Fred Edwards
President and Chief Executive Officer
Some people are just born knowing where there future is going to take them. Well, Fred was one of those individuals. Growing up in Winnipeg with his older brother, Fred showed early signs of the road that would lead him to Servpro. Ever since he was able to walk and his family would go out to a restaurant, he would bolt to the washroom to inspect its cleanliness and report back to his parents if it was safe to eat in the establishment.
After graduating from High School, Fred headed west on the Trans Canada Highway with Calgary being the final destination. Fred spent several years learning about the residential carpet cleaning business and many days driving his 1976 Grand Torino Ford station wagon around Calgary cleaning homes. A few years later, Fred was running his own company called Chinook Building Maintenance and was learning about the janitorial side of the business cleaning late into the night with a few fellow employees. After years of struggling to build a business and help raise his two young boys, he realized getting to the next level would require him to shut down his operation and work at a job offered to him by the largest and best cleaning company in Western Canada. In 1997, Fred was hired by Focus Building Services in a Business Development role. Within his first year he was promoted to Branch Manager and had the opportunity to work under who he still says today was a great but hard to please owner, Bill Kujat. Bill and Fred remain friends today and Fred considers Bill one of his trusted mentors.
The opportunity to take the reins came to Fred in 2003 when he was approached by BMO Capital to purchase the shares of Servpro. Servpro, having been a leader in the restoration and cleaning business since 1964, had been sold in 2000 by Mr. Lou McEachern and was in need of a new owner. Lou had built one of the most recognizable brands in Calgary and Fred had the opportunity to continue that tradition. Today, Lou and Fred remain close friends and can be seen in Calgary restaurants enjoying a meal and telling old war stories. Fred also considers Lou one of his trusted advisors and strongest supporter. Today Fred continues to drive the Servpro legacy as President and CEO.
With the start of a New Year comes a new beginning for Servpro with the culmination of 2 1/2 years of negotiations resulting in an alliance with Servpro USA finalized in July of 2010. The first franchise store in Canada will open January of 2011 in Edmonton.
Some things never change as Fred still has close ties to Winnipeg and enjoys spending summer days at his cottage. Fred's boys have now grown to young men and both work part time in the business while attending University. Fred's home is Calgary, and he enjoys spending time on his ranch west of Calgary with his spouse, cat, 3 dogs and 2 horses.
And speaking of old habits, Fred can still be found checking the washrooms before ordering.