ROCHESTER, NY & LOS ANGELES, CA — April 4, 2023 — Rochester Regional Health has launched a new strategic workforce education program for its more than 19,000 employees. The Advance U Education Program will support career mobility for Rochester Regional employees, with tuition paid upfront by the health system. This latest addition to Rochester Regional’s robust array of workforce development programs reflects the health system’s commitment to creating career-long advancement opportunities for its employees. In its vision to “lead the evolution of healthcare to enable every member of the communities we serve to enjoy a better, healthier life,” Rochester Regional understands that its most powerful asset is an educated, engaged workforce.

Starting April 4, Rochester Regional’s Advance U will be available to employees across the health system’s hundreds of New York locations. The program will support Registered Nurses (RNs) to obtain BSN degrees (bachelor’s of science in nursing), and will provide entry-level employees the opportunity to gain skills and earn certifications in in-demand career fields such as Medical Assisting or Medical Coding. In the future, Advance U will grow to include additional education opportunities to help Rochester Regional team members advance their careers with the organization.

Advance U is the newest addition to Rochester Regional’s continuing investments in workforce education and career development. The health system’s Isabella Graham Hart School of Practical Nursing since 1964 has prepared students to launch careers as Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs). The College of Health Careers Associates in Nursing Program opens an LPN-to-RN pathway. In addition, Rochester Regional continues its longstanding Clinical Laboratory Technology Program at Rochester General Hospital, and its Certified Nursing Assisting and Certified Home Health Aide Training programs.

For Rochester Regional team members, Advance U removes the financial burden of education for career advancement. The health system will cover 100% of tuition for degrees and certifications earned through Advance U. The cost of higher education can be a significant barrier to healthcare jobs, particularly for employees in entry-level roles with limited discretionary income to invest.

“The first step to any career is getting that first opportunity. At Rochester Regional Health, we want our employees to grow and advance with us, so that whatever role they start in can be a stepping stone to a lifelong career with our health system,” said Dr. Richard “Chip” Davis, Rochester Regional Health CEO. 

Rochester Regional is the second largest employer in Rochester and provides essential care for communities across New York. For many of its entry-level employees, their job with Rochester Regional is their first; by offering upfront tuition coverage for skills and certification courses, the organization hopes that the first job marks the beginning of a long and robust career at Rochester Regional.

Advance U was designed in partnership with InStride, a global leader in strategic workforce education.

“In healthcare, unlike many other industries, a significant number of roles require professional certification,” said InStride co-founder and Chief Operating Officer, Jonathan Lau. “Rochester Regional Health is investing in their employees by providing the education they need to earn those certifications at no cost to them while they work. With the Advance U Education Program, Rochester Regional Health is not only filling the roles they need today, they are also building the workforce their system will need in the future.”

Advance U Education Program will provide education and upfront tuition coverage  for critical roles across the health system

Rochester Regional Health launches Advance U Education Program to fill clinical roles and deliver best-in-class patient care

Rochester Regional Health's Advance U Education Program will provide education and upfront tuition coverage for critical roles across the health system.

LOS ANGELES — March 2, 2023 — InStride has been named to Fast Company’s prestigious annual list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2023. 

This year’s list highlights the businesses at the forefront of their respective industries, paving the way for the innovations of tomorrow. These companies are setting the standard with some of the greatest accomplishments of the modern world. In addition to the World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies, 540 organizations are recognized across 54 sectors and regions. 

“InStride is leading the movement to transform businesses and their employees' lives through workforce education,” said Vivek Sharma, CEO of InStride. “We are thrilled to be recognized by Fast Company as an organization moving the world forward by driving meaningful business and social impact through employer-sponsored education.”

Legacy approaches to workforce development such as tuition reimbursement are no match for today’s evolving workplace environment and the scale of the reskilling challenge. Approaching workforce education in a new way, InStride enables companies to realize the full potential of employee education. Since its founding in 2019, InStride has provided 57,000+ employees with access to life-changing, employee-sponsored education programs from top academic institutions while helping prevent employee learners from accruing $628.7+ million in student loan debt. 

Fast Company’s editors and writers sought out the companies making the biggest strides around the globe. They also judged nominations received through their application process.

The World’s Most Innovative Companies is Fast Company’s signature franchise and one of its most highly anticipated editorial efforts of the year. It provides a firsthand look at the inspiring and innovative efforts of companies across all sectors of the economy.

“What a strange and thrilling year it has been to honor this year’s Most Innovative Companies. This year’s list compiles some of the most cutting-edge groundbreakers who are changing our world every single day, from legacy organizations like McDonald’s to upstarts like MrBeast and institutions such as NASA. Everyone on this list does something completely, uniquely different, yet, they all have one thing in common: innovation,” said Fast Company editor-in-chief Brendan Vaughan.

Fast Company will host its third annual Most Innovative Companies Summit on April 19 and 20. The virtual summit celebrates the Most Innovative Companies in business, and provides an inside look at cutting-edge business trends and what it takes to innovate in 2023. Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies issue (March/April 2023) is available online here, as well as in-app form via iTunes, and on newsstands beginning March 14. The hashtag is #FCMostInnovative.

InStride drives business and social impact through strategic workforce education. As the global leader in these programs, InStride works with corporate partners like Amazon, Labcorp, Medtronic, Magna and more, providing their employees with access to top-tier academic institutions, strategic learning paths and an innovative technology platform. Follow InStride on Twitter and LinkedIn for more information and up-to-date news.

Fast Company is the only media brand fully dedicated to the vital intersection of business, innovation, and design, engaging the most influential leaders, companies, and thinkers on the future of business. Headquartered in New York City, Fast Company is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC, along with our sister publication Inc., and can be found online at www.fastcompany.com. 

InStride, the leader in strategic workforce education programs, joins the ranks of OpenAI, Disney, Tiffany & Co. and more

InStride Named to Fast Company’s Annual List of the World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2023

InStride has earned a spot on Fast Company's 2023 list of Most Innovative Companies in the Education category.

LOS ANGELES — January 11, 2023 — Built In today announced that InStride was honored in its 2023 Best Places To Work Awards. Specifically, InStride earned a place on two of Built In’s Los Angeles lists: Best Places to Work and Best Midsize Companies. The annual awards program includes companies of all sizes and honors both remote-first employers and companies in large metropolitan markets across the U.S.

“InStride is thrilled to be recognized as an employer of choice by Built In LA,” said Stephen Chu, Chief Legal and People Officer, InStride. “Creating a positive culture where our employees can thrive is a crucial step for us to accomplish our mission of bringing high quality, tuition-free education to working adults.”

Built In determines the winners of Best Places to Work based on an algorithm, using company data about compensation and benefits. To reflect the benefits candidates value most, the program also weighs criteria such as remote and flexible work opportunities, EDI programs and other people-first cultural offerings.

“It’s my honor to congratulate this year’s Best Places to Work winners,” says Sheridan Orr, Chief Marketing Officer, Built In. “These exemplary companies understand their people are their most valuable asset, and they’ve stepped up to meet the modern professional’s new expectations, including the desire to work for companies that deliver purpose, growth and inclusion. These winners set the stage for a human-centered future of work, and we can’t wait to see that future unfold.”

About Built In
Built In is creating the largest platform for technology professionals globally. Monthly, millions of the industry’s most in-demand professionals visit the site from across the world. They rely on our platform to stay ahead of tech trends and news, learn skills to accelerate their careers and find opportunities at companies whose values they share. Built In also serves 2,000 customers, innovative companies ranging from startups to those in the Fortune 500. By putting their stories in front of our uniquely engaged audience, we help them hire otherwise hard-to-reach tech professionals. www.builtin.com

About Built In’s Best Places to Work
Built In’s esteemed Best Places to Work Awards, now in its fifth year, honor companies across numerous categories: 100 Best Places to Work, 50 Best Startup Places to Work, 100 Best Midsize Places to Work, 100 Best Large Places to Work and Editor’s Choice: 100 Best Hybrid Places to Work. The program honors companies – remote, hybrid and in-office – with the best total rewards packages across the U.S. and in the following tech hubs: Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Colorado, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington DC.

InStride Earns Multiple Spots on Built In’s Best Places to Work List for Four Years Running

Built In Honors InStride In Its Esteemed 2023 Best Places To Work Awards

InStride earns a spot on Built In's Best Places to Work Awards list for the fourth year running.

DETROIT & LOS ANGELES — December 13, 2022 — Piston Group today announced the expansion of its strategic workforce education program in partnership with InStride. Following the success of the initial launch of the Future-Ready Education Program, Piston Group has now added employer-funded graduate degrees and certificates to the program. The expansion also adds courses from Spanish-language institutions, such as Universidad Tecmilenio, to meet demand from the company’s multi-lingual employee population. 

The Piston Group’s Future-Ready Education Program offers full-time employees tuition-free access to courses towards earning high school diplomas, skills certificates, associate degrees and bachelor’s degrees.The Future-Ready Education Program was designed to include a wide variety of course offerings selected to meet employees where they are in their learning journey and career. Piston Group covers tuition upfront for eligible employees, allowing them to focus on career advancement and achievement instead of being saddled with student debt or worrying about how long tuition reimbursements might take. 

The Future-Ready Education Program was first launched in 2022 in the company’s U.S.-based plants in Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio and Texas. It has made a measurable impact on employee engagement and retention, prompting Piston Group to increase their tuition coverage for graduate degrees and certificates. 

As one Piston employee shared in an employee survey, "The Future-Ready Education Program is flexible enough to balance school and work and has provided me with an opportunity to increase my knowledge base which in turn will benefit both myself and my employer."

“Enabling our employees to develop professionally helps them progress in their career, benefits the company through their increased skills, and it’s good for our communities,” said Piston Group CEO Gordon Fournier. “Knowledge and employment are power.”

“Workers have a lot of choice on who they work for right now. Piston Group invests in the people who make the organization the market leader it is,” said InStride CEO Vivek Sharma. “The leaders Piston Group is educating today will future-proof the company for whatever challenges may lie ahead in the manufacturing sector.”

Future-Ready Education Program offers more degree programs, greater tuition coverage and Spanish-language options

Piston Group adds upfront tuition coverage for graduate degrees and dual-language learning

LOS ANGELES – October 6, 2022 – InStride, the premier provider of strategically designed workforce education programs, today announced that it has won a “Best Company Perks & Benefits” Award from Comparably.

Comparably Awards are based on survey responses provided by employees anonymously through Comparably.com. Winners are determined using sentiment ratings over a 12-month period across categories such as compensation, professional development, work-life balance and leadership. 

InStride is a public-benefit company that designs workforce education programs that help attract and retain employees and advance their careers, while accomplishing wide-ranging business objectives at the same time. InStride’s unique approach and technology are leading a movement that makes workforce education and lifelong learning a possibility for all. 

“Our mission is to enable businesses to create the workforce of the future by offering their employees access to higher education,” said Vivek Sharma, CEO and Founder of InStride. “This applies to our people as well. Step Forward is the crown jewel of InStride’s best-in-class offerings to support our employee wellness and growth, both personal and professional. Through this internal program, we demonstrate how investing in your people through employer-sponsored education can drive success for companies and their employees.”

InStride’s recognition in the Company Perks & Benefits Award category reflects the company’s commitment to supporting its employees to learn new skills and advance their careers through workforce education. The Step Forward program is available to InStride employees from the day they start with the company and offers them access to 2,300+ courses ranging from skills training to graduate degrees, all provided by InStride’s network of top-tier academic providers. Tuition is covered upfront by InStride so that employees can focus on their courses and not worry about accruing student loan debt.  

To learn more about InStride’s employee benefits, visit https://www.instride.com/careers/. 

Comparably is a leading workplace culture and compensation monitoring site that provides the most comprehensive and accurate representation of what it’s like to work at companies. Employees can anonymously rate their employers in 20 different workplace culture categories, providing the public a transparent and in-depth look at the experiences workers have based on their gender, ethnicity, age, department, experience, location, education, and company size. Since launching in 2016, Comparably has accumulated 10 million ratings across 60,000 U.S. companies. The platform has become one of the fastest-growing SaaS solutions for employer branding and trusted third-party site for workplace and salary data, including its annual Best Places to Work series.

InStride drives business and social impact through strategic workforce education. As the global leader in these programs, InStride works with corporate partners like Ascension, Medtronic, Labcorp, Magna and more, providing their employees with access to top-tier academic institutions, strategic learning paths and an innovative technology platform. Guided by its mission to change lives for working adults and cultivate the workforce of the future, InStride has been recognized with Fortune’s Impact 20 and Inc.'s Best in Business awards. Visit instride.com or follow InStride on Twitter and LinkedIn for more information and up-to-date news.

InStride receives a 2022 Comparably "Best Company Perks & Benefits" Award based on employee reviews

LOS ANGELES, CA – September 14, 2022 – Retail giant Amazon today announced that it will partner with InStride to provide sponsored education programs for the drivers of its Delivery Service Partners (DSP) through a new initiative called Next Mile. InStride, a leader in the movement to advance social and business impact through workforce education, offers employee-learners a wide variety of learning options provided by high-quality academic institutions.

The Next Mile program is a more than $19 million investment in education, skills training and career advancement by Amazon as they partner with InStride to provide DSPs and their drivers with access to more than 1,700 academic programs. Offerings include bachelor’s and associate degrees, high school diplomas, industry certifications, certificates that can stack to a degree, and English language proficiency courses. Tuition for these programs is paid upfront so that employee-learners can focus on excelling in school instead of worrying about how to pay for it. The vast majority of the 1,700 programs offered through InStride’s academic network would be completely free for the drivers within the $5,250 annual tuition coverage available. $5,250 is the tax-exempt limit set under section 127 of the United States Internal Revenue Code for education benefits.

“Our mission at InStride is to enable corporations to offer life-changing education opportunities to their employees and partners,” said Vivek Sharma, CEO of InStride. “The Next Mile program from Amazon opens up paid-up-front degrees, certificates, diplomas, and more to hundreds of thousands of hard-working delivery drivers. InStride is proud to partner with Amazon on this increased access to educational advancement and excited to witness the impact of this initiative.”

The Next Mile program enables DSPs to support and invest in their drivers who want to build new skills to help them achieve their career aspirations. The program provides access to curated career pathways to help participants identify educational programs and career options based on skills and interests. Next Mile will be available to all participating DSPs and their teams starting in January 2023, with Amazon reimbursing DSPs for tuition expenses for all eligible drivers.

"Through the DSP program, small businesses around the world have generated over $26 billion in revenue for their companies since launching four years ago," said Parisa Sadrzadeh, vice president of Amazon's Worldwide Delivery Service Partner Program. "We couldn’t have done that without DSPs and their incredible teams. We will continue to innovate with them and use our economies of scale and resources to help them provide best-in-class offerings to their employees. Investing in our DSPs means that we are continuing to invest in communities nationwide. I can't wait to see the future success stories of what these drivers achieve."

"As a small business owner, being able to offer my team these industry-leading benefits and services is amazing," said Nicole Kelso, an Amazon DSP and owner of Rainforest Routes. "Providing additional training paths and empowering my team to pursue their dreams will help them achieve success within my organization and elsewhere. Investing in their future helps my business provide an even more compelling employment experience."

InStride is reimagining workforce education by helping innovative employers provide career-boosting, debt-free credentials to their employees through partnerships with leading academic institutions. Working with InStride, organizations can offer employees high school diplomas, English-language courses, associate, bachelor’s and master’s degrees along with a wide range of skill offerings in high-demand fields across industries. InStride’s curated academic network includes high quality universities such as Arizona State University, City University of New York, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Universidad Tecmilenio, the University of Memphis and Central State University. To date, InStride’s network has helped more than 52,000 working adult learners access higher education, preventing $570 million in student debt.

View Amazon's press release about this announcement: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220913006132/en/

InStride’s network of academic partners will offer college degrees and over 1,700 academic programs to participating DSPs, with tuition paid up front by Amazon for each eligible driver

Amazon partners with InStride to launch groundbreaking workforce education program for Delivery Service Partners

LOS ANGELES, CA – August 22, 2022 – InStride, the premier global provider of Strategic Enterprise EducationTM programs, announced the addition of Mark Laret and Nancy Schlichting to the InStride Advisory Board. Both have decades of experience in the healthcare sector, with Laret being the former President and CEO of UCSF Health and Schlichting the former CEO of the Henry Ford Health System. Laret and Schlichting join George Barrett, former Chair and CEO of Cardinal Health, as healthcare leaders on the InStride Advisory Board. This added expertise will amplify InStride’s leading capability to provide strategic education programs to healthcare partners, including for high-demand clinical roles.

“With disruption from both the pandemic and shifting care models, the healthcare sector is facing unprecedented challenges in talent attraction, retention, and readiness,” said Vivek Sharma, CEO of InStride. “The first-hand experience Mark Laret and Nancy Schlichting bring as leaders of major healthcare systems will be invaluable as InStride partners with healthcare organizations to help them build the pipeline needed for improved employee, business, and patient outcomes.”

The addition of two healthcare leaders to the InStride Advisory Board will bolster InStride’s position as the top choice in strategic workforce education among healthcare systems. Already, InStride serves the most healthcare learners of any workforce education provider, delivering programs to 445,000 healthcare professionals – more than three times as many as the next leading competitor.

These InStride healthcare learners also enjoy the broadest array of clinical and non-clinical offerings available in the sector, with options from high school completion, English Language Learning, medical Spanish and credit-bearing stackable industry certifications to associate degrees, bachelor's degrees and even graduate degrees. Learners also benefit from InStride’s innovative approach to building clinical and non-clinical pathways, from allied health, nursing and post-licensure nursing, to health administration, medical billing and coding and much more. Taken together, these pathways and the volume of learners InStride serves have lent the company a wealth of experience in building clinical workforces at scale across multiple geographies.

Mark Laret joins InStride after 21 years at the helm of UCSF Health, long regarded as one of the best healthcare systems in the country thanks to its cutting edge biomedical research and rigorous education programs. His leadership has been characterized by a focus on high-quality patient care, employee engagement and driving health equity in the communities UCSF Health serves across the San Francisco Bay Area.

Prior to joining UCSF in 2000, Laret served as CEO of UC Irvine Medical Center, after spending 15 years at UCLA Medical Group. He has served on the boards of Nuance Communications and Varian Medical Systems and has chaired the Board of Directors of the Association of American Medical Colleges and the California Hospital Association. He currently serves on various boards including Collective Health, Viz.ai, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona and Regard, Inc.

Nancy Schlichting is the former President and CEO of the Henry Ford Health System, a $5 billion healthcare organization based in Detroit. She is credited with leading it through a dramatic financial turnaround and for award-winning patient safety, customer service and diversity initiatives. In 2015 she chaired President Obama’s Commission on Care to improve how the Veterans Health Administration delivered care to veterans.

Schlichting began her career in healthcare as a Fellow at the American Hospital Association, then took on leadership roles with Summa Health, Riverside Methodist Hospital and Catholic Health Initiatives before joining Henry Ford Health System in 1998. She is now a corporate director of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Baxter International, Encompass Health, and Pear Therapeutics; a trustee of Duke University; and vice-chair of the Duke University Health System Board.

InStride Advisory Board Members as of August 22, 2022 include:

George S. Barrett, former Chair and CEO of Cardinal Health, Inc

Barbara J. Desoer, former CEO of Citibank, N.A.

Lynne Doughtie, former U.S. Chair and CEO of KPMG

Mark Fields, former President and CEO of Ford Motor Company

Mark Laret, former President and CEO of UCSF Health

Amy E. Miles, former Chair and CEO of Regal Entertainment Group

Clarence Otis, former CEO of Darden Restaurants

Chuck Rubin, former Chair and CEO of The Michaels Companies, Inc.

Nancy Schlichting, former President and CEO of Henry Ford Health System

Thomas O. Staggs, former COO of The Walt Disney Company

Addition of Mark Laret and Nancy Schlichting to InStride’s Advisory Board bolsters position as leading provider of workforce education to the healthcare sector

InStride strengthens healthcare leadership with two industry veterans

Healthcare industry veterans Mark Laret and Nancy Schlichting join the InStride Advisory Board. Laret is the former President and CEO of UCSF Health and Schlichting is the former President and CEO of Henry Ford Health System.

LOS ANGELES – June 9, 2022 – InStride, leading the movement to advance social and business impact through workforce education, today announced that its Career Education Paths has been selected as “Corporate Learning Solution of the Year” in the fourth annual EdTech Breakthrough Awards program conducted by EdTech Breakthrough, a leading market intelligence organization that recognizes the top companies and solutions in the global educational technology market.

InStride's Career Education Paths prepares learners for careers in high-demand fields such as IT, logistics, technology and healthcare. InStride designed the solution to meet the most urgent priorities corporate leaders are facing today and create tangible career opportunities for their employees.

Through analysis of industry trends and InStride’s own skills taxonomy, specifically designed, relevant and high-quality learning options support the core skills and competencies needed to achieve business objectives. InStride’s Career Education Paths enables more people to enroll in career-boosting education by addressing company-specific needs and giving employees a clear path for career advancement. This helps to align company and employee goals.

“Workforce education, when done right, promotes innovation and a strong work culture, and addresses the desire for meaningful career progress. Unfortunately, the multitude of learning solutions on the market often miss the mark when it comes to fulfilling the unique requirements of both businesses and the individual,” said James Johnson, managing director, EdTech Breakthrough. “InStride’s Career Education Paths elevates personalized learning to a ‘breakthrough’ level, bringing higher education and corporate leaders together in innovative ways. We are thrilled to congratulate the InStride team on winning our ‘Corporate Learning Solution of the Year’ award in the 2022 EdTech Breakthrough Awards program.”

The mission of the EdTech Breakthrough Awards is to honor excellence and recognize the innovation, hard work and success in a range of educational technology categories, including Student Engagement, School Administration, Adaptive Learning, STEM Education, e-Learning, Career Preparation and many more. This year’s program attracted more than 2,250 nominations from over 18 different countries throughout the world.

“More than one billion people worldwide need to reskill by 2030, as jobs are transformed by emerging technologies. We remain focused on unlocking the potential of workforce education to prepare today’s workforce for tomorrow’s challenges,” said InStride CEO Vivek Sharma. “Key to preparing employees is a united, strategic effort between corporations and academic providers that ties education to in-demand, relevant skills and career mobility. InStride enables companies and academic providers to partner in innovative ways to achieve this.”

Additionally, by simplifying processes and increasing participation, InStride’s platform is optimized for ease of use by all stakeholders. InStride’s platform also closes the skills gap and combats student loan debt. The strategic investments InStride’s corporate partners have made in educating their employees have collectively saved $570+ million in student debt.

For Third Year in a Row, Prestigious International Awards Program Recognizes InStride for Its Strategic Approach to Workforce Education

InStride Wins “Corporate Learning Solution of the Year” Award in 2022 EdTech Breakthrough Awards Program

For the third year in a row, InStride earns an EdTech Breakthrough Award. InStride was named the 2022 Corporate Learning Solution of the Year.

Wilberforce, OH & Los Angeles, CA — March 21, 2022 — Central State University has announced a new partnership with InStride, a public benefit company leading the movement to advance business and social impact through workforce education. 

Central State University – an award-winning historically black college and university (HBCU) and 1890 Land-Grant Institution – is the first HBCU to join InStride’s curated academic network which boasts strong outcomes in online learning and support for diverse adult learners. Central State Global, the university’s online division, proudly carries on the school’s 135-year-old tradition of preparing students from diverse backgrounds and experiences for leadership, research, and service. 

“We are excited to join InStride’s unparalleled academic network as its first HBCU,” said Dr. Jack Thomas, president of Central State University. “Since I joined Central State University, we have made tremendous efforts to increase our degree offerings, especially graduate programs, provide flexibility in course delivery, and strengthen student support and counseling for working adult learners. This partnership will enable us to leverage these investments to benefit innovative organizations such as Intermountain Healthcare by offering life-changing education to their employees.” 

Intermountain Healthcare, widely recognized as a leader in delivering high-quality health outcomes at sustainable costs, will add Central State’s MBA programs to the clinical and non-clinical learning options already available to its caregivers (employees). Intermountain Healthcare is also a founding member of OneTen, a coalition of companies working together to upskill, hire and promote one million Black individuals without four-year degrees into family-sustaining jobs over the next ten years. InStride is also an endorsed talent developer of OneTen. 

“Education opens doors and removes barriers to careers and re-energizes people with purpose and possibilities,” said Heather Brace, Chief People Officer at Intermountain Healthcare. “InStride and schools like Central State University are helping us invest in the next generation of caregivers in ways never before possible. Each school added to the InStride group means more opportunity and choice for our caregivers and in return a wider geographic student footprint for schools.”

“While comprising only 3 percent of colleges and universities nationally, HBCUs produce almost 20 percent of Black college graduates and 25 percent of Black graduates in STEM fields in America,” said Vivek Sharma, CEO of InStride. “It is clear that HBCUs play an outsized role in advancing economic mobility and building the workforce of the future, and I am incredibly proud to welcome Central State University to the InStride network.”

Given the breadth of its programs, more of InStride’s 40+ corporate partners are expected to begin offering Central State University’s programs in the near future, including online certificates, bachelor’s degrees, and master’s degrees taught by the same professors who teach the courses on campus. Areas of study encompass today's most in-demand fields such as business, criminal justice, cybersecurity, interdisciplinary studies and education. These programs are designed to support the 37 million working adults in the United States who have not been able to complete their degrees. 

“We are extremely proud to partner with InStride to support adult learners to achieve a lifelong dream that wasn’t readily available,” shared Arletha McSwain, Ph.D., Chief Online Learning Officer for Central State Global at Central State University. “For example, our unique business programs will offer learners from diverse backgrounds multiple ways to achieve their dreams of earning a bachelor's degree or MBA. We look forward to collaborating with InStride and its forward-thinking corporate partners to scale the impact we are already seeing with our 4,000 online students.”

InStride is reimagining workforce education by helping innovative employers provide career-boosting, debt-free credentials to their employees through partnerships with leading academic institutions. By working with InStride, organizations can offer employees high school diplomas, English-language courses, associate, bachelor’s and master’s degrees along with a wide range of skill offerings in high-demand fields across industries. InStride’s curated network includes Arizona State University, City University of New York, The University of Virginia, The University of Wisconsin-Madison and The University of Memphis. To date, InStride’s network has helped more than 52,000 working adult learners access higher education, preventing $570 million in student debt. 

OneTen founding member Intermountain Healthcare  to offer courses through new partnership

HBCU Central State University joins InStride’s academic network

Central State University joins InStride's academic network as its first HBCU. OneTen founding member Intermountain Healthcare will offer courses through this new partnership.

DETROIT, MI & LOS ANGELES, CA — March 9, 2022 — To solidify its efforts to build a culture of learning, Detroit-based Piston Group has launched a strategic workforce education program for its U.S.-based employees in partnership with InStride. The Piston Group Future-Ready Education Program will offer courses towards earning high school diplomas, skills certificates, associate degrees and bachelor’s degrees to help full-time employees expand their opportunities within the company.

Employees will be able to choose from a wide variety of course offerings selected to meet employees where they are in their learning journey and career. Piston Group will cover tuition upfront each year, allowing employees to focus on advancement and achievement instead of payment.

“I know first-hand what it’s like to learn a new set of skills and make a career change that propels your life forward,” said former two-time NBA champion and Piston Group Founder and Chairman Vinnie Johnson. “As a company, we want to encourage our employees to continually advance and adapt as the world of work evolves.”

Piston Group includes Piston Automotive, Irvin Products (and their newly acquired A Lava & Son Co.) and Detroit Thermal Systems. These companies bring state-of-the-art manufacturing and design expertise to clients, ultimately providing value to consumers.

The Future-Ready Education Program will initially encompass the company’s U.S.-based employees in Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio and Texas, joining other visionary corporations supporting their employees and their families through workforce education. In the future, Piston Group’s global employees will have the chance to join the education program as well.

“Piston Group is demonstrating its commitment to its employees’ future and the value it places on the long-term strength of its business,” said InStride CEO Vivek Sharma. “Given the determination and passion Vinnie exhibited as an NBA champion, it is not surprising that he is applying that same winning attitude and energy towards his Piston Group employees’ futures.”

InStride now has more than 40 corporate partners including Aramark, Banfield Pet Hospital, Carvana, Labcorp, and Magna and a curated network of quality global academic institutions including Arizona State University, the City University of New York School of Professional Studies and Kingsborough Community College, the University of Virginia, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of Memphis and Universidad Tecmilenio.

Detroit-based company ignites a culture of learning with new workforce education program

Piston Group Champions Learning By Offering Employer-Sponsored Education for Employees

Detroit-based Piston Group ignites a culture of learning with new workforce education program launched in partnership with InStride

LOS ANGELES — February 25, 2022 — InStride, leading the movement to advance social and business impact through workforce education, today announced it has successfully met the requirements for System Organization Control (SOC 2) certification. With this accomplishment, InStride has taken significant steps to further safeguard data pertaining to its 40+ corporate partners and their more than 48,000 employee-learners across the U.S.

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP performed the audit and found that InStride’s practices meet the SOC 2 security standards, set by the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA), based on the trust services criteria for security. Over the course of the six-month review, InStride successfully demonstrated it had established policies, procedures and controls in accordance with these Trust Services Principles.

“SOC 2 certification is a major accomplishment for any organization, and I’m immensely proud of how our team made this happen so quickly, given the sheer number of hours involved,” said Tarun Malhotra, Chief Technology Officer of InStride. “For us to have accomplished this milestone so early in our company’s history speaks to the level of dedication, collaboration and determination of our InStriders.”

Through workforce education programs, tailored to meet the needs of both business and employee, InStride unlocks business and social impact to transform companies and people for the future. InStride now works alongside more than 40 corporate partners including Aramark, Banfield Pet Hospital, Banner Health, Carvana, Intermountain Healthcare, LabCorp, Magna, Pacific Dental Services and more to provide strategic workforce education programs.

“We dedicated significant resources to earning SOC 2 certification because our corporate partners have entrusted us to help them achieve their goals,” said Jonathan Lau, InStride’s COO. “Going the extra mile to ensure the security and integrity of our partner and learner data means they can feel confident building a culture of learning within their organization.”

InStride has agreements with a curated network of quality global academic institutions including Arizona State University, City University of New York (CUNY), the University of Virginia, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Memphis.

InStride’s security practices meet rigorous standards for SOC 2 compliance, further strengthening its role as a trusted partner

InStride achieves SOC 2 Type II certification

InStride’s security practices meet rigorous standards for SOC 2 compliance, further strengthening its role as a trusted partner.

LOS ANGELES – January 5, 2021 – Built In today announced that InStride was recognized with its 2022 Best Places To Work Award. Specifically, InStride earned a place on three of Built In’s Los Angeles lists: Best Places to Work, Best Midsize Companies to Work For and Best Benefits. The annual awards program includes companies of all sizes, from startups to those in the enterprise, and honors both remote-first employers as well as companies in the eight largest tech markets across the U.S.

“We are honored to be recognized by Built In LA as an organization that fosters a positive culture for our employees,” said Brian MacDougall, Chief Human Resources Officer, InStride. “Our mission is to bring life-changing education opportunities to working adults through high-quality workforce education programs. We aim to create a culture of learning with each of our corporate partners, and that extends to our own staff. We would not be where we are today without our dedicated InStriders.”

Built In determines the winners of Best Places to Work, using company data about compensation, benefits and companywide programming. To reflect the benefits candidates are searching for more frequently on Built In, the program also weighs criteria like remote and flexible work opportunities, programs for DEI and other people-first cultural offerings. 

“It is my honor to extend congratulations to the 2022 Best Places to Work winners,” says Sheridan Orr, Chief Marketing Officer, Built In. “This year saw a record number of entrants — and the past two years fundamentally changed what tech professionals want from work. These honorees have risen to the challenge, evolving to deliver employee experiences that provide the meaning and purpose today’s tech professionals seek.”

Built In is creating the largest platform for technology professionals globally. Monthly, more than three million of the industry’s most in-demand professionals visit the site from across the world. They rely on our platform to stay ahead of tech trends and news, develop their careers and find opportunities at companies whose values they share. Built In also serves 1,800 innovative companies of all sizes, ranging from startups to the Fortune 100. By putting their stories in front of our uniquely engaged audience, we help them hire otherwise hard-to-reach tech professionals, locally, nationally or remotely.  www.builtin.com 

Built In’s esteemed Best Places to Work Awards, now in its fourth year, honor companies across numerous categories: 100 Best Places to Work, 50 Best Small Places to Work, 100 Best Midsize Places to Work, 50 Companies with the Best Benefits and 50 Best Paying Companies, 100 Best Large Companies to Work For, and 50 Best Remote-First Places to Work.

InStride Earns Placements on Three of Built In’s Los Angeles Lists

Built In Honors InStride in Its Esteemed 2022 Best Places to Work Awards

Built In honors InStride by naming it to three of its Best Places to Work lists for Los Angeles in the 2022 Best Places to Work Awards.

InStride named a 2023 Most Innovative Company by Fast Company

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Press Releases | InStride

InStride is the premier global provider of strategic enterprise education for companies that need to align their talent & workforce needs with business objectives.