7 Mindsets Continues Rapid Growth with Acquisition of xSEL Labs

Move strengthens company’s ability to help educators understand students’ social and emotional strengths and needs

ROSWELL, Ga., Jan. 31, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — 7 Mindsets, the leader in PreK-12 mindsets-based learning and well-being solutions, today announced the acquisition of xSEL Labs, a creator of scalable systems to assess and address the social and emotional needs of children. This acquisition further solidifies 7 Mindsets as the most comprehensive social and emotional learning solution for schools and districts across the country and strengthens the company’s offering of high-quality, multi-tiered SEL instruction and assessment supporting teaching, learning, and student success.

“Today SEL is embedded into the work of school districts more than ever before and it’s critical we continue helping district administrators provide comprehensive social and emotional learning solutions for all members of their school communities,” said Mark Belles, CEO of 7 Mindsets. “The acquisition of xSEL Labs bolsters our high-quality assessment offerings and we’re thrilled to provide educators more insight into their students’ SEL skills as well as help them identify areas for improvement and inform the development of more targeted interventions.”

xSEL Labs’ core assessments directly measure students’ social and emotional learning strengths and needs. Assessment results help educators decide what to teach to whom, and measure student learning in response to instruction. xSEL Labs also offers brief climate surveys and educator surveys.

The combination of xSEL Labs, 7 Mindsets, and the recently acquired BASE Education, a social and emotional learning and mental health platform, will enable the company to offer a flexible and highly effective range of SEL assessment and instructional resources to address children’s social and emotional strengths and needs and achieve better outcomes for all students.

“This is an exciting milestone for xSEL Labs,” said company Founder and President Clark McKown. “We believe in 7 Mindsets’ vision for bringing together Tier I instruction, Tier II and Tier III intervention, and assessment. This is a combination that is greater than the sum of the parts, and I’m excited about what we can do together. Having 7 Mindsets, BASE, and xSEL Labs under one roof, we can offer fantastic assessment and instructional resources individually or together in ways that flexibly meet the needs of our district partners.”

7 Mindsets is a portfolio company of Gauge Capital. xSEL Labs marks the company’s third acquisition since Gauge’s investment in December 2021. In addition to its acquisition of BASE Education earlier this month, the company acquired the Better Together adult SEL program in August 2022.

To learn more about 7 Mindsets, visit www.7mindsets.com.

7 Mindsets
Founded in 2009, 7 Mindsets is a comprehensive social-emotional learning and mental health solution provider for schools and districts across the country, offering high-quality, multi-tiered SEL instruction that supports teaching, learning, and student success. The company’s flexible and highly effective programs have been shown to improve student engagement, behavior, and academic success, and have been used by over 5 million students and educators in all 50 states. Find out more at www.7mindsets.com.

About xSEL Labs
xSEL Labs partners with K-12 schools and districts across the country to assess and address social and emotional learning (SEL) outcomes. xSEL Labs’ core assessment, SELweb, is a reliable and easy-to-use direct assessment of the social and emotional competencies that are reflected in the CASEL framework, state standards, and evidence-based SEL programs. For more information, please visit www.xsel-labs.com

Source: 7 Mindsets

Universal Technical Institute Expands Platform of Workforce Solutions Offerings with Completion of Concorde Career Colleges, Inc. Acquisition

• Positions Universal Technical Institute to Seize Opportunity in High-Growth, High-Demand Healthcare Education Market
• Significantly Accelerates Ongoing Growth and Diversification Efforts in Conjunction with Existing Initiatives to Meet Increasing Demand from Employers and Students
• Universal Technical Institute and Concorde Career Colleges Together Now Serve 20,000+ Students Across 14 States and 33 Locations with Significant Opportunities to Expand to Meet Varied Workforce-Training Needs
• Concorde CEO Jami Frazier Joins the Universal Technical Institute Senior Leadership Team as President of the Healthcare Division

PHOENIX, Dec. 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Universal Technical Institute, Inc. (NYSE: UTI), a leading workforce solutions provider of transportation and skilled trades education programs, today announced the close of its acquisition of Concorde Career Colleges, Inc. (“Concorde”), which offers more than 20 programs across the Allied Health, Dental, Nursing, Patient Care, and Diagnostic fields. The acquisition expands Universal Technical Institute’s portfolio of offerings into the higher-growth healthcare arena and creates the opportunity to bring workforce educational solutions to a broader array of students and employers.

The $50 million all-cash acquisition was previously announced on May 3, 2022, and includes 17 campuses in eight states that currently serve approximately 8,000 students. For the trailing twelve months ended September 30, 2022, Concorde reported unaudited revenue of approximately $200 million and adjusted EBITDA of approximately $17 million.

“We are pleased to welcome Concorde’s leadership team, faculty and staff, and, most importantly its students, to the Company,” said Universal Technical Institute Chief Executive Officer Jerome Grant. “This transaction marks a major milestone in executing our strategy as we expand the scope of our skilled education programs to serve students’ varied workforce-training needs and drive growth for the company.”

Mr. Grant continued, “Together with Concorde, we have now more than doubled the number of campuses in our ecosystem and expanded into the critical area of healthcare training to help meet the national shortage of healthcare workers, as part of our mission of becoming a valued and trusted educational partner for students across multiple industry verticals.”

Universal Technical Institute will support Concorde’s existing efforts to expand the healthcare opportunities for students and alumni, including adding new programs (pending regulatory approval), growing existing online offerings, and optimizing the current campus locations to enhance the opportunity for past, current and future students to increase their skills.

“On behalf of the Concorde team, I am excited to be joining Universal Technical Institute,” said Concorde Chief Executive Officer Jami Frazier. “Their core focus of delivering strong student and employment outcomes aligns closely with Concorde’s values of being student-centered, community-based, and achievement-driven. I look forward to collaborating with Jerome and his team as we work to help students and employers close the gap between the need for well-trained and skilled workers and the availability of quality programs designed to meet the needs of employers across a variety of industries.”

With the acquisition of Concorde complete, the Company will operate and report as two divisions. One will be comprised of Concorde and its leading healthcare education programs and campuses. Jami Frazier will serve as the Divisional President, reporting to CEO Jerome Grant. The other will continue as Universal Technical Institute, which also includes brands such as UTI, MIAT College of Technology, Motorcycle Mechanics Institute, Marine Mechanics Institute, and NASCAR Technical Institute. Jerome Grant will continue to directly lead this division until a Divisional President is named.

Earnings Call

Universal Technical Institute will discuss the acquisition in more detail and provide updated investor materials as part of its previously announced fiscal 2022 full year and fourth quarter earnings call on December 12, 2022.

About Universal Technical Institute, Inc.
Universal Technical Institute (NYSE: UTI) was founded in 1965 and is a leading workforce solutions provider of transportation, skilled trades and healthcare education programs, whose mission is to serve students, partners, and communities by providing quality education and support services for in-demand careers across a number of highly-skilled fields.

The Company is comprised of two divisions: UTI and Concorde Career Colleges. UTI operates 16 campuses located in 9 states and offers a wide range of transportation and skilled trades technical training programs under brands such as UTI, MIAT College of Technology, Motorcycle Mechanics Institute, Marine Mechanics Institute, and NASCAR Technical Institute. Concorde Career Colleges operates across 17 campuses in 8 states, offering programs in the Allied Health, Dental, Nursing, Patient Care, and Diagnostic fields.

For more information, visit www.uti.edu or www.concorde.edu, or visit us on LinkedIn at @Universal Technical Institute and @Concorde Career Colleges or on Twitter @news_UTI or @ConcordeCareer.

Non-GAAP Measures
For internal reporting purposes, Concorde defines adjusted EBITDA as net income (loss) before interest expense, interest income, income taxes, depreciation and amortization, adjusted for items not considered part of the company’s normal recurring operations.  Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure, which is provided to supplement, but not substitute for, the most directly comparable GAAP measure. We choose to disclose this non-GAAP financial measure for Concorde because it provides an additional performance measure. Since the items excluded from this measure are significant components in understanding and assessing financial performance under GAAP, this measure should not be considered to be an alternative to net income (loss), or any other measures derived in accordance with GAAP as a measure of operating performance or profitability.

Source: Universal Technical Institute, Inc. 

Renodis Announces Acquisition of The Eric Ryan Corporation

Renodis expands utility and telecom management services with the addition of The Eric Ryan Corporation

Renodis, a leading telecom management firm, announced the acquisition of The Eric Ryan Corporation, a utility and telecommunications management solutions provider headquartered in Ellwood City, Pennsylvania. By joining companies under the Renodis umbrella, both firms, employees, partners and most importantly clients will all positively benefit from the combined breadth and capabilities.

“We are excited to welcome the ERC team and its clients to our company,” commented Craig Beason, CEO and Owner of Renodis. “This is our fifth acquisition on our continued growth journey and will expand our brand along the East Coast. Renodis’ most important priority has always been ensuring the resiliency of our clients’ connectivity, advising on the right technologies, and providing best-in-class managed solutions. Keith and his leadership team have built a tremendous customer experience for businesses under their Utility and Telecommunications Expense Management services. This will add value to our clients and provide new offerings to help them reduce costs and increase resiliency.”

The CEO of The Eric Ryan Corporation (ERC), Keith Venezie and employees will continue to serve ERC clients as a subsidiary of Renodis, operating as: ERC, a Renodis Company.

Keith Venezie, said, “I am delighted by the synergy between ERC and Renodis. Our missions and company values are very similar – to ensure our clients have access to the industry’s best outcomes and lower costs. We look forward to the positive impacts of our team joining Renodis and the new added value we can provide to our clients.”

For 20 years, Renodis has paved the way in client-centric connectivity technology solutions, driving a shift to end-to-end outsourced management. With solutions focused on Consulting, Sourcing, Lifecycle Management, and Expense Management, Renodis serves client’s full telecommunications and mobility environments. The Renodis Promise is to free IT leaders from telecom frustration while saving time, money, and increasing productivity.

Minneapolis based Cherry Tree & Associates served as the investment banking advisor to Renodis, and Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP served as their legal advisor on the transaction.

Pittsburgh based Gleason Advisors served as the investment banking advisor to Eric Ryan Corporation, and Meyer Unkovic & Scott, LLP served as their legal advisor on the transaction.

About Renodis
Renodis is a Connectivity Technologies Consulting, Sourcing, and Managed Services firm. We help enterprises accelerate their copper-to-cloud journey resulting in less frustration from managing legacy technologies and suppliers, better utilized IT talent, and improved support experience for their offices and people. All while client experience skyrockets and IT costs are reduced. A Saint Paul, Minnesota-based company since 2002, Renodis has helped hundreds of organizations with their communications technology transformations. Find out more at http://www.Renodis.com.

About The Eric Ryan Corporation
The Eric Ryan Corporation (ERC) has been in operation since 1990 providing utility and telecommunications consulting and auditing services to over 11,500 customers throughout the US and Canada. Based near Pittsburgh, PA, the company has been a leader in the hospitality industry and one of the nation’s largest and well-recognized utility and telecommunication consulting and management firms. ERC specializes in cost reduction through bill analysis, utility bill consulting, telecommunications bill consulting, rate reviews, and energy management services including energy incentives, energy rebates, and energy efficiency grants. Their telecommunication services include 24/7 help desk, cellular optimization, telecom services pricing, network design, circuit monitoring, security, and new construction management. ERC has provided cost-savings solutions for thousands of businesses in the educational, governmental, hospitality, commercial, retail, health care, non-profit, and industry sectors of the marketplace.

About Cherry Tree & Associates
Cherry Tree & Associates is a private investment banking firm headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded in 1980, it specializes in M&A transactions for both buyers and sellers of middle market companies. Additionally, it conducts private placements for high quality, entrepreneurially managed growth companies, provides strategic advisory services for CEOs and boards of directors, and prepares fairness opinions and other valuation services.

Regent Education Announces Investment from Attain Capital Partners to Accelerate Growth and Innovation

Riverside Insights Acquires Aperture Education

Riverside’s Achievement and Ability Assessments Combine with Aperture’s Rigorous SEL Tools to Provide Educators with a Holistic View of Students