W O R D S
profiles
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“As editor of Your Convenience Manager magazine and convenience central.ca, I have had the pleasure of working with Lawrence on a number of articles of increasing length and complexity. In all cases, not only has his writing been virtually edit-free, but he has always worked to deadline and with grace and humour. I wish there were more writers like Lawrence Herzog!” |
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– Jane Widerman, Editor, Your Convenience Manager magazine and convenience central.ca
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“His particular strengths are innovative approaches, a relentless work ethic that excels under pressure, exceptional task orientation, an easy amiability and an analytical mind that is willing to face the reality of problems head on.” |
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– Les Wiseman, Editor, Grocer Today and AWARD magazines |
Excerpt from 2,600 word feature in the August 2003 issue of Grocer Today magazine
From a grocery bag boy in Cranbrook, BC to chair of the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers, Ken Schley’s journey has been guided by entrepreneurial determination and a passion for people and the food business. “That’s what makes me want to get up and hit the ball again in this game,” he says. “Making new friends, meeting old ones, knowing I am making a difference to the customer down the street or to the industry as a whole.”
CFIG president John Scott praises Schley for his clear, focused approach to issues and decision- making. “Ken is a born leader and he’s inclusive. He’s a smart man who understands the big picture and has worked hard to be a broad thinker.”
Schley says being inclusive, working aggressively to expand CFIG’s membership beyond its current 3,000 and, as he calls it, “connecting the dots from coast-to-coast,” are crucial to the continued growth and success of independent grocers. “It was a great day for us when the Overwaitea Food Group joined and we’re working hard to expand our reach. There are so many exceptionally talented and dedicated people in the Canadian grocery business and it’s a privilege to learn from them and take those lessons and apply it to our own Vancouver Island business. It’s a competitive business but we share the fact that we are entrepreneurial and together we can make one another better. Being part of the CFIG network is a great way to measure success and failure and find better ways to solve old problems.”
It’s a quest that has driven him for a quarter century in the grocery business. When Schley, 44, and his partners John Briuolo, 45, and Noel Hayward, 48, took over an abandoned grocery store in Qualicum Beach, BC, in 1982, village residents were sceptical. One local recalls the trio, then in their mid-20s, “looked more like rock musicians than business people.” The three friends had come from BC’s Kootenay mountains to what they called “Canada’s Hawaii” for the laid-back lifestyle and fresh opportunities.
With newly cut Styrofoam letters on the building announcing Qualicum Foods and little more than the clothes on their backs, they rolled up their sleeves and got to work. Providing service far beyond what one might normally expect from a small-town grocery store, Schley and his partners quickly found a niche. They instilled in their employees a simple yet powerful belief that every customer deserves the best shopping experience possible – right from arriving at the store through to unpacking their groceries at home. Qualicum Beach residents saw them pouring their hearts and souls into the little venture and repaid them by bringing their business.
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Excerpt from 1,500 word feature in the April 2003 issue of AWARD magazine
“What we sell is between the ears of our employees.” That’s how President and CEO Tony Franceschini explains Stantec’s metier and how it has been built into a $425 million a year multi discipline full-service company, with 3,500 employees at more than 40 locations in North America and the Caribbean. “It’s knowledge that gives us strength. Our assets walk out the door every night.”
Building on a strategy of “one team, one brand, infinite solutions,” Franceschini says nurturing the publically traded company means ensuring its employees are the best equipped to deliver knowledge-based solutions to infrastructure and facilities projects. They do it by providing value-added professional services and technologies in five market segments – buildings, environment, industrial, transportation and urban land. The company offers expertise in 15 separate practice areas spanning the disciplines of planning, engineering, architecture, environmental sciences, interior design, surveying, landscape architecture and project economics. From initial concept and financial feasibility to project completion and beyond, the goal is to support clients at every stage. He calls it “a strong regional presence enhanced by global capability.”
Since 1976, Stantec has integrated more than 50 firms and, over the last several years, has been growing at 15 to 20 per cent per year by concentrating primarily on expanding its family in secondary markets. Through both integrated and discipline-specific consulting and project delivery, Stantec works with clients in the public and private sectors in central and western Canada; the southwestern, southeastern, and western United States; and selected international markets.
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Excerpt from 2,400 word feature in the April 2001 issue of Westworld Alberta magazine
Suzie was my first love. She was a 1965 Ford Galaxie 500, four-door sedan with a 352 cubic inch V8. Suzie had been my father’s car and I grew up watching him carefully drive her, clean her, maintain her. She had doors that closed with a satisfying “thunk” and, out on the road, she would float along at 70 miles an hour, her engine purring in contentment. She was fire engine red and sucked up car wax like a thirsty sponge. We’d apply some magic in a bottle called Turtle Wax and, a couple hours of elbow grease later, her factory lustre was back, glinting again in the afternoon sun. Then we’d pile in and go for a drive, windows down, ear-to-ear grins locked in place at the pride and sheer ecstasy of it all.
Maybe that’s why I understand people smitten with the love of old iron. Wandering around History Road at the Reynolds-Alberta Museum in Wetaskiwin, they’re everywhere. Old fellows telling stories about 50 year old cars like they’re old friends; young fellows lusting after sixties muscle cars; middle-aged women finding the romance and the passion in the designs and the memories. A diverse demographic, yet all so head over heels they’ll travel for days in pursuit of the right vehicle, expend thousands of hours searching catalogues for parts and invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in restorations.
Consumed by their magnificent obsession, they practically eat, breathe and sleep old cars. Bringing these machines back to life represents not just a passion for gleaming paint, spit-and-polish chrome and mechanical minutiae, but a culture unto itself. One where connecting the numbers - matching the factory original engine, with frame and chassis - is a holy grail. A hobby where the pursuit is as much the charm as the conquest. Where the past can become the present and memories come to life right before your eyes.
“These cars are what we were all about,” offers Dave Robb, owner of a gleaming black 1965 Dodge Polara 880 2-door Convertible Coupe, a great rumbling behemoth that is, at once, brawny and intimate. “In our small town, we cruised up and down the main drag every Friday and Saturday night, going from one drive-in restaurant to another. The cars were part of our lives - an indelible part that will never go away. Collecting cars, living the car culture means celebrating those memories with others who are celebrating, too.”
From the groundbreaking to the mundane, the magnificent to the maligned, it seems there’s a car for every collector - and a collector for every car. There is perhaps no other form of collecting that traverses so many demographic boundaries, encompasses such a wide array of individuals or appeals to so many people on so many levels. Just park an old car and watch the heads turn. Park a few and watch the crowds gather. Park 350 and you’ve got a bona fide trip through time.
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