Zekelman Industries – Steel Strong Through COVID-19

Life can be challenging. We battle daily with struggles at work, raising kids, with our finances, getting enough sleep and maintaining our personal health and well-being. At times, we are challenged beyond these “normal” struggles and are forced to deal with even more complicated issues like severe illnesses, unexpected injuries or a loss of a loved one. No one is immune to life’s challenges. My father died when I was 19, my mother battled mental illness, my first wife passed when our daughter was just 15 months old, and, like you, I have lost many loved ones at an all too early age. Life is not easy.

Yet even in the most trying times, I am reminded of life’s remarkable grandeur. I have been blessed to personally witness some of the most amazing things including new births, cancer recoveries, lives and families being built, marriages, graduations, financial successes, great friendships and tremendous triumphs and accomplishments. The top of this list for me has been being a member of the greatest team I know, Zekelman Industries!

When people ask me what I want to be remembered by, I answer: you; each of you; all of you; my team; our team and what we have done together and what we are capable of. When we are united, we cannot be stopped. If we break-up or separate, we can be beat. We must remain committed to each other. We must continue to pull each other up, dust each other off and move forward. Always, together. That is how we built this company. We have traveled this journey by putting one foot in front of the other, over and over again and again, lifting our teammates up, one step at a time.

As a team, we are currently facing an extraordinary challenge as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak. We have a responsibility to ourselves, each other, our families and nations to meet this challenge. We must continue to move forward, to take care of our teammates, our customers, our suppliers and our communities. Now is not the time to argue or to think only about ourselves. We must not say we cannot because we know we CAN.

We will continue to operate, produce, ship and service our customers. Remember, it is not the speed that kills you, it is the sudden stop. WE DO NOT STOP. We are a team and we fight for everyone, that is what Americans and Canadians do. This is a war and make no mistake, we are ready.

We enter this fight positioned with the best team, assets and plan available. I implore you all to use common sense. If you are sick, stay away. If you are strong then fight. Please keep each other safe, fight alongside one another and protect your teammates. Together, we will come out of this just fine.

Thank you all for your support and commitment, let’s not let each other down and let’s not let our countries down.

God bless and stay tuned.

Barry Zekelman
Executive Chairman and CEO
Zekelman Industries