The visionary

Age: 56
Company: Imperial Manufacturing Group
Business: Consumer products
2009 EOY category: Business-to-business products and services

Normand Caissie can't sit still. The president and CEO of Imperial Manufacturing Group needs to be moving all the time, and it's been paying off big as his business continues to grow after 30 years. But it's something he's finding harder to do and would change if he could. "I'd like a little more endurance," says Caissie. "As you get older, you have to pace yourself. I'd also like to be more relaxed."

The largest employer in Richibucto, N.B., Imperial Manufacturing Group builds products for the heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and building industries. It's a career Caissie came by honestly; his grandfather and father were both entrepreneurs. "My father was a plumbing and heating contractor, and my grandfather was a driller," he says. "I always knew I wanted to be in business, so I went to the University of Moncton and studied management and administration."

Through the constant addition of product lines (there are now about 7,000 different items) and acquisition of complementary companies (about 18 over the years), Caissie has built Imperial Manufacturing Group from a tiny four-person outfit building galvanized ducts, pipes, and fittings to a 600-employee corporation with eight business units that sell to every major home-improvement chain and HVAC wholesaler in North America.

And to what does he attribute his success? His vision, employing people who share that vision, and the work ethic he inherited from his father and grandfather. "I have to work harder than everyone else because I'm not the smartest guy on the planet," says Caissie. "Some people can get things done and not work at it at all, but I've had to work my butt off."

First job: I installed heating equipment for my father during the summers.
Most surprising thing on your CV: I worked for Seagram's for four and a half years and was transferred to Montreal. I remember visiting a factory there that made products my father and I used to install. I ended up buying that company, Talarico, in 1992.
Personality type: Type A+. I'm not a very relaxed person.
What do others think is your personality type: Same thing, definitely.
Biggest regret: I hired people who didn't fit the culture and organization. It was very costly.
Proudest moment: Hiring the right people. It's so gratifying. You can delegate when you know you have the right people. Also, the births of both of my children, who are now a part of the business.
Worst business nightmare: Implementing ERP [enterprise resource planning] software in 2005 and 2006. It cost about five times as much as it was supposed to, and it took 18 months instead of six. For a while it looked like we were going to lose the company. It was the first time I lost money in 25 years.
Business mentor: I've had an advisory board since 2005. If I'd had it a couple of years earlier, I wouldn't have fallen into the mess that I did in 2006.
What's your idea of progress: Expanding, growing, acquisitions, more product lines and customers. Taking over market share.
How would you like to improve yourself: I'm not an IT wizard, and I think if I was I'd be dangerous.
How would you like to improve your company: Keep the right people and come up with new products customers want.
How should we develop an entrepreneurial culture: I think we have it already, but we need to encourage it more. Entrepreneurs used to be seen as gamblers, but it's more about calculated risk. They're doing more now to encourage and promote it in school.
What are you reading right now: I have a hard time concentrating on one book at a time, but I like biographies. I read tons of trade magazines and four newspapers every day.
What do you do in your spare time: In the summer I do a lot of boating, in the winter we snowmobile, and I walk three and a half miles every morning.
Words to live by: Loyalty, honesty, and be true to yourself. Be a better person every day.
When are you the happiest: When everyone around me is happy. And being with family.
If you could do anything, what would it be: Exactly the same thing, but I'd do it differently, knowing what I know now.
What's your next big move: Succession planning-to get the business into the next generation. My son, Mario, is VP of operations, and my daughter, Andrée, is in marketing.