CIMSCO, Inc. - “Contractors Industrial Municipal Supply Company”

Since 1958, we have provided pipes, valves, hydrants and supplies for
underground water, sewer, drain and fire service to contractors and
municipalities throughout Southeast Louisiana, including the Greater New
Orleans area. Always locally owned and operated, our small family
business, now in its third generation, is currently celebrating its 60 th
anniversary. We are still building our business and customer relationships
on the foundations our grandfather instilled in us: integrity, trust,
commitment and service.

Our Founder –
Born in 1920 and raised along Metairie Bayou in Metairie, Louisiana, just a few blocks
from the Orleans Parish line, Paul E. Riviere, Sr. grew up on his Grandfather Riviere’s
farmland, along with his many aunts, uncles and the extended Riviere family. All the
Riviere family members who are the current owners of Cimsco today continue to live on
or adjacent to this very same property.
Paul Sr attended his Aunt Valentine Riviere’ s one room school on his family’s property,
then moved onto St. Aloysius High School on Esplanade Avenue, where he graduated in 1936. His
family’s sense of the land, faith, family, community and civic duty guided his life and
business from an early age. Paul Sr was an entrepreneur who saw an opportunity not
only to support his family, but to help his community grow. He believed in honesty, hard
work, and a job well done. Paul Sr typically finalized his business deals on a
“handshake.” While he worked hard and long hours, he nevertheless always enjoyed
spending time with family, friends and associates, whether he was hunting, fishing, or
racing boats on Lake Pontchartrain or entertaining large groups at his home. The
Rivieres who currently own Cimsco are all grandchildren of Paul Sr, and, in addition to
treasuring the time spent with their grandfather outside of the work environment, the
Rivieres continue to follow their grandfather’s guiding principles of hard work and
honesty, with a commitment to family, faith and community.

How we started –
Having recently graduated from St. Aloysius High School in the midst of the Great
Depression, Paul Sr purchased a used truck and started hauling material for local
companies. By 1946 he started Paul E. Riviere Contracting, focusing mainly in his
home town of Jefferson Parish, which was experiencing not only the post-World War II
building boom, but also recovery from the 1947 hurricane. By the 1950’s, Paul E.
Riviere Contracting had become one of the area’s largest contractors for industrial
municipal construction of all underground related projects. Paul Sr soon expanded his
business to include equipment rentals, through Paul E. Riviere Equipment Company.

During these early years, Paul Sr worked closely with several other area contractors
including Clement Betpouey, Jr. or Betpouey Contracting. They realized the need for a
local company to provide the materials and supplies needed to support the growing
demand of their construction businesses, rather than relying on the big national chain
supply houses. So, in the late 1950’s, Paul E. Riviere, Sr. and Clement Betpouey, Jr.
invited other Riviere family members, their business associates and friends to invest in
a new supply company to support their burgeoning construction businesses. They
called this new business “CIMSCO,” which was an acronym for “Contractors Industrial
Supply Company.”

Early Growth and Down Times –
Although opened in 1958 on a shoestring budget with only a few employees, by the late
1960s, Cimsco grew to the extent that it was able to provide its initial investors with
regular and profitable returns. The growth of Jefferson Parish and other parishes,
which effectively were suburbs to New Orleans, continued throughout the 1970s, with
new residential subdivisions and business parks, all of which required underground
infrastructure and thus greatly benefitted Cimsco. The business continued to grow with
Paul Sr’s son in law as the operational manager.
By the 1980s, however, the local economy suffered as our local oil and gas businesses
suffered, resulting in local municipalities not having the necessary tax generated
revenues to fund infrastructure projects. CIMSCO nevertheless held on, but the
business was suffering, as new business was not being developed and our small family
business was being out-paced by the big national and now international suppliers.
Reorganization Begins –
By the late 1990s, however, Cimsco underwent a complete restructuring, that resulted
in Paul Riviere Jr undertaking the presidency and management of the company, with
Paul “Trey” Riviere III joining the company as vice president, along with his sister, Paul
Sr’s granddaughter, Aimee Riviere.
From the inception, Paul Sr maintained his majority, controlling interest in Cimsco,
which now began to repurchase stock from its early investors, with Paul Sr. increasing
his ownership interest, allowing Cimsco to maintain its distinction as a small, locally
owned, family business. And a slow regrowth process with a change in the operational
management lead to a reinvigorated purpose and direction.

The 2000’s & Katrina -
The devastation brought by Hurricane Katrina led to a renewed investment in Jefferson
and Orleans Parish’s infrastructure, along with new growth in the residential housing
markets on the Northshore of Lake Pontchartrain and the River Parishes. Cimsco’s
business experienced growth it had not seen since the 1960s and 1970s. Our

business expanded to the extent that it was able to accommodate the remaining Riviere
siblings, Christen & Ashley, who left other endeavors to return to our family business.
Since this time, all four Riviere siblings – the third generation – have worked side-by-
side to manage the day-to-day operations, with each being elected to Cimsco’s Board of
Directors, where they joined their parents and grandfather, Paul Sr.
With its sales volume booming again, Cimsco enlarged its inventory, increased its
number of employees, and moved its business into a larger facility. Cimsco also
completed its buyback of all outstanding shares, and for the first time, was entirely
owned by Paul Sr, his son, his son’s wife, and his 4 grandchildren.
Sadly, during this period of great growth, we lost our founder and grandfather, Paul Sr.,
who died in 2010 at the age of 90, followed by the loss of our father, Paul Jr, who died
in 2016 at the age of 74.

Today and Into the Future –
By late 2016, as a “Women Owned Majority Small Business,” Cimsco’s board of
directors named Christen Riviere as the President of Cimsco, Inc., with an eye toward
moving the family business into a new phase of expansion and market placement,
which would build upon the sales volume that had been established after Hurricane
Katrina.
As we have done for 60 years, Cimsco today continues to provide pipes,
valves, hydrants and supplies for underground water, sewer, drain and fire
service to contractors and municipalities throughout Southeast Louisiana,
including the Greater New Orleans area.
Now entirely owned and operated by Christen, Aimee, Ashley and Trey
Riviere, Cimsco looks forward to this next chapter of our family business, with our
continued commitment to serving our community, always mindful of the foundations
our grandfather instilled in us: integrity, trust, commitment and service.