AED 2014 Chairman Tim Watters, along with five AED officers, was installed at a ceremony during the Chairman’s Inaugural Breakfast on Jan. 17 at the AED Summit in Houston. The group will guide the association for the coming year as members of the executive committee.
Watters is president/owner of Piscataway, N.J.-based Hoffman Equipment, which represents Case, Manitowoc, JCB, Liebherr, Terex, LeeBoy, Rosco, Doosan, Atlas Copco, Gradall and other brands. Watters has been an AED board member since 2007. He accepted the gavel from installing officer Dennis Kruepke, an AED past chairman and chairman of McCann Industries. AED Foundation President Roy Kern installed the new members of the executive committee, who were elected by mail ballot and sworn in at the event.
Don Shilling, president of General Equipment & Supplies Inc., and General Aggregates Equipment Sales, Fargo, N.D., is the new AED vice chairman. His dealership represents Komatsu, Link-Belt, Trail King, Terex, KPI-JCI Astec and other brands. Shilling was formerly AED’s senior vice president and he is a former AED Foundation chairman.
Whit Perryman is the new AED senior vice president. He is CEO of Vermeer Texas-Louisiana, with 12 locations throughout Texas and southern Louisiana.
Rick Van Exan is an AED vice president as well as vice president of marketing of Toromont Industries Ltd., a Concord, Ontario-based dealer representing Caterpillar with 36 branches throughout Ontario, Manitoba, Newfoundland and other provinces.
Wes Stowers, president of Stowers Machinery Corp., based in Knoxville, Tenn., now serves as AED vice president. Stowers is the east Tennessee Caterpillar dealer.
Michael D. Brennan, executive vice president of finance and COO of Bramco, a Louisville, Ky.-based Komatsu dealer, is AED vice president of finance. Brennan was an AED director from 2006-2008.
Mike Quirk remains on the executive committee this year as immediate past chairman of AED. Quirk is vice president of operations of Wagner Equipment Co., a Caterpillar dealership with branches in Colorado, New Mexico and far western Texas.
Roy Kern Jr. is AED Foundation chairman and president of Equipment Corporation of America.
Brian McGuire, president and CEO of AED, also serves on the AED executive committee.
2014 Board of Directors
Three new at-large directors have been elected to three-year terms on the AED Board. Mitch Nevins is CEO, Four Season Equipment Inc., Houston, Texas, which carries Hyundai, Liebherr, Terex, Sany and several more brands. New director Larry R. Miller is president of Kelbe Brothers, a Butler, Wis., dealer of Link-Belt, Takeuchi, New Holland, Trimble and other equipment brands. Todd Bachman is president of Florida Coast Equipment, a dealer of Kubota, JCB, New Holland and more, with three locations in Florida.
Other at-large directors include Mike Rooney, Thompson Tractor Co. Inc., Tarrant, Ala.; Dennis Heller, Stephenson Equipment Inc., Harrisburg, Pa., and Ron Barlet, president of Bejac Corp., Placentia, Calif.
New regional directors include Giles Poulson, Farris Machinery, Commerce City, Colo. (Rocky Mountain Region); Jay Rodes, Wilson Equipment Co., Lexington, Ky. (Southeast Region); Ryan Greenawalt, Alta Equipment Co., Wixom, Mich. (Midwest Region); and Todd Hystad, VIMAR Equipment, Burnaby, British Columbia (Western Canada Region).
Other regional directors include Christopher Palmer, Wood’s CRW Corp., Williston, Vt. (Northeast Region); Gary D. Vaughn, OCT Equipment, Oklahoma City, Okla. (South Central Region); Patrick W. McConnell, Clyde/West, Portland, Ore. (Western Region); and Rick Van Exan, Toromont Industries Ltd., Concord, Ontario (Eastern Canada Region).
AED Foundation Officers and Board
Charged with enhancing the success of AED member companies by encouraging continuous learning as well as workforce development, AED Foundation officers work to provide educational opportunities for the dealership management team.
Roy Kern Jr. leads The AED Foundation as its newly elected chairman. Kern is president of Equipment Corporation of America, a 96-year old firm with facilities in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Toronto.
Serving as AEDF’s vice chairman is Dennis Vander Molen, president of Vermeer MidSouth Inc., Jackson, Miss., a leading Vermeer dealer with five locations in four states offering a full line of Vermeer environmental, trenchless and utility equipment. He was AED chairman in 2010.
John D. Crum is AED Foundation treasurer and senior vice president, Wells Fargo Equipment Finance, Pittsburgh, Pa. Wells Fargo offers equipment financial services and solutions to dealers and manufacturers.
Wes Stowers serves as the AED board representative to The Foundation. He is president of Stowers Machinery Corp. in Knoxville, Tenn., the East Tennessee Caterpillar dealer.
Christopher Pera is the Foundation’s immediate past chairman and is general manager, Pennsylvania sales and operations of Able Equipment Rental based in Deer Park, N.Y.
Bob Henderson serves as The AED Foundation president. He is executive vice president and COO of AED.
AEDF Board of Directors
Newly elected Foundation Board members include David Reilly, division manager Customer Support, John Deere Construction & Forestry, Moline, Ill.; John Cosgrove, president and COO, Central Power Systems & Services Inc., Liberty Mo.; and Wayne Longbrake, former dean of the School of Natural Resources Management, Heavy Construction Equipment Tech, Pennsylvania College of Technology.
Other members of the board include Gary Bridwell, president of Ditch-Witch of Oklahoma, Edmond, Okla.; Sonja Metzler, director of Human Resources, Ohio CAT, Broadview Heights, Ohio; Timothy Kramer, president and CEO, Kramer Ltd., Regina, Saskatchewan; Kenneth Silverman, vice president of Custom Solutions, Volvo Construction Equipment, Region Americas, Shippensburg, Pa.; M. Keith Tippett, vice president and CFO, Kirby-Smith Machinery Inc., Oklahoma City, Okla.; Mike Hayes, director, Distributor/Customer Support, Komatsu Americas Corporation, Rolling Meadows, Ill.; and Mark Teel, region manager, western United States and Canada, Caterpillar Inc.
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