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How Luxury Travel Is Leading the Recovery: A Skift Deep Dive – Skift
The managers of Aethos Corsica werent sure what to expect when debuting their nine-suite boutique hotel this month. Pandemic restrictions in many countries had quelled immediate international travel. But the owners neednt have wondered.
Weve been experiencing a tremendous increase in bookings recently especially for our larger suites, said Ariane Chapot, the general manager of the refurbished 17th-century palazzu on the French island.
The good days appear to be coming for many travel brands that woo high-income leisure travelers. In the U.S., for example, Google search interest in the phrase luxury hotels is at its highest since before 2006. Signs are surely pointing to luxury travel being one of the quickest slices of the travel sector to rebound from the pandemic.
Consider properties like The Beverly Hills Hotel and Hotel Bel-Air in California both part of Dorchester Collection.
We are witnessing a dramatic increase in demand for our U.S. hotels, said Helen Smith, chief customer experience officer for the Dorchester Collection. These hotels are showing high suite occupancy and an exceptional ADR [average daily rate] of over $1,000.
To see luxurys coming luster, you have to look for patterns hidden in the data, spot some telling macroeconomic trends, and seek anecdotes from markets furthest along in the rebound.
While it can feel frivolous, the luxury sector is a serious business. The well-heeled spent $363 billion on luxury travel in the pre-crisis year of 2019, according to data crunched by Barton Consulting for trade show organizer International Luxury Travel Market.
We define luxury travel somewhat loosely. Were not limiting ourselves to trips taken by celebrities and CEOs at five-star resorts. Were also referring to what some might call premium leisure travel, such as staying at upper-upscale resorts, taking chauffeured sightseeing tours, and sailing on high-end cruises.
A presidential suite at the SLS Dubai, a luxury hotel that opened in April 2021. Source SLS.
One of the first to predict the ascent of upscale travel was Bernstein Research.
We saw this phenomenon in China in the initial recovery, where luxury led, wrote analysts Richard Clarke and Daniel Roeska in a January report.
By April, U.S. adults who call themselves luxury travelers said they expected to take four trips over the next year, according to a running survey by MMGY Global, a Kansas City-based travel and hospitality marketing firm.
These American luxury travelers expected to spend an average of $3,940 on travel, while other U.S. travelers expected to spend $2,183, said MMGYs recent Portrait of American Travelers survey.
In the U.S., theres a cresting wave in reservations for luxury cruise brands.
Ive talked to some of the largest travel agencies in North America to get their thoughts and some of their data, said Patrick Scholes, managing director, lodging and experiential leisure equity research, at Truist Securities. Without a doubt, they see the strongest level of bookings for premium and luxury types of cruises.
A lot of it is older folks living their best life by splurging, Scholes said. Theyre also enjoying the additional space luxury ships offer.
Sixty-one percent of travelers plan to spend more than they normally would on a trip in 2021 since they could not travel in 2020, according to an American Express Trendex poll that Morning Consult conducted of adults who traveled by air in 2019 and who live in Australia, Canada, India, Japan, Mexico, the U.S., and Britain.
A pile-up in savings during the stay-at-home restrictions is one of the likely sources of a luxury travel boom. Worldwide, households have saved $5.4 trillion above their expected average levels of saving.
High-income households hold a hefty chunk of the excess savings, wrote economist Joseph Briggs in an April Goldman Sachs report.
The richest 40 percent of Americans hold almost two-thirds of the more than $2 trillion in U.S. household savings above the normal trend, Briggs said.
Americans will invest a lot in the stock market and in real estate. But many have saved so much that they will spend more freely, too.
Many people have seen their net worth go up, given that the stock market is pretty much at an all-time high, said Scholes, the Truist analyst. Many have also saved a tremendous amount from staying at home. So people are ready to let loose and spend some more than they normally would on travel.
Only 18 percent of American travelers said concern about their personal financial situation would greatly impact a decision to travel in the next six months, according to an April 14-19 panel of 1,000 adults matched to be representative of the U. S. population done by market research firm Longwoods International.
Weve done 35 waves of this survey throughout the crisis, and at no point did more than 25 percent of travelers say personal financial worries would hold them back, said Amir Eylon, president and CEO of Longwoods International Traveler Sentiment Study.
The savings glut is not just a U.S. phenomenon, either.
As of the first quarter of 2021, we estimate the excess saving across the globe to equal more than 6 percent of GDP [global gross domestic product], said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moodys Analytics, in a report. The U.S. has the worlds most excess saving, equal to 12 percent of GDP, with the UK a close runner-up at 10 percent of GDP.
Australia also has been saving up, and it is now seeing that savings translate into higher-priced trips. Flight Centre, the largest travel agency brand in Australia, said at a Citi Research conference on April 20 that its retail luxury travel brand had been seeing an average transaction size that was higher for domestic holidays than it had seen pre-Covid.
Some early forward-looking data hints that higher-end hotels will claw back pricing power in the next year or two.
On the supply side, the percentage of room nights spent in luxury hotel chains in the U.S. has hovered around 3 to 4 percent over the past several years, according to the Shifflet Performance/Monitor.
If you add luxury independent properties to the chains, you get a larger group. The percentage of room nights spent in that larger group of luxury accommodations had been very consistent around 6 to 7 percent, year-over-year. But then in 2020, that group of U.S. luxury accommodations rose to 9 percent.
If this increase in paid luxury accommodations is sustained, this could be an indication that there will be increased spending in the luxury market as a whole, said Chris Davidson, executive vice president, MMGY Travel Intelligence. (MMGY bought DK Shifflet & Associates in 2016.)
Lunch prepared in the teppanyaki grilling style at Otani Sanso Ryokan in the luxury property Nagato Yumoto Onsen in Yamaguchi, Japan. Source: Otani Sanso
On the demand side, bookings for upcoming travel in the most expensive tier of hotels the top 25 percent of price points were trending upward in March compared with February, according to Adobe Digital Insights, which helps travel brands convert bookings online.
Its not just hotels. Vacasa, the largest professional property management company in the U.S. for vacation homes, has also noticed an urge to splurge. Vacasa highlighted a 28 percent spike in average dollars spent per reservation when comparing reservations booked in March 2021 with ones in March 2019 looking at the same rentals, with four-plus bedrooms.
Meanwhile, Onefinestay, an Accor brand that runs luxury vacation rentals, has seen its larger villas with a high price point be firmly in demand.
Demand is especially high in the Caribbean where we have seen that our average booking value is up 80 percent, said Amanda Dyjecinski, chief brand and marketing officer of Onefinestay. The demand demonstrates that the appetite for long-overdue friend and family reunions has great growth potential.
Were not saying every five-star hotel in the world is booming today. Were talking about a phased recovery, which will vary by market, property type, and location.
A good summary of the situation came from the CEO of Mandarin Oriental, James Riley, during an earnings call in March.
Im really excited about the prospects for 2022 and beyond, Riley said. But in 2021, we will continue to experience difficult conditions.
A lot of industry data though not all points toward positive trends for luxury. Here are some of the caveats.
The biggest headwind is whether a hotel is dependent on business travel. The loss is particularly acute for many upscale hotel and resort brands as well as city hotels.
Higher-end hotels usually have corporate group business, incentive travel, and so forth, but its gone, said Amanda Hite, president of STR, the authoritative hospitality data and analytics company.
Thats a key factor why upper-upscale chains and luxury chains in the U.S. are still below 2019 averages in occupancy and rate, Hite said.
Average rates at luxury hotels are down by about a fourth. More precisely, for the week of April 4 through 10, luxury class hotels in the U.S. had an average revenue per available room of only $172.13, compared with $233.81 in the same week in 2019, STR said.
Worse, far too many rooms are empty. STRs last three weeks of occupancy data on U.S. hotels, through April 13, showed that luxury class hotels in the U.S. remained below most other classes, against the comparable weeks in 2019.
Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, began offering face masks as part of its wellness kits for business class passengers during the pandemic. Source: Etihad Airways
When it comes to the airlines, you have to work to find promising news.
One of the trends we are seeing is that travelers are more likely to select more expensive airfares than the cheapest on offer, versus the same period in 2019, said Hugh Aitken, vice president flights at Skyscanner, a price-comparison search engine.
That said, the loss of business travel hurts. The cratering of international travel hurts just as much.
Obviously, if people are booking first-class international tickets to Hong Kong, they cost a lot more than first-class tickets to Indianapolis, said Steve Squeri, CEO of American Express, on a call with investment analysts on Friday.
Tickets issued in the U.S. in March for international departures in business and first-class for all future travel were at around 40 percent of the levels of comparable sales in March 2019, said ForwardKeys which analyzes air ticket data that it sources from hundreds of online travel brands and airlines.
Russia, for instance, has reached 35 percent of 2019 levels for luxury air ticketing, ForwardKeys said.
Its only for rare cases in Russia that the average booking value for international travel has risen lately. Its up 30 percent for trips to the Maldives, compared with pre-crisis 2019 levels, and its up 44 percent for the Seychelles, according to bookings via online travel search site Aviasales.
Structural issues in the commercial airline industry may undermine a surge in luxury leisure demand in most markets.
Budget and low-frills carriers, such as Ryanair in Europe, entered the crisis with stronger balance sheets than the traditional network carriers that often sell business-class and first-class seats, wrote fund manager Ed Legget of the Artemis UK Select fund. Large state-supported carriers are so loaded with debt and often expensive cost structures that theyre unlikely to be able to profit from any emergent demand from luxury travelers.
Some carriers, such as Qatar Airways, are seeing luxury travelers fill some seats in the front of their planes that were previously sold to business travelers, said Madhu Unnikrishnan, editor of Airline Weekly, a Skift brand. But todays leisure luxury travelers usually arent as profitable or numerous as yesterdays corporate flyers.
Some travelers are shifting budgets ordinarily spent on standard international trips to luxury domestic travel. Staying in ones home country can avoid pandemic-era costs for testing, proofs of vaccination, or flexible trip cancellation insurance any of which authorities may require for some overseas trips. Travelers can use the saved money on perks instead.
At the high end of the market, one can hear a rising buzz around shared and private aviation services, which are touting a boom in demand. Membership-based private aviation services got a toehold during the pandemics start by touting uncrowded flights.
Aero shared private jet service. Source: Aero.
Exhibit A is Aero, which offers premium semi-private jet connections to scenic and glamorous destinations, such as its Los Angeles to Aspen route. In March, Aero raised $20 million in funding.
Aero owns the planes and flies them out of private terminals, and it matches up small groups of flyers going to the same airports at the same time. For more context, see Skifts earlier story on private jets.
Worldwide, business travel may rebound over time. That will also help the luxury travel sector.
Not every brand will be well-positioned to take advantage of a surge in demand. Yet some experts see a long-term future where domestic leisure luxury travel anticipates a worldwide sector recovery that savvy hoteliers and resort owners can capture.
The high-end tranche of the market just keeps growing long term, said Joshua Caspi, principal at Caspi Development. But its truly an art to run your operations to support the five-star experience while driving out unnecessary expenses.
A case in point: Caspi Development plans next year to open the first U.S. outpost of the Paris-based Hotel Barrire Le Fouquet brand in Tribeca, New York. Workers had to dig 28 feet below the Hudson River to build a spa with an aqua trail pool, meaning a circuit of jetted water and steam rooms, and a separate, underground 100-seat screening room for movies.
Ownership structures can also make profitability more elusive.
When you look at the five-star brands internationally, theres a wide array of brand missions, Caspi said. Some brands are all about top-line revenue growth and their top-line fee base for operations. So revenue share is very low in those scenarios.
Its rare to push room revenue up from, say, a 20 percent range of revenue share and push up into the 30s, said Caspi.
But despite the need for operational smarts, there are many favorable winds for luxury travel.
It certainly seems like many would want a less dense setting, with higher standards, and greater capability to manage the unexpected perhaps as a substitute for what would have been an international trip, said Aran Ryan, director, lodging analytics at Tourism Economics, a consultancy thats part of Oxford Economics.
Plus, the chance to have a real reward after all this craziness, Ryan said.
Heres another headwind for luxury travel: Some regions of the world will take much longer to recover than others.
In Latin America, many luxury and standard travel businesses are family-owned or modestly capitalized. The prolonged revenue crisis has forced many entrepreneurs and their talented employees to leave the sector.
Were talking less about the recovery of travel now and talking more about the reconstruction of travel,' said Rogerio Basso, head of tourism at IDB Invest, the private sector institution of the IDB Group. Basso points to an online analytic tool, the international tourism demand model, which enables destinations to estimate when demand will return for their markets.
International travel drove pre-crisis spending on luxury travel. Think of the scene from Netflixs reality series Bling Empire where the daughter of a tech billionaire said, My horses fly Emirates.
Sadly for Jaime Xie and other crazy rich millennials, the resumption of international travel is coming in fits and starts.
It really matters a lot how you define luxury travel, said Ulf Sonntag, head of market research at the Institute for Tourism in Hamburg. Right now for Germans, luxury travel is doing any travel at all.
In Africa, many nations depend on foreign visitors to feed their tourism market. The luxury safari tourism market, in particular, had been valued at about $1.18 billion in 2018. It may take a couple of years to recover to that level.
But even on the river deltas, there are green shoots for luxury travel.
Were encouraged as we look to the return of luxury travel, said Hadley Allen, chief commercial officer at Wilderness Safaris.
Were seeing a 40 percent increase in guest spend from 2019 on average bookings for 2022 trips, Hadley said.
Adding to its portfolio, this month Wilderness Safaris opened the rebuilt DumaTau, a seven-unit luxury camp in northern Botswana by the Linyanti Wilderness Reserve.
Wilderness Safaris opened a revamped DumaTau luxury camp in Linyanti, Botswana. Source: Wilderness Safaris.
The needs of luxury leisure travelers have morphed through the pandemic. To explain this, well borrow from the hierarchy of needs, a theory by psychologist Abraham Maslow that says people have basic needs related to their bodies, safety, love, esteem, and self-actualization.
In 2016, travel technology firm Amadeus drew on industry expertise to create a hierarchy of needs for luxury travelers in its report, Shaping the Future of Luxury Travel Future Traveler Tribes 2030.
In homage to that concept, weve updated Amadeuss inspired pyramid making some tweaks to reflect what experts are now saying about the shifting needs of luxury travelers.
Proper health protocols have obviously gained importance as a desirable luxury.
Our guests are still mindful about social distancing and want to continue to spend more time in the home than usual, said Dyjecinski of Onefinestay, which manages luxury vacation rentals. So were having conversations with guests about upgrading their home amenities and coordinating new, special experiences while they are there. Options could be anything from a private mixology experience to a personalized yoga session or in-home beauty treatments.
More broadly, physical vitality has taken on a renewed value given how stay-at-home restrictions made many people feel sluggish.
Now, more than ever wellness is at the forefront of travelers priorities and that has translated into a significant rise in spa appointments, said Torsten van Dullemen, general manager and area vice president of Mandarin Oriental, Washington D.C. Were also experiencing much of the same at our other hotels in Boston and New York City.
Image of a luxury hotel property in Kowloon City, Hong Kong. Shangri-La Group announced today that it is introducing the Shangri-La Cares commitment which elevates its already rigorous hygiene and safety protocols. Source: Shangri-La Hotels
Before the pandemic, half of the respondents in a 2019 survey said they believed that the relaxing experience of luxury travel has a more marked effect on their health than watching their diet or staying active. The result, from a survey of 2,000 high-income Americans by research firm Mintel, underscored how wellness has already become a broader concept, and that luxury no longer equaled mere decadence.
In my conversations with hoteliers and other people crafting high-end experiences, theres always a recurring talking point: the need for discovery and fellowship, wrote Skift On Experience columnist Colin Nagy right before the crisis. The pandemic has amplified the need.
After a year of Zoom calls, many discerning travelers define luxury travel today less by the thread count of the bedsheets and more by access to the places and experiences that represent all that is authentic about a place, said premium tour operator Abercrombie & Kent.
Post-crisis, many travelers crave the sensory side of travel, which can include tented experiences or other visceral treats.
A year of remote work has also made people of all ages more comfortable with online shopping and digital communication. Luxury brands need to blend their high-touch approach with digital tools.
Marriott Solaz, a Luxury Collection Hotel in Los Cabos, Mexico, conducts pre-arrival video calls with guests to introduce the person who will be their contact throughout their stay. Travel concierge services like Embark Beyond, John Paul Group, and Virtuoso all use a blend of text-based chat and machine-learning software. The goal is to help advisors, agents, and concierges engage with clients the way some customers want to be reached.
Exclusivity, visceral experiences, and community are very appealing today.
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How Luxury Travel Is Leading the Recovery: A Skift Deep Dive - Skift
‘I recall it with deep despair’: North Sea marks five years since Norway helicopter crash – News for the Oil and Gas Sector – Energy Voice
The North Sea today marks five years since a tragic crash in Norway killed 13 people and changed the future of offshore helicopter transportation.
Workers dubbed the Super Puma helicopter model, once dominant in the sector, the flying coffin after the crash off the island of Turoy in 2016.
It was the last straw for the sector, which had endured a spate of crashes since 2009, claiming 33 lives, with the Super Puma, which has not been in service in the North Sea for the last five years.
Jake Molloy, regional organiser of the RMT union, said: For a lot of the guys it would instil terror to get into that particular model of aircraft and I think a lot of guys breathe easy at the thought that were not using them.
I recall it, like Ive recalled so many down the years, with deep despair that life can so tragically be lost. It really is an event that I wouldnt want anyone to experience. Ive lost good friends and colleagues through the years in events like this.
It sits in the forefront of your mind all the time. Even sitting in the garden, as I am now, seeing them flying overhead, those thoughts come back to you. They never go away.
On April 29, 2016, a CHC-operated Super Puma went down while carrying oil workers from the Gullfaks B platform to Bergen Airport.
Iain Stuart, 41, from Laurencekirk, was among those killed in the crash off Turoy in Norway, taking place after the main rotor detached from the helicopter.
In the last seconds of its journey the chopper fell 2,000 feet, with witnesses describing an explosion in the sky.
The rotor broke off due to a fatigue fracture in a second stage planet gear in the main rotor gearbox.
Investigators later said it was probable that the failure was caused by tiny pieces of debris wearing away at the component. The system installed for detecting the particles was inadequate, they added.
Manufacturer Airbus said it has always expressed deep regret for the accident off Turoy and in recent times has reached settlements with families of the victims, while fully appreciating that such arrangements cannot possibly atone for the loss of their loved ones.
A spokesman said: All of us were shocked and saddened by this event and we continue to extend our sincere and profound sympathies to the families of the bereaved.
Despite the Super Puma crashes, though, many pilots still back the aircraft, which Airbus continues to sell widely in industries such as law enforcement and search and rescue.
Mr Molloy, of RMT, said, for whatever reason, the North Sea appears to have been its Achilles heel.
Along with Norwegian colleagues, trade unions in the UK plan to maintain a position that the Super Puma cannot fly again in the industry.
I think youd find a considerable pushback from the offshore workforce for that ever to be suggested in any case, he said.
Certainly this generation wont be climbing into a Super Puma anytime soon.
The victims were Iain Stuart, 41, Behnam Ahmadi, 54, Arild Fossedal, 43, Ole Magnar Kvamme, 60, Odd Geir Tury, 54, Otto Mikal Vasstveit, 54, Kjetil Wathne, 51, Michele Vimercati, 44, Tommas Helland, 50, Espen Samuelsen, 35, Lyder Martin Telle, 57, and Olav Bastiansen, 57 and Silje Ye Rim Veivg Krogsther, 32.
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'I recall it with deep despair': North Sea marks five years since Norway helicopter crash - News for the Oil and Gas Sector - Energy Voice
Single-Use Plastics Found at the Deepest Points of the Ocean – Technology Networks
Plastic is "missing" in the oceanSingle-use plastics are, as the name suggests, manufactured for one use before being disposed of. Examples include the plastic cutlery that accompanies your takeout meal, straws, wrappers or general food packaging. Of the 300 million tons of plastic we produce yearly, 50% is attributed to single-use plastics.
Between 117-320 million tons of plastics are currently present in the ocean. However, the amount of plastic debris that has been quantified on the ocean surface is less than one percent of this total figure. Where is the rest of the plastic?
Scientists acknowledge that a large amount of plastic in the ocean is effectively missing. It "goes off the radar", moving from the ocean surface and shallow waters to the deeper ocean. It is likely that some plastic will be degraded by one of three pathways: mechanical, photodegradation or biological degradation; however, research suggests that it can take years, perhaps even centuries, for different plastics to undergo complete degradation by such methods if they are able to occur at the deepest points of the ocean.
"Many scientists believe floating plastics eventually sink into the deeper ocean, yet we havent reached a consensus regarding the amount of plastic debris that has accumulated on the deep seafloor and how these debris were transported there," explains Ryota Nakajima, biological oceanographer at the Japan Agency for Marine Science and Technology (JAMSTEC).
Nakajima is one of the scientists behind a new body of work published in Marine Pollution Bulletin that presents the first study of microplastics on the abyssal seafloor beneath the Kuroshio Extension (KE) and the KE recirculation gyre.
"Why Japanese deep-sea? Because most of the plastic is coming from the Asian continent. A previous study (Jambeck et al. 2015) estimated the top 20 contributors of mismanaged plastic waste available to enter the ocean in 2010.2 Nations on the Asian continent represented 12 of the top 20 countries, with China way out ahead of the pack [] Japan is located in the area where a large amount of plastic waste is transported from these massive waste producers via ocean currents such as Kuroshio, so the seas around Japan could be a hotspot of plastic debris," Nakajima says.
Nakajima and colleagues conducted video observations and physical sampling of plastic debris from multiple deep-sea floor sites beneath the KE and its recirculation gyre, a depth of approximately 5700-5800m, using a human occupied submersible, the Shinkai 6500.
The researchers found that the majority of the debris was single-use plastics, such as plastic bags and food packaging. The mean number of items per km2 was approximately 4561, the highest on record for an abyssal plain.
The specific items collected by the team were varied, including clothes, a toothpaste tube and steak packaging that was dated September 1984 meaning it was 35 years old at the time of collection. The packaging can be seen as visually intact in the image below. "This is an interesting example of the persistence of plastic debris in the marine environment. UV radiation and thermal oxidation are the primary factors to degrade plastics, but these factors are completely missing in the deep-sea environment. Plastic debris on the deep seafloor will most likely persist for at least a century," Nakajima explains.
Chicken steak packaging discovered by the research team. Credit: Nakajima.
The overall findings were, as Nakajima and team had hypothesized, that the deep-sea floor beneath the KE and its recirculation gyre act as a significant reservoir of plastic debris.
The researchers believe that the journey to find missing plastics in the ocean has barely begun. Next summer, the team will target the deep-sea floor beneath the other recirculation gyre of the Kuroshio Current, named the Kuroshio recirculation gyre, which is located to the south of the Japanese archipelago.
Ryota Nakajima was speaking with Molly Campbell, Science Writer for Technology Networks.
References:
1. Nakajima R, Tsuchiya M, Yabuki A, et al. Massive occurrence of benthic plastic debris at the abyssal seafloor beneath the Kuroshio Extension, the North West Pacific. Marine Pollution Bulletin. 2021:112188. doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.112188.
2. Jambeck JR, Geyer R, Wilcox C, et al. Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean. Science. 2015;347(6223):768. doi:10.1126/science.1260352.
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Single-Use Plastics Found at the Deepest Points of the Ocean - Technology Networks
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Has pharma missed the boat? – PharmaTimes
A year ago, amid deep concern over COVID-19 and frantic work to develop vaccines, some of pharmas heaviest hitters saw the possibility of reputational enhancement.
Novartis AG chief executive (CEO) Vas Narasimhan dubbed it a "remarkable, perhaps once-in-a generation opportunity" back in April during the company's first quarter earnings call. Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks, meanwhile, closely echoed this sentiment, stating the sector had a once in a generation opportunity to reset its reputation.
Indeed, the world watched news of vaccine development with bated breath. In the public mind, pharma companies came to be associated with hard-working scientists seeking to cure the world.
Yet it seems like that moment may already be passing, and the opportunity for rehabilitation in the public mind could disappear unless pharma companies take stock.
Earlier this year I warned that the industry may have put all of its eggs into the Covid-19 basket. A dive into our latest analysis of how the pharmaceutical sector is viewed through the crucial lens of its Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) actions bears this out, suggesting that the sector may already have missed the boat.
Fading glory
Our insights last year pointed to an improvement in stakeholder perceptions for the sector in 2020, as many warmed to pharma companies thanks to the halo effect of the vaccines. And while recent polling of a sample of the general public by RepTrak indicates that this trend has continued, our latest intelligence finds that this improvement has been short lived.
The headline figure from our deep dive into millions of alternative data, including media, regulator, investor, government, public and NGO sources from December 1, 2020, to February 28 this year shows average ESG perceptions of pharma have since nosedived.
Now, out of a possible range of -100% to +100%, the sectors average ESG rating is -20%, compared to +10% in the previous quarter.
Whats going on? Last June, The Economist compared COVID-19 vaccine development to the way mass production of penicillin during the Second World War revitalised the industrys reputation.
Positive headlines have since dwindled. Media attention had shifted from stories of firms collaborating for the benefit of humanity onto more complex territory. High profile issues like vaccine nationalism, anti-vaxxers and pharma companies falling foul of international politics amid the debate over possible side effects have come to the forefront.
The focus on vaccine manufacturers AstraZeneca and Pfizer, meanwhile, has led to increased scrutiny on the companies histories of alleged corruption and ethical breaches.
The pharmaceutical sector is of course, far bigger than its work onCOVID-19. With the initial shock if not the consequences of the pandemic having passed, we may expect this trend to continue. Scandals that may have not received attention last year will once again garner column inches and retweets even as the pandemic remains a global issue.
Dragging the industry down
What are the crucial ESG factors dragging the industry down?Business ethics is the single-most concerning issue for the industry right now, with a score of -13%. Major lawsuits against Roche and Biogen have opened a Pandoras box of bribery and corruption allegations, garnering major pick-up on social media in the process.
Biogen, which had to pay $22 million to resolve allegations that it illegally paid insurance co-payments for thousands of patients in order to collect Medicare revenue, languishes bottom of our list of 20 companies, with a -67% rating. This represents a drop of -80% compared to the previous quarter.
Roche, the best perceived pharma firm in the previous quarter with +64%, is now seventh with a rating of -3%, having had to pay out a $12.5 million for false claims through Humanas Medicare Advantage programme.
However, unless more scandal emerges, the firms longer-term progress on key ESG issues such as supply chain sustainability means it is well-placed to bounce back. Other firms would do well to take note.
A second issue afflicting the industrys ESG rating is affordability and pricing, with 12 firms scoring negatively on this issue.
While AstraZeneca offered to sell its COVID-19 vaccine at cost price until the pandemic is over, Moderna and Pfizers recent announcement that their versions are likely to contribute at least $15 billion and $18.4 billion respectively to sales this year will have gone down far better with shareholders than the wider public.
This, no doubt, has contributed to Pfizers fall 14 places to 19th position on our ESG rankings of 20 firms, with a score of -65% compared to +14% in the previous quarter. While AstraZenecas ESG score has also dropped, it has only moved down one position to 13th. There is a good chance that its cost price decision will be remembered positively in years to come.
Negative perceptions of affordability and pricing extend beyond issues relating to COVID-19, of course. Price hikes by AbbVie, Bristol Myers Squibb, GSK, Pfizer, Sanofi and Teva in late January have contributed towards the narrative shift to more negative territory.
Hot on the heels of this spike in negative news, meanwhile, came the refusal of nine companies - Amgen, AZ, Eli Lilly, Merck, Novartis and Novo Nordisk among them - to sell therapies at the price legally required by section 340B of the US Public Health Services Act.
Not all bad
It is easy to focus purely on the negatives amid pharmas broader shift in ESG ratings, but the traffic is not all one-way.
The sector has received the most positive ESG-related coverage when it comes to access to medicines, most likely due to the publication of the Access to Medicines Index. This annual report has shone a light on a range of successful initiatives and companies that have developed compelling access plans for low and middle income countries.
Praise for Takedas Access First approach, Patient Assistance Programs and consideration of end-to end' patient access to treatment have played a major key role in its ESG ascent from +11% the previous quarter to +56%, giving it top spot on our index.
Also moving up the ranks is Bayer, which came in second place with +40%, an increase from +8% the previous quarter. The firms ascent is linked with drug safety, an area that also garnered overall positive ESG perceptions with Bayer playing an important role in a new alliance with CureVac, for the development of CVnCoV, a COVID vaccine.
A new challenge
The vast challenges of 2020 offered pharmaceutical companies the chance to re-forge their images in the court of public perception.
For instance, Pfizer paid for National Geographic to follow the development of a vaccine, while Johnson & Johnson launched a social media serieson the hunt for a vaccine, drawing a vast, global audience.
Our ESG findings, however, indicate that pharmaceutical firms that expected a long-termimage-polish borne from vaccine development were sorely misguided.Perceptions of an industry coming together to help the common cause have faded as the reality and complexities of the vaccine rollout kick in.
The narrative is likely to shift towards the global disparities in vaccine acquisition, and attention is shifting once again to the norms of pharma coverage that preceded COVID-19.
Despite all this, the opportunity described by the likes of Vas Narasimhan has not completely vanished. Utilising the opportunity, however, requires far more than some well thought out content and a few savvy marketing gestures.
It demands that firms fully react to growing ESG expectations, building ESG practice into their wider models whether or not they are helping vaccinate the world from COVID-19.It is only by making these changes, and taking the public along with them as they do so, that any fundamental, long lasting shift in perception is achievable.
Siera Torontow is the Managing Director of Healthcare and Consumer Practice at alva
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Has pharma missed the boat? - PharmaTimes
BlanQuil weighted blankets: Products and brand review – Medical News Today
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BlanQuil sells a range of mattresses, bedding, and sleep accessories. Its products include a variety of weighted blankets, including cooling, travel, and kid-friendly options.
Some people report that the extra pressure of a weighted blanket provides benefits, such as reduced anxiety and improved sleep.
In this article, we discuss the BlanQuil brand in more detail, including its reputation and the weighted blankets it sells. We also look at the science behind weighted blankets and discuss whether they could offer health benefits.
BlanQuil is a company selling sleep accessories, such as weighted blankets, mattresses, and bedding.
BlanQuil manufactures its products in China, and they are available from the BlanQuil website or in stores across the United States. The company also ships to Canada.
Positive online reviews for BlanQuil weighted blankets frequently mention:
Negative online reviews note:
BlanQuil claims that its weighted blankets apply gentle pressure evenly across the body to help promote relaxation and reduce stress. For people who use them for sleeping, they should allow a deeper, more restful sleep.
BlanQuil states that their weighted blankets use high density, eco-friendly glass microbeads to provide the weight. They also have ties to connect the blanket to a duvet to prevent slippage.
BlanQuil advises people to choose a blanket weight that is 815% of their body weight to feel as though the blanket hugs them. However, a person can select whichever blanket they think will feel most comfortable for them.
Learn about how heavy a weighted blanket should be here.
BlanQuil weighted blanket options include:
Similar products that a person can consider include:
This blanket may suit people who want to try a weighted blanket for the first time and would prefer not to spend too much money doing so.
Features include:
People may want to try the Huggaroo Pouch as an alternative option to a weighted blanket for children.
The Huggaroo Pouch is a fitted, weighted sheet that stretches over the bed to provide even pressure without the extra weight or heat of a weighted blanket.
Learn about more of the best weighted blankets here.
Weighted blankets may help reduce anxiety and increase relaxation.
A 2015 pilot study looked at the effects of a 30-lb weighted blanket on 30 adults receiving inpatient care for mental health conditions. Measurements from the State Trait Anxiety Inventory-10 (STAI-10) and a self-rating system showed that 60% of the participants experienced a significant reduction in anxiety when using a weighted blanket.
Learn more about weighted blankets and anxiety here.
A 2015 article involving 31 adults with chronic insomnia suggests that weighted blankets may help with this condition.
The participants maintained their usual sleep environment for a week. They then used a Somna AB weighted blanket for 2 weeks before returning to their usual sleep environment for the final week.
Objective and subjective measures showed improved sleep quality with the use of the weighted blanket. Objective improvements were higher among those who reported a positive experience of using the weighted blanket and also used sleep medication.
However, it is important to note that Somna AB supported the study with a grant and that there was no control group or placebo blanket.
Learn more about the potential health benefits and risks of weighted blankets here.
BlanQuil offers a range of weighted blankets in different weights and sizes, including travel and child-friendly option.
Some research suggests that weighted blankets may help with anxiety and insomnia, although researchers still need to conduct further studies to confirm these benefits.
Weighted blankets may not be suitable for everyone. Anyone with existing health conditions, particularly circulatory, breathing, or temperature-regulating issues, should check with a doctor before trying one of these products.
A doctor can also advise whether older adults and young children are safe to use a weighted blanket.
Excerpt from:
BlanQuil weighted blankets: Products and brand review - Medical News Today
A New Book Explores the Connections Between Music, Physics, and Neuroscience – Columbia University
Q. Can a music lover appreciate the book without having a deep knowledge of math, physics, or neuroscience?
A. Thats the goal. Once you mention math, art lovers and musicians glaze over: Not that they arent interested, but they are confident that they wont be able to follow the discussion. Untrue! This book goes into the nitty gritty of how math and biology underlie music, yet you dont need math skills beyond 5thgrade multiplication and division to understand the content.
In my class related to the book at Columbia, students range from undergrads to medical students to professors in other fields. Each student creates a project based on themes in the book, ranging from building new musical instruments, to creating new sounds, to writing deep learning algorithms that differentiate phrasing by famous piano virtuosos.
Q. What came first for you, neuroscience or music?
A. In junior high school, I fell in love with plantsin part, from Euell Gibbons booksand spent my time in forests with field guides. In college, I studied plant breeding, and thought I would be a contemporary Norman Bourlag and develop better agriculture for the world. After moving to New York City, I made a living for a year as a gigging musician. I applied to grad school in biology at Columbia, but there was only one plant laboratoryAlberto Mancinellis. We each had to take a neuroscience course run by Martin Chalfie and Darcy Kelley. I had not known the field existed until then.
Q. How does your work as a professor and lab directorat Columbia intersect with your life as a musician and composer?
A. These fields are starting to intersect. A talented grad student in my lab, Adrien Stanley, found that a sound associated with another sensory input elicits a specific and enormous change in a specific synaptic connection deep in the brain. His finding provides an entry to discovering how language and music are learned and coupled to meaning. This is important for normal learning and diseases of auditory processing, particularly autism. We are conducting this research with computational scientists, geneticists, and with our own skills as neurophysiologists. I dont think I would know how to start asking these questions if I hadnt taught my students about the auditory pathway.
Q. What music have you listened to during the pandemic?
A. Theres been wonderful music made during this period. David First is producing outstanding pandemic recordings, including drone music onThe Consummation of Right and Wrongwhich may not seem appealing until you listenand great pop songs related to Black Lives Matter withNew Party Systems. The Iranian-L.A. musician Sussan Deyhim is doing startling new work. Theres the new record Tyabala, from Lecole Fula Flute, children in Conakry, Guinea coached by New York musician Sylvain Leroux. This has been a good time to listen to gospel choirs, which Ive been discovering and rediscoveringTrey McLaughlin and the Sounds of Zamar, Kirk Franklin, Bob TelsonsGospel at Colonus.
Q. Any book recommendations?
A. I may have been intellectually transformed by explorer-entomologist Mark Moffetts new book,The Human Swarm. If he is right, some of our most despicable behavior is biologically built-in, just as it is for ants. He writes that pettiness, status-seeking, backstabbing, and nationalism are innate, and that the better we understand this, the better we can deal with issues that will always show up in human society.
Q. What are you teaching now? How have you been able to help your students cope with online learning?
A. For lab research, we had to coordinate schedules so that only one person is in a room at a time. During the several weeks we couldnt do any experiments, all students worked on review papers about the history of their research. This forces them to learn their roots, produces useful articles for the rest of the field, and, for grad students, doubles as the first chapters of their dissertations.
Q. You're hosting a dinner party. Which three academics or scholars, dead or alive, would you invite and why?
A. If the dinner party ought to be in a language I can nearly speak, Ill invite Jonathan Swift, abona-fide academic as Dean of St. Patricks in Dublin, and his troubled spiritual descendent, George Orwell, likewise a dyed-in-the-wool academic who taught college.
Orwell was well aware that his own bleary-eyed One World utopian ideals ran contrary to Swifts dour Anglican view of humanitys venality, and yet Swift was his single greatest influence. Due to the unfair one-way direction of time, Swift hasnt had a chance to hear Orwell out. For a priest, Swift seems to have been talented at partying, and the music will be provided by his close friend, Turlough OCarolan, the blind harpist and sort of national composer of Ireland. If available, hell bring the English folk musician Eliza Carthy to sing Swifts lyrics. Im afraid that the menu will be Guinness and chips in curry sauce wrapped in newspaper.
Check out Booksto learn more about publicationsby Columbia professors.
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A New Book Explores the Connections Between Music, Physics, and Neuroscience - Columbia University
Global Mindfulness Meditation Apps Market (2020) to Witness Huge Growth by 2026 | Deep Relax, Smiling Mind, Inner Explorer, Inc., Committee for…
The Mindfulness Meditation Apps market research report comprises in-depth information of the entire market as well as the industry and its functioning. The report comprises of industry analysis, market size & share, forecast analysis, market drivers, market opportunities market restraints, region analysis, growth analysis, latest trends and covid-19 impact analysis. The Mindfulness Meditation Apps Market research report also gives an in-depth analysis on the major key players/companies, latest developments & trending news and all future plans of the Mindfulness Meditation Apps market. The data present in the research report is represented in the form of graphs, tables and charts to have a detailed understanding of the entire market.
Download Sample Copy of Mindfulness Meditation Apps Market Report Study 2019-2026 At: https://www.zealinsider.com/report/52658/mindfulness-meditation-apps-market#sample
COVID-19 Impact:
The Corona virus outbreak has disrupted & disturbed every sector of business as well as human activity. In most parts of the world there has been a complete restriction set by governments regarding various activities. Thereby the report comprises of the entire information of how the market has been impacted and how it has affected the growth of the market. The Mindfulness Meditation Apps report showcases how the market is going to revive and what is the situation of the market at present as COVID-19 is again spreading and increasing in most parts of the world.
Manufacturers Information:
In the Mindfulness Meditation Apps report the major key players (Deep Relax, Smiling Mind, Inner Explorer Inc., Committee for Children, Stop Breathe & Think PBC, The Mindfulness App, Mindfulness Everywhere Ltd., Ten Percent Happier, Breethe, Insights Network Inc., Simple Habit Inc., Calm.com Inc., Meditation Moments B.V., Headspace Inc.) along with each companies in depth information is provided such as business offerings, latest news, revenue as well as other such information is provided for each manufacturer of the market. The report also provides a competitive analysis graph which shows each companies strength as well as global presence.
Segmentation:
The Mindfulness Meditation Apps market is segmented based on product types, applications and end-users. Thereby each segment showcases are explained in detail along with the highest share holding segment along with the reasons to justify its growth as well as its contribution to the market. The segmentation is also provided in pie charts as well as graphs to make it easier for the reader to understand.
On the basis of Types: IOS, Android
On the basis of Application: 0 Years, 1Years, 1 Years, Years and Above
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The regional analysis of the Mindfulness Meditation Apps market is divided and segmented based on different regions and also the major shareholding region that holds a large share in the market during the present as well as forecast period. The Mindfulness Meditation Apps market is segmented based on various regions such as:
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Line of Duty, season 6 episode 5 recap: Davidson is in deep but who fired those cliffhanger shots? – The Telegraph
Well, blow me down, its James Nesbitt
Heres where it starts to get really complicated. The SIO (Senior Investigating Officer) who made such a cack-handed job of the Christopher investigation was none of other than DCI Marcus Thurwell. If you recognise that name, give yourself a huge gold star and a promotion to Acting DI he was last referenced in series three, in conjunction with the Sands View Boys Home scandal. Thurwell was the SIO into the suicide of the Sands View whistleblower, Oliver Stephens-Lloyd.
He had taken early retirement and was last spotted swanning about in deck shoes on a jetty in Spain, where he bears an uncanny resemblance to James Nesbitt (the actor who only a few weeks back was complaining he had never been cast in Line of Duty fellas, hes played us). So, Vella was about to dig out the ugly truth about the death of Lawrence Christopher did Lee and Carl Banks tip off Thurwell? Is Thurwell H? Does H stand for Him from Cold Feet?
Not complicated enough for you? Okay. Also on Thurwells team for the Christopher investigation were none other than DCI Ian Buckells (Nigel Boyle), bent copper and OCG fall guy, and Chief Constable Philip Osborne (Owen Teale), the police chief who is currently putting the kibosh on all anti-corruption investigations and closing AC-12. Blimey, this goes deep.
But why was the Christopher killing covered up in the first place? Surely throwing a few racist custody officers and/or gang of neer-do-wells under the bus would have been easier? Well One of the racist thugs who attacked Christopher was Darren Hunter, son of OCG head honcho Tommy Hunter, who it seems must have put pressure on Thurwell (and possibly Buckells and Osborne) to ensure his boy walked free.
That boy, of course, we now know is related to DCI Joanne Davidson, the SIO on Operation Lighthouse, the investigation into the murder of Gail Vella, who it seems was killed for digging into the death of Lawrence Christopher Making sense yet?
Ted Hastings (Adrian Dunbar) would be proud of Arnott, who has doggedly followed his hunch about a bent copper. Unfortunately for Hastings, that bent copper is him. Arnott received the forensics report on the cash he found in Steph Corbetts attic and, lo and behold, it was the same cash given to Hastings in that dodgy deal from series five. But why would Hastings give 50,000 to John Corbetts widow?
Arnott discovered the truth (or, as this is Line of Duty, the temporary truth) in his prison chat with Lee Banks, who informed Arnott it was Hastings who told him that Corbett was an undercover police officer. So: whether deliberately or not, Hastings got Corbett killed, and the 50,000 is guilt money.
Read more here:
Line of Duty, season 6 episode 5 recap: Davidson is in deep but who fired those cliffhanger shots? - The Telegraph
Calvin University Selects Noah Toly As Provost – News – Calvin News
Calvin Universitys provost search committee has recommendedNoah Toly as the universitys next provost. Toly currently serves at Wheaton College as executive director of the Center for Urban Engagement, chair of urban studies, and professor of urban studies and politics & international relations.
Calvin conducted a national search for the provost position, and Tolys name rose to the top of a highly qualified and diverse pool of candidates. PresidentMichael Le Roy and professor of chemistry and biochemistryKumar Sinniah co-chaired the 13-member search committee which included representatives from the universitys faculty and administration.
We are delighted to welcome Noah to Calvin. He is an accomplished academic, a deeply committed Christian, and is enthusiastic about the Calvin community and the Reformed faith, said Le Roy, who appointed Toly following the search committees recommendation. His teaching, scholarship, and community engagement represent his commitment to seeking understanding and promoting the flourishing of all people, which is what we are aspiring to as well at Calvinto be a trusted partner.
Tolyhas spent much of his time in academia at Wheaton College. Its where his journey started as an undergraduate studying interdisciplinary studies and Spanish, and where he later returned to teach after earning a masters and doctorate from the University of Delaware in urban affairs and public policy. With almost two decades spent at Wheaton, the past 15 as a professor, he knew it would be hard for him to leave.
But, in recent years, Toly, an accomplished academic and public intellectual, started to get callspeople asking him to consider positions at other institutions. With this becoming a more frequent thing, a confidant of Tolys suggested that he make a short list of specific positions at specific institutions hed be willing to leave Wheaton for.
I made a very, very short list, said Toly.
The Calvin provost position was on that list.
I have always admired Calvin, said Toly. It is a university that has made room for a flourishing of life and mind across the disciplines. It is known for deep commitments to excellent teaching, outstanding scholarship, and fidelity to Reformed Christianity.
These were things that stood out to Toly from a distance. But Tolys proximity to Calvin and its faculty over the past decade would tighten. He spent a couple of weeks one summer at Calvin for a Seminars in Christian Scholarship conference, co-keynoted another conference, co-taught classes at the Au Sable Institute, and is currently a co-principal investigator on a Council for Christian Colleges and Universities grant, all alongside Calvin faculty members.
Ive had a lot of collaborators and friends at Calvin over the years. Through them, Ive had the privilege of learning not only about their work but about the good work underway across the university, said Toly.
And the closer Toly got, the more attracted he became to Calvins mission and its values.
Calvins entire mission statement is a beautiful articulation not only of what Christian educators should be doing, but what we should aspire to as Christians, what the church should aspire to, said Toly. And, especially that last part of the mission statement: live wholeheartedly as Christs agents of renewal in the world. It seems appropriately ambitious, and I think it requires faith, and hope, and lovewe need all three of the theological virtues to do this work. Faith in God who works through creation and redemption, hope in his transformative work of new creation, and love for God and for our neighbors are all required if we are to live as Christs agents of renewal in the world.
And equally as attractive to Toly is Calvin Universitys vision, which includes aspiring to become a trusted partnerto come alongside groups of all different Christian traditions, all over the world and ask how Calvin can best partner with them to promote flourishing. Aiming to become known as a trusted partner is something Toly has demonstrated a commitment to for years.
Some institutions can become turned in on themselves and exist for their own sake, said Toly, but Calvin seems to be a place that knows it exists for the church and world.
Toly points to the work happening through theCalvin Prison Initiative as one tangible example of that vision being lived out and says hes been watching that program closely at a distance for the past couple of years.
And as this vision is realized at Calvin, the search committee saw no better person to lead this effort than Toly, who has been living out the central tenets of Calvins vision during his time at Wheaton, perhaps most clearly demonstrated through his leadership in relocating the Wheaton in Chicago program to the southside neighborhood of Woodlawn, where the program has connected with community organizations and churches, developing new practices of community engagement that help students, faculty, and staff to learn from local partners.
Our center, community partners, and others at Wheaton were aligned in the hope that the move would help the college to learn and grow when it came to diversity, inclusion, justice, and unity. We prayed that God would teach us through the move, and he has been teaching us, said Toly. We moved to a neighborhood where the fresh wounds and old scars of racial injustice were as poignant and salient as they are anywhere in the country, and that has required us to learn new modes of community engagement. Weve had to adjust the pace of our work to match our community partnersmoving from decide slowly, commit late, implement quickly to decide quickly, commit early, and implement slowly. We had to become more aware of our blind spots.
One of the tangible outcomes of this work was the launching of an initiative that brought first-generation students from Woodlawn and select adjacent neighborhoods into the Wheaton in Chicago curriculum and offering co-curricular experiences for credit at no cost.
Ive had many opportunities to contribute to the work of diversity, equity, and inclusion at the college level, but my work in the Center for Urban Engagement and Urban Studies program has required consistent focus on these issues, said Toly. Semester-in, semester-out, week-in, week-outwith students, colleagues, our advisory board, and partnersit has required steady, long-term focus. Ive still got a lot to learnthis is not an issue where you arrive and youre done growingbut Im grateful for the many opportunities Ive had to learn and grow in these areas already. It is some of the most difficult work we have to do, and at the same time, some of the most rewarding and important work that we do.
For the search committee, they saw that Tolys teaching, scholarship, and community engagement demonstrated a commitment to values that are important to Calvin as it pursues its mission and vision.
Noahs breadth of experiences and vision aligns well with Calvins pursuit of its goal to be a leading global institution of Christian higher ed and to provide resources and walk alongside people from different Christian and cultural traditions, said Sinniah, who co-chaired the search committee.
Sinniah also says the search committee saw in Toly someone who is deeply committed to the Reformed faith.
Noah recognizes that central to Calvins vision is its commitments to Reformed Christianity. He frames the pursuit of all program innovations, educational experiences, and community involvements through a reformed Christian lens, said Sinniah. He will bring fresh insights and new energy to these pursuits.
Toly, who has spent more than two decades in confessionally Reformed churches says that his commitment to and appreciation for Reformed theology was a key attractional pull for him to this position.
We need the work of Jesus Christ and the Spirit to restore all of creation, but we can also acknowledge the goodness of creation, said Toly. We can affirm those good things, even while we affirm the necessity of the redemption of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Toly will begin his tenure as provost on July 1 and be formally installed as provost during the Fall Convocation ceremony in late August. He steps into the roleCheryl Brandsen is retiring from after faithfully serving as provost since 2014.
Those of us who serve in administrative leadership roles at Calvin respond to Gods call for a season. We entrust our work to God and have faith that God will provide the next leader to carry the mission forward, said Le Roy. Outgoing provost Cheryl Brandsen has served Calvin faithfully and commendably with the deep commitment to Calvins mission. We are grateful for her service and for her commitment to helping Noah to make a seamless transition into this leadership role at Calvin.
Toly says hes heard many great things about Brandsen and her leadership, including her commitment to fostering a community of high trust. For Toly, he aims to continue in this good work, and hopes that hell be known for gentle and faithful leadership, and for empowering others on campus.
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Calvin University Selects Noah Toly As Provost - News - Calvin News