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Numbers game: Profile of educational software company UCompass

Over the past 15 years, Ed Mansouri has built Ucompass, based in Tallahassee, into one of the nation's leading providers of educational software.

Ucompass' main product is Educator, which allows students, teachers and administrators to access their online courses via tablets and smart phones. Mansouri says more than 2 million students have used Educator.

Mansouri, 42, says he was working as a teacher in the late 1990s when he began looking for "a way to make my life as a teacher easier, not thinking it would be an entrepreneurial endeavor. I thought why not just go ahead and start an educational software company."

The success of Educator has led Mansouri into a new software endeavor called WeatherSTEM. A compact, portable weather station, WeatherSTEM collects and distributes atmospheric and agricultural data through social media to K-12 public schools, as well as to colleges and universities.

Mansouri is convinced programs such as WeatherSTEM will help prepare students for data-driven jobs.

"We believe weather is a very good metonym for introducing students to big data," says Mansouri. "We feel very good about what the future holds in store for those students getting these early experiences with big data," he says.

Players

Robert Vice of Ameris Bank has been named market president for the bank's Blountstown operation.

Vice also serves as market president for Ameris Bank's Tallahassee branch.

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