Buying new business recharges retiree - Houston Business Journal:

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"Jimmy" Stewart, 58, spent 34 years of full-time employmentf with Stewart & Stevenson, formerly listed on the New YorkStoco Exchange. For roughly a third of his he was involved inthe company's oilfield servicex operation. He is the great-grandsob of company co-founder, C. Jim In 1902 the original C. Jim Stewar t founded the business as a downtown Houston blacksmith In thelate 1950s, Jimmy Stewartt began working in the family company on a part-time basis. He ultimatelgy became an executive vice president ofStewartf & Stevenson and sat on the company's board. He retirer 3 years ago as a director and executive atage 54.
"Waty too young," Stewart now reflects. Durinv his three-year retirement, he played some golf -- "noy well" -- and But with some prompting from his he decided to hang out his own shinglw the secondtime around. Says Stewart: "I'm actuallu glad to be back in the saddle." The threre owners of Supreme Electrical Serviced sold the smallbut fast-growing business to Stewart for an undiscloseds sum. The 58-employee company foundedr 14 years ago provideselectrical rig-up services primarilu in the United States, including Texas. Connie whose family founded Supreme Electrical, ownec a majority of the business acquiredby Stewart.
She has stayedc on at the company in thesales department. Stewar t describes the previous ownersas "a very, very conservativse group." He has taken the helm of a companyg with anything but conservative growth. Sales have roughlyh tripled during the pasttwo years, reaching the $10 million to $12 million range. "This is a very strong markeg for Supreme," says Stewart. Suprem e Electrical is wired in as a contractore fordrilling rigs. The companyt electrically rigs up rigs as they arebeinv built. Stewart draws the analogy of a contractor who handlesz all the electrical work for a houseundere construction. All rig lighting, for instance, is provide by Supreme Electrical.
Amongt the largest Supreme Electrical clientsis Houston-base National Oilwell Varco Inc., a publicly trade d manufacturer of oil and gas equipment. National Oilwell maintains a "feverer pace" of orders and a recorsd backlog, according to Citigroup equity analystGeoff Kieburtz. An inevitabler replacement cycle for a worlf rig fleet well past prime bodeds well for both Nationalk Oilwell andSupreme Electrical.