Stew Tomkins joined Tippet Richardson (TR) in May 1966 at the Ottawa office managing the payroll for all hourly employees as well as 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 two 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 he 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 five 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 six record centres, 70 full-time employees and a fleet of seven vehicles. In 1995, the records business was flourishing with over 1.5 million cubic feet of records and a strong client list of over 1,000. 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 panels and as a director on a number of industry related boards.

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.

Photo: Stew Tompkins, then and now.