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QSC LLC is on a mission to generate $1 billion in revenue, a goal closer in reach than before with its $1.2 billion sale to Atlanta-based Acuity Brands Inc. completed on Jan. 1.
The future of the audio, visual and control firm, founded in 1968, is what drew Jared Callister to the business back when he was working at Deloitte as a tax senior manager and the Costa Mesa company was one of his clients.
“It was definitely a pivot in my career,” Callister, a vice president of finance told the Business Journal. “To a broader role, above and beyond just taxes.”
Callister said that even when he joined QSC 11 years ago, the company’s future had looked bright.
“What motivated me to make that change was joining an organization that was top notch,” Callister said. “They had a solid history of growth, a strong ownership group, and a strong leadership group in place. I don’t think those opportunities grow on trees.”
Callister leads QSC’s global finance team in efforts to improve the company’s development and distribution of its audio and video platform and products. His financial leadership has fueled the past decade of growth at QSC, including the increase in headcount to over 900 employees, setting up new operations in different countries and acquiring businesses to benefit QSC’s developing cloud-based program.
The finance executive was recognized at the Business Journal’s CFO of the Year Awards with a Rising Star Award at the Irvine Marriott on May 8.
Since Callister’s appointment, EBITDA grew by four times while increasing efficiency and profitability percentage and global revenue had a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 13%, according to QSC.
“The international growth has probably been the most exciting,” he said. “We really increased our global footprint, opening up offices across the world—Europe, Asia, Singapore, Hong Kong and also in India.”
QSC has opened two main distribution offices in India and Germany to service the surrounding regions of Europe and Middle East regions.
“Each one of those is a kind of startup in its own way,” Callister said. “Each country, each region is different in its own right. You can’t grow everywhere at the same time. So, we focus on the area where we get good input and insight from.
“We’ve got to focus on areas where we feel it warrants our investment and our ability to build up our own brand.”
Knocking on the Door of $600M
Callister grew up in Hawaii and after graduating from Brigham Young University in 2002, he was recruited to Orange County and stayed because it was the closest place he could get to the ocean.
He landed at Deloitte in 2002, where he met his wife, and spent 11 years at the Costa Mesa office.
When Callister jumped to QSC in 2013, “the company was transitioning from its legacy pro audio products” such as loudspeakers and power amplifiers into its cloud-based IT division that resulted in its Q-SYS software used in any meeting room that use audio, video and control systems.
And before 2016, QSC had never acquired a company before. Callister has now led the purchase of three technology firms that contributed to the Q-SYS platform. The most recent buy was Zurich-based Seervision in 2023.
The Q-SYS software now makes up the bulk of the business, over 60%.
“QSC has built a differentiated cloud-manageable audio, video and control platform that controls what happens in a built space,” Acuity Brands Chief Executive Neil Ashe said in a statement.
Callister and his team are “heads down on the integration” of the new buyer nowadays.
“As we’ve grown over the years, we’ve had every option on the table from ‘Hey, do we go public? Do we go the IPO route? Do we bring on minority owners, do we bring on a private equity firm, just to help with that growth?, “he said.
“We found that Acuity was also on the same growth pattern as us,” he added.
QSC recorded sales of approximately $535 million for the twelve months ending Aug. 31, 2024.
“We’re knocking on the door towards $600 million,” he said.
“In the end, we still have our foundation as QSC, our technology, our products, our people. Now we have a bright future with this new owner.”