FACILITYCalgary

September 22, 2015 

Why are you successful? “I used to be a mechanic’s helper. It was really important to anticipate what he’ll need next. Being able to anticipate what people – bosses, staff, and customers – need. I’m the helper … not the kick-in-the-walls leader. And I’m easy to get along with.”

What has held you back? “I haven’t been held back.”

I asked him, why pipelines – as opposed to other elements of the industry, or other areas of engineering? He told me there is a common thread through his life – his work, his career, everything – that is ‘new stuff’. “It’s fun!”

He runs the Canadian operations of the ROSEN Group – Rosen Canada. If you aren’t in the pipeline field, you’ve possibly not heard of them. An interesting story, fascinating company –  intriguing counterpart/client to work for, to work with on some fascinating (for me!) projects.

When I met Daryl Ronsky - several years and transactions ago – he interviewed me to be his back-up real estate agent,  standing-by if the need arose. It did, and so began my education in ‘things that matter to Rosen’, and an intriguing relationship with someone quite unlike any other client I’ve met in my career. I thought he’d be a good interview – and it only took two years to finally get him to agree … so here is the product of our recent sit-down at his office:

“I like to see people doing things they are good at – getting the right people into the right position. That’s challenging when you grow as quickly as we have – because the skill-combinations we need now are not the same as in start-up phase”.

Growing up (born in Edmonton, Hinton, Edson) he got exposed to the outdoors and typical influences of school/sports – skating, hockey, school. Jobs at a bottle depot, flagman on a road crew, mechanic’s helper, KFC (though he says he hasn’t eaten any in forty years) – eldest of three boys, mom did office/admin work, dad worked the post office. Daryl says he scraped through engineering school – he wasn’t good at math. B.Sc. (Mechanical Engineering) from University of Alberta, P.Eng. On the subject of further education .. “someday I’ll return …”.

His resume is long, zig-zag, incremental and totally pipelines! His summer jobs, every job along the way from his start in 1975 with Nova back when it was still called Alberta Gas Trunk Line – early career engineering work, drawings, pumping stations – and consulting assignments between work at Nova, BG, GE and Rosen – starting with small crews, building. When he was recruited by Rosen to head Canadian operations in 2008 the staff was 6 including Daryl. Today it is 130. No acquisitions, just organic growth. Daryl tells me that is 80% pipeline inspection work, 15% consulting work and 5% software. And they keep growing …

Of the stories he tells – few are as entertaining as his description of how he met his wife Janet, also an engineer, when their paths crossed in the field.  He remarked that anyone who looked that good in overalls was worth meeting, so he did. I met her recently at a Rosen function and can confirm he won the lottery that day!

Daryl describes the Rosen story with glowing regard for founder Herman Rosen – a farmer/engineer whose first products were devices for detecting/counting fish in water, ultrasonic devices for determining if pigs were pregnant – thirty-five years ago, has led to a leading edge devices and a globally dominant corporation in its field.