Van Keppel recently welcomed several key new hires to the company.
Joe Hardy
Joel Hardy joined the Van Keppel sales staff this past May as territory manager of the Kansas City metropolitan area. Hardy will be responsible for all sales and rental activity of the full line of Volvo construction equipment as well as the Bomag, Etnyre and Allied lines of paving and compaction equipment that Van Keppel Equipment represents. Hardy’s area of responsibility will be Leavenworth, Wyandotte, Johnson and Miami counties in the state of Kansas.
Hardy possesses more than 18 years of experience in heavy equipment sales with Ditch Witch, as its territory manager and later sales manager in Raleigh, N.C. During this time he was in the top 10 percent of all Ditch Witch salespeople worldwide, and in the top 2 percent of Ditch Witch salespeople worldwide in 1996, 1998 and 2006.
Hardy believes in providing personal service and solutions to problems, right now, and that service and support after the sale are more important than the equipment itself in order to keep customers productive and profitable and reduce downtime in the field.
Bud Earp
Bud Earp, joined the Van Keppel team on June 2. He will serve as sales manager of the Arkansas operations. The Arkansas location is the dealer of Kawasaki loaders, Sany excavators and cranes, Bomag paving, Midland road wideners and Liebherr scrap handling equipment. Earp will oversee the Arkansas sales team, helping with training and customer Interaction.
Earp plans to make Van Keppel Arkansas the "paving equipment specialty company," focusing on customer support and commitment to service. Also, he plans to make the Arkansas operations the number one recycling equipment specialist in the territory.
Working the last 11 years at a Volvo dealer, Earp has received extensive training in Volvo products, as well as competitive products.
With his 15 years of experience in sales and management in the heavy Equipment and Rental industry, Van Keppel believes Earp can guide the Arkansas team to being the paving and scrap handling specialist.
Ross Roden
Ross Roden joined the Van Keppel sales staff on June 2 as a sales representative of the Oklahoma/Arkansas territories.
Roden’s territory will be eastern Oklahoma, western and north central Arkansas. He has been working within this territory for more than 20 successful years. Roden will be handling the following product lines: Kawasaki loaders, SANY excavators and cranes, Bomag paving, Midland products, Rammer hydraulic hammers and various used equipment lines.
Roden has received extensive training with many manufacturers and has received numerous sales and performance awards.
Michael Burns
Michael Burns has joined Van Keppel sales team as a construction sales representative of south Ark. Growing up around the family printing business in Blytheville, Arkansas gave Burns his first experience with sales and putting the customer first. For the past 10 years Burns has worked in the mortgage industry, wholesale, residential and refinancing. Prior to mortgage banking he worked in outside sales and traveled the entire state of Arkansas.
"My goal is to make G.W. Van Keppel a recognized leader in construction equipment sales in Arkansas by establishing personal relationships with every customer and providing one on one service," said Burns.
Myron Potthast
Myron Potthast started at Van Keppel this past April and brings more than 35 years of equipment and material handling experience to the company.
Potthast serves as the territory manager of material handling systems and forklift division of the St. Louis location, specializing in forklift application, solving customer solutions and application specialist.
"I call it thinking outside the box, which to many sales people are just coming in and taking an order.
"I like to learn your business and find a better long term solution to your problems and in the long term helping customers control overall operational cost with a higher ROI," said Potthast.
"I’m proud to be able to come up with solutions that have helped stabilize a customer’s environment and grow at a rate they are comfortable with, as well create a great business and personnel relationship with customers over the years," he added.
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