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Home Franchise Concepts' Leading Window Covering Brand Promotes and Expands Roles for Veteran Team Members to Drive Collaboration, Growth and Innovation IRVINE, Calif. , Dec. 5, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Budget Blinds, a leader in window coverings, today announced significant changes to its executive leadership team, positioning the company for continued success and industry disruption. Effective immediately, the brand has promoted Tracy Christman to Chief Operating Officer; and expanded roles for Amy Campbell to Vice President of Marketing, Product Design & Strategy; and Nicholas (Nick) Petropoulos as Director of Information Technologies. As part of Home Franchise Concepts' family of brands, these executive changes reflect the leading franchise platform's commitment to setting industry standards and laying the groundwork for building exponential future growth opportunities. Home Franchise Concepts, a subsidiary of JM Family Enterprises, places an emphasis on strategic leadership development to continue positioning its brands as industry front-runners. Budget Blinds' restructuring aligns with its strategic vision to become the most revered brand in the window coverings industry, while pursuing its primary objectives of operational excellence and innovative customer experience. "We're on the verge of transformational changes that will redefine Budget Blinds' presence in the industry," said Heather Nykolaychuk , President of Budget Blinds. "Earlier this year, we introduced a new business model for our franchisees to enhance brand reinvestment and elevated our strategic planning process to incorporate input from key stakeholders, including our franchisees, fostering greater buy-in and alignment to our long-range plan. As such, with their combined experience and expertise, we are confident that as Tracy, Amy and Nick take on their new or expanding roles, they will ignite our bold new direction, benefiting our associates, franchisees, vendor partners and customers." Additional details on Budget Blinds' leaders and their expanded roles are outlined below: These organizational changes, coupled with the brand's proactive engagement of key stakeholders, position Budget Blinds for improved performance and sustainable growth. The brand is confident that this new structure will foster collaboration and drive innovation, ensuring Budget Blinds remains the leader in window coverings while Home Franchise Concepts continues to reinvest in the brand for future growth. Budget Blinds looks forward to providing enhanced franchisee support, more efficient operations and the development of products and services that truly resonate with our consumers. "We strive to be regarded with deep respect and admiration by all who work and partner with us, through championing high-standards of child-safety, product quality and exceptional experiences rooted in trust and brand reputation," continued Nykolaychuk. "We're excited for the bright future we have ahead, and look forward to the lasting impact Tracy, Amy and Nick will bestow on the Budget Blinds legacy." With Budget Blinds contributing to the success of Home Franchise Concepts, the parent company plans to execute even more innovative strategies and remain ambitious in implementing new tactics to generate additional awareness and support for its family of brands. With new shifts in leadership, Home Franchise Concepts is focused on ongoing operational and technology improvements and is dedicated to enhancing the support for its family of brands. To learn more about Home Franchise Concepts and franchise development opportunities, visit homefranchiseconcepts.com . For more information specific to Budget Blinds, please visit budgetblinds.com . About Budget Blinds Budget Blinds ® is the largest window covering franchise in North America, offering custom blinds, shutters, shades, drapery, and more for residential and commercial consumers in more than 10,000 communities in the U.S. and Canada. Budget Blinds' over 900 business owners, and 1,500 locations, have dressed more than 25 million windows since the brand's founding in 1992. Budget Blinds is part of the Home Franchise Concepts family of home improvement goods and services brands. About Home Franchise Concepts Home Franchise Concepts® , is one of the world's largest franchising systems in the home improvement goods and services space, among the world's largest franchise businesses and a recognized leader in franchisee-franchisor relationships. Home Franchise Concepts' brands including AdvantaClean® , Aussie Pet Mobile®, Bath Tune-Up® , Budget Blinds® , Concrete Craft® , Kitchen Tune-Up®, Lightspeed RestorationTM , PremierGarage® , The Tailored Closet®, and Two Maids® are supported by more than 2,600 franchise territories in the U.S., and Canada . For information on franchise opportunities, please visit http://homefranchiseconcepts.com/ . About JM Family Enterprises JM Family Enterprises, Inc. was founded by automotive legend, Jim Moran in 1968. It is a privately held company with more than $20 billion in revenue and more than 5,000 associates. Rooted in automotive and united in its strong culture and core values, JM Family is in the business of helping other businesses succeed. As a long-term partner, it is invested in its companies, associates and its communities. Driven by exceptional performance, current subsidiaries are in the automotive, financial services, franchising and specialty distribution industries. Its family of companies includes: Southeast Toyota Distributors , JM&A Group , World Omni Financial Corp. (dba Southeast Toyota Finance ), JM Lexus , Home Franchise Concepts ®, Futura Title & Escrow and Rollease Acmeda . Interact with JM Family on Facebook , Instagram and LinkedIn . Contact: Margo Williams mwilliams@fish-consulting.com View original content: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/budget-blinds-announces-strategic-changes-to-executive-leadership-team-302324283.html SOURCE Home Franchise Concepts
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes reached more records after tech companies talked up how much artificial intelligence is boosting their results. The S&P 500 climbed 0.6% Wednesday to add to what looks to be one of its best years of the millennium. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.7%, while the Nasdaq composite added 1.3% to its own record. Salesforce pulled the market higher after highlighting its artificial-intelligence offering for customers. Marvell Technology jumped even more after saying it’s seeing strong demand from AI. Treasury yields eased, while bitcoin climbed after President-elect Donald Trump nominated a crypto advocate to head the Securities and Exchange Commission. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below. NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes are rising toward more records Wednesday after tech companies talked up how much of a boost they're getting from artificial intelligence . The S&P 500 climbed 0.5% to add to what looks to be one of its best years of the millennium. It’s on track to set an all-time high for the 56th time this year after coming off 10 gains in the last 11 days . The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 252 points, or 0.6%, with an hour remaining in trading, while the Nasdaq composite was adding 1.2% to its own record. Salesforce helped pull the market higher after delivering stronger revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected, though its profit fell just short. CEO Mark Benioff highlighted the company’s artificial-intelligence offering for customers, saying “the rise of autonomous AI agents is revolutionizing global labor, reshaping how industries operate and scale.” The stock of the company, which helps businesses manage their customers, rose 9.3%. Marvell Technology jumped even more after delivering better results than expected, up 23.2%. CEO Matt Murphy said the semiconductor supplier is seeing strong demand from AI and gave a forecast for profit in the upcoming quarter that topped analysts’ expectations. They helped offset a 9.8% drop for Foot Locker, which reported profit and revenue that fell short of analysts’ expectations. CEO Mary Dillon said the company is taking a more cautious view, and it cut its forecasts for sales and profit this year. Dillon pointed to how keen customers are for discounts and how soft demand has been outside of Thanksgiving week and other key selling periods. Retailers overall have offered mixed signals about how resilient U.S. shoppers can remain. Their spending has been one of the main reasons the U.S. economy has avoided a recession that earlier seemed inevitable because of high interest rates brought by the Federal Reserve to crush inflation. But shoppers are now contending with still-high prices and a slowing job market . This week’s highlight for Wall Street will be Friday’s jobs report from the U.S. government, which will show how many people employers hired and fired last month. A narrower report released on Wednesday morning may have offered a preview of it. The report from ADP suggested employers in the private sector increased their payrolls by less last month than economists expected. Hiring in manufacturing was the weakest since the spring, according to Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP. The report strengthened traders’ expectations that the Fed will cut its main interest rate again when it meets in two weeks. The Fed began easing its main interest rate from a two-decade high in September, hoping to offer more support for the job market. The central bank had appeared set to continue cutting rates into next year, but the election of Donald Trump has scrambled Wall Street’s expectations somewhat. Trump’s preference for higher tariffs and other policies could lead to higher economic growth and inflation , which could alter the Fed’s plans . Fed Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday that the central bank can afford to cut its benchmark rate cautiously because inflation has slowed significantly from its peak two years ago and the economy remains sturdy. A separate report on Wednesday said health care, finance and other businesses in the U.S. services sector are continuing to grow, but not by as much as before and not by as much as economists expected. One respondent from the construction industry told the survey from the Institute for Supply Management that the Fed’s rate cuts have not pulled down mortgage rates as much as hoped yet. Plus “the unknown effect of tariffs clouds the future.” In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.18% from 4.23% late Tuesday. On Wall Street, Campbell’s fell 6% for one of the S&P 500’s sharper losses despite increasing its dividend and reporting a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Its revenue fell short of Wall Street’s expectations, and the National Football League’s Washington Commanders hired Campbell’s CEO Mark Clouse as its team president. Campbell’s said Mick Beekhuizen, its president of meals and beverages, will become its 15th CEO following Clouse’s departure. Gains for airline stocks helped offset that drop after JetBlue Airways said it saw stronger bookings for travel in November and December following the presidential election. It said it’s also benefiting from lower fuel prices, as well as lower costs due to improved on-time performance. JetBlue jumped 8.3%, while Southwest Airlines climbed 2.8%. In stock markets abroad, South Korea’s Kospi sank 1.4% following a night full of drama in Seoul. President Yoon Suk Yeol was facing possible impeachment after he suddenly declared martial law on Tuesday night, prompting troops to surround the parliament. Yoon accused pro-North Korean forces of plotting to overthrow one of the world’s most vibrant democracies. The martial law declaration was revoked about six hours later. Samsung Electronics fell 0.9% in Seoul. The country’s financial regulator said it was prepared to deploy 10 trillion won ($7.07 billion) into a stock market stabilization fund at any time, the Yonhap news agency reported. In the crypto market , bitcoin climbed back above $97,000 after Trump said he would nominate Paul Atkins , a cryptocurrency advocate, to chair the Securities and Exchange Commission. ___ AP Writers Matt Ott and Zimo Zhong contributed. Stan Choe, The Associated Press
Men’s basketball: CU Buffs ready for Events Center return of CSU’s Nique CliffordTJ Bamba led Oregon with 22 points and five assists in the Ducks' 78-68 victory over San Diego State on Wednesday in pool play of the Players Era Festival at Las Vegas. The Ducks (7-0) won both games in the "Power Group" and will play in the championship Saturday against the top team from the "Impact Group." San Diego State (3-2) will await its opponent for one of the secondary games Saturday. The matchups are based on seeding dependent on performance of the first two games. Bamba made 7 of 14 shots from the field, including 4 of 6 from 3-point range. Keeshawn Barthelemy had 16 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field and hit 3 of 4 from beyond the arc. Nate Bittle finished with 11 points and nine rebounds, Brandon Angel 12 points and six rebounds and Jackson Shelstad paired 12 points with four assists. BJ Davis led San Diego State with 18 points before fouling out. Nick Boyd finished with 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field, including 3-of-4 from beyond the arc. Neither team led by more than four points until Oregon scored nine unanswered to take a 34-27 lead with 2:20 left in the first half. Barthelemy started the run with a jumper and finished it with a 3-pointer. Oregon outscored San Diego State 16-4 in the last 4:23 of the half to take a 41-31 lead into the break. Bamba and Barthelemy combined for 20 points on 7-of-14 shooting in the first half. Boyd led San Diego State with 13 points, making all three of his 3-point attempts and going 5-of-6 overall. A 7-2 run for Oregon increased its advantage to 48-35 with 17:36 remaining, but San Diego State cut the lead to 56-53 with 10:58 left following a 9-0 run. A Bamba 3-pointer closed an 8-2 stretch with 4:15 remaining to increase Oregon's lead to 73-63. San Diego State did not get closer than eight points the rest of the way. Davis fouled out with 31 seconds left and Oregon leading 77-68. --Field Level MediaNEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes reached more records after tech companies talked up how much artificial intelligence is boosting their results. The S&P 500 climbed 0.6% Wednesday to add to what looks to be one of its best years of the millennium. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.7%, while the Nasdaq composite added 1.3% to its own record. Salesforce pulled the market higher after highlighting its artificial-intelligence offering for customers. Marvell Technology jumped even more after saying it’s seeing strong demand from AI. Treasury yields eased, while bitcoin climbed after President-elect Donald Trump nominated a crypto advocate to head the Securities and Exchange Commission. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below. NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes are rising toward more records Wednesday after tech companies talked up how much of a boost they're getting from artificial intelligence . The S&P 500 climbed 0.5% to add to what looks to be one of its best years of the millennium. It’s on track to set an all-time high for the 56th time this year after coming off 10 gains in the last 11 days . The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 252 points, or 0.6%, with an hour remaining in trading, while the Nasdaq composite was adding 1.2% to its own record. Salesforce helped pull the market higher after delivering stronger revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected, though its profit fell just short. CEO Mark Benioff highlighted the company’s artificial-intelligence offering for customers, saying “the rise of autonomous AI agents is revolutionizing global labor, reshaping how industries operate and scale.” The stock of the company, which helps businesses manage their customers, rose 9.3%. Marvell Technology jumped even more after delivering better results than expected, up 23.2%. CEO Matt Murphy said the semiconductor supplier is seeing strong demand from AI and gave a forecast for profit in the upcoming quarter that topped analysts’ expectations. They helped offset a 9.8% drop for Foot Locker, which reported profit and revenue that fell short of analysts’ expectations. CEO Mary Dillon said the company is taking a more cautious view, and it cut its forecasts for sales and profit this year. Dillon pointed to how keen customers are for discounts and how soft demand has been outside of Thanksgiving week and other key selling periods. Retailers overall have offered mixed signals about how resilient U.S. shoppers can remain. Their spending has been one of the main reasons the U.S. economy has avoided a recession that earlier seemed inevitable because of high interest rates brought by the Federal Reserve to crush inflation. But shoppers are now contending with still-high prices and a slowing job market . This week’s highlight for Wall Street will be Friday’s jobs report from the U.S. government, which will show how many people employers hired and fired last month. A narrower report released on Wednesday morning may have offered a preview of it. The report from ADP suggested employers in the private sector increased their payrolls by less last month than economists expected. Hiring in manufacturing was the weakest since the spring, according to Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP. The report strengthened traders’ expectations that the Fed will cut its main interest rate again when it meets in two weeks. The Fed began easing its main interest rate from a two-decade high in September, hoping to offer more support for the job market. The central bank had appeared set to continue cutting rates into next year, but the election of Donald Trump has scrambled Wall Street’s expectations somewhat. Trump’s preference for higher tariffs and other policies could lead to higher economic growth and inflation , which could alter the Fed’s plans . Fed Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday that the central bank can afford to cut its benchmark rate cautiously because inflation has slowed significantly from its peak two years ago and the economy remains sturdy. A separate report on Wednesday said health care, finance and other businesses in the U.S. services sector are continuing to grow, but not by as much as before and not by as much as economists expected. One respondent from the construction industry told the survey from the Institute for Supply Management that the Fed’s rate cuts have not pulled down mortgage rates as much as hoped yet. Plus “the unknown effect of tariffs clouds the future.” In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.18% from 4.23% late Tuesday. On Wall Street, Campbell’s fell 6% for one of the S&P 500’s sharper losses despite increasing its dividend and reporting a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Its revenue fell short of Wall Street’s expectations, and the National Football League’s Washington Commanders hired Campbell’s CEO Mark Clouse as its team president. Campbell’s said Mick Beekhuizen, its president of meals and beverages, will become its 15th CEO following Clouse’s departure. Gains for airline stocks helped offset that drop after JetBlue Airways said it saw stronger bookings for travel in November and December following the presidential election. It said it’s also benefiting from lower fuel prices, as well as lower costs due to improved on-time performance. JetBlue jumped 8.3%, while Southwest Airlines climbed 2.8%. In stock markets abroad, South Korea’s Kospi sank 1.4% following a night full of drama in Seoul. President Yoon Suk Yeol was facing possible impeachment after he suddenly declared martial law on Tuesday night, prompting troops to surround the parliament. Yoon accused pro-North Korean forces of plotting to overthrow one of the world’s most vibrant democracies. The martial law declaration was revoked about six hours later. Samsung Electronics fell 0.9% in Seoul. The country’s financial regulator said it was prepared to deploy 10 trillion won ($7.07 billion) into a stock market stabilization fund at any time, the Yonhap news agency reported. In the crypto market , bitcoin climbed back above $97,000 after Trump said he would nominate Paul Atkins , a cryptocurrency advocate, to chair the Securities and Exchange Commission. ___ AP Writers Matt Ott and Zimo Zhong contributed. Stan Choe, The Associated Press
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