Award winners.
Presenting M. Sullivan & Son president Tommy Sullivan with the Canada’s Top 50 Best Managed Companies Platinum Award, from left, are vice-president Greg Sullivan, chief financial officer Kerry Hisko and Rona store manager Lori Van Wyk.
John Carter
Canada now knows what Arnprior area
residents have known for years.
M.
Sullivan & Son Ltd. is a well-managed company.
In fact,
it one of the top 50 best managed companies in the country.
Repeatedly
winning that award (seven years out of eight) has earned the Arnprior-based
construction company the prestigious platinum award.
A group of
10 company officials were in Toronto
March 29 to receive the award. “It certainly an endorsement of the way we do
things,” said vice-president Greg Sullivan, who runs the company’s Kingston office.
The grand
old man of the company, its honourary president and CEO Tom Sullivan, was
delighted with the honour, but not surprised.
“When a
company’s been around for 97 years, you must be doing something right,” he
said.
Sullivan
knows full well what the company has been doing right. It’s been recognized for
its commitment to excellence and emphasis on treating its employees fairly, he
said.
M. Sullivan
& Son has 130 employees, which rises to about 250 in the summer, with an
annual payroll of close to $12 million.
“We’ve built this company around our employees
… we consider everyone who works here part of the family.”
Sullivan
said some employees like working for the company so much they stay on long
after the normal retirement age. Take Gibby Tourangeau, for instance. The
86-year-old started with Sullivan’s at about age 17 and is still going strong.
That makes
for an experienced, highly skilled workforce, he said. “I’m very proud of our
people.”
Sullivan said the company values its employees
and takes care of them. “If they’re sick, we’re sick.”
However,
in return they expect employees to work hard and go where the jobs are.
“Quality
is what the Sullivan sells,” said Tom Sullivan. “If you can’t do it right,
don’t do it at all … or do it again until it’s done properly … we don’t stand
for second class work.”
Greg
Sullivan said the company’s high quality work begins with the expertise of its
superintendents and project managers. “There are two layers of excellence right
there,” he said, adding that all employees take pride in the quality of their
work.”
That work
pays off in a good reputation and repeat customers, said Tom Sullivan.
That
reputation has spread far and wide, as the company has branched out to take on
major jobs all over Ontario, as well as in Quebec, the Maritimes and even the U.S.
Sullivan
said another reason that it’s been so successful is that it embraces innovative
ways to do things. It was the first company to perfect a method to pour cement
in the winter, he noted.
“We’re
always striving for excellence … working on ways we can do things better.”
But while
the company is flexible and open to new technology and methods, it still lives
by the small town principles of hard work, common sense and keeping one’s word,
he said.
Sullivan
said the company has always been prudent, ensuring it is well capitalized to
withstand the slow times. The construction business is cyclical, so it’s
important to be able to keep top employees on the payroll even in between jobs,
he said.
“Renfrew County
has been real good to us and we’ve been good to Renfrew County,”
he said. “We’ve employed a lot of workers … fed a lot of people.”
Another
mainstay of the company’s success is its community involvement. The firm has
supported many local causes and projects, the latest being a $100,000 donation
to the Bonnechere Manor auditorium campaign.
Sullivan
has always been a community booster, serving as reeve, deputy mayor and mayor
of Arnprior for more than two decades.
The Platinum
Award is just the latest in a number of awards won by the company. Two years
ago. as he was on the verge of retirement, Tom Sullivan was awarded the Jock
Tindale Memorial Award for his integrity and commitment to high standards
within the construction industry.