Chattanooga-based Unum, a workplace insurance company, has formed a variety of partnerships with non-profit organizations in the U.S. and the United Kingdom.
The company issued its annual corporate responsibility report highlighting its commitment to diversity and inclusion, communities, the environment and public service.
In 2016, Unum and its employees in the U.S., U.K. and Ireland contributed more than $12.4 million and volunteered more than 87,000 hours to charitable organizations.
Phil Geelhoed, president and CEO of Special Olympics Maine, explained the importance of Unum to his nonprofit.
“We’re a staff of five employees serving 4,300 athletes and managing events throughout our state,” Geelhoed says. “Far beyond financial support, employees from Unum commit hundreds of hours to rolling up their sleeves to help plan events, serve as officials and, most important, support the athletes themselves.”
Other organizations highlighted in the report include the Richland County School District Two in South Carolina and The Hanover Theatre in Massachusetts.
River Associates closes 7th fund
Chattanooga-based River Associates Investments, a lower middle market private equity firm, has announced the closing of its seventh committed capital investment fund, River VII, LP.
Total commitments are $285 million, raised in about eight months, exceeding its original $250 million target.
Commitments to River VII came from university endowments, public company pension plans, insurance companies and family offices, a number of whom were investors in previous River Associates’ funds.
River VII officials say it will continue RAI’s almost 28-year strategy of control buyouts, in partnership with management teams, of lower middle market companies.
Founded in 1989, River Associates has invested in a total of 80 platform and add-on companies located in 23 different states and two Canadian provinces.
Treetop Hideways teams up with Dove
A men’s line of grooming products has teamed with two Chattanooga businessmen to showcase their wares in conjunction with a rustic treehouse spa.
Dove Men+Care Elements Treehouse has opened in Chattanooga at the foot of Lookout Mountain.
Dove Men+Care produces Elements men’s grooming products that promotes freshness, nature and outdoor life. Chattanoogans Andrew Alms and Enoch Elwell of Treetop Hideaways have partnered with the company and now have built their second treehouse.
The spa treehouse is described at a “spa in the sky,” with a glass-enclosed tree, skylights, and many windows.
The interior was curated by Will Taylor of Bright Bazaar, featuring a rustic design with modern amenities. He used the nature-inspired Elements ingredients throughout the space, including accents such as sage, mineral coasters, clay sinks, charcoal wall art, sandalwood scent diffusers and more.
The bedroom of the 360-square-foot bedroom offers sage bedding, charcoal-etched wall art and sandalwood wall accents. Shou Sugi Ban, an ancient Japanese technique that preserves wood by charring it with fire, was applied to the interior and exterior treehouse wood panels to evoke charcoal.
Hotel promotes new name, high rankings
The Courtyard Chattanooga at Hamilton Place has recently changed its name and also has been honored by travel-related websites.
The newly named Courtyard Chattanooga at Hamilton Place held a ceremony last week to commemorate the change and its recent honors from TripAdvisor and Booking.com.
TripAdvisor, with 500 million reviews covering more than 7 million accommodations, restaurants and attractions in 49 countries, named the hotel as winner of its 2017 Certificate of Excellence award, recognizing a hotel’s quality, quantity and frequency of guest opinions submitted over a 12-month period.
The hotel, which is near I-75 and within walking distance of Hamilton Place, had an overall rating of 4 out of 5 from reviews for a 12-month period.
Booking.com presented Courtyard Chattanooga at Hamilton Place with its 2016 Guest Review Award.
Chattanooga St. adds nuclear medicine
Chattanooga State Community College is adding a new program in nuclear medicine technology, having received approval from the state Board of Regents.
The two-year degree will teach students to administer radiopharmaceuticals to diagnose and treat disease. The program prepares students to be work ready, post-graduation.
The students qualify to sit for the two licensing board exams in nuclear medicine – the Nuclear Medicine Certification Board exam and the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists nuclear exam.
Upon graduation, the students also qualify to apply to the computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and sonography programs offered at Chattanooga State.
The program will accept its first cohort of students in summer 2018; applications will be due April 1.
UTC receives state grant to aid veterans
The Tennessee Higher Education Commission has announced 13 state colleges and universities, including the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, will receive additional funding and program support for veterans and service members working to earn postsecondary degrees as part of Governor Bill Haslam’s Drive to 55.
THEC will award $760,781 in total Veteran Reconnect funds. UTC’s grant is $19,017.
The 2017 grant program focused on improving the assessment of prior learning for student veterans returning to college, helping them more easily convert previous military experience into college credit, and improving the transition between military service and postsecondary education.
The commission will also provide technical assistance and professional development to Veteran Reconnect campuses around prior learning assessment for veterans.
Institutions receiving the grants are required to develop and implement new evaluation processes for translating military training into academic credit, while also ensuring that prospective and incoming student veterans have easy, clear access to the information.