23
APRIL-MAY 2014
ACCESS, LIFT&HANDLERS
INTERVIEW: ACME
Acme Lift’s
acceleration
Acme Lift Co. continues
its growthplanwith the
appointment of
Mike Crouch
as
its new president andCOO.
Lindsey Anderson
spokewith
Crouch aboutwhat he’ll bring
to the company andhow
he sees theNorthAmerican
market for the coming year.
in operations, aswell asmergers and
acquisitions. Crouch started his rental career
withHertz Equipment Rental Corp. in 1978 in
Seattle as a sales coordinator andwithin two
years rose to regional vice president. Between
1981 and 1995, heworked at USRentals, MQ
Power andHERC in California and Texas, in
operations and salesmanagement. In 1995, he
returned to USRentals as a divisionmanager
and stayed aboardwhen USRentalswas
acquired by United Rentals.
“So, first off, what I’ll do is bring a lot of my
operations knowledge to really tighten up some
procedures and processes and I’ll build on our
strengths that we already have,” Crouch says.
Commenting on the appointment, Acme’s
CEO, WoodyWeld, says Crouch is a good fit for
the team.
“I am really excited to haveMike come
aboard and think he is a perfect fit for Acme
Lift aswe begin to build and grow our company
into the future,” saysWeld. “Mike has
incredible depth of experience in every aspect
of rental operation, plus his knowledge related
to the growth of rental companies and the
integration of mergers and acquisitionsmake
him a very valuable asset whichwill help drive
Acme Lift’s future plans.”
■
have a real strong team and a real strong
model. My job is to take that strong footprint
andmake it even better and larger. Wewant
to continue to capture the footprint that they’ve
successfully built and take opportunities for us
to get better.”
Crouch, whowas accustomed tomanaging
thousands of people, pieces of equipment and
locations, says the transition towholesale from
national rental has been pretty seamless.
“It’s the same principals, basically, but a
whole different mindset,” he says. “Because
I’m nowmarketingmostly to nationals, I have
that feel for how theywork on their side. Where
I had tens of thousands of customers at Volvo,
I have a pretty finite groupwith this gig. It’s a
more laser-focused approach now.”
The biggest challenges, then, come hand-in-
handwith size and approach.
“I have the entire United States and Canada
to cover with, basically, 30 people,” Crouch
jokes. “Other than that, there aren’t many
challenges.”
Looking forward
Crouch joins the Acme team in good time;
the U.S. economy is bouncing back after its
severewithdrawal, and he expects the uptick
to continue.
“I don’t think the recessionwrapped up
nearly as fast as everyone hoped it would, but
it’smoving,” he says. “We are going to see
somemore consolidation on the ‘big boy’ front,
but there seems to be a lot of promising areas
especially around oil and gas. I see steady
growth.”
Crouch says his time at Volvo Rents and
other rental companies gave him experience
A
cme Lift Co. hasmade a number of
high-level appointments over the course
of the last sixmonths, first naming
former Volvo Rents executiveMike Crouch as
its president and chief operating officer, and,
most recently, hiring Roger Slagle as its new
chief financial officer. WoodyWeld remains
chairman and chief executive officer of Acme.
Crouch, whomost recently served 11 years
with Volvo Rents’ – leaving the company as
vice president of business development –
bringsmore than 35 years of rental experience
on a national level to thewholesale aerial work
platform rental company. He also previously
worked for Hertz Equipment Rental Corp, US
Rentals and United Rentals.
In 2002, he became vice president of Volvo
Rents Europe and amember of the company’s
Europeanmanagement team. In 2004, he
returned to the U.S. as vice president of
operations for North America.
For the last three years, hewas Volvo Rents’
vice president of business development,
focusing onmergers and acquisitions as the
company expanded to 132 locations and into a
national rental company in less than two years.
His appointment at Acme follows just amonth
after Volvo Rentswas sold by Volvo to private
equity company Platinum Equity.
“I haven’t been here long, but I’ve really
been able to get a handle onwhat’s going on
and I’m really excited about thiswholemove
forward,” Crouch says. “These guys (Acme)
Acme Lift recruits new CFO
Acme Lift has named Roger Slagle as its new chief financial officer.
Slagle brings to the rolemore than 16 years of experience, ranging
from financial modeling and analysis to business development.
He joins thewholesale rental firm fromGenovaDiagnostics.
Previouswork experience included Volvo Rents, nowBlueLine Rental,
when heworked as director of finance, business development and
corporate controller.
Slaglemanaged accounting and finances for retail rental branches,
conducted diligence and valuation determinations and reports, and
worked on business case and financial project analyses.
Roger Slagle, chief
financial officer of
Acme Lift Co.
Mike
Crouch,
president
and COO
of Acme
Lift Co.
