Stew Tompkins – 54 Years of Excellence
Stew joined Tippet Richardson in May 1966 at the Ottawa office managing payroll for all hourly employees and accounts payable. In June 1968 he was transferred to the North Bay office looking after dispatch, payroll, completion of long-distance bills of lading, and accounts payable.
After 2 years in North Bay, Stew was transferred to Toronto to work at Rawlinson Moving & Storage, a wholly-owned subsidiary of TR. As the office manager Stew was responsible for accounting functions up to the general ledger. Stew worked closely with Peter Naylor (President of Rawlinson and Tippet-Richardson) to help grow the business. After working for 5 years at Rawlinson, Stew was transferred to Tippet Richardson’s corporate head office as their office manager with a much larger staff. In September 1994, Stew took over the Records Management Division at TR.
Stew served as the Manager of the Records Management Division for over 30 years. During Stew’s tenure, the business saw significant expansion and a lot of processes being automated under his leadership to increase efficiency and output. The business grew to have 6 record centers, 70 full-time employees, and a fleet of 7 vehicles. In 1995, the records business was flourishing with over 1.5 million cubic feet of records and a strong client list of over 1000. Stew pioneered the concept of mobile shredding by installing a shredder and compactor to one of Tippet’s trucks.
Stew also had the opportunity to serve on advisory boards as well as a director on industry-related boards such as:
- ARMA (Association of Records Managers and Administrators)
- ACRC (Association of Commercial Records Centres) currently known as PRISM International (Professional Records and Information Services Management) (1st person outside the United States to be asked to sit on the board as a director.)
- Seneca College – advisory board
Over the decades, Stew has had the opportunity to help with the building of a great business. His strong business acumen and ability to forge long-term relationships with clients has made the records management business, the fastest-growing division in Tippet Richardson’s 93-year history. Many long-term accounts that were pleased with the services provided by Stew and his team of excellent employees are still part of our clientele.