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Dan Steward

New Position: President, Pillar to Post, Tampa and Toronto. Previous Position: Vice president, Iron Mountain Corp., Toronto

By FRED W. WRIGHT JR.
Published January 17, 2005

Dan Steward finds himself traveling from pillar to post - from Tampa to Toronto and points in between - in his new role as president of residential inspection company Pillar to Post.

With more than 400 franchises in the United States and Canada, and primary offices in Tampa and Toronto, Steward is on the road almost weekly. "This is a dream come true," he said.

The franchises are scattered throughout North America, he said, and tend to follow the population distribution. "Florida is probably our best-represented state based on a per-capita basis," Steward said.

Pillar to Post conducted an estimated 180,000 residential inspections in 2004, Steward said. Inspection fees vary according to structure, age, size, location and other factors, he said.

Steward said his job will be to look ahead in a growing home-buying economy "and see if we need to change what we do," and to provide Pillar to Post's home inspectors with the proper training and support.

He will spend about a third of his time in Tampa, another third in Toronto and the remainder visiting franchisees throughout North America.

The company, which Steward says is already ranked No. 1 in the home inspection industry, plans to expand its operations in North America. Its inspectors offer their services to both buyers and sellers and to real estate professionals.

"New home inspections touch right at the heart of the family," Steward said. "This isn't like selling mufflers or shoes." Purchasing a home "is the most significant financial decision most people make in their lives."

A native of Brantford, Ontario, about 60 miles north of Buffalo, N.Y., Steward earned a bachelor's degree in business in 1979 from Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, and in 1993 a master's degree in business from the same school.

He started his career in the construction industry as director of marketing for a Canadian company that provided specialized construction products for dams, nuclear plants and hydroelectric plants. Steward lived in the United Kingdom for four years while with that company, traveling throughout Europe and the Middle East.

He later worked for several other companies, including Laidlaw Inc., a Fortune 500 company involved in environmental services, as vice president of sales and marketing.

"All of these companies did most of their business in the U.S.," Steward said.

Steward said he enjoys being in roles that require him to make major decisions. "If Plan A doesn't work, you work with Plan B," he said. "All the time, you're working with people."

Steward, 49, and his wife, Sandra, have four children, including 13-year-old twins, and live in Toronto.

"I've always loved Florida," he said. "It's just a bonus that we have an office in Tampa. As my kids get older, it could lead to relocating to Tampa."

An avid scuba diver, Steward said he is strictly a warm-weather scuba diver - another plus for having a Tampa office to visit. "I'm not going to do any diving in the Great Lakes," he said.

[Last modified January 14, 2005, 23:57:04]