Author Archives: Rita Ferrandino

Building Value in Your Business Through Incentives

As we have all learned in today’s precarious economy, measuring a company’s value only in dollars is not enough.  Instead, look at the company Steve Jobs left behind. By concentrating on creativity, innovation, aesthetics and customer loyalty, Apple is now worth more than Microsoft, though reaching today’s revenue levels took many years of putting value […]

Creating and Managing an Advisory Board

Every entrepreneur remembers the days of doing it all (perhaps because some of you are still in that phase!) Negotiating contracts, pursuing early adopters and emptying out the coffee pot at the end of the day was (or is) all in day’s work.  But there comes a time in all early-stage companies when you need […]

October Government Relations Update

Administration Overrides No Child Left Behind On September 23, President Obama announced that the administration would allow states to request waivers on No Child Left Behind regulations. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said that the administration was acting because of Congress’s failure to rewrite the law. The administration will waive the law’s proficiency requirements for […]

September Government Relations Update

American Jobs Act President Obama’s September 8 address to Congress laying out the details of his American Jobs Act proposal included information on $60 billion in funding for teachers and schools. Under the proposal, $30 billion would be allocated to prevent layoffs of up to 280,000 teachers. Under the legislation, another $30 billion would be […]

STEM Education at the White House

I recently had the incredible opportunity to attend a session of the Community Leaders Briefing Series at the White House on July 15th, along with about 150 other community leaders from Florida. The Briefing Series is sponsored by the White House Office of Public Engagement, and gives grassroots leaders the opportunity to hear directly from […]