Two years after retiring as CEO of The Shaw Group, Jim Bernhard and his partners in the private equity firm he subsequently founded have announced this week the formation of an integrated energy services firm made up of several existing companies, including the mechanical construction company founded by his grandfather nearly a century ago.
As first reported by Daily Report, the new company is technically a holding company simply called Bernhard. It bills itself as a design-build energy infrastructure firm that will provide energy-engineering, mechanical, electrical, plumbing and development services for commercial and industrial clients.
Jim Bernhard is chairman of the board of Bernhard, which comprises four separate operating companies. They include Lafayette-based Bernhard Mechanical, the Bernhard family business founded in 1919 and run by Bernhard’s brother Kenneth Bernhard; EP Breaux Electrical, a 70-year-old electrical contractor based in New Iberia; and TME, a 20-year-old engineering firm based in Little Rock, Ark.
Also under the Bernhard umbrella is a newly formed company, Bernhard Energy, made up of the leadership of the other three companies. It will be a developer of district energy systems and power plants for commercial, governmental and institutional clients. Together, the combined companies have about 725 employees in 18 locations across the country.
Also this week, Daily Report got the exclusive story on Raising Cane’s founder Todd Graves’ upcoming appearance on Animal Planet’s Treehouse Masters. Graves and his family were joined Monday by friends at their Baton Rouge home on the LSU lakes for the unveiling of a 1,200-square-foot, three-level treehouse built by “tree whisperer” Pete Nelson of the reality TV show.
Everyone will be able to see Graveses’ reaction, as well as their massive new treehouse—the largest ever built by Nelson and his crew—when they appear Friday, March 6, at 9 p.m. Central Time on the season finale of the show, which is dubbed “Biggest Build Ever.”
Read the complete Daily Report Week in Review for a full rundown of all of the top local stories from this week.
—Steve Sanoski
