in June. 

"Waterline pushed every assumption about scale, complexity and coordination," said DPR Project Executive Brett Bickford. "This was a massive undertaking, and we wouldn't be where we are today without our talented and resilient team of skilled craft professionals and trade partners."

Bickford noted that DPR's dedicated self-perform team was what made delivery ahead of schedule possible. This allowed the project team to manage critical scopes with their own workforce, providing greater control over quality and schedule, which led to more predictable outcomes.

"This monumental and highly complex project reflects what's possible when an extraordinary team aligns around a shared vision and never loses focus on execution," said Seth Johnston, Executive Vice President of Lincoln Property Company, which co-developed the project with Kairoi Residential.

Construction involved more than 150 trade partners and 6,800 skilled workers, who recorded approximately 4.5 million worker hours. Roughly 1,000 workers were onsite during peak activity. The DPR team also placed approximately 150,000 cubic yards of concrete—enough to fill 46 Olympic-sized swimming pools—including building more than 92 individual sculptural columns (15 installed on the roof).

"Delivering a project of this size, scale, and technical complexity requires trust, collaboration, resilience, and relentless commitment. And to get it done ahead of schedule is almost unheard of," said Bryan Kent, DPR's Central Texas Business Unit Leader. "Thousands of people helped bring Waterline to life, and their contributions have shaped Austin's skyline and strengthened how people experience and connect with our city. DPR is proud and thankful to have been part of it."

KEY PARTNERS: 

Development Partners: Lincoln Property Company and Kairoi Residential

Design Architect: KPF

Architect of Record: HKS, Inc.

Structural Engineer: Brockette Davis Drake, Inc. (BDD)

MEPF Engineer: Alvine & Associates, Inc.

WATERLINE BY THE NUMBERS 

Height: 1,025 feet 

Floors: 74 

Size: 2.7+ million square feet

Footprint: 3+ acres 

Completion: July 2026 (Delivered in 48 months, 2 months ahead of schedule) 

Concrete: 150,000+ cubic yards placed

Worker hours: 4.5+ million 

Workforce impact: Approximately 6,800 workers overall 

Peak onsite workforce: Approximately 1,000 workers at peak

Trade partners: Approximately 150 

Individual sculptural columns: 92 (15 on the roof)

Residential units: Top 33 floors, 352 units 

Hotel: 13 floors, 252 rooms

Office space: 24 floors, 703,000 square feet, Class AA offices

Dining & retail: 24,000 square feet

Elevators: 30

About DPR Construction

DPR Construction is a forward-thinking, self-performing general contractor and construction manager specializing in complex projects across the advanced technology, life sciences, healthcare, higher education, and commercial markets. Guided by our purpose—We Exist to Build Great Things®—DPR's global portfolio spans large-scale new construction, tenant improvements and special projects. 

Founded in 1990, DPR is one of the largest privately held, employee-owned companies in the US. We are strategically focused on building long-term partnerships and delivering more predictable outcomes for customers. We're advancing the industry by integrating the project lifecycle from design to delivery using innovative construction methods, prefabrication on more than 90% of new work, and a highly skilled craft workforce deployed on nearly all of our projects.

DPR consistently ranks among the top building contractors and employs more than 13,500 professionals across our family of companies worldwide. For more information, visit www.dpr.com. 

About Lincoln Property Company

Lincoln Property Company ("Lincoln") is one of the largest private real estate firms in the United States. Offering a fully integrated platform of real estate services and innovative solutions to owners, investors, lenders and occupiers, Lincoln supports the entire real estate lifecycle across asset types, including office, multifamily, life science, retail, industrial, data center, production studio, healthcare, government, universities, sports and entertainment, and mixed-use properties, throughout the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe. Lincoln's combined management and leasing portfolio on behalf of institutional clients includes more than 720 million square feet of commercial space. For more information, visit: www.lpc.com.

About Kairoi

Kairoi Residential is a partner-led company with a unified approach to investing, developing and managing multifamily communities. Kairoi has been involved in the business of developing and owning multifamily properties since 2002. Over the course of our existence, we have developed or owned in excess of 57,000 units in many cities and states across the country. Kairoi Residential has developed approximately $2.5B in new developments in San Antonio, Dallas, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Miami, Charlotte, and Austin.

For more information, please contact: 

DPR Construction 

John Daigre

johndai@dpr.com 

925-788-1615

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Optimizely Introduces Virtual Teammates, Giving Marketers Role-Specific AI Coworkers

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Optimizely

Aug 31, 2026, 09:02 ET

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New digital coworkers retain context, proactively take on recurring work, and operate across marketing tools within defined identity and permissions

NEW YORK, Aug. 31, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Optimizely, the AI platform for marketing, today announced Virtual Teammates, a new class of digital coworkers built to work alongside marketers across their day-to-day workflows. Unveiled at Opticon, Virtual Teammates can take on defined responsibilities, retain knowledge about an organization over time and proactively complete work without requiring marketers to prompt an AI tool task by task.

At launch, Optimizely is introducing a roster of Virtual Teammates for common marketing roles, including: Chief of Staff, SEO & AI Search Analyst, Marketing Analyst, Personalization Strategist, and CRO Manager.

The launch addresses a growing challenge for marketing teams: AI adoption has increased, but so has the work required to manage an expanding set of disconnected tools. In a recent global Optimizely study of more than 2,000 B2B marketing leaders, 81% said they personally switch between two or more disconnected AI tools each week, including 19% who use four or more. Rather than adding another tool marketers need to operate, Virtual Teammates are designed to function as ongoing members of the marketing team.

Each Virtual Teammate has a defined role, responsibilities, and organizational permissions. Marketers can assign them work, involve them in conversations and workflows, and configure recurring responsibilities triggered by schedules or events. Over time, they retain relevant context from previous conversations, projects, and decisions so marketers do not have to continually re-explain how their organization works.

"Marketers want to grow their business, not spend time re-explaining it to multiple AI tools," said Alex Atzberger, CEO of Optimizely. "A Virtual Teammate learns how your organization works once, then keeps going. This is the most exciting innovation since the introduction of agents."

At launch, Optimizely is introducing a roster of Virtual Teammates for common marketing roles, including:

Chief of Staff: Helps marketers prepare for meetings, track follow-ups, monitor competitive intelligence, and deliver recurring briefings.

SEO & AI Search Analyst: Monitors search and AI visibility, audits AEO performance and identifies opportunities before taking action, and reports on what was done after.

Marketing Analyst: Turns marketing data into decision-ready insights by monitoring acquisition, content performance, and conversion trends.

Personalization Strategist: Identifies personalization opportunities, designs, and builds campaigns, and monitors performance to recommend next steps.

CRO Manager: Analyzes experiments and performance to identify areas for improvement and recommend actions for marketers to investigate and act on.

Organizations can access role-specific Virtual Teammates from a directory, where they can hire and customize ready-built teammates with role-based expertise rather than requiring marketers to build agents and workflows from scratch. Teams can adapt each teammate's responsibilities in plain language and connect it to the systems needed to perform its work.

Virtual Teammates can also operate on a schedule. A Chief of Staff, for example, could deliver a weekly briefing or share background details ahead of a meeting. An SEO/GEO Specialist could continuously monitor changes in search visibility and surface issues that warrant attention. Because the teammate retains relevant context over time, each assignment builds on the work and decisions that came before it.

Organizations remain in control through individually scoped permissions and built-in oversight. Companies can set where human review is required, while each Virtual Teammate's activity is tied to its own identity that can be traced back to that identity for greater visibility and accountability.

"A lot of AI adoption stalls out because getting from idea to finished work is still hard. Even when the AI does its part, you don't always know who did what, or trust it enough to let it act on its own," said Kevin Li, SVP, Product at Optimizely. "That's why we built Virtual Teammates with their own identity and permissions from day one. They carry the work through to execution, and every action ties back to a clear audit trail."

Virtual Teammates extend Optimizely's Agent Platform with a role-based approach to AI collaboration, moving AI from individual prompts and isolated tasks toward persistent, proactive support across marketing workflows.

To learn more about Virtual Teammates, visit: https://www.optimizely.com/solutions/virtual-teammates

About Optimizely

Optimizely is the AI platform for marketing, built for the experience-makers who shape how brands show up in the world. Bringing together content management, content marketing, experimentation, commerce, personalization, and analytics into a single platform, Optimizely gives marketers the freedom to create, customers the experiences they remember, and AI agents the content they come looking for. With Optimizely, you're free to grow. Learn more at optimizely.com.

Optimizely is the trademark of Optimizely North America Inc., and are registered (or registrations are pending) in the US, EU, UK and other countries. All third-party trademarks cited are the property of their respective owners and are used only for reference purposes.

SOURCE Optimizely

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Bernhard Capital Partners Establishes Infrastructure-Focused Professional Services Platform with Acquisition of Revenew

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Bernhard Capital Partners Management, LP

Aug 31, 2026, 09:00 ET

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BATON ROUGE, La., Aug. 31, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Bernhard Capital Partners ("Bernhard"), an infrastructure and services-focused private markets investment firm, announced it has established an Infrastructure-Focused Professional Services platform through its acquisition of Revenew, a leading provider of contract compliance, profit recovery and performance consulting services across the utility, energy, manufacturing, mining, pharmaceutical and chemical industries.

Headquartered in Houston, Revenew helps organizations uncover and recover value through contract compliance, supplier payment reviews, performance improvement and sales and use tax recovery. The company's technology-enabled delivery model and proprietary data platform support long-term customer relationships across the asset-intensive industries it supports.

"Revenew has established a differentiated platform by combining specialized expertise, proprietary technology and a proven ability to deliver measurable results for its clients," said Mark Spender, Bernhard Partner and Chief Investment Officer. "Revenew operates at the convergence of critical infrastructure and technology, making them an excellent fit with our investment strategy. They also bring market leadership, strong client relationships and growth potential driven by durable demand. We look forward to partnering with the management team to accelerate the company's next phase of growth."

Since its founding, Revenew has helped clients recover more than $2 billion in hard-dollar savings and cost recoveries while building longstanding relationships with many of the world's largest companies.

"We're excited to partner with Bernhard as we enter this next chapter for Revenew," said Kris Westbrook, Chief Executive Officer of Revenew. "Their operational expertise, deep relationships across the infrastructure market, long-term investment approach and experience building market-leading platforms make them an ideal partner. Together, we're well positioned to accelerate growth, invest in innovation and deliver even greater value to our clients."

About Bernhard Capital Partners

Bernhard Capital Partners is a private markets investment firm focused on building market-leading infrastructure services and asset platforms across essential sectors. With more than $6 billion in assets under management, the firm invests in complex, expansive and often regulated markets characterized by durable demand. Bernhard applies a disciplined, thematic investment strategy, paired with deep sector expertise and operational experience, to enhance performance, scale platforms and support long-term growth. Bernhard's specialized approach is designed to perform across market cycles, delivering consistent outcomes for investors, partners and communities served across the portfolio. For more information, visit bernhardcapital.com.

About Revenew

Revenew is a market-leading specialty professional services platform providing cost recovery and cost containment solutions to enterprise organizations. Through its contract compliance, supplier payment review, performance improvement and tax recovery service lines, the company combines proprietary technology, advanced data analytics and deep industry expertise to help clients uncover financial value, reduce unnecessary costs, optimize operational performance and mitigate risk across complex business operations. For more information, visit revenew.com.

Media Contact

Prosek Partners for Bernhard Capital Partners

pro-Bernhard@prosek.com

SOURCE Bernhard Capital Partners Management, LP

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