New platform accelerates collaboration in technology evaluation, research, education, and innovation

CARY, N.C., Aug. 4, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The Academic Orthopaedic Consortium (AOC), the nation’s largest academic orthopaedic community representing 5,000 members, 200 university-based academic orthopaedic departments, and 100 health systems and private practices, today announced the national launch of POST™, the first national digital platform created specifically to connect MedTech and pharmaceutical companies with academic orthopaedic departments.

Developed over three years of collaboration between nationally recognized academic orthopaedic leaders and industry executives, POST represents a significant new layer of infrastructure for academic-industry collaboration. The platform was created to address two of healthcare innovation’s greatest challenges: efficiently connecting companies developing new technologies with the academic medical centers best positioned to evaluate, validate, educate, and responsibly introduce those innovations into clinical practice, while also advancing best practices that help reduce unnecessary delays in technology evaluation and adoption.

Powered by intelligent matching technology, POST enables organizations to create comprehensive profiles and instantly connect with highly relevant collaborators based on clinical expertise, research interests, educational priorities, innovation initiatives, and technology evaluation capabilities—dramatically reducing the time required to identify the right academic or industry partner. By strengthening collaboration between academic medicine and industry, POST also helps create earlier access to emerging technologies, expands opportunities for research and publication, enhances resident and fellow education, and supports the responsible acceleration of innovation into patient care.

The launch follows one of the largest national assessments examining collaboration between academic orthopaedic departments and the medical technology industry. Through surveys and strategic discussions led by the AOC MedTech Advisory Council, academic leaders identified significant barriers slowing innovation. Technology evaluation processes averaged more than 270 days, only 13% of institutions reported evaluation timelines under 90 days, and only 12%believed their current processes efficiently minimized delays. More than 90% identified purchasing and administrative processes as the primary barriers to technology adoption and called for national best practices to improve collaboration.

“POST represents a fundamental shift in how academic medicine and industry discover one another and work together,” said Michael R. Gagnon, MBA, Founder and CEO of the Academic Orthopaedic Consortium. “For decades, companies have struggled to identify the right academic partners, while academic departments have lacked an efficient, standardized way to engage industry. POST changes that by creating the nation’s first digital platform where organizations can quickly identify one another, build trusted relationships, and accelerate innovation with the shared goal of improving patient care.”

POST also serves as the digital foundation for the newly established AOC Technology Evaluation Network, a national collaborative of academic and industry leaders focused on technology evaluation, innovation, and best practices. Forty-six leading academic orthopaedic departments have already identified Technology Evaluation Leaders who, together with leaders from AOC’s participating industry partners, will help advance best practices, establish more efficient evaluation pathways, and strengthen collaboration across academic medicine and industry. The goal is to help reduce unnecessary delays in technology evaluation while increasing opportunities for research, education, publication, and responsible innovation.

The platform was shaped through the work of the AOC MedTech Advisory Council and the leadership of academic and industry experts committed to improving collaboration throughout orthopaedics. Founding industry collaborators helping shape POST include Arthrex, DePuy Synthes, Medacta, MY01, Smith+Nephew, Stryker, and Think Surgical, with additional organizations continuing to join the platform.

“Academic medicine and industry ultimately have a shared goal to improve patient care through responsible innovation,” said Joshua J. Jacobs, MD, Co-Chair of the AOC MedTech Advisory Council. “POST provides a national framework that enables academic institutions and industry to collaborate more effectively, share best practices, strengthen research partnerships, and accelerate the responsible evaluation and adoption of new technologies.”

“Identifying the right academic collaborators and navigating highly variable institutional processes has long been a challenge for the MedTech industry,” said Stuart Simpson, Co-Chair of the AOC MedTech Advisory Council. “POST creates a trusted national gateway that brings together industry and academic medicine in a way that is more transparent, efficient, and scalable than ever before.”

The Academic Orthopaedic Consortium is now inviting academic orthopaedic departments, MedTech companies, and pharmaceutical organizations to establish organizational profiles on POST and participate in this growing national platform for collaboration, technology evaluation, research, education, and innovation.

To learn more or establish an organizational profile, visit POSTMedTech.com.

About the Academic Orthopaedic Consortium

Founded in 2005, the Academic Orthopaedic Consortium (AOC) is the nation’s largest academic orthopaedic community, representing leading university-based academic orthopaedic departments, health systems, private practices, orthopaedic leaders, researchers, faculty, and administrative executives across the country. Through education, leadership development, research, innovation, and strategic collaboration, the AOC works to strengthen academic orthopaedics and improve musculoskeletal patient care.

POST™: POSTMedTech.com

Academic Orthopaedic Consortium: AOC

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SOURCE Academic Orthopaedic Consortium

SEATTLE, Aug. 4, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — OpenTug, the AI-native platform purpose-built for inland and coastal barge logistics, today announced the successful enterprise deployment of its BargeOS platform at LeBeouf Bros. Towing (LBT), marking an important milestone in the companies’ partnership and the continued digital transformation of inland marine operations.

Following a phased implementation, LeBeouf Bros. Towing has completed deployment of BargeOS across its commercial voyage and dispatch operations, invoice intelligence, performance indicator workflows, and marketing, making LBT the first barge operator to fully implement the platform across its business.

For decades, LeBeouf Bros. Towing has built a reputation for providing safe, reliable transportation of liquid cargoes throughout the inland waterway system. As customer expectations continue to evolve and operational complexity increases, the company sought a modern operating platform capable of connecting commercial voyage planning, fleet operations, financial workflows, and performance reporting without disrupting the expertise and processes that have long defined its business.

Today, LeBeouf uses BargeOS to support commercial voyage management through automated traffic validation, cargo planning, and predictive ETA capabilities while streamlining invoice generation and reconciliation through a centralized operational workflow. The result is greater operational visibility, improved financial accuracy, and faster collaboration across commercial and operations teams.

“LeBeouf has built an exceptional operation through decades of industry expertise,” said Jason Aristides, CEO and Co-Founder of OpenTug. “Our goal has never been to change how experienced operators work. We instead aim to provide better information, reduce manual effort, and connect critical workflows that have traditionally lived in separate systems. Partnering with LeBeouf Towing represents an exciting milestone in the maturation of BargeOS and demonstrates what modern marine operations can actually look like.”

“BargeOS has helped us improve visibility across our operations while simplifying processes that were previously manual, allowing our teams to spend more time focused on serving customers and managing our fleet,” said Mark Bourgeois, Executive Vice President of LeBeouf Bros. Towing.

The partnership reflects a broader shift taking place across inland marine transportation. As shippers demand greater visibility, faster communication, and increased financial accuracy, operators are investing in technologies that improve operational efficiency while supporting the people and processes that keep freight moving safely and reliably.

“Digital transformation in marine transportation isn’t about replacing experience,” Aristides added. “It’s about giving operators better tools to make faster decisions, improve customer service, and build more resilient businesses. We’re proud to be partnering with LeBeouf as they continue leading that evolution.”

About LeBeouf Bros. Towing

LeBeouf Bros. Towing, LLC is a privately held inland tank barge company which specializes in the carriage of crude oil, clean and dirty petroleum products, and chemicals. LeBeouf operates one of the youngest fleets in the industry which is supported by its fully functional shipyard facility, Bourg Dry Dock & Service, located at the company’s headquarters in Bourg, Louisiana. The company also owns Bayou Blue Fleet located at mile marker 49 on the ICWW which it utilizes for both equipment storage and outside fleeting opportunities.

About OpenTug
OpenTug is the company behind BargeOS, an AI-native software platform for marine logistics. BargeOS helps customers improve productivity, increase visibility, and support better margin outcomes by connecting data, automating workflows, and streamlining decision-making across commercial planning, voyage management, invoice intelligence, and performance management. For more information, visit www.opentug.com

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SOURCE OpenTug

NEW YORK, Aug. 4, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Taligence, an executive search firm specializing in senior marketing hires, has once again partnered with Aspen Technology Labs, a global leader in labor market intelligence, to release the Q2 2026 U.S. Marketing Jobs Report. Based on an analysis of more than 86,000 in-house marketing job listings throughout the second quarter of 2026, the report shows that the U.S. marketing job market remained resilient despite a modest slowdown following a peak in hiring activity during April.

Total active marketing job listings continued to edge higher, more employers recruited for marketing talent, and Director-level and above hiring once again outpaced the broader market. At the same time, companies became increasingly selective in where they invested, with entry-level hiring declining further while demand remained concentrated in commercially focused disciplines such as Growth Marketing, Partner & Channel Marketing, and Brand Marketing.

One notable shift during the quarter was the reversal in remote hiring. After reaching a high in early March, the share of fully remote marketing roles declined steadily through the remainder of the quarter, suggesting that many employers have settled into more permanent hybrid or in-office working models. Median advertised salaries continued to rise during the quarter. However, part of this increase reflects the growing concentration of senior-level hiring, alongside genuine wage growth within marketing roles.

Note: This report covers full-time, in-house marketing positions only.

For the full report, visit:

https://www.taligence.com/job-reports/u-s-marketing-jobs-report-q2-2026

Key Findings from the Q2 2026 U.S. Marketing Jobs Report

1. Hiring Remains Resilient

Total active marketing job listings: 86,628 (+0.4% QoQ)New marketing job postings: 53,961 (-5.1% QoQ)Employers posting marketing jobs: 24,042 (+2.3% QoQ)Live job listings at quarter-end: 36,086 (+7.1% YoY)

2. Senior Marketing Hiring Continues to Outperform

Total senior marketing roles (Director-level and above): 11,659 (+4.5% QoQ)New senior job postings: 7,293 (+2.9% QoQ)Senior roles at quarter-end: 5,082 (+17.3% YoY)

3. Hiring Becomes More Selective

Entry-level hiring declined 4.0% YoY and 16.4% QoQDirector-level and above hiring significantly outpaced all other levelsCompanies continued shifting investment toward experienced marketing talent

4. Median Advertised Salaries Continue to Rise

Median advertised salary: $95,004 (+11.8% YoY), reflecting both higher advertised pay and a continued shift toward more senior hiring.Salary transparency remained high at 55.6% of job listingsField Marketing recorded the strongest salary growth among all disciplines

5. Remote Hiring Retreats

Remote marketing roles accounted for 13.6% of all in-house marketing job listingsRemote hiring declined steadily after reaching a peak in early MarchThe trend points to continued normalization of hybrid and in-office working models

6. Marketing Discipline and Geographic Trends Continue to Evolve

Partner & Channel Marketing, Growth Marketing, Brand Marketing, and Content Marketing recorded the strongest hiring growthProduct Marketing remained the highest-paid marketing disciplineNorth Carolina entered the nation’s top ten marketing hiring states for the first time, while San Francisco recorded the strongest hiring growth among major U.S. cities

“The market isn’t pulling back on marketing investment, it’s becoming much more selective about where that investment goes,” said Michael Wright, CEO of Taligence. “The strongest demand continues to be for marketers who can directly influence growth, partnerships, and brand performance. At the same time, the decline in entry-level hiring raises an important long-term question about how companies will develop the next generation of marketing leaders.”

“Marketing continues to outperform the broader U.S. labor market. Active in-house marketing listings ended Q2 up 7.1% year-over-year, roughly double the 3.7% growth we’re seeing across U.S. job postings overall,” said Michael Woodrow, President of Aspen Technology Labs. “But that growth is not evenly distributed. Director-level and above roles are up 17.3% year-over-year, versus under 6% across all other levels combined, while entry-level listings actually declined. Employers are still hiring marketers. They’re just hiring more experienced ones.”

About Taligence LLC

Taligence is an executive search and talent intelligence firm specializing in senior marketing leadership hires. Through proprietary research and data-driven insights, Taligence helps companies and candidates navigate an increasingly complex talent market. Learn more at www.taligence.com.

About Aspen Technology Labs, Inc.

Aspen Technology Labs is a global leader in web data management services and labor market intelligence. Its JobMarketPulse platform powers real-time hiring insights for organizations worldwide. Learn more at www.AspenTechLabs.com.

Media Contacts:

Taligence LLC
Melody Liu
melody@taligence.com

Aspen Technology Labs, Inc.
Lana Shumyn
lana.s@aspentechlabs.com

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SOURCE Taligence LLC