PROFILES OF SUCCESS
The team at Chapman Auto Body~CSN has grown considerably since the early days, when staff consisted of one tech and the owner working as a painter.
Kelv in C ampb el l is t he ow ner of Chapman Auto Body~CSN in Halifax, N.S. Born and raised in the small community of Sydney Mines in Cape Breton, Campbell started classes at the University of Toronto following his graduation from high school. Three months after enrollment, though, he had decided it wasn’t for him. “My dad was a single father bringing up five kids,” recalls Campbell. “Money was tight, so I was going to school on a student loan. My dad said to me, ‘don’t come home until you’ve paid off that loan.’ I took a few jobs in Toronto until I got it paid off, and then I headed back to Nova Scotia.” It was an early lesson in personal responsibility and fiscal management that has served Campbell well since. Campbell had made it home, but he knew he didn’t want that to be permanent. He saw an ad for a 20-week auto body course at the College of Cape Breton. His grandfather and uncles had all been body men. Perhaps he could follow in the family tradition? Soon Campbell found himself part of the new 32-person class studying auto body repair techniques. Twelve weeks later, the rest of his class had dropped out. Persistence paid off for Campbell, as he
spent the last eight weeks of the course receiving personal one-on-one instruction. Upon graduation, Campbell found work as a painter at a local shop. Passion for his work and an ability to turn out highquality paint jobs soon drew attention from Bob Chapman at Chapman Volvo in Halifax. Campbell packed up and moved to Halifax to start his new job in 1992. Unfortunately, just two years later, a decision was made to close the in-house collision repair facility at the dealership. Most people faced with an impending closure would probably just try to find another position. Campbell isn’t most people, though. He’s an entrepreneur. He put in an offer for the collision business, then rented the space from the dealership. It seems likely that the collision repair facility at Chapman Volvo was not a profit centre for the dealership, as profitable enterprises are rarely shut down. However, Chapman Auto Body not only survived under Campbell’s leadership, but has grown considerably since 1994. Once a three-bay operation, it now employs a staff of 23 in its own building. The facility is a Porsche Certified Collision Centre and is also the first, and
28 collision Repair collisionrepairmag.com
currently only, collision repair centre in Atlantic Canada authorized by BMW Canada to perform structural aluminum r e p a i r s . T h i s y e a r C h ap m a n Au t o Body~CSN celebrates its 20th anniversary under Campbell’s ownership. “We built the brand on high-end cars,” said Campbell. “When I bought it, there were four body techs and one painter, and that painter was me. Everybody left when I took over, except for Scott Hiltz. The two of us worked our butts off in the first year to get work done on time, but we did it. Scott’s still with us today, and he’s still working just as hard.”
Shelly Fifeld, CSR, and Kelly Bryan, Office Manager of Chapman Auto Body~CSN.