Editor’s Note: Derek Stimson passed away Dec. 7, 2023, the same week he was selected to the inaugural class of Farm Equipment’s Dealer Hall of Fame.

Derek Stimson got his first taste of dealership life at the age of 14 when working as a service technician at his father’s dealership, Hi-Way Service. By the time he was 18, Stimson was attending Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, while also working full-time at the Taber, Alta., dealership.

Over the years, he was exposed to every aspect of the business and would eventually take over and grow that 1-store operation into one of Case IH’s largest North American dealers, earning accolades and awards along the way. Among them was the Western Equipment Dealers Assn.’s 2015 Canadian Dealer of the Year award. 

“He shared with me once that although his father was a tough and demanding man, he taught him a fundamental lesson about the business: foster relationships and treat customers as people first,” says John Schmeiser, COO of the North American Equipment Dealers Assn. “In 1979, Derek succeeded his father as the dealer-principal, and using his business acumen and experience, he turned his dealership into a major player in the southern Alberta equipment landscape.” 

Stimson has been referred to as one of the pioneers of multi-store operations. Hi-Way Service added a location in Lethbridge in 1988, and over the course of the next 8 years, Stimson purchased neighboring Case IH dealerships in Southern Alberta and owned 7 locations by 1996.

Schmeiser says even from Stimson’s early days as a dealer-principal, he was one of the first dealers to heavily invest in training. 

“He engaged consultants and trained his staff on a regular basis, all to increase performance and profitability,” Schmeiser says. “He had sales strategies, specifically exporting used equipment, that were ahead of the curve at the time but have been adopted by many today.”

Going Public

By 2007, Stimson — together with Matt Campbell, who owned the local Case construction dealership, Hammer Equipment — found a new way to grow. While the pair wasn’t competitive, Jim Walker, retired Case IH executive and former Claas and AGCO exec, says a competitive spirit existed between the two. 

“They both had grown their businesses so well that they were too large for them to step away and try to sell to anybody else at the time,” he says. “So, he and Matt decided to become best friends, and they joined forces and formed Rocky Mountain Equipment (RME).” 

At the same time as the merger, Stimson and Campbell also took the newly formed dealership public on the Toronto Stock Exchange, and soon changed the equipment distribution landscape in Western Canada by acquiring and consolidating other dealerships. Stimson took the helm as president and Campbell as CEO. 

“It took a lot of thought and a leap of faith to bypass the normal route of selling or transferring to a family member,” Walker says. “Derek had that entrepreneurship to think outside the box and take the next step, and it always paid off for him.”

Walker says going public moved the ball forward for the industry by giving another option to larger dealers — who had no succession plan in place — to sell their business and maximize return. It also gave dealers a way to capitalize their business for accelerated internal growth as well as footprint growth through acquisitions, he says. 

RME would acquire and merge more than a dozen Case IH and New Holland dealerships across the region by 2014. By 2017, a decade after going public, RME’s revenue, store count and employee numbers tripled in size. When Stimson retired as president in February 2015, RME’s total sales were $1 billion. 

“He had that innate ability. Everything he touched kind of turned to gold,” says David Meyer, chairman of Titan Machinery and a fellow Farm Equipment Dealer Hall of Famer inductee.

“I have known a lot of salespeople and deal makers over the years, but Derek Stimson was one of the best. 

“As a true entrepreneur he always had something going. Not only was he successful in the equipment business, he also had gravel pits, bought and sold airplanes, a car dealership and an extremely large farm operation. As I watched Derek grow Hi-Way Service and eventually RME, he was a great product guy, but most important, he really took care of his customers. He went to great lengths to make sure his customers’ equipment was operating at top performance and up and running during critical seeding and harvest times.” 

Stimson remained on the RME board of directors until 2020. That same year, the dealership returned to private ownership via AcruireCo., an entity owned by RME chairman Campbell and Garrett Ganden, president and CEO, who acquired all of the shares. 

Today, RME operates 43 locations with over 1,000 employees across Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba and is #5 on the Farm Equipment Dealer 100™, a ranking of the top 100 North American farm equipment dealers by number of locations. 

Over the years, Stimson’s dealerships were repeatedly honored for their sales performance and financial viability, winning multiple “Top North American Dealer” awards during the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s. At a Case IH event in 1981, Stimson was presented with the prestigious “Case Most 100 Plus Power Tractors — Including 4 Wheel Drive & Cruise” Award, which he accepted from entertainer Bob Hope.

Pre-Selling & Multi Unit Discounts

Walker says Stimson was pioneer in the Case IH dealer network when it came to pursuing multi-unit discounts on volume buys and booking pre-orders for combines. He recalls Stimson and the head manager of combines arguing “tooth and nail” over pre-sold orders.

“It was visionary. We had talked about it, but from a dealer perspective and especially a customer-focused dealer perspective, he made all the sense in the world with the way he presented it. That’s where the push came from to start with it.” 

With the large farm operations and fleets in Western Canada, this idea would become a long-term benefit to retain customer ownership in the region, Walker says. 

Stimson’s focus was on big equipment and large customers, says Jim Irwin, a retired Case IH executive who remained close to Stimson up until his death. 

“He knew how to manage that segment of the business,” Irwin says. “You had to control it. His total focus was on those big operators with up to tens of thousands of acres. He would key in on getting those big operators into multiple pieces of equipment.” 

“The other thing I always had a lot of respect for was that he was highly competitive,” Walker says. “He took our brands, whether that was the Jaguar at Claas or the Case IH large-equipment cash crop products, and he became market leaders with them in tough areas. Western Canada is tough to do business in and he took advantage of it and moved forward.” 

Customers First

No matter how large the company grew, Stimson’s focus was on the customer. Stimson was a farmer, and Irwin says he carried over his own expectations as a buyer to his customers. 

“If there was one practice that he took to heart, it was taking care of the customer and keeping them running,” Irwin says. “He got to know them well, both business-wise and socially.” 

Walker says Stimson was probably harder on Case IH as a farmer than he was as a dealer, always focusing on the product, its serviceability and reliability from the farmer’s perspective.

“It would always be the product and its serviceability or reliability and he would be speaking to us as a farmer, more so than a dealer. I appreciated that because he knew what he was talking about,” Walker says. 

Irwin remembers a call from Stimson that came at 5 p.m. in the middle of the Western Canadian harvest. Stimson needed a transmission for a combine and didn’t have another one in inventory. Irwin located one at the depot in Salt Lake City, and Stimson immediately flew to Salt Lake City and delivered the transmission to the customer the same night. 

“That’s the type of guy he was,” Irwin says. “It didn’t bother him to call somebody. He just wanted to get things done, and the customers knew it.”

Leo Johnson of Wisconsin-based Johnson Tractor served on a Case IH dealer advisory board with Stimson and recalls he was “a guy who could make things happen.” 

“He was vocal, and if there was a product issue, he wasn’t one to shy away from an argument or differences in opinions,” Johnson says. “He was deliberate and the kind of guy who says, ‘Hey, this is broke — how come it isn’t fixed? Let’s get on it. Let’s get this done. And not tomorrow, but right now.’ He wasn’t going to take no for an answer.”

“He was quite a guy,” said a retired Case IH executive. “He could command a meeting instantly, as he did not have time for any wasted time or discussions. It was ‘Here's the issue or problem, who can fix it, get that person on it and tell us when it will be done. Period.’”

In Stimson’s obituary, Gary Redhead, president and CEO of Case IH dealership Redhead Equipment in Saskatchewan, described Stimson as a “true pioneer and legend in the ag and construction industries.” 

“There is no doubt that Derek has left a lasting legacy on the industry but also for the people and communities,” Schmeiser says. “His success as an entrepreneur was respected by local communities as he was keen on giving back to his community. He gave lots to various charities and community initiatives. His legacy will live on both through this generosity and his visionary leadership within the industry.”