The tale of Scott Sieppert’s assent
When Scott was about to graduate from High School in 1996, he has his eyes set on becoming a mechanic. But after months of searching for someone to take him on as apprentice, he grew frustrated; and that’s when Ken Friesen stepped in.
Ken entered Scott’s life and offered him a role taking care of the wash rack at his Calgary 42nd Street location. Little did Scott know; Ken wouldn’t just be his boss, but his mentor over the next 30 years. Being young and eager to learn, Scott began his apprenticeship journey and by the turn of the century he attained his Red Seal status. Now being a big Ford guy—currently working on building a Ford Falcon with his youngest son, who happens to be a fourth-year apprentice at the same facility Scott started at—Scott has always had an affinity for restoring muscle cars, particularly Mustangs.
Later, Scott made the difficult choice to leave the Concours Team and join a smaller custom shop that specialized in his passion. In the next four years, he was not only able to hone his technical abilities but begin to develop his managerial toolbox. Scott loved his job, but it was pulling him away from his family. Working seven days a week, 13 hours a day ensuring other people’s dreams were becoming coming a reality, he decided it was time that he needed to give his dreams, aspirations, and family the attention they deserved.
In 2004, Scott rejoined the team at the facility on 42nd Street. He was now part of a team of three senior technicians, each with an apprentice. Scott cherishes these years as some of the most rewarding of his career, passing down his skills to the next generation of collision repair technicians.
After eight years of managing heavy hits, full frame repairs and many apprentices, he was offered the role of facility assistant manager. He looked forward to the role: the opportunity to learn the administration side of running a facility and learning how to estimate. He felt learning how to write an estimate would translate into more accurate information plugged into the repair process. Scott made this a priority to learn, as well as set a goal to become a general manager by the time he was 40 years old.
With his obvious technical ability and understanding of the repair process, being able to navigate the administrative side of the collision repair business and knowing how pen a sheet properly and other skills he’d picked up over the years, Scott seemed ready to advance to the general manger position he’d long strived for. Ben Ken knew better —Scott needed to hone his managerial abilities. He shipped Scott off to Houston, Texas, to the Running Cougar Ranch, where he was a student in a military-style boot camp designed to develop leadership abilities—by breaking attendees down their cores and building them back up. They even had to walk over hot coals. “This experience took the hot head of the redhead,” Scott and his head of ginger-toned hair commented after the camp.
He was not done learning yet, though; Scott later attended B2B Training from PPG and enrolled in Dale Carnegie courses. Now, truly beginning to understand what managing really entailed, he was offered a role as a general manager, satisfying the goal he set for himself.
Now overseeing the Boyd facility on 42nd Street, the one he started at back in high school, Scott could now lead a team, and implement his philosophy with this team—and others took notice. Scott was approached by John Irvine, Boyd’s Regional Manager for Alberta, to become a Technical Trainer for Boyd’s Western Canadian Operations.
Of course, with his internal thirst for endless knowledge, sharing that knowledge, and maintaining current, safe repairs in the industry, Scott jumped at the opportunity. Now, Scott wants to help Boyd make better Technicians, which will create better repair facilities which will in turn make our network the best in the industry. Who knows what’s next for this technical tactician.
