February 29, 2008

ORBA

Roy Steed, at left, and Denis Evans, at right, accept their Lifetime Achievement Award from Martin Gran, ORBA President.

Lifetime Achievement

Peers laud Steed, Evans for stellar contributions

Staff benefits, profit-sharing was visionary

PATRICIA WILLIAMS

staff writer

TORONTO

Newly-minted Ontario Road Building Hall of Fame members Roy Steed and Denis Evans not only made their mark in business, they also broke new ground in employer-employee relationships.

“You could write a book on their accomplishments, of the innovation they brought to both the civil construction industry and the workplace,” said Martin Gran, newly-elected president of the Ontario Road Builders’ Association.

The co-founders of Steed and Evans Ltd. were inducted into the hall of fame during the association’s recent 81st annual convention. The 84-year-old Steed flew in from Halifax for the event while the 80-year-old Evans cut short a vacation in Jamaica to attend.

“They were ecstatic,” recalled company president Malcolm Matheson. “They considered it an exceptional honour to be recognized by their peers.”

Inseparable in building what Gran described as “one of the most respected and successful” road building companies in Ontario, the duo graduated a year apart in civil engineering at the University of Toronto. Steed, who served in the Second World War, obtained his degree in 1949 while Evans graduated in 1950.

Both landed their first jobs at the general contracting firm of A.E. Rule Ltd. Evans left after a year to work for Manix & McNamara on construction of the Toronto subway.

They incorporated Steed and Evans in January, 1953.

While they started as bridge builders, Steed and Evans subsequently diversified into road construction, aggregates, hot-mix asphalt production and residential subdivision work.

In 1967, they got into the winter maintenance business. This experience became the jumping point when area-maintenance contracts were introduced in the late 1990s. Today, Steed and Evans is one of the biggest players in that market.

In the early 1970s, the company introduced a fully-vested pension plan for all salaried staff – a move that Gran said was well ahead of its time in the industry. A profit-sharing plan was implemented a few years later.

In the early 1980s, a stock option plan was established for senior managers.

Today, the company is owned and managed by a third-generation management team. The founders maintain seats on the board.

Worker safety was one of Steed’s personal soap boxes, Gran said. In 1963, Steed was elected president of the Construction Safety Association of Ontario.

“The commitment to safety has been ingrained in Steed and Evans’ corporate culture,” Gran said.

In road building circles, Steed served as president of ORBA in 1961. Evans took his turn at the ORBA reins in 1984.

The Ontario Road Building Hall of Fame recognizes individuals who have contributed “significantly and consistently” to their companies, the road building industry and their communities.

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