OTTAWA, Ontario--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 28, 2025--
Assent Inc., the global leader in supply chain sustainability management, announces Michael Southworth as its new Chief Executive Officer. Southworth succeeds Andrew Waitman, who led the company for more than a decade.
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This leadership transition positions Assent to accelerate global expansion, pursue strategic acquisitions, and deepen its product innovation — building on its supply chain expertise, unique sustainability data, and advanced AI capabilities.
Michael Southworth, renowned for his exceptional record of strategic growth and successful M&A leadership in his past seven engagements, was specifically chosen to spearhead Assent’s ambitious growth toward a quarter-billion-dollar revenue target. He most recently served as the CEO of Babel Street, an AI-enabled analytics platform, and has held executive roles at leading technology firms, including Transflo, Verint-Systems, Contact Solutions, Corning Incorporated and MobileAccess Networks.
“Assent sits at the intersection of global supply chain transformation and corporate sustainability — and the opportunity ahead is massive,” said Michael Southworth. “I’m energized to lead a company with such a strong foundation, deep expertise, and bold ambition. Together, we’ll extend Assent’s global impact, scale with purpose, and set a new industry standard for supply chain intelligence, sustainability and resiliency.”
Andrew Waitman, Assent’s CEO since its early growth stage, transitions into the role of Executive Chairman. Waitman guided Assent to 44 consecutive quarters of growth and built an extraordinary global team of over 1,000 professionals on four continents.
“Assent’s strength lies in its people, its culture, and its relentless focus on customers and growth,” said Andrew Waitman. “Michael brings the strategic clarity and operational excellence to take Assent to new heights. As Executive Chairman, I’m committed to supporting Michael and the company as we continue building one of Canada's most successful global tech businesses.”
This leadership transition further bolsters Assent’s recently enhanced executive team, reinforcing its commitment to continuous innovation and global market leadership.
About Assent Inc.
Assent provides the leading supply chain sustainability management solution and is on a mission to become the global platform of record for supply chain sustainability and compliance for complex manufacturers. Founded in 2010, Assent is the only company that unifies platform, people, and supplier intelligence to future-proof supply chains amid global disruption. Powered by AI, we enable faster, smarter compliance — from risk analysis to automated document review — while delivering unmatched speed, cost efficiency, and confidence. With a proprietary supplier engagement engine and deep regulatory expertise built into our platform and services, Assent helps customers navigate complexity, reduce risk, and accelerate growth.
Michael Southworth, CEO, Assent
JERUSALEM (AP) — Over two dozen families from one of the few remaining Palestinian Bedouin villages in the central West Bank have packed up and fled their homes in recent days, saying harassment by Jewish settlers living in unauthorized outposts nearby has grown unbearable.
The village, Ras Ein el-Auja, was originally home to some 700 people from more than 100 families that have lived there for decades.
Twenty-six families already left on Thursday, scattering across the territory in search of safer ground, say rights groups. Several other families were packing up and leaving on Sunday.
“We have been suffering greatly from the settlers. Every day, they come on foot, or on tractors, or on horseback with their sheep into our homes. They enter people’s homes daily,” said Nayef Zayed, a resident, as neighbors took down sheep pens and tin structures.
Israel's military and the local settler governing body in the area did not respond to requests for comment.
Other residents pledged to stay put for the time being. That makes them some of the last Palestinians left in the area, said Sarit Michaeli, international director at B’Tselem, an Israeli rights group helping the residents.
She said that mounting settler violence has already emptied neighboring Palestinian hamlets in the dusty corridor of land stretching from Ramallah in the West to Jericho, along the Jordanian border, in the east.
The area is part of the 60% of the West Bank that has remained under full Israeli control under interim peace accords signed in the 1990s. Since the war between Israel and Hamas erupted in October 2023, over 2,000 Palestinians — at least 44 entire communities — have been expelled by settler violence in the area, B'Tselem says.
The turning point for the village came in December, when settlers put up an outpost about 50 meters (yards) from Palestinian homes on the northwestern flank of the village, said Michaeli and Sam Stein, an activist who has been living in the village for a month.
Settlers strolled easily through the village at night. Sheep and laundry went missing. International activists had to begin escorting children to school to keep them safe.
“The settlers attack us day and night, they have displaced us, they harass us in every way” said Eyad Isaac, another resident. “They intimidate the children and women.”
Michaeli said she’s witnessed settlers walk around the village at night, going into homes to film women and children and tampering with the village’s electricity.
The residents said they call the police frequently to ask for help — but it seldom arrives. Settlement expansion has been promoted by successive Israeli governments over nearly six decades. But Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government, which has placed settler leaders in senior positions, has made it a top priority.
That growth has been accompanied by a spike in settler violence, much of it carried out by residents of unauthorized outposts. These outposts often begin with small farms or shepherding that are used to seize land, say Palestinians and anti-settlement activists. United Nations officials warn the trend is changing the map of the West Bank, entrenching Israeli presence in the area.
Some 500,000 Israelis have settled in the West Bank since Israel captured the territory, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast war. Their presence is viewed by most of the international community as illegal and a major obstacle to peace. The Palestinians seek all three areas for a future state.
For now, displaced families of the village have dispersed between other villages near the city of Jericho and near Hebron further south, said residents. Some sold their sheep and are trying to move into the cities.
Others are just dismantling their structures without knowing where to go.
"Where will we go? There’s nowhere. We’re scattered,” said Zayed, the resident, “People’s situation is bad. Very bad.”
An Israeli settler herds his flock near his outpost beside the Palestinian village of Ras Ein al-Auja in the West Bank, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
A Palestinian resident of Ras Ein al-Auja village, West Bank burns trash, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Palestinian children play in the West Bank village of Ras Ein al-Auja, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Palestinian residents of Ras Ein al-Auja village, West Bank pack up their belongings and prepare to leave their homes after deciding to flee mounting settler violence, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Palestinian residents of Ras Ein al-Auja village, West Bank pack up their belongings and prepare to leave their homes after deciding to flee mounting settler violence, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
