21
INTERVIEW
OCTOBER 2013
ACT
and revenues of about $60 million.
“Not a bad little growth story,” says
Johnson.
Johnson says he was fortunate to be
accepted into the Scott family business
and was able to do a little bit of
everything to learn the business.
“I worked in human resources and
the finance department and then I
became sales manager of a construction
equipment branch of Scott Equipment,”
he says. “When Mr. Scott spun off Scott
Powerline, he asked me to come over and
be in charge of the operations. I’ve been
doing that ever since.”
Today Tom Scott, Jr. remains president
and CEO of the company. Although at
almost 70, he is still very engaged in the
business, but does leave the day to day to
Johnson and his management team.
Essentially, Johnson says the history of
Scott Powerline’s success can be tied to
Tom Scott Jr.’s interest in the power line
business and one of his key accounts, Irby
Construction, based in Jackson, MS.
“For years, Irby was (and remains) one
of our biggest customers,” says Johnson.
“In fact, Mr. Scott became a dealer for
Mantis cranes (now Tadano Mantis)
by virtue of his relationship with Irby
Construction. Irby wanted a rental source
for Mantis cranes and this put Mantis
together with Mr. Scott.”
Today Scott Powerline is one of the
country’s largest Tadano Mantis dealers
and most likely the oldest, Johnson says.
As a premier provider of utility
construction equipment, Scott Powerline
will have a large presence at ICUEE
Jeff Johnson
enjoys the
challenges of the power
line equipment business
because it’s ‘something
new every day.’
S
cott Powerline has long been
a leading entity in the power
line and utility equipment
business. Based in Monroe, LA, the
company was started about 40 years ago
from a couple of key accounts recruited
and nurtured by Tom Scott, Jr., whose dad
Tom Scott, Sr., owned and founded Scott
Equipment.
In the 1990s, Scott Equipment formally
started the Scott Powerline division with
Tom Scott, Jr. as its president. In time,
Tom Scott, Jr. worked out a deal with
his father to purchase that business unit
outright. In 2000, after working in several
departments of Scott Equipment, Jeff
Johnson was recruited as chief operating
officer of Scott Powerline. At the time the
business operated out of one office, had
about 13 employees and generated about
$7 million a year. Some 13 years later the
company has two offices, 42 employees
Jeff Johnson, executive vice president and
COO of Scott Powerline, says the utility
equipment business is strong.
Powered up
Scott Powerline has one of the country’s
largest fleets of Tadano Mantis
telecrawlers.
