By Rajitha Sivakumaran
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T
he arrival of September marks two
years since a serious rupture oc-
curred in global oil prices. OPEC’s
decision to continue oil production de-
spite an unmatched demand has hit North
American oil and gas companies, particu-
larly operations in Alberta, especially hard.
But one Albertan company is living up to
its name by steering Canada’s oil and gas
sector abroad.
Lea-Der Coatings, headquartered in
Spruce Grove, Alberta, has been manu-
facturing safety equipment for the oil and
gas industry for over two decades. With a
background in business and marketing, its
president, Darrell Demers, started simply
as a sales rep before advancing to man-
agement level positions and then ultimate-
ly purchasing the company in 2007. De-
mers’ achievement mirrors his company’s
success; despite the economic downturn,
Lea-Der continues to expand its global
footprint.
“Some of the products that we sell or
manufacture, I can’t say that we don’t
have competition, but we are one of the
elite vendors, a vendor by choice. I believe
SEPTEMBER 2016
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