Ian Storey is a successful business story.
The native Islander has grown his Charlottetown-based engineering firm from one employee to 20 over the past decade in large part by carving out a comfortable niche making hockey rinks and industrial plants very energy efficient.
His company, called I.B. Storey Inc., has reduced the "energy footprint'' by up to 40 per cent in some hockey arenas.
Storey, who has won large-scale refrigeration contracts with major junior hockey rinks across North America, now has some work pending with large NHL facilities in the United States.
"It's a nice step up...we're pretty pleased with it, for sure,'' he said.
"I have been doing hockey rink systems now for a very long time.''
Storey, 43, did not set out to be an entrepreneur.
Coming out of the University of New Brunswick with a mechanical engineering degree, Storey expected to make a career out of working for a utility company.
He did work for Nova Scotia Power for a year as a commercial industrial auditor before moving to a private company doing commercial, industrial and institutional work.
In 2001, he returned to work at Testori, an aerospace company where he had previously worked for 18 months in Slemon Park.
While on his second stint with Testori, he, under full disclosure, continued to pursue his own energy business in the evening.
"It was a hobby, then the hobby got to be pretty significant,'' he says.
So significant that, in 2005, he opened an office in Charlottetown.
A decade later, he says without reservation that being an entrepreneur "is definitely a much better fit for me'' than being an employee.
I.B. Storey enjoying steady, controlled growth, says Storey, is the result of that simple, old adage of giving the customer what he or she wants.
"The key has been that every project we touch, we do everything possible to make sure that the client is satisfied, especially since my name is on the door,'' he says.
"We are actually a presence in the hockey rink industry... both in the U.S. and in Canada.''
Through his firm, Storey has been a leader in using the latest energy efficiency measure for facilities in recreational, commercial and industrial sectors.
He was pleasantly surprised in being named in October among seven organizations and individuals to receive the prestigious 2015 Bright Business Award for achievement and leadership in the field of energy efficiency.
Storey is a man on the go.
He puts in long hours and has taken about 115 business flights to date this year.
Yet he still feels well rooted to Prince Edward Island despite extensive travel.
In 2005, he built a house on family land in Millview about one kilometre from the home where he grew up.
"There's a number of advantages to being here,'' he says.
"Certainly quality of life is superior. I would be hard pressed (elsewhere) to be 25 minutes from my downtown office to my home on my 70 acres of land.''
Twitter.com/GuardianJimDay
Storey snapshot
Here is a quick look at Ian Storey, owner of the Charlottetown-based engineering firm I.B. Storey Inc.
-- The youngest of five, Storey employs his eldest brother Harry, an electrical engineer 17 years his senior.
-- Storey, who has a 13-year-old daughter, lives in Millview.
-- While taking engineering at UNB, he worked for the P.E.I. government in the summer of 1993. demonstrating compact fluorescent light bulbs at trade shows.
-- He is a fitness buff.
-- A big fan of hockey, he cheers for the NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning.
Ian Storey is a successful business story.
The native Islander has grown his Charlottetown-based engineering firm from one employee to 20 over the past decade in large part by carving out a comfortable niche making hockey rinks and industrial plants very energy efficient.
His company, called I.B. Storey Inc., has reduced the "energy footprint'' by up to 40 per cent in some hockey arenas.
Storey, who has won large-scale refrigeration contracts with major junior hockey rinks across North America, now has some work pending with large NHL facilities in the United States.
"It's a nice step up...we're pretty pleased with it, for sure,'' he said.
"I have been doing hockey rink systems now for a very long time.''
Storey, 43, did not set out to be an entrepreneur.
Coming out of the University of New Brunswick with a mechanical engineering degree, Storey expected to make a career out of working for a utility company.
He did work for Nova Scotia Power for a year as a commercial industrial auditor before moving to a private company doing commercial, industrial and institutional work.
In 2001, he returned to work at Testori, an aerospace company where he had previously worked for 18 months in Slemon Park.
While on his second stint with Testori, he, under full disclosure, continued to pursue his own energy business in the evening.
"It was a hobby, then the hobby got to be pretty significant,'' he says.
So significant that, in 2005, he opened an office in Charlottetown.
A decade later, he says without reservation that being an entrepreneur "is definitely a much better fit for me'' than being an employee.
I.B. Storey enjoying steady, controlled growth, says Storey, is the result of that simple, old adage of giving the customer what he or she wants.
"The key has been that every project we touch, we do everything possible to make sure that the client is satisfied, especially since my name is on the door,'' he says.
"We are actually a presence in the hockey rink industry... both in the U.S. and in Canada.''
Through his firm, Storey has been a leader in using the latest energy efficiency measure for facilities in recreational, commercial and industrial sectors.
He was pleasantly surprised in being named in October among seven organizations and individuals to receive the prestigious 2015 Bright Business Award for achievement and leadership in the field of energy efficiency.
Storey is a man on the go.
He puts in long hours and has taken about 115 business flights to date this year.
Yet he still feels well rooted to Prince Edward Island despite extensive travel.
In 2005, he built a house on family land in Millview about one kilometre from the home where he grew up.
"There's a number of advantages to being here,'' he says.
"Certainly quality of life is superior. I would be hard pressed (elsewhere) to be 25 minutes from my downtown office to my home on my 70 acres of land.''
Twitter.com/GuardianJimDay
Storey snapshot
Here is a quick look at Ian Storey, owner of the Charlottetown-based engineering firm I.B. Storey Inc.
-- The youngest of five, Storey employs his eldest brother Harry, an electrical engineer 17 years his senior.
-- Storey, who has a 13-year-old daughter, lives in Millview.
-- While taking engineering at UNB, he worked for the P.E.I. government in the summer of 1993. demonstrating compact fluorescent light bulbs at trade shows.
-- He is a fitness buff.
-- A big fan of hockey, he cheers for the NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning.
