NEW YORK CITY — Forge, the new corporate brand uniting Emerald and Questex, was just unveiled. This move comes after Apollo-managed funds (“Apollo Funds”) acquired the two organizations in July 2026.
As the new corporate parent brand, Forge sits above the companies’ individual event and media brands, which will keep operating under their existing names.
“We have taken a deliberate approach to listen and learn first, to really understand the people, products and processes in place across the two companies,” Paul Miller, FCIM, Forge’s CEO and Questex’s previous CEO, said. “We have a number of work streams evaluating the best of both legacy companies and are already seeing opportunities to help customers reach their customers through the combination. We are already implementing cross marketing campaigns to drive targeted attendance to events utilizing the strength of databases in similar end markets – sharing of playbooks across both companies with lots more to come.”
The Forge brand will be rolled out across events, websites and customer touchpoints over the coming weeks and months.
“Although we are very excited to introduce a new brand into the market, the fact is that our customers recognize and trust us through the brands that they engage with — we will certainly be looking to create meaning behind a Forge experience but we want to make sure that the individual brands are serving their customers as leaders in their spaces — the Forge roll out will therefore be careful and not get in the way of the trusted relationships with the companies’ individual brands,” Miller explained.
Related. Apollo Global Management, Inc., to Acquire and Combine Emerald and Questex
A Strong Combination
Forge combines Emerald’s scaled portfolio of trade shows, conferences and commerce-driven solutions with Questex’s differentiated events, media brands and 365-day digital engagement model, offering customers a single partner that stays engaged before, during and long after an event. The company’s brand promise is “Moving Markets.”
“The fact is that live events and strong ByoB media brands are driving business, bringing senior level professionals together and we see this as more than an event and move than a newsletter — it’s a catalyst for growth for our customers — as we connect communities, strategies, product development and markets all move,” Miller said. “Lots of great early learnings here on multiple levels — both legacy companies are doing great things in a variety of vertical markets and our ability to craft events that learn from each other’s best practices range from the highly experiential activations to engaging content, curated connections and networking — there will be an active ‘steal this internal idea’ campaign at Forge!”
Forge also announced its newly appointed Board of Directors.
Along with Miller and Apollo Funds representatives, the Board’s independent directors are:
- Andy Bird, former President of Walt Disney International and former CEO of Pearson
- Lara Boro, former CEO of The Economist Group and former CEO of Informa Intelligence
- Simon Kimble, former CEO and Executive Chairman of Clarion Events
“It’s an exciting day for us at Forge but also I think an exciting day for the industry — there is a real excitement around trusted connections in an AI environment and the entire events sector is set to benefit from the trust we create,” Miller added.
To get more events industry news, subscribe to TSE’s free e-newsletter on LinkedIn or through your email.
