26 Mar  AOS Interior Environments Marks 50 Years of Regional Partnership, Sustained Growth, and Community Investment

 In 1976, Gene Russ opened a storage and filing supply company on the west bank of New Orleans. What began as a neighborhood business serving nearby institutions has grown into Louisiana and Mississippi’s largest locally owned design-assist contractor providing commercial furniture, manufactured interior construction, and specialty storage solutions for organizations across the Gulf South. Fifty years in and in its second generation of leadership, the scale looks different. The operating principle doesn’t: earn trust honestly, protect it carefully, and measure success by the strength of the relationships you build.

Over those five decades, AOS has contributed an estimated $1.6 billion in regional economic impact through project delivery, sustained employment, and partnerships with local vendors, suppliers, and subcontractors; a figure that reflects not only the company’s growth, but the contributions of clients, partners, and employees who have helped build the firm alongside it.

 While much of the construction industry spent 2025 weathering supply chain disruptions, project delays, and market consolidations, AOS grew 18% to $50 million in revenue. The firm employs 106 people across the region and continues to serve clients who have trusted the company for decades, including partnerships that have lasted since the 1970s.

“We’ve been fortunate to do meaningful work for institutions that matter to this region: hospitals, universities, cultural organizations, local businesses,” said Shelby Russ, President and CEO of AOS Interior Environments. “What I’m most proud of after 50 years isn’t a revenue number. It’s the fact that we still have clients who called on us, and employees who have developed entire careers here. That kind of loyalty doesn’t happen by accident.” 

Sustaining a Culture of Commitment

AOS’ employees average 10 years of tenure, more than double the construction industry standard. That consistency is the firm’s most important operational asset. When clients call, they are connecting with a team who know their history, understand how they work, and has the experience and authority to resolve their challenges.

Prioritizing employee growth and development has also helped AOS earn recognition as one of New Orleans’ CityBusiness Best Places to Work for 11 consecutive years, a reflection of the same values that sustain its client relationships. In 2025, that team delivered $50 million across more than 400 projects for organizations including Ochsner Health System, LCMC Health, the New Orleans Saints and Pelicans, LSU, Tulane, Loyola, Dillard, Xavier, Entergy, and Hancock Whitney Bank.

As part of its commitment to fostering the next generation of leadership, AOS recently announced Rebecca Treuting as Vice President of Contract Furniture, following the retirement of Bud Breaux who led the Division for 30 years. Rebecca’s appointment reflects the firm’s investment in a design-forward approach and continuity as it enters its next chapter.

“Stepping into this role at a company with 50 years of relationships behind it is both humbling and energizing,” said Treuting. “The trust that clients and partners have built with this team over decades isn’t something you inherit; it’s something you have to earn every day. That’s what I’m focused on.”

Serving the Design Community 

AOS’ long-term success is inseparable from its relationship with the region’s architecture and design community. The firm’s role is not to compete with the design teams it works alongside, but to execute their vision with precision, supporting specification, procurement, delivery, and installation so projects are realized exactly as intended. 

“This region has an exceptional design community whose work shapes how Louisiana and Mississippi function,” Russ said. “We don’t create that vision. We protect it. When a designer’s work comes to life exactly as they imagined it, that’s success for us.”

That commitment extends to AOS’s manufactured interior construction capabilities, where the firm serves as a nationally recognized DIRTT Distribution Partner, offering integrated solutions for adaptive, technology-ready environments.

“The organizations we work with don’t stay the same, and the spaces we help create shouldn’t either,” said Rebecca Cooley, Vice President of Manufactured Interior Construction. “When architects and designers bring us in early, we can think through not just how a space looks at installation, but how it needs to adapt as our clients evolve. That kind of forward thinking is what drives everything we do.”

Those relationships, built on consistent delivery and genuine accountability, are measured not in project timelines but in decades.

Investing in the Region 

AOS’s roots in the Gulf South have shaped how its leadership thinks about the broader economy. In late 2024, Russ was appointed to the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s New Orleans Branch, a responsibility he sees as an extension of the firm’s long-standing role as a regional economic participant. 

“When institutions invest in their physical environments, it’s a signal of confidence,” Russ said. “When they pull back, we see it early. After 50 years of working across healthcare, education, government, and the private sector, we’ve developed a unique perspective on the region’s economic health that we feel a responsibility to share.” 

The company’s commitment to the region extends beyond the projects it delivers. In 2025, AOS contributed $431,032 to regional initiatives, including a $90,000 scholarship for underrepresented students in LSU’s School of Interior Design. Over the past decade, AOS has invested more than $2.5 million in workforce development, equity programs, and cultural organizations across the Gulf South.

“For us, community engagement has never been a line item or a headline. It’s part of how we think about what we’re building and who we’re building it for,” said Caroline Morgan, Vice President of Marketing and Strategy. “When we invest in a student who might not otherwise have access to design education, or partner with a program building pathways into our industry, we’re saying we believe in what this region is capable of. That belief isn’t new. It goes back to the very foundation this company was built upon.”

Building for the Future

AOS is investing over $1 million to expand its Baton Rouge showroom and has added 20,000 square feet to its Jefferson Parish distribution center, expansions that will allow the firm to serve more clients with greater speed and consistency across both markets.

In 2023, the firm acquired the Louisiana division of Alfred Williams & Company, becoming the exclusive MillerKnoll dealer in both Baton Rouge and New Orleans, deepening its technical capabilities and ensuring design teams have access to Herman Miller, Knoll, Hay, Muuto, and Maharam through a locally accountable partner. 

For design teams and institutional clients across the region, these investments translate directly into greater capacity, more responsive service, and a partner positioned to take on more complex, multi-phase work without compromising the accountability that has defined AOS for five decades.

“Fifty years is meaningful because of what it represents: the trust of clients, the commitment of our team, and the community that have made this company what it is,” Russ said. “But the work that matters most is still ahead of us. We’re building on everything we’ve learned to show up better for the people and institutions that depend on us. That’s what this anniversary is really about.”