When Jared Callister pivoted his financial career in 2013 from taxes at Deloitte to a broader leadership role at QSC LLC, a maker of audio, visual and control products, he said he knew that the company had a bright future ahead.
“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, QSC’s vice president of finance, told the Business Journal last May.
Since Callister joined the Costa Mesa-based firm, QSC has acquired several cloud-based businesses, increased its headcount to over 900 employees and opened multiple international operations—all which led to a $1.2 billion sale to Atlanta-based Acuity Inc. in 2025 (NYSE: AYI).
QSC supplies high-performance loudspeakers, digital mixers, power amplifiers and cutting-edge AV systems to theme parks, casinos and concert halls worldwide, serving customers from performers to event managers. Acuity, an industrial technology company that develops lighting and building management solutions, called the firm “a disruptor” in the industry at the time of the sale.
“We found that Acuity was also on the same growth pattern as us,” Callister said.
In its first year under Acuity, QSC has proven to be a big driver of revenue and profit within a business segment called Acuity Intelligent Spaces (AIS).
“QSC is building the industry’s most innovative full-stack AV platform that unifies data, devices, and a cloud-first architecture to deliver real-time action, experiences, and insights,” Acuity Chief Executive Neil Ashe told analysts on a conference call to discuss fiscal 2025 results. “The addition of QSC has evolved the geographic footprint of our AIS business, accelerating our multinational expansion.”
QSC, short for Quilter Sound Co., reported $535 million in total sales for 2024. For the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2025, AIS reported sales of $472 million, for which QSC contributed $429 million, according to the parent company’s annual report.
The firm’s revenue accounted for the majority of Acuity’s rise as companywide sales climbed 13%, or $505 million, to $4.4 billion in fiscal 2025.
Callister, after winning the Business Journal’s Rising Star Award at the CFO of the Year Awards in 2025, at the time said that QSC was “knocking on the door” for $600 million in 2025, with a mission to eventually generate $1 billion in revenue.
“In all reality, Acuity bought QSC for our talent, our people, our technology – many things that we have been successful at,” President Jatan Shah told the Business Journal at the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Show in January.
“One thing that has to remain constant throughout all the decades is that focus on innovation and focus on technology to actually solve problems for people that we are serving,” Shah said.
