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Case Study

CDN Controls: Western Canada’s Leader in E&I Maintenance, Scales Radically

Quick Facts

  • Founded

    2011
  • Industry

    Electrical and Instrumentation Services
  • Lawrence & Co. Client

    Since 2019
  • Leadership

    Dean Fraser - CEO

    Nick Stewart - COO

How Two Founders Grew Their Canadian Business 4x with Support from Lawrence & Co.

From the heart of Alberta’s oil and gas indus­try, CDN Con­trols has emerged as West­ern Canada’s pre­mier Elec­tri­cal & Instru­men­ta­tion (E&I) ser­vice provider. Found­ed by Dean Fras­er and Nick Stew­art, CDN was built on a foun­da­tion of integri­ty, exper­tise, and an unwa­ver­ing com­mit­ment to deliv­er­ing results. With the strate­gic sup­port of Lawrence & Co., Fras­er has scaled the com­pa­ny 4X, expand­ing its reach, ser­vices, and impact. Today, CDN Con­trols con­tin­ues to push bound­aries, set­ting its sights on new mar­kets and glob­al opportunities.

Key Results

The Challenge

CDN Con­trols was rapid­ly expand­ing in West­ern Canada’s com­pet­i­tive ener­gy sec­tor, but faced the clas­sic grow­ing pains of scal­ing — lack of struc­ture, unclear strate­gic align­ment, and the chal­lenge of build­ing a high-per­form­ing lead­er­ship team while main­tain­ing oper­a­tional excellence.

The Solution

With the guid­ance of Lawrence & Co., includ­ing advi­sor Dean Ritchey, CDN imple­ment­ed rig­or­ous sys­tems — like Jim Collins’ prin­ci­ples and Top­grad­ing — to sharp­en focus, ele­vate lead­er­ship account­abil­i­ty, and stream­line oper­a­tions. This foun­da­tion allowed them to quadru­ple their busi­ness, com­plete five acqui­si­tions, expand into the U.S., and become an indus­try mod­el for peo­ple-first growth and Indige­nous partnerships.

Watch Kev­in’s Inter­view with Dean

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Resources

Article

Growth through a “Yes, we Can Do That” Philosophy

Article

Heart and Hustle