Honoring Community Heroes at RevRoad Rally OremFest 2023

Vintage car at the RevRoad Rally OremFest

OREM, Utah, May 24, 2023 — To mark the commencement of OremFest 2023, RevRoad will host an impressive car show featuring an intriguing array of vintage and exotic cars at Scera Park in Orem. Notably, the company has extended a special invitation to the  VIP Guests of Honor from Medallion Manor and TURN Community Services, which provide exceptional care for special needs adults in the local area.  To ensure a memorable experience for the VIP Guests of Honor,  they will be accompanied by the glamorous Miss Utah, along with Orem City Royalty, and local university cheerleaders. 

In further celebration of the Orem community, the event’s sidewalks will be decorated with vibrant chalk by artists throughout the area. Guests will enjoy a good old-fashioned hot dog dinner (while supplies last) along with a variety of engaging children’s activities hosted by local businesses.

The RevRoad Rally has become an anticipated event at the mark of summer, attracting a community crowd of typically between 2,500–3,500 people. The RevRoad Rally is a chance for RevRoad team members and portfolio companies, Orem City community members, car owners, and attendees to come together and enjoy a night out. The RevRoad Rally is free to attend for anyone seeking a fun evening out. 

The event will kick off OremFest on June 5th, 2023 at 6:00 pm and will conclude at 9:00 pm at Scera Park in Orem, Utah. All are welcome and encouraged to come enjoy the summer air and create wholesome memories with the community.

View the event FAQs at https://www.revroad.com/rally.

About RevRoad

RevRoad is a venture services firm that focuses on helping entrepreneurs succeed. The company empowers portfolio companies to maximize profitability, get to market faster, and create a solid foundation for their venture by packing their team with experts for up to 24 months. RevRoad team members work shoulder-to-shoulder with founders of developing companies to provide everything they need to scale their business faster visit revroad.com to learn more and apply for the accelerator program.

At-Home Learning

Companies come together to provide free school & district licenses during COVID-19 

Today, RevRoad and its portfolio companies launched the official At-Home Learning initiative. Through this initiative, they will provide students around the country with digital learning tools by offering their products to schools and districts for free during this time—no strings attached. 

There’s no question that these are difficult times. Hundreds of millions of students around the world are transitioning to at-home learning for the rest of the school year. “Educators around the world are now facing the most daunting challenge in 100 years. These programs and tools are ready to scale, and can provide valuable support for students, their families, and educators,” says RevRoad CEO, Derrin Hill. 

Educators are quickly shifting teaching and learning to digital platforms to meet the needs of each student with equitable access, standards, and engagement. RevRoad’s portfolio has a unique compilation of edtech companies with the ability to assist in smoothing over the rapid transitions currently happening within education. Said companies include the following: 

Literal

Keep students fully engaged in reading, even while at home. Literal makes books just as engaging as social media, and is temporarily offering every student and educator free & unlimited access to all of their classic books through July 2020. Easily track student progress remotely and turn reluctant readers into avid book worms.
Literal is offering schools and districts free access to the Classic subscription.

SkillStruck

Skill Struck focuses on helping today’s students prepare for tomorrow’s workforce by developing their technical skills and helping them master the concepts of Computer Science. The platform is focused on project-based learning where students learn, apply and reiterate their newfound knowledge through additional practices to cement their skills.
Skill Struck is offering schools and districts one month of free access to their flagship Voyage service.

Education Lifeskills

If we never change negative thinking, we will never change negative behavior. Education Lifeskills creates cognitive-behavioral curriculum which helps students overcome their self-defeating thoughts and behaviors and achieve higher levels academically and socially.
Education Lifeskills is offering students free access to a positive thinking course pack.

Hallo

Practice English on the Hallo app! Has the Coronavirus pandemic interfered with your preparation for the TOEFL, TOEIC or IELTS exam? Has your English class been canceled and now you are left with no one to practice with?

Fear no more! You can practice English on the Hallo app! Hallo is a live streaming community for English learners and teachers. Students can learn from native speakers through live videos 24/7 and practice speaking in seconds with people all around the world. It’s the world’s largest classroom for English learners right in the palm of your hand. And, it’s free. Let’s celebrate fluency together. It’s more fun that way.
Hallo is a free app available for iOS and Android.

To get started with At-Home Learning  for free, visit revroad.com/athomelearning.

For more information about At-Home Learning and the companies involved, click here.

It’s Time to Champion Underrepresented Talent

Diversity, or the lack thereof, has been the topic of conversation as the highly anticipated Silicon Slopes Tech Summit came to a close. Though tech companies in the Silicon Slopes area have provided an influx of new jobs in Utah, the amount of underrepresented talent employed by these companies is low. We could blame it on Utah’s general “lack of diverse population”, on the homogenous religious communities, or on the difficulty of finding qualified underrepresented talent. We could  blame it on numerous factors, but it doesn’t change the fact that underrepresented talent in Utah is just that—underrepresented.

While Utah’s startup community is on the road to becoming the next Silicon Valley, companies face significant recruiting challenges in the most competitive talent market since 1969. “Leaders can no longer afford to ignore any opportunity that could present qualified candidates. This includes creating an inclusive environment where everyone feels like they have a place”(Mentorli, 2020). The truth is, Utah is 78% white and predominantly Mormon. While many of the cultural responsibilities that come with Utah’s dominant religion prove beneficial for entrepreneurs, “the very thing that is transforming Utah into the next tech mecca could be the very thing that ends up holding it back” (Bluestein, 2020). 

It’s no question that the companies on the Slopes are in need of cultural pivots to better recruit, hire, and retain more underrepresented talent. The call for diversity has been issued, and a new company, called Mentorli, appears to have the solution. Through their mentorship platform, Mentorli increases a candidate’s chances of landing a job by 15x. “We’re leaning into that power to close the opportunity gap underrepresented candidates face,” says CEO Luke Mocke.

Creating equal opportunity for job seekers is simply the right thing to do, but it turns out there’s a significant business case too. For one, there’s a linear relationship between earnings and racial diversity on the senior leadership team—to the tune of .8% in earnings for every 10% lift. However, the most compelling reason for fast growing companies in the US, and Utah specifically, to hire diverse talent is to open their talent pool for future hires. Homogenous organizations unknowingly marginalize talent that looks different to them. To ensure they’re creating an inclusive environment for all qualified talent, they need to create a representative workforce. Failing to do so is already creating monumental challenges as minorities in the US become the majority. 

Mentorli supports this philosophy by empowering underrepresented employees to recruit candidates from similar backgrounds—showing candidates how to set themselves up for success in the interview process and thrive in a new environment—building diverse networks from the grassroots level. Read Mentorli’s full press release here. As a participant in the recent Silicon Slopes Tech Summit, Mentorli is offering a FREE first hire to companies that schedule a demo before February 7, 2020. Check it out today!

Talent & Mentorship Expert Marc Liebman, PhD, Announces Retirement

Dr. Marc Liebman retires as RevRoad Director of MentorsDr. Marc Liebman, an integral team member at the RevRoad team announced his retirement earlier this month. Although we are excited for this next phase of his life, it is with heavy hearts we make preparations for his departure. He will be missed.
Marc is a mentor to many and finds the best in everyone and is generous with praise and forges friendships easily.
“Besides a confidant and friend, Marc has been one of the greatest mentors of my life,” said Derrin Hill, CEO of RevRoad. “I appreciate him revealing my blind spots on important issues. I will sorely miss his wisdom and partnership and wish him well in his retirement.”
You can always count on Marc to use good humor to lighten the mood when things get heavy. His insights into strategy are without compare.
During his time at RevRoad, Marc has facilitated key relationships, helping Roadies (portfolio companies) find the right mentors to help their companies grow. As the director over talent, he has also been integral in recruiting highly qualified team members for our Roadie companies.
“I’m so grateful for the mentor relationship Marc helped to build for Momni,” explained Karmel Larson, CEO of the innovative caresharing platform Momni. “Glen Mella is a perfect fit, and we are already instituting some of his ideas. The mentorship program is one of my favorite things about RevRoad. It is going to provide dividends over and over again for years to come.”
As Marc leaves RevRoad, we would be remiss if we didn’t mention his incredible skill in putting together processes, systems, applications, and contracts. His attention to detail is astounding. In fact, in many instances he has personally forged connections to RevRoad, with important clients and national organizations such as DECA and many other educational institutions.
Marc has also brought tremendous amounts of experience to our organization throughout his tenure. Having been in the education industry for over 45 years, many of those years as a superintendent in California, he brings a wealth of knowledge in instruction, training, and maneuvering through bureaucracies to reach the goals necessary.
He has helped us learn how teams work, how to make a difference in the education space and how to forge public/private partnership for the benefit of students, a legacy that will remain for decades to come.
Since April of 2016, Marc has been heavily involved in the Responsibility Foundation, RevRoad’s charity of choice. He first served as a Senior VP and then as a board member, and he plans to continue in these roles into the future. He also looks forward to advising RevRoad and Roadies as Director Emeritus.
Marc has tried to retire twice before, but promises it will stick this time. He plans to focus on his wife, his faith and hobbies such as woodworking, photography, and building his wine collection.