The Ontario Construction Report – February 2011 – PAGE OCR B1
omen inConstruction Leading by example
Decades of contribution to the Canadian fencing industry
STAFF WRITER – The OCR Construction Report Special Feature
Evie Isenberg has pioneered in leading the Canadian fencing industry for more than two decades, but you won’t find her name, image or ego shouting for attention. Since joining with her husband Sid
Isenberg in founding Medallion Fencing Ltd. almost 45 years ago, she has con- tributed to the family business, now a thriv- ing manufacturing company in Maple, Ontario, northwest of Toronto. “Sid started the fencing company, with one little room in his (then) electrical con- tracting business in 1967,” Evie said. “We had been married for about 11 years. We had three boys and when they were old enough to go to school I went into the office.” “The business grew from that one little room,” she said. “We started out as instal- lation company, but because we couldn’t get our own parts in a timely manner, we started to manufacture the parts ourselves.” “In time, other installation companies began to buy parts from us. With the growth in the manufacturing business we realized that we couldn’t rightfully sell ma- terials and compete with our (installation) clients, so we gave up the installation part of the business and focused in the manu- facturing. The business grew to the point that our original building was no long big enough – and we built our own factory in Maple 30 years ago.”
The factory construction proved to be one of Evie’s proudest moments. “it was a special moment in our lives,” she said. “There’s a Jewish tradition that when you
Sid and Evie Isenberg
build a new building you should, for good luck, throw some money into the cement foundation – and so we threw a handful of coins.”
Meanwhile, the Isenbergs were making their mark in contributing to the organized fencing community. Sid contributed and ultimately served as President of the Amer- ican Fencing Association, and Evie joined in the travel and association activities. “That got me involved. I was asked to
be on different committees and gained a lot of experience, so when I was appointed to the CFIA board, I knew quite a bit about what I was doing.”
Medallion Fence was one of the found- ing members of the Canadian Fence Indus- try Association, which was established about the same time as the Isenberg’s fam- ily business. Evie started contributing to the association and served her first (of three) terms as association president be- tween 1991 and 1993 – a challenging time for the fencing industry and overall econ- omy, as Canada experienced one of its most serious recessions in several decades. In her first term, she led in the launch of the association’s own magazine, Fence Focus. She also co-ordinated many as- pects of the annual Fencecraft trade show, now held in conjunction with Landscape Ontario in January each year. “I’ve been involved in the CFIA trade show for many, many years,” she said. “I get a lot of satisfaction when the shows are very successful.” This year, 37 exhibitors participated.
––––––––––––––––––––––– Please see page OCR B2
MANUFACTURERS OF ORNAMENTAL IRON SOLUTIONS FOR 45 YEARS
and their Employees, congratulate Evie Isenberg on being profiled in Women in Construction.
10651 Keele St., Unit 1, Maple, Ontario L6A 3Y9 Tel: 905-832-2922 Fax: 905-832-1564
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