Atlanta, GA – Shepard, a nationwide general-service contractor that offers a full array of event production services for trade shows, conferences, corporate events, and exhibits, announced on Monday that it has purchased Aquarian, producer and manager of large-scale events, for an undisclosed price.
Shepard’s new live production arm will operate as Aquarian, a Shepard Company. Gene Lundgren, Aquarian’s founder and president, will continue to lead Aquarian as president, says Carl Mitchell, Shepard’s president.
“By adding live event production to our portfolio of services, we’ll be in a position to more completely meet the needs of our clients as they look to more fully integrate all aspects of their event into a cohesive experience for their participants,” Mitchell says. “Aquarian brings a full complement of services, a shared dedication to client success and satisfaction and a person approach to customer relationships. We believe it’s a perfect fit for our Shepard culture and will be a tremendous value-add for our clients.”
Lundgren called the agreement a great opportunity. “Our Aquarian team couldn’t be more excited about joining forces with Shepard,” he says. “Our combined teams will design and deliver complete, turnkey experiences that will increase engagement, production value, and cost efficiencies for show organizations.” In addition to general session and entertainment production, Aquarian’s capabilities include video production, speech writing and coaching, art direction and scenic design.
The company has produced large scale events for Daimler, Nortel, IBM, the American Trucking Association and entertainers including Jay Leno, Paul McCartney, Rod Stewart and Celine Dion. Shepard currently supports clients with a national footprint of offices in 13 US cities.
“This strategic expansion of Shepard’s services signals an aggressive move to more fully serve the growing needs of our customers and the industry as a whole,” company officials say. “The company has experienced significant and steady growth during the past decade and plans are in place to continue this pace to better serve its customers.”
Shepard is based in Atlanta and Aquarian is based in Virginia.
Reach Carl Mitchell at (404) 720-8600 or cmitchell@shepardes.com; Gene Lundgren at (703) 438-8838 or glundgren@aquarianllc.com
