Acquisition combines BRG’s 25 years of healthcare communications expertise with HeadStart’s specialization in startups and the broader innovation ecosystem.

Truelink Capital (“Truelink”), a Los Angeles-based private equity firm focused on growth and long-term value creation, announced today that its portfolio company GES has acquired CSG Creative (“CSG” or the “Company”), a strategic marketing and creative agency serving associations and event organizers, from National Trade Productions, Inc. (“NTP”). GES is a global leader in exhibition and experiential marketing services for event organizers and brand marketers. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, CSG provides brand strategy, creative, digital, and multi-channel marketing services that help associations and event organizers build their brands and grow membership and event attendance. The Company works as an extension of its clients’ marketing teams, primarily through year-round retainer relationships, and serves associations, trade shows, and conferences. CSG will continue to operate under its own brand as an operating company within GES, with President Paige Cardwell and the existing leadership team remaining in place.

The acquisition expands GES’s marketing and creative capabilities, pairing its global exhibition services and event organizer relationships with CSG’s expertise in growing event attendance and membership for association clients. The combination also creates two-way cross-sell opportunities, extending CSG’s services across GES’s broader client base and introducing CSG’s clients to GES’s exhibition services.

“CSG has a deeply experienced team, long-standing association relationships, and a strong reputation,” said Luke Myers, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Truelink Capital. “Together, GES and CSG give associations and event organizers a single partner from attendee marketing through show execution, and we continue to see a robust pipeline of M&A opportunities to build on the platform.”

“This acquisition is an investment in capabilities that complement our existing services and strengthen the value we bring to clients,” said Derek Linde, CEO of GES. “CSG has established itself as a leader in the association and exhibitions industry, with an exceptional track record of helping organizations and events grow through strategic marketing, creative excellence, and measurable results. The partnership reinforces our commitment to specialized expertise, innovation, and services that help clients build stronger brands, engage audiences, and drive long-term business growth.”

This acquisition marks GES’s second add-on under Truelink’s ownership, following its acquisition of 2Heads in 2025, and reflects Truelink’s continued focus on partnering with industry-leading companies in the industrials and business services sectors.

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AVIXA, the Audiovisual and Integrated Experience Association, has named Marco Pardi as its new Chief Executive Officer. Pardi will take the reins of the Association on January 1, 2027, succeeding David Labuskes, CTS, RCDD, who retires on December 31, 2026.

Pardi joins AVIXA from the international events, digital media, and information services provider Informa, where he was President of the Tech Events portfolio. In this role, he was responsible for the strategy and execution of live and on-demand events, digital marketing services, and training serving the information technology and healthcare industries. He led a team of more than 200 professionals in multiple locations across North America, Europe, and Asia, stewarding a number of respected global brands including The AI Summit, Channel Partners Expo, Contact Center Expo, Data Center World, HIMSS Global Conference, IWCE, Network X, and Service & Support World Expo.

Pardi was educated at the University of California, Berkeley, where he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics, and has more than 25 years’ experience leading high-performing teams in the field of B2B technology events and community-building.

“It is an honor to be leading AVIXA,” comments Pardi. “Very few non-profit organizations in the tech space have the brand reputation, global reach, and programmatic diversity of this Association. As the professional AV industry has broadened in scope, appeal, and value, AVIXA has kept pace with these developments, fully embracing the convergence with IT and related disciplines without compromising the passion and commitment which sit at the core of its identity. AVIXA doesn’t just provide connections and information; it enables AV companies to be more successful and helps AV people be the best at what they do.”

Pardi’s appointment concludes a 12-month search process during which some of AVIXA’s most senior volunteers evaluated applications from over 100 candidates from all over the world. The process was led by a CEO Search Committee chaired by the current Vice Chair of the AVIXA Board of Directors, Mradul Sharma (Founder and Managing Director, 3CDN Workplace Tech). The other Committee members were current AVIXA Board Chair, Tobias Lang (CEO, LANG AG); Chair of the AVIXA Leadership Search Committee, Jatan Shah (President, QSC); AVIXA Board Secretary-Treasurer, John Bailey (Senior VP, Technology & Innovation, AVI-SPL); AVIXA Board member Christine Schyvinck (President, CEO, and Chairman, Shure); former AVIXA Board Chair Cathryn Lai (CPO, Interblock); and former AVIXA Chief Financial Officer, Greg Feehan. The Committee’s work was supported by the renowned global consulting firm Korn Ferry.

AVIXA Board Chair Tobias Lang comments: “The Search Committee was impressed by Marco’s experience of leading large and diverse talent pools, his consistent track record of revenue growth based on value, his background serving technology-driven industries, his ability to operate internationally, and above all by his sheer enthusiasm for the role and for the Association. It’s clear that Marco sees this as an opportunity not just to develop a business, but to represent our industry and advocate for the outcomes it delivers to the wider world. We are confident he will take both AVIXA and the community it serves to the next level of impact, innovation, and growth.”

During his 14-year term as CEO, Labuskes oversaw the rebranding of the Association from InfoComm International to AVIXA; the rebuilding of core Association activities after the COVID-19 pandemic; modernization of the Association’s governance and leadership search capabilities; and the introduction of multiple new programmatic offerings including the ANP (Audiovisual Network Professional) accreditation, the monthly Pro AV Business Index, the AVIXA TV online video creation and distribution platform, and just recently, the ‘Broadcast AV: Glass to Glass’ training course designed to help AV professionals navigate the convergence of their traditional skillsets with those of enterprise broadcasting, live event production, and media asset management.

Today, AVIXA touches the lives of over half a million AV professionals from around the world. More than 175,000 people attend the Association’s tradeshows, other in-person events, and online webinars; over 100,000 subscribe to AVIXA newsletters; and AVIXA’s online learning platforms are utilized by 30,000 unique individuals, of whom more than half are now accredited to one or more of the CTS (Certified Technology Specialist), CTS-I, and CTS-D certifications.

“AVIXA’s unrivalled position as the trusted provider of data, training, standards, networking, and growth opportunities is the result of years of hard work by the Association’s dedicated staff and volunteers,” concludes Pardi. “I feel both humbled and privileged to be assuming the role of AVIXA CEO, and am confident that together, we can continue to grow the AV industry globally and enhance our community’s influence at a time of tremendous technological change and opportunity. To lead AVIXA is to lead an industry that changes the way people experience the world, and I cannot wait to get started.”

Continuous experimentation informs AI decisions on when and how to engage healthcare professionals

AI Digital, the AI-native media consultancy, has launched Ellie, an AI superagent built into its Elevate marketing intelligence platform. Most AI tools are assistants or copilots, but Ellie selects and sequences specialist agents around the user’s goal, including agents for planning, campaign analytics, competitive analysis, audience search, and audience personas. Ellie gives marketers one conversational interface across the campaign lifecycle, taking them from a brief or question to a media plan and ongoing analysis while carrying context from step to step.

“Most AI in media is built by companies that also sell the media,” said Stephen Magli, CEO and Founder of AI Digital. “Ours isn’t. We don’t own inventory, so Ellie has no reason to prefer one channel over another except performance. That’s what Open Garden means in practice.”

Media decisions rarely happen in one place. Research, audience insights, media plans, and campaign results often live in separate tools, and context gets lost as work moves between them. Built around AI Digital’s Open Garden approach, which prioritizes performance over any single platform or inventory source, Ellie connects campaign context across channels and demand-side platforms where the data is available, giving teams a broader view than looking at each channel in isolation.

An agency running more than 20 campaigns connected to Elevate reporting for a multi-rooftop auto dealership group could ask Ellie which ones are over- or under-pacing, get suggestions on how to get them back on track, and package the findings into a client-ready report.

“Marketers can spend a lot of time carrying what they learned in one tool over to the next,” said Mike Uzunyan, Vice President of Product at AI Digital. “With Ellie, research findings can inform audience choices, audience choices can shape the media plan, and the plan can inform the deliverable, all within the same conversation. We built it specifically for advertising, so that context stays connected to the media decisions teams have to make.”

Ellie generates plans, analysis, and recommendations, and every campaign launch or change goes through human review. Users submit Ellie’s output in Elevate, and AI Digital’s managed service team activates campaigns after that review.

Clients got early access to Ellie at AI Digital’s AI Innovation Center, which opened Oct. 29 in the Miami Design District. Ellie is available now to AI Digital clients through Elevate at no additional platform cost. Access is partnership-driven and available to clients who meet their partnership commitments. Prospective clients can request trial access through AI Digital.

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