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ABOUT US

 

We Are Salient

A creative agency that builds awesome stuff all day, every day

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About us

AUS competes in multiple industries, with an emphasis on data-driven enterprises and consulting services. We optimize assets by sharing technology, talent, investments, common corporate services and cohesive long-term planning. AUS’ operating companies embody our portfolio strategy, creating and benefiting from organizational and operational synergies.

Synergies among the AUS companies allow them to focus on their specific industry segments and gain access to a much larger pool of resources, when compared to competitors of equivalent size. In addition, exposure to other markets and industries provide AUS business units with a broader range of growth opportunities.

Market Research

Since 1983, AUS has been invested in the Market Research industry. Today our Market Research companies are divided into two groups: Market Research and Data Management systems.

Intellectual Property

For more than 30 years AUS has cultivated valuable services to the IP management industry. Our units provide consulting services, proprietary databases and industry publications.

Who We Are

Jack Ringwood

Chief Executive Officer

Gordon Smith

Director

Patricia Valentine

Chief Financial Officer

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Compensation Committee

Finance and Audit Committee

Barbara Marshall

VP, HR & Payroll

Jennifer Baxter

Corporate Projects

Deana Gallagher

AP/AR Supervisor

Kim Marshall-Kidd

AP Supervisor

Jill White

Payroll Supervisor

Employee Ownership

ESOP

  • An Employee Stock Ownership Plan – or ESOP – is an employee benefit by which ownership of the company is transferred to its current and future employees. At AUS, we feel that it’s much more than that. Our employee-shareholders think about the big picture – the entire company as a whole rather than just their respective division. A strong desire for shared success within all operating companies is part of the culture at AUS.
  • Our ESOP has been the basis for an inter-company perspective fostering innovation, collaboration and a long-term outlook. AUS ESOP members enjoy not only the satisfaction and challenge of employment, but also the benefits and responsibilities of ownership.

Shareholder Collaboration

  • Formed in 2001, the AUS ESOP was fueled by a common interest in the future value of AUS. Since then we have focused on a multitude of collaborative initiatives throughout our companies, including shared resources, ideas and technology. Teams comprised of executives, designers, software engineers, social scientists and other unusual combinations is standard at AUS. All good ideas are on the table, enabling our employees to work in a highly dynamic environment.
  • With teams sharing similar values and long-term objectives, our operating companies benefit from a much larger pool of competencies, while remaining independent to focus on their clients’ needs.

Efficiency & Proficiency

  • Our business units face various competitive environments at local and global levels. As a holding company, our main focus is to monitor and improve efficiencies while increasing value for our clients and shareholders.
  • AUS strategically invests in core competencies that can be utilized by the largest amount of stakeholders – business units, product teams and employee-shareholders alike – thus maximizing our profitability.

Mentoring & Coaching

  • Although we value our forward-thinking mindset, AUS is not a startup. We are a financially sound and mature corporation, proud to be considered a great place to work. We secure our longevity by promoting a work environment where all ideas are welcomed – bringing together cutting-edge expertise and experience.
  • While AUS’ fast-growing workforce benefits from a rich learning environment, our most seasoned employees are incentivized to pass along their experience and knowledge to the next generation. It is the newer employees who will continue to improve AUS’ value as they transition to more senior roles and responsibilities. Our ESOP structure provides the incentive to prioritize long-term planning and commitment to the future value of AUS stock.

Heritage

Joe Brennan

Joseph F. Brennan
Founder & Chairman, AUS, Inc.
1967-2002
“Work with integrity and strive for excellence. Be true to yourself and the company – for we will meet our challenges and celebrate our successes together.”

50 years ago, in the summer of 1967, Joseph Brennan founded AUS on three Principles of Excellence: personal integrity, superior standards of performance, and loyalty to clients and colleagues. In the decades that followed, as AUS grew from a single office in Center City Philadelphia to a portfolio of business enterprises with a national presence serving international markets, our Principles of Excellence have remained unchanged. Following in Joe Brennan’s footsteps, hundreds of AUS employee-shareholders have built successful careers by relying on these principles as they respond to the unique and challenging needs of the company’s diverse client base.

Our heritage continues to shape our future. With an unwavering commitment to clients and shareholders alike, AUS continues to identify new opportunities and pursue innovative means of crafting business solutions and creating corporate value. At AUS, we encourage an entrepreneurial outlook. We encourage and promote those with an eagerness to explore and evaluate, search and scrutinize, revitalize, redefine and reinvent. With a workforce of that caliber, AUS has, over the years, invested assets in airfields and flight schools, newspapers and printing plants, financial consulting and intellectual property management services, and market research operations – each new business telling a story of diversity and adaptability.

Data – whether retrieved and reported, aggregated or extrapolated, calculated, researched or surveyed – has consistently been a driving factor in each of the AUS business ventures. In the 1970’s AUS invested heavily in mainframe computers to consolidate financial data from regulated utilities and subsequently became a preeminent consultancy in the energy, water and telecommunications industries.  In the 1980’s AUS acquired and cultivated a company whose founder was one of the earliest adopters and proponents of computer – assisted telephone survey research and methodologies. In the 1990’s and 2000’s AUS is focusing its strategy on data-driven market research and consulting practices as those businesses shift from relying on traditional data sources and information gathering techniques and evolve into sophisticated analytics operations managing unstructured data and  massive databases.

The successful execution of the AUS strategy depends on three simple tactics: we ask, we listen, and we answer. From data collection to analytics and consulting, each of the AUS portfolio companies uses this approach to collaborate internally, and with clients, to deliver superior results and shareholder value.

The essential core of this company is its employees. Entrepreneurial in spirit and united by the AUS Principles of Excellence, they share a dedication to outstanding service and a commitment to growth.  Their decades of allegiance have earned them not only the benefit of employment, but the opportunity… and responsibility… of ownership. In their hands, the outlook for AUS during its next 50 years is both promising and exciting.

 

Jack Ringwood
AUS President & CEO

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