A century of first impressions
Poised to mark 100 years of helping organizations stand out, Stevens E3 positions itself for the next era
THE OFFICIAL 100th anniversary of trade exhibit manufacturer stevensE3 doesn’t come until next March, but when a major European industry-related trade show landed in Düsseldorf this past February, president Cam Stevens decided to start celebrating early. “We’re in our 100th year,” he says decidedly. “And I’m sure we can celebrate it for two years.”
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The indulgence is excusable — and earned. Founded as a sign-painting business in a garage on Princess Avenue by Stevens’ grandfather, Archie, in 1927, the company has grown to become a global player in the trade show exhibition market. They’re the kind of local business you might never hear about otherwise: less than five per cent of its revenue comes from London; the rest comes from a broad plethora of global companies and institutions — organizations like the Governments of Colombia, Germany and Canada along with corporate clients such as Rafael Missile Systems, to name a few. “Our clients are growing, their exhibitions are growing and we are growing along with them,” Stevens says.
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Stevens himself started working at the company in 1987 — “at the end of a silk screen printing rack,” he recalls — when his father, Doug, was leading the company. By 1997, he had ascended to the company presidency and, alongside his father, was making some bold moves: they sold the screen-printing division, sold the building and bought a larger one and then leaned heavily into exhibition work.
Over the next decade, the company continued to secure more global work and the business itself became more sophisticated and complex, which was not without its challenges. “Because our market is so small in London, we don’t have a pool of talent with industry experience,” Stevens explains. “It would probably be better if we were in Toronto, but our roots are in London — it’s where we grew up as a company. Plus, we’ve learned to train from within quite successfully.”
“Our clients are growing, their exhibitions are growing and we are growing along with them” —Cam Stevens
Then came Covid. “I could see it coming, like a wave across the globe,” recalls Stevens, who understood immediately what it meant for an industry built on face-to-face interactions. “Nobody says, ‘What if sales drop by 85 per cent’ in a strategy session,” he notes dryly. “All you can do is play the hand you’re dealt.”
The company turned to manufacturing and installing things like acrylic barriers for hospitals, floor markers for school and speaking shields for churches and universities. The firm’s exposure to the U.S. market, and that country’s willingness to open back up quickly, was a major boon — they were working with global clients on projects being realized in the U.S., while still feeding the high demand for safety equipment here in Canada.
“We exploded in sales,” Stevens says. “I would say that revenues we have today are almost ten times what they were in 2021.” According to Stevens, defence sector work is booming, and so is their client base in the education and agricultural sectors, something he attributes to relationships built over decades.
These days, yet another chapter in the company’s nearly 100-year history looms. In June, stevensE3 will be moving into a new 55,000-square-foot facility on Firestone Boulevard — consolidating and expanding upon their two existing 20,000 square-foot buildings and significantly increasing staging capacity.
“We’re expanding the warehouse and production areas, adding another CNC machine, improving cabinet making and staging and tightening up the administrative flow as well,” says Stevens. “Everything is being built around a vision that has evolved over decades.”
But maybe the more impactful transitions are those happening under the hood. True to their familial roots, his son Andrew, who has been with the business for 11 years, is preparing move into the role of president, and his daughter works for the firm as well.
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Stevens believes learning to run a company comes through experience, with mistakes being a part of that process. Looking back, he suspects his father saw some of his missteps along the way, but chose to let them unfold, giving him the space to grow and figure things out for himself. Now, that same opportunity is being passed on his son, as he begins to shape the future of the business in his own way.
The new facility opens in June, and with the succession plan advancing alongside the expansion, Stevens sees no reason to change course. “A lot of this is learned through experience,” he says. “You take what works, adjust what doesn’t and keep moving forward.” 
Kieran Delamont