BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 30, 2026--
Fairmarkit today announced the full agenda for SOAR26, its annual conference for procurement leaders scaling sourcing capacity with AI agents. SOAR26 takes place September 9-10. According to research by Ardent Partners, nearly six in ten procurement teams have AI in flight, but only 1% have crossed from pilot to core processes this year. SOAR26 brings together the leaders turning those pilots into adoption and measurable value.
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Across two days, SOAR26 uplevels both the technology and the tradecraft: agents that scale sourcing execution, and human negotiation skills that scale influence. Highlights include:
Day 1 at the Institute of Contemporary Art:
Day 2 at Boston University:
This day will be focused on hands-on workshops, led by global enterprise leaders, Fairmarkit, and technology partners Amazon Business and ORO. Workshops include:
"The teams at SOAR26 already won the AI argument," said Kevin Frechette, CEO and co-founder of Fairmarkit. "Their real question now is how fast they can run and the size of the impact they can drive in the next 12-24 months. AI projects are not one size fits all, it's not flipping a light switch; it's learning and iterating as the tech ecosystem continues to evolve. Nobody gets better at that alone, which is the whole point of SOAR. Share what's real, what's coming, while also helping to shape the future of procurement."
Day 1 closes with a VIP Red Sox game in the Fenway Park BBQ Suite; Day 2 wraps at Night Shift Brewing. Event sponsors include: Amazon Business, Zip, ORO, and SpendHQ.
"Most procurement conferences are still selling the idea that AI is coming," said Collin-Demers. "SOAR26 is for teams past that conversation. They've already deployed it, and now they're dealing with the harder question: how do you ensure consistent results from AI at scale while respecting compliance and governance requirements? That's worth two days in a room together."
SOAR26 is complimentary, but space is limited. Attendance is pre-approved and geared toward CPOs, VPs, directors, category leaders, and sourcing and transformation professionals. Registration is open now at soarfairmarkit.com.
About Fairmarkit
Fairmarkit helps enterprises source smarter and spend better. Its autonomous sourcing platform puts AI agents to work from demand to award, for every category of spend. The result: faster procurement and deeper savings across the entire business. With a 2.7M+ supplier marketplace and native integrations into leading ERP and P2P systems, Fairmarkit meets enterprises where they are. Companies like BP, Boeing, and Snowflake have cut sourcing cycle times up to 86% and eliminated tens of thousands of manual hours every year.
Fairmarkit Co-Founder & CEO, Kevin Frechette, at Soar25
Fairmarkit Brings SOAR to Boston for a Third Year
The U.S. and Iran each fired barrages of missiles Thursday, as the pattern of back-and-forth strikes took hold again and hope dimmed for any quick resolution. After a brief respite, the risk of a return to all-out war emerged once more, with the fighting threatening to engulf even more countries. Jordan said Thursday it intercepted Iranian missiles for the second consecutive day, while Kuwait said a strike in the northern part of the country killed one person.
Todd Blanche’s nomination to become attorney general stalled Wednesday as lawmakers scrapped a planned committee vote after key Republicans demanded more assurances about the settlement of President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service.
Most Americans say the war in Iran has not been worth fighting, and Trump’s approval rating on Iran has fallen slightly since last month, according to a new AP-NORC poll. The results are a stark repudiation of Trump’s approach to the conflict, which has dragged on far longer than he originally predicted.
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The U.S. economy expanded at a sluggish 1.5% pace from April through June as rising imports weighed on growth. But consumer spending rose. And the Federal Reserve’s favored measure of inflation grew more slowly last month, by 3.7%, but remained above the central bank’s 2% target.
The Commerce Department reported Thursday that growth in U.S. gross domestic product — the nation’s output of goods and services — decelerated from 2.1% in the first three months of 2026 and came in below economists’ expectations.
The Fed on Wednesday chose to leave its benchmark interest rate unchanged for the fifth straight meeting. But three regional Fed presidents dissented, saying they wanted to raise rates to combat elevated inflation.
Higher costs have frustrated Americans ahead of November’s midterm elections, which will determine whether Trump’s Republicans keep full control of Congress.
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose last week but layoffs remain in the historically healthy range of the past few years.
U.S. filings for jobless aid in the week ending July 25 rose by 9,000 to 197,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The previous week’s figure was revised up by 1,000 to 188,000 but remains the lowest in more than 50 years.
Analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet forecast 207,000 new applications.
Weekly filings for unemployment benefits are considered representative of layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the U.S. job market.
The American Dream may not be dead for many Black Americans, but a National Urban League report warns that it’s further away than at any point since the Civil Rights Movement.
The 50th annual “State of Black America” report released Thursday grimly describes Black Americans ’ economic and political prospects as having worsened due to Trump’s policies. A copy obtained by The Associated Press says all Americans should be concerned.
“While they have targeted and focused on Black Americans, these attacks are going to impact broadly working Americans, poor Americans, aspirational middle-class Americans, and this is what this report points to,” said Marc Morial, the league’s president and CEO.
Morial urged concerned Americans to respond at the ballot box and with their pocketbooks. “We cannot be dejected. We cannot be cynical. We must act,” Morial said.
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Many Americans continue to be concerned about the pocketbook impact of the Iran war, the new poll shows.
About 7 in 10 U.S. adults — 72% — say it’s “extremely” or “very” important for the U.S. to prevent domestic oil and gas prices from rising, up slightly from 67% in March.
A similar share, 70%, say it’s highly important for the U.S. to reach a ceasefire agreement with Iran.
Americans’ goals for the Iran war may not be fully aligned with Trump, who has repeatedly said the war was launched to keep a nuclear weapon out of Iran’s hands.
While about two-thirds of U.S. adults say it’s “extremely” or “very” important to keep Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon — with Republicans especially likely to say this — Americans are more likely to prioritize low gas prices and a permanent ceasefire with Iran.
Most U.S. adults say the war in Iran has not been worth fighting, according to a new AP-NORC poll. About two-thirds of U.S. adults say the war with Iran, which began Feb. 28, has not been worthwhile. That includes the vast majority of Democrats and independents, as well as about 37% Republicans.
The poll shows little appetite among Americans for a prolonged conflict.
Only about 2 in 10 U.S. adults want to continue military action in Iran, while about 3 in 10 say the U.S. should pause military action and seek a renewed ceasefire through negotiations. About 2 in 10 want to completely stop military action in Iran and roughly one-quarter don’t know enough to say.
Trump on Wednesday announced a $22.5 billion renovation of Washington Dulles International Airport that will end the use of the widely disliked “people movers,” the mobile lounges that have been used for decades to shuttle travelers to and from the main terminal.
In place of the people movers, the airport will add a new U-shaped passenger train, a central walking tunnel, more moving walkways and new concourses. An above-ground parking garage closer to the main terminal with space for 32,000 vehicles is also in the offing, according to Trump and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.
The airport makeover would add to a long list of renovation projects the Republican president is pursuing to leave a lasting mark on the Washington region after his term ends in January 2029. Among other undertakings, he is building a new White House ballroom and wants to build a towering triumphal arch near the Lincoln Memorial.
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The president's approval rating on Iran has fallen slightly since last month, according to a new AP-NORC poll.
Just 28% of U.S. adults approve of how Trump is handling Iran, a slight decline from 34% last month.
Republicans also appear to be increasingly unhappy with the prolonged conflict: 61% approve of how Trump is handling Iran, an apparent decline from 71% in June.
The margin of sampling error for Republicans is 6 points, so that 10-point decline is considered slight – but it’s still noteworthy given Republicans’ higher approval of how Trump is handling the presidency overall. About 7 in 10 Republicans, 73%, approve of Trump’s job performance.
Trump’s overall job approval rating is 33% among U.S. adults. That’s slightly below where he was at this point in his first term, and similar to where former President Biden stood about one and a half years into his presidency, as inflation peaked.
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Todd Blanche’s nomination to become attorney general stalled Wednesday as lawmakers scrapped a planned committee vote after key Republicans demanded more assurances about the settlement of President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service.
The Senate Judiciary Committee had been expected to vote Thursday on whether to advance Blanche’s nomination to the full chamber. But resistance from two Republican senators on the committee who could block Blanche’s nomination threw his confirmation into doubt.
A spokesperson for the committee said in a statement Wednesday night that the vote would be postponed “as work continues to secure sufficient support.” The delay came after hours of negotiations between the Justice Department and Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Thom Tillis over the controversial settlement that afforded Trump and members of his family protection from tax audits.
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The United States and Iran each fired barrages of missiles Thursday, as the pattern of back-and-forth strikes took hold again and hope dimmed for any quick resolution.
After a brief respite, the risk of a return to all-out war emerged once more, with the fighting threatening to engulf even more countries: Jordan said Thursday it intercepted Iranian missiles for the second consecutive day, while Kuwait said a strike in the northern part of the country killed one person. Also this week, drones caused fires on ships at an Egyptian port, and Saudi Arabia said it came under fire from Iran-backed militias in Iraq.
The spiraling violence underscored the difficulty of winding down a five-month conflict that has sent the price of fuel and other basics soaring, jolted the world economy, and added to concerns about American stockpiles of weapons needed to defend its bases and allies. After an earlier hiatus had given hope that diplomatic efforts were moving forward, there was no public sign of progress.
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FILE - A man sits on a surfboard as a container ship and other commercial vessels appear anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Monday, July 27, 2026. (Razieh Poudat/ISNA via AP, File)
A child rests his head on the coffin of a Popular Mobilization Forces fighter draped in the Iraqi flag during a funeral for Popular Mobilization Forces fighters killed in airstrikes on PMF bases in Najaf, Iraq, Thursday, July 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Anmar Khalil)
President Donald Trump speaks about Dulles International Airport modernization, in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, July 29, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
