A Coffee with Cheryl Watt, President of Northgate Industries

Join us for a coffee and chat with Cheryl Watt President of Northgate Industries!

Born and raised in Edmonton, Cheryl's path took a brief detour to Victoria before she returned home to pursue Business Marketing at NAIT, with a clear vision of joining her father's company. Hear about her early aspirations and her initial role in cell phone sales before stepping into the family business, Northgate Industries.

Founded in Edmonton to sell and service RV trailers, Northgate Industries strategically expanded its offerings to include specialized industrial trailers for remote locations like oil rigs and oilfields, eventually growing into office trailers. Learn about the company's growth, including the establishment of a second manufacturing plant in Acheson in 2010 and the consolidation of operations in Acheson by 2022.

Cheryl's passion for the industry blossomed as she moved into Sales at Northgate. Discover her journey through various roles within the company, gaining invaluable experience in RV detailing, accounting, and reception before her move into sales leadership. Today, Cheryl proudly serves as the President of Northgate Industries, also overseeing their operations in Poland. Hear her story of dedication and growth within the family business, culminating in her taking the helm four years ago after her father's passing.

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Transcript

0:14

Well, good morning, everybody, and welcome to another edition of the ABA Coffee In The Park. My name is Cam Milliken, and I'm here with my co-host extraordinaire, Jennifer Herrick, the Executive Director of the Acheson Business Association. Hello, Jennifer. Hello, Cam, on this glorious sunny day. Beautiful, sunny, I was gonna say summer, but not quite yet, spring day. I feel wonderful other than my eyes, which are just like burning. It's still that time of year, but it's a great day. It's a beautiful day. That's right. And hey, everybody, we're coming to you from the Wall Coffee Roasters in the heart of beautiful downtown Acheson. So that's right. So if you hear any noise in the background, coffee machines whirring, people talking, kids screaming, no kids in here today, but it's because we're live at the coffee shop. That's what we're doing. If you've never been to the Wall Coffee Roasters, you gotta come. No, seriously, you gotta come. It's worth the trip. If you've never been to beautiful downtown Acheson, you gotta come. Also worth the trip. Exactly. Because it's quite the place. And because the coffee shops in beautiful downtown Acheson. Jennifer, tell us about some very important people. We want to thank our gold corporate sponsors, which include the Myshak group of companies, Genics, Parkland County, and Bow Valley Credit Union. That's right. Without them, we would not be able to do what we do. And Jennifer, my tea is dripping. I don't know what to think about this. Oh this is a problem. It's kind of driving me nuts. Why does my tea drip like that? I don't like that. But anyway, just thought I'd bring that up. This is another show. No, it's First World Problems. Pet Peeves Part 2. That's Part 2, Pet Peeves. Why does my tea drip? Anyway, nonetheless. So hey, I'm really excited about our guest today. Cam, I'm so excited about our guest today. And do you want to know why I'm excited about our guest today? I want to know why. Okay, because tomorrow, well, well, people won't hear it tomorrow, but they won't hear this podcast. You'll hear it on Thursday. Right. Yeah. We are having our second annual Women In Leadership event. That's right. And our guest today is one of the panelists. I know. And I'm so excited about your Women In Leadership event, even though I don't get to attend. No men are allowed. There's guards at the door, women guards, who don't let men in. I can't go. I am sneaking in early and coming back late to do some stuff. But that's it. That's right. But yeah, you got this great event. And yes, our guest is one of your panelists. She is. So you best introduce her. I better introduce her. So our guest today is Cheryl Watt, who's the president of Northgate Industries here in Acheson. So welcome, Cheryl. Welcome, Cheryl. Wow. Thank you, guys. Good to have you. Excited to be here. Cheryl, could I just say, as we start the show, Cheryl is drinking a blueberry honey latte. I just want to put that out there. It's Cam's favorite drink. I'm having tea, but Cheryl, Cheryl, how's the latte? It is awesome. There you go. I've never heard of it. Come for a blueberry honey latte. Anyways, so this is great. So good to have you. All right, let's kick it off, like we do with all of our guests. Cheryl, tell us a little bit about yourself. Where were you born and where did you grow up? I was born here in Edmonton. Edmontonian! Yeah, I grew up on the north side on Fort Road. Really? Oh, actually, sorry. Well, I was born near Londonderry Mall and lived on Fort Road on an acreage by the Alberta Hospital of all places. Okay. Yeah, yeah. And what high school did you go to? Okay. So then we moved to Sherwood Park by the time we got to high school. Yeah. So you went to high school in Sherwood Park? That's right. Okay. What was your school mascot? Do you remember? I ask this to everybody. He does, he's always fascinated. Yeah. I always want to know what their mascot was. The Sherwood Park, what were you guys? I grew up in Edmonton and went to Ross Shep. So we were the T-Birds. So what was Sherwood Park? Were you guys like the penguins or the something? And were there a lot of high schools in Sherwood Park? No. No, I don't think so. Salisbury and there is Bev Facey. Oh, yeah, Bev Facey's in Sherwood Park. That's right. Okay, cool. Awesome. All right. So you went to Sherwood Park. You went to school there. What did you do after graduation? Did you stay in Sherwood Park? Did you go to university? What did you decide to do? Did you travel? I went to Victoria and lived there for a while. Like Victoria on the island? BC. Yeah. Oh, okay. Wow. Yeah. Just thought to try out, see how things were before I went back to school. But I decided I really needed to come back to school and I got accepted there to go to their college. But I got accepted here at NAIT and I said, I'm not going to pay for this alone. So moved back at home with the parents. But how was Victoria? Did you like living in Victoria? It was so nice, but you have to have money to live on that side. Yes, you do. Now, I lived in Vancouver for like 30 years and I had a few job offers in Victoria. I never moved because I always felt like I'd be stuck on an island. Did you ever feel like, I know you could take the ferry or the plane or whatever. But what if like in the middle of the night, you needed to leave the island? You can't do it. You're done. You're stuck. But a beautiful place. Just the rain. Yeah, that's right. I'd stay there for a long, long time. Lots of money, bags of money. But the rain gets to you after a while. I agree. I've always said in Alberta, it can be minus 30, but if the sun is shining, it's okay. In Vancouver or Victoria where I lived, after a while, it just starts doing head games with you. I didn't like that. All right. So you moved back, went to U of A. No, went to NAIT, that's right, went to NAIT. Yeah. And what did you take at NAIT? Business. Business. Marketing. Okay. Yeah. And why? My passion was to work for my dad's company, my family company. Yeah. So I knew that that would get me on the path to be in sales and be part of the company. So then I went to, as soon as I was done, I started working for, actually no, I was selling cell phones first. Really? Selling cell phones? How was that? It was good. I wish sometimes we had video, because the look on her face when I asked, how was that? It was great. Hey Cheryl, were you in a kiosk or were you in a store? Yeah. Were you like in the mall kiosk? Were you one of those people? A bit of both. Do you want to tell us who you worked for? It's okay. You can say. Rogers. Did you? Okay. Yeah. All right. Yeah. So you were just selling cell phones. Yeah. Yeah. We had some good stories there. Yeah. I bet. Like how was cell phone sales? Is that a good thing? Is that like, you know, everybody has a cell phone. I sold my dad the Motorola flip phone. Oh, the flip phone. The Motorola Razor in pink. I loved the flip phone. It was amazing. They were, yeah, I loved it. Whoever makes flip phones, could you bring back the flip phone? Whoever makes phones? Because I loved the flip phone. It was awesome. Was your dad your first customer? Well, the biggest customer. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Your dad had like 12 cell phones, even though he only used one. No, just kidding. Just kidding. Okay. So you sold cell phones. Yeah. Yeah. And then, yeah. So, and then I had to meet my quota. It was a little bit of a struggle. I had to go in the back and pick up the phone and dial for dollars. And then my dad had this great opportunity. So I jumped over there. He rescued you. Yeah. All right. Well, we should, so we should tell everybody what your dad. Yeah. Let's back that up a little bit. Your dad started? Northgate Industries. And what does Northgate Industries do? Initially, he started with RV trailers and servicing them and selling them, and then moved over to industrial trailers for the remote areas for guys on the rigs, for guys in the oil field, that kind of thing. Yeah. And then we had an office fleet. So renting out office trailers for big job sites. So they have lunch rooms and bathrooms and things like that. Well, that's cool. Now you're currently an Acheson business. Did you start in Acheson? Is that where that started? No, we started right by the Coliseum or what was the Coliseum and had a few different places, one in Sherwood Park and then moved down to Edmonton Airport, had a hangar there and we got thrown out of there. I was going to say that's probably a story, maybe for another podcast, but that sounds like a great story right there. But we renovated our Acheson building because we bought it in 2010 and renovated it, expanded it, made it larger and supposedly it's a more efficient manufacturing plant. Yeah. We've toured your plant. It's pretty cool. It is pretty cool. At least I found it really cool. Yeah. I mean, that's a really man. How you guys do that is unbelievable. Okay. So you're in Acheson or so you left the airport, got kicked out of the airport. Yeah. You're like in the flight path or something. They gave you the heaphole. Did you come to Acheson? Is that when you came to Acheson? So 2022? No. We just got kicked out 2022. So we had two manufacturing facilities. Yeah. Okay. In 2010. Yeah. Okay. And so you were working. When you started with your dad, what was your role in the company? Well, many years ago, I was cleaning those RVs. Oh, okay. From cell phone seller to RV cleaner. I like this. She's starting from scratch. That's right. That was before selling cell phones. Oh, that was okay. Okay. Well, I can see why then you went to cell phone selling. Because cleaning the RVs. Yeah. Okay. All right. So you cleaned RVs. Cleaned RVs and then just got some different remote jobs. But that's what started us. My mom wanted her Saturdays free and my dad loved to go to work and guess where we went. Who won that one, right? So can I ask you, so did you always think when your dad started this company, did you always think that you would be involved in it somehow? Or did you feel you wanted to kind of go a different way or how did you process all of that? We know you sold cell phones. I'm not sure that was a life career, but maybe, I don't know, maybe. But how did you process that? Was it? I think when I got to sales after selling cell phones, so going into sales for Northgate, I think the passion came from having to be able to build buildings and then the final result and people being able to live in them, work in them, and just adding those different details to make clients happy. And yeah, it was then passion, and now the passion is we can build bigger things, like we can build apartments, we can build housing for people. So I'm just passionate about it. Really makes me feel good to give people space and nice space so they can live in. So tell me the dynamics. What's it like working for your dad? Because we've had guests on the show. Lots of guests. Right? That have worked for family businesses. Yeah, yeah. How is that? Is that, yeah. Again, if we had video, this would be great, because the smile is from ear to ear. I don't know what kind of smile that is. But anyways, yeah. What's it like? Because I'm sure, I'm sure there are good things, and maybe not so good things about working for your parents. Yeah. Yes. Yes. Definitely. Yes. No, it was, it's complicated. A Dutch family. Dutch. Okay. We've had Dutch guests on in the past. Those are always interesting conversations. What were the challenges? What were the, like? Well, very strict, very by the book. I don't know. Demanding. But yet, you know, learning and growing now, being older, I can understand and appreciate it. I guess at the time it was a little harder. Sure, sure. Plus, it was your dad. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah. Yeah. Did you ever have any good fights? Oh yeah. That's great. Yeah. But he's your dad. And then you have to make up and... Yeah. Yeah. No. And now I can see the bigger picture, right? You don't always see it. Of course. When you're young, you don't. Yeah. Yeah. It's like, why are you doing this? Right. So you started cleaning, and then what, so what positions have you held throughout the years in the company? Like to move you up to where you're at today. So how did you progress? I believe while I was going to NAIT, I was doing some accounting at night, just to make some money, and then worked as reception there for a while. But then pretty much landed in sales, and we have a Polish company too. Oh, okay. So helping to get them sales, development in different areas. Wow. So in Poland, you manufacture trailers as well. Yes. They're steel construction, mostly there. They do wood as well, but they just recently built housing for seniors in Holland. So they mostly ship out from Poland. Wow. Yeah. That's pretty cool. That is. Yeah. I mean, yeah. So you run a company in Acheson, and you run a company in Poland. Yeah. Do you go to Poland? Yes, I have. Yeah. I've gone a few times. Very, very generous people. Yeah. Very, they're very organized. They're very, yes, really great people. They really respected my dad, and you can tell that in that. So that's gotta be interesting, having a company in Poland, in Europe, obviously. Your headquarters is here. How does that, like, wow, like that's, that's a lot, so you're far apart. It's not like here and Red Deer. Yeah. It's like Poland, like, how does... So we talk every two weeks, and we talk about what we can do differently, what we can, you know, how they're doing with their manufacturing there. There's MBI here in the US, which is Modular Building Institute. And they have arms over in Europe, too. So help to promote that area as well. Is doing business in Europe drastically different than doing business in Canada? The biggest thing is the modular, like people there are used to these brick houses. And it can take years to build a house. Whereas we're trying to explain to them that this is still good quality buildings. If not better, because they have four walls versus... But it's just the mindset. And how fast we can build compared to their year, year and a half. Yeah. Right. Wow. So then Cheryl, at what point did you take over the business from your father? Um, it was four years ago. Um, my dad actually passed and he was going to sell the business. And that didn't happen before he passed. And my mother felt like I would be the best to run it since I had so many years into the business. So, and we've had other guests that kind of have gone through similar situations. Matter of fact, tomorrow night, you'll have another panelist, Tamara, who has a very similar situation. When your dad passed, and I'm sorry to hear that, um, was there the thought, yeah, we'll just sell. Did you feel that or did you feel, no, I actually want to do this. I want to carry on. A hundred percent. Yeah, I've always, like I said, I just, I loved what I did. I love what I was doing. So I just, my first thought was, no, let's just blow it up and make it bigger. And your mom was, how did she feel about that? She was like, yeah, let's do it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's great. So when your dad passed, you start running the business. I can imagine those days when you, you just wish dad was here. Like, I, you know, like, yes, like dad, I need you right now. Give me your opinion on this. Yes. Yes. Yes. And now you're in charge. And so how did the company respond to you taking over? I think it took a while. Again, I believe that we have a lot of long term employees and they very much respected my dad. And but a good thing about it is I seen how he ran the business. So, you know, just to give them assurance that it wasn't going to be this brand new, different person. You weren't going to revamp everything, change everything. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I can only imagine the transition being. Yeah. Yeah. And you were scared. You were excited. You were all of those things. You were nervous. You were, you know what? The team around you, right? Like, if you don't have the right team around you, I think, you know, yeah, there was there's certain moments where you go, oh, gosh, I don't know if I can do this. But it's having people around you to support you. That really makes a difference. Yeah. And you know what, we've heard that from, I think, a number of us. Yeah, for sure. Like you said, Tamara's story was quite similar, and she said the same thing. Yeah. It's having the right people around you and relying on their expertise. You know, you don't have to know everything coming into this and being OK with that as the leader of that organization. Yeah. Yeah. But one thing I did find over the last four years is going with my gut, too, right? Getting the information from other people is fine, but at the end of the day, realizing that I got to go with what I think. Gut check. Yeah. That's you follow your heart. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. So tell us a little bit about what's been your biggest success so far as a leader in the company, Cheryl? What are you most proud of? What's maybe a project that Northgate has done that you're you're really proud of? I would definitely say when we did the City of Edmonton, the affordable housing for Edmonton, when we did, we did five apartments for the City of Edmonton, it was during COVID. So 20, what year was that? 2020, 20? Yeah, 21, 21. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So we did five apartments within a year, 240 suites. So just sorry, just to clarify, we're talking modular. Yes. So this isn't this isn't wood or metal structure. This is modular structure apartments. Well, yeah, it's wood, like Lego stacked. So the foundation was done. The foundation, they did do the first floor. We could have done the first floor as well, but regardless, they did the first floor. And then so we did a five story and quite a few four story apartments for social housing. All modular. All modular. So you built them here in the factory? Yes. Shipped them to the job site? Yes. And like you say, Lego, stacked them and built them? Yes. That's incredible. Yeah. And they were like not a lot of site time. Just, they put them together within a week. Really? A week? Wow. That's incredible. They just had to finish, do the completions, do the utilities, bring it all together. Yeah. Had to put on the fascia, different things like that, but it was very fast. That's incredible. I've been kind of following through LinkedIn and some other things, this whole modular world and where that's all going. And it is amazing what can be done. Yeah. I don't think most people realize it. I mean, you guys can do amazing stuff. I agree. I agree because I don't think enough people know about it. You know, because it happened so fast, it wasn't like a long, you drive by it constantly. Yeah. It was there up and it was ready and working. So do you think there's maybe a misperception in the modular world too? Like people are thinking, you know, either trailers up north, right? Yeah. Trailers up north or like field trailers. Yeah. Not thinking about it for the housing industry. And like you said, that affordable housing industry. Yeah, I agree. I mean, it can be the finishings can be whatever you want them to be. But the fact is that they're they're done in the factory. And so the finishings are all done by the time, of course, there's going to be paint that needs to be fixed up. But otherwise, it's all all done in the factory. And you're right, people have this misconception of a trailer. And you would have no idea, like most people who drive by there now, probably have no idea that it was modular. And you're very different than pre-built homes. This isn't pre-built homes. This is modular homes, pre-built in a factory. But it's not, the truck doesn't come with all the lumber and trusses and all that, right? You guys have built all that. Yes, yes. So it's all built in the factory. So it's not panelized, I guess. Yeah, that's pretty cool. Yeah. So customer says, I want this, I want that, I want this. You guys can put it in there. That's right. And then deliver it. Yep. And there you go. And there you go. Hook it up to utilities and sewer and all that noise and away you go. And they can have whatever exterior they want. Yeah. Right? Like whatever. You just look around town, like many of the buildings could be modular. And it's just... It's incredible. Yeah, it really is. It is incredible. You've done some, I think you've done some work up North too, haven't you? A little bit. Oh yes. So we did for one year, we did housing for, social housing as well for the Northwest Territories and all over the place. Timbuktu i believe. It is a real place people. Population 12, yeah, no, that, yeah. Maybe you could start something here in downtown Acheson. Maybe we could start our housing. Our condos. We could start. We could modular. I love this. This is it. Now I'm excited. I can hardly wait. We're going to actually have a downtown Acheson. Okay, so here's my question. So, and this isn't a business podcast, so to speak. It's about you, and I think this is fascinating, but the question that comes to mind is why, well, I guess, bottom line, price. Modular versus construction. And by construction, I mean, you know, wood frame, timber, all that. Yeah, traditional. It's a little difficult to pin point. I know that the city did do some site build, buildings after we did the modulars, and they were double the price. So, I'm struggling to say that modular is more expensive. They did put cement, so fair enough. But at the end of the day, I think, too, your cost for holding it, you know, the money that you're holding on to, the speed you can make rent on that so much faster. Speed i think that's it. Yes, absolutely. We always say that, from the moment a business starts till completion, the business is spending money. They need to recoup. So, the faster they can recoup, the better return on their investment. That's right. Yeah, so I can see that. Yeah. Yeah, that's pretty cool. So, yeah, no, I think we just got to get out there and get more people aware of what we can offer. Well, from the pictures I've seen on the different sites and I follow your site, I'd love to actually build a modular home. I know it's super cool. They look pretty cool. What you guys are doing, it's pretty amazing. Yeah, like very stylish, very, it's awesome. That's right. I think people think it's going to be boxy. It's not boxy. No. They look cool. Yeah. Well, and you can always add a peaked roof to the building, whatever you want. I know we did a camp, like, you know, how the camps were getting very elaborate. They're trying to attract the workers. So we did the mezzanine, the front of the building, and we did it all modular. And normally, you know, we need the four walls. But this front entrance, I don't know, it was like at least two or three stories high and all open with winding stairs. Really? You know, you can do more, right? I mean, that might have cost a little bit, but then the resources to have the labor force to do it and all that, maybe it offsets the cost, right? So, here's the question then for Cheryl, Northgate Industries. I know, I don't know you real well, but we've talked a few times. You're a visionary. I can tell that. Where's it going? Yes. Like, where's it going? Where's modular building going? What's your goal for the next 10 years in Northgate Industries? Well, I think it to be a regular mainstream of construction. You know, I believe that this housing crisis that we're in, modular would be the solution. And, you know, the quality is there. It's actually stronger than a lot of the rental properties. And understandable, the developers are trying to get their money out of there as soon as they can. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. But in the same instance, do you want it to last longer or do you just want to get your money out? Right. Right. Yeah. So, no, I see it as a future. I would potentially love to open up more facilities. At one point, we had a Montreal manufacturing facility. Okay. So would like to expand for sure. Awesome. Yeah. Wow. I think we should do a downtown Acheson modular something. We could be a pilot. Yeah. We'll get the land and away we go. Totally. Maybe our professional center should be modular. I like that. We'll talk after. Anyway. Okay. So all right. All right. So wow. Yeah. We're running. It's almost 30 minutes. I could go. This is fascinating to me. I could go on with this forever because I just think it's incredible what you guys do. And I do think the future, we're heading that way. That's my opinion. Not that I know a lot about it, but that's what I think. Okay. So I have two quick questions. Two quick. One's going to be our final question. But before we do that, Cheryl, how many employees right now at Northgate Industries here in Acheson? I believe 120. 120. Yeah. Wow. We've gone. We've been higher. Been higher. Yeah. I think that year we did the Northwest Territories. We were closer to 150. Okay. Out of that facility, we had at one point in 2014, we had 200 there and we had 200 at the other facility. And how many in Poland? Oh, I think it's close to 100 there too. Is that right? Yeah. That's incredible. I know. That's amazing. It is. And it's right here in Acheson. In Zone 1. In Zone 1. Yes. Not beautiful downtown Acheson. The suburbs of beautiful downtown Acheson. Zone 1, the suburbs. Yeah, down over there. So Cheryl, final question. What's the best piece of advice you've been given either personally or professionally that you carry with you to this day? Oh my goodness. Lots, lots. I guess the best piece of advice is, is, oh, you got me, but I would say the, you know, what we could bring to the people within our organization is family, caring for everybody, and making sure they're a priority. Wow. That's great. Awesome. How do people find Northgate on all of the social media? We're everywhere. Yeah. So we're on Instagram, we're on Facebook, and then Northgate Modular on LinkedIn. I know that. Okay. And what's your website? It's northgateindustries.com. www.northgateindustries.com. For all the old people who don't know about the other social media stuff, www. Well, again, you and I have toured this facility. Yeah. It's amazing. It's cool. It's super cool. I know. It really interests me. And this has been fascinating. We could go another half hour, hour on this, because I think what you guys are doing are really great. And I think you're a really great business in Acheson. I'm glad you're here. And after this podcast, we do need to talk, because we can talk about what we can do right here in Acheson. But thank you so much. Thank you so much, Cheryl. The ladies tomorrow night, I think, are so lucky, because they get to hear from Cheryl. I agree. And that's going to be fantastic. It's going to be a great night. Yeah. Thanks, Cheryl. Thanks, Cheryl. Wow. You guys are amazing. Thanks. Wow. That was incredible. You know, I love hearing those family business stories, Cam. Yeah, me too, Jennifer. And you know what? The thing, and I'm going to say it again, I say it on this podcast often, I love hearing from women in leadership. Me too. Their stories are amazing. We've had quite a few. We sure have. And none of them have ever let us down. And they're just very honest and open when they talk about their family and when they talk about leading and the struggles and the great times and all of that. And I just think they're fabulous leaders. I do too, which is again, why I'm so excited for the women in leadership event. Tomorrow night, you're going to have a great night with some great women and a great discussion. And so anyway, thanks everybody for listening. We hope you enjoyed it. I think you will. Cheryl's an amazing person. And if you're looking for a new home, think Modular. Cam, I can't wait to start our build here in downtown Acheson. You know, it just hit me why I like Modular so much, because I love Lego. You do! I love Lego. This is it. I know. This is like big boy Lego. Maybe you could be part of the crew. Oh, man. And stack it. It's like big boy Lego. It's unbelievable. Anyways, thanks everybody for listening. Hey, make sure you tell people about the podcast. Tell your neighbors, tell your friends, tell your coworkers, tell your enemies. If you don't have any friends, make one just so that you can tell them about the podcast. And subscribe. Subscribe. You won't miss a new episode. That's right. Thanks everybody. See you next time.