People news
from the world’s rental industry
■
Jeremy Fish
h a s
j o i n e d
Lavendon Group as
managing director
of
Nationwide
Platforms, its UK
subsidiary.
He takes over from Mike Potts, who
resigned in the third quarter of 2013 to
pursue a new career opportunity.
Mr Fish has a strong background
in the rental industry in the UK and
international markets. He worked for
Aggreko from 2004 to 2012 in a number
of senior roles in North America,
Eastern Europe, and the Middle East.
Most recently he has been involved
with Ainscough Crane Hire in the UK as
a consultant, focusing on initiatives to
improve business performance.
Don Kenny, Lavendon’s CEO, said,
“Jeremy joins the organisation at
a time of real sales and customer
focus in the UK. We are committed
to delivering increased shareholder
value whilst ensuring our customers
enjoy high levels of quality and service
through our differentiation strategy
and wide product range.”
■
Christoph Loos
became CEO of Hilti on
1 January, succeeding
Bo Risberg who leaves
after seven years as
CEO and 14 years with
the company.
Mr Risberg, who joined Hilti in 1999,
is leaving because Hilti requires
executive board members to cease
executive board positions when they
reach 56. He cannot join the board of
directors because it already has a full
complement of two former CEOs.
The new chief executive, Mr Loos,
who will be only the fifth CEO in Hilti’s
75 year history, joined the company
in 2001 as head of group strategy,
becoming head of sales in Germany
in 2003 and then company general
manager in 2005. He has been a
member of the executive board since
2007, responsible for finance, human
resources and IT.
Board chairman Pius Baschera
said; “Hilti is a healthy company, it is
financially stable and future-oriented.
Christoph Loos now faces significant
and great work. I am convinced that
with his management experience
and competence he will continue the
successful work of Bo Risberg.”
■
Volvo Construction Equipment has
appointed Martin Weissburg as its
new president,
effective 1 January,
2014. Previously
president of the
Volvo
group’s
customer finance
company, Volvo Financial Services
(VFS), and a member of the group
executive team, Mr Weissburg replaces
Pat Olney, who announced in October
that he would be stepping down as
president of Volvo CE at the end of
2013.
Mr Weissburg has been president of
VFS since 2010, and prior to that he
served as president of Volvo Financial
Services Americas from 2005 to 2010.
“I am extremely satisfied to see
Martin as president of Volvo CE,” said
Volvo group president and CEO Olof
Persson. “During his time with VFS,
Martin has proven to be a strong and
dynamic leader who has taken VFS to
higher levels.”
■
John Patterson
has retired from
JCB after 43 years’
service.
A r j u n
Mirdha will take over
as president and
CEO of JCB in North America, where
John Patterson has led operations
since 2008 as chairman and CEO.
Mr Patterson joined JCB in 1971 as
a field service engineer and went
on to work in Canada and America
before returning to the UK in 1988
as managing director of JCB Service.
In 1993, he was appointed managing
director of JCB Sales before becoming
group CEO – only the third person in
JCB’s history to hold the position.
He served as group CEO for ten years
before standing down in 2008 to head-
up the company’s North American
subsidiary, JCB Inc.
JCB Chairman Lord Bamford said,
“During John’s time as chief executive,
JCB achieved unprecedented sales
growth and led the company’s
transformation into a truly global
company. I thank John for his
contribution over the past 43 years and
am delighted he will remain a director
of the JCB Group and chairman of the
Board of the JCB USA companies.”
Mr Patterson said, “I am proof that
there are no boundaries to career
development at JCB and I have had an
incredible time over the past 43 years.”
Mr Mirdha took up his new role from
1st January 2014, reporting directly to
Graeme Macdonald, JCB group chief
executive.
/
■
Brazilian rental
association ALEC has
voted in Fernando
Forjaz, owner of
Formeq Rental in
São Paulo, as its new
president.
Mr Forjaz is successor to Marco
Aurélio da Cunha, managing director
of São Paulo Locadora de Máquinas e
Equipamentos Ltda, who has completed
his two year stint in the post.
The new president was voted in at
an ALEC meeting on 16 December and
will serve a two year term in 2014 and
2015. Mr Forjaz has been active in the
association since its creation and
for the past two years has been vice
president and marketing director.
Also new on ALEC’s executive board
are Expedito Eloel Arena (Casa
do Constructor, rental franchise,
Rio Claro), Armando Nassif (rental
company Trimak) and Francisco
Maciel (Casa do Constructor, Santana).
■
Eugen Russ has
been
appointed
CEO of online rental
marketplace erento,
taking over from
Rob
Paterson
who will remain at the business as
head of business development and
internationalisation.
Mr Russ is a member of the family
that owns Austrian-based Russmedia,
the business that acquired erento in
2011.
He joins erento from the Boston
Consulting Group, where he recently
45
FACES & PLACES
IRN JANUARY 2014
spent two months studying the erento
business.
As CEO he plans to implement a
number of changes, including creating
a new structure for the online platform
and capitalising on trends towards
‘collaborative consumption’ and the
‘sharing economy’.
“erento is an exciting opportunity for
me”, said Mr Russ, “Long before the
term ‘Sharing Economy’ popped up,
erento detected this new renting trend.
Today we are using our know-how to
continuously develop our offering and
to win not only professional rental
business but also private renters”.
■
David Mallon has been appointed
general manager of the Standard
Products division of SDMO Energy Ltd,
the UK subsidiary of genset producer
SDMO Industries.
Mr Mallon is an experienced power
and rental salesman, having worked
for Pramac UK for nine years and
subsequently for Speedy Hire’s power
generation division and most recently
as regional sales manager at rental
company Power Electrics (Bristol).
In his new role Mr Mallon will be
responsible for growing the company’s
portable power, residential and rental
products, working closely with five
regional sales managers from the
SDMO Energy offices in Middlewich,
Cheshire.
Mr Mallon’s appointment follows
the departure of previous general
manager Clive Dix, who left SDMO in
August to become head of Himoinsa’s
UK subsidiary.
UK aerial platform manufacturer Niftylift has been presented with separate Queen’s Awards
for Enterprise in Innovation and International Trade at a ceremony in its Milton Keynes, UK
headquarters. Pictured, from left, are John Keely (Niftylift managing director), Sir Henry Aubrey-
Fletcher (Lord Lieutenant of Buckingham) and Roger Bowden (Niftylift chairman). Mr Bowden said
the awards were “the culmination of many years of continuous investment, innovative hard work by
all, combined with a passion and a will to get-things-done.” Niftylift is set to build a new production
facility in Milton Keynes, with construction due to start this year.
