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NetApp Honors the NFL with Customer Social Impact Award

New grant from NetApp to Per Scholas expands cybersecurity and AI career pathways to learners historically underrepresented in corporate America
Business Wire via ITWeb,
SAN JOSE, Calif., 29 Sep 2026

NetApp® (NASDAQ: NTAP), the Intelligent Data Infrastructure company, today announced it will present the NFL with its Customer Social Impact Award at INSIGHT 2026, recognizing the NFL’s sustained commitment to expanding access to high-growth careers through its Inspire Change initiative. Building on that impact, NetApp is launching a philanthropic partnership with Per Scholas, one of the NFL’s Inspire Change grant partners, and providing a grant to support Per Scholas’ Cybersecurity with AI Tools training program. The initiative will expand zero tuition training and career pathways for people from historically underrepresented communities, advancing NetApp’s commitment to data and AI education and career access.

Part of NetApp’s Social Impact Awards program, the Data and AI Empowerment category honors customers and partners using technology to expand access to the data and AI education, skills, and opportunities needed to thrive in the age of intelligence.

Cybersecurity is a crucial field with a growing need for individuals with highly specialized skills to address emerging threats. Since 2020, the NFL’s Inspire Change initiative has supported Per Scholas in addressing that gap, helping thousands of learners gain in-demand skills, advance their careers and increase their economic mobility.

“Through Inspire Change, the NFL is committed to using our platform to help remove barriers and create meaningful opportunities in communities across the country,” said Anna Isaacson, Senior Vice President of Social Responsibility at the NFL. “We’re thrilled that a partner like NetApp can further expand that access for Per Scholas learners, especially for the in-demand skills that can open doors to long-term careers and economic advancement.”

The NetApp-Per Scholas partnership extends the current programs into cybersecurity and AI, combining Per Scholas’ workforce-development expertise with NetApp’s leadership. With new resources for training that pairs cybersecurity fundamentals with practical AI tools, more learners can develop skills aligned with evolving employer needs.

“AI is changing work faster than traditional talent systems can adapt, making employer-aligned, hands-on training more important than ever,” said Caitlyn Brazill, President of Per Scholas. “This partnership with NetApp will help more learners build the technical skills, professional judgment and confidence they need to launch careers in cybersecurity and AI—and create lasting economic mobility.”

“Creating opportunities for people to develop in-demand skills is essential to building stronger communities and a stronger workforce,” said César Cernuda, President at NetApp. “As AI reshapes every industry, organizations need professionals who understand how to protect, secure, and unlock the value of data. By partnering with Per Scholas, we're helping create new pathways into careers that will strengthen the future workforce while advancing the cybersecurity and AI expertise organizations need to proactively detect threats, protect critical data, and recover with confidence.”

The NFL will be honored with the Customer Social Impact Award for Data and AI Empowerment at NetApp INSIGHT 2026, the company’s flagship customer experience. The partnership is an example of how organizations can combine technology, education and cross-sector collaboration to create measurable social impact.

For more information on NetApp's social impact commitments, visit: https://www.netapp.com/responsibility/social-impact/

Additional Resources

About the NFL

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About the NFL

Inspire Change is a year-round initiative that highlights the impactful social justice work done by NFL players, clubs, the league office, and grant partners to break down barriers to opportunity and end systemic racism. Since 2017, the NFL Family has provided $300 million to more than 40 national grant partners and more than 600 grassroots organizations to advance social justice causes in the areas of education, economic advancement, police-community relations, and criminal justice reform. To date, the NFL Foundation has provided more than 1,800 Inspire Change matching grants to current NFL players and Legends for nonprofits of their choice to help reduce barriers to opportunity. To learn more about the NFL’s Inspire Change initiative and to view the 2023 Social Justice Impact Report, visit www.nfl.com/inspirechange. Follow @InspireChange on Twitter and Instagram. On Facebook, follow www.facebook.com/inspirechange.

About Per Scholas

Per Scholas is a proven talent accelerator that delivers AI-enabled workforce solutions with real results, transforming lives, strengthening businesses, and building opportunity nationwide.

Since 1995, we’ve provided no-cost training to 35,000+ professionals in sought-after skills. Our responsive training closes hiring gaps in months, delivering day-one-ready talent. With 25+ campuses and remote programs, we partner with employers, from Fortune 500 companies to startups, to build talent pipelines in fields like Data Centers, AI, Advanced Manufacturing, Critical Facilities, Cybersecurity, and Cloud.

Learn more by visiting PerScholas.org and follow us on social media

About NetApp

For more than three decades, NetApp has helped the world’s leading organizations navigate change – from the rise of enterprise storage to the intelligent era defined by data and AI. Today, NetApp is the Intelligent Data Infrastructure company, helping customers turn data into a catalyst for innovation, resilience, and growth.

At the heart of that infrastructure is the NetApp data platform – the unified, enterprise-grade, intelligent foundation that connects, protects, and activates data across every cloud, workload, and environment. Built on the proven power of NetApp ONTAP, our leading data management software and OS, and enhanced by automation through the AI Data Engine and AFX, it delivers observability, resilience, and intelligence at scale.

Disaggregated by design, the NetApp data platform separates storage, services, and control so enterprises can modernize faster, scale efficiently, and innovate without lock-in. As the only enterprise storage platform natively embedded in the world’s largest clouds, it gives organizations the freedom to run any workload anywhere with consistent performance, governance, and protection.

With NetApp, data is always ready – ready to defend against threats, ready to power AI, and ready to drive the next breakthrough. That’s why the world’s most forward-thinking enterprises trust NetApp to turn intelligence into advantage.

Learn more at www.netapp.com or follow us on X, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

NETAPP, the NETAPP logo, and the marks listed at www.netapp.com/TM are trademarks of NetApp, Inc. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260929167334/en/

Contacts

Media Contact:
Kenya Hayes NetApp kenya.hayes@netapp.com

Investor Contact:
Kris Newton NetApp kris.newton@netapp.com