by Jeanne Brei
David Woods, business development director at Labor-inc, is retiring after 45 years in the exhibit industry and Brian Kearns, the president of Labor-inc, is proud of Woods’ long career and his association with his company.
Woods’ first collaboration with Kearns was during the ‘90s at a company now known as TAG. Together they executed numerous projects on a global platform with one of the most challenging and rewarding being complete design, build, delivery and installation of 400 exhibits for Canadian companies exhibiting in Mexico City at the Can/Mex show which launched the NAFTA agreement partnership.
Having worked with some of the most prestigious exhibit houses in Canada, Woods was excited to reconnect with Kearns and join the team at Labor-inc. in 2014. Now, Kearns says, “As a colleague and friend, it pleases me to announce that David will be retiring on December 17, 2021, from Labor-inc. and the exhibit industry … David has decided to step away from the industry and begin writing his next chapter. Knowing David as I do, this will surely involve him spending time with his wife Lynn, three children, eight grandchildren, and many friends he has met along the way. Perhaps a bit of travel and golf along the way as well. Or maybe a lot!”
Kearns continues, “David, as business development director of Labor-Inc since 2014, has been an integral part of the continued success of our specialty installation company servicing Canada. His business development skills, customer relations, industry experience and mentorship of his successors ensures his legacy will carry on at Labor-Inc., as will his endless industry stories.”
Speaking of industry stories, Woods arrived in Canada in 1977 from the U.K. with a background in estimating and was classified as an architectural technologist by the local immigration office. It wasn’t long before he was hired by Disney Display out of Toronto with their other offices in Germany, Singapore and London. Woods soon mastered the Telex machine and was quoting on international projects around the globe. His position quickly evolved into a site supervisor, project manager and assistant general manager.
Says Woods, “I have worked for a number of exhibit companies since 1977 but it was my first employer (Disney Display) and mentor Mr. Joe Batty who showed me integrity and honesty, and as I worked with them for ten years, I witnessed first hand all the wonderful attributes of a family-run business,” adding, “There were too many great times to mention, brilliant working colleagues and fantastic international clients. We built many museums and interpretive centers and three pavilions at Expo ‘86, traveled to supervise projects, throughout Europe, Asia, South America and the USA. The ten years at Disney was the foundation for my career in the exhibition industry.”
For many years Woods worked overseas in China, Europe and South America and became quite a master of international pavilions, working with numerous export-minded governments including Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Canada and Australia, to name just a few. Many of these pavilions were constructed without aluminum extrusions.
In the mid-1980s and ‘90s Woods was the project manager on many museums and interpretive center projects such as Fort McMurray Oil Sands, the Kananaskis Interpretive Centre, the Banff Cave & Basin Hot Springs and the Canadian and British pavilions at Expo Vancouver. (Pictured left: David Woods in the 1994 Canadian Pavilion at Acapulco Mining Show)
His memories include tractor trailers jack-knifing ; a knife fight in Lima, Peru; taking 13 trailers to OTC Houston; working at the New York Coliseum; the Acapulco Mining Show, with its earthquake and flooded exposition center; building exhibits on site; and working with graphics, silk screening, PET’s Photo Emulsion Transfer and Cut & Spray Graphics.
When asked what he had learned over the years, Woods replied, “With the pressures of designing, building and the logistics of corporate exhibits I learned from my mentor in my early years to also ‘smell the roses’ when you are in a new city away from home. Smelling the roses may be a cruise around the canals in Chicago, a museum visit or simply taking a tourist type of bus tour to learn more about the city. Those memories last forever and along the way you end up with a compendium of tales!”
Kearns speaks for all of us when he says, “On behalf of everyone at Labor-Inc., I would like to wish David a happy and healthy journey as he writes his next chapter.” ECN wishes him all the best in his retirement, too.
This story originally appeared in the Jan./Feb./Mar. 2022 issue of Exhibit City News, p. 67. For original layout, visit https://issuu.com/exhibitcitynews/docs/ecn_q1_2022
