ARA announces volunteer recognition award recipients

Dec. 11, 2012– Each
year, the American Rental Association honours outstanding volunteers for their
service to the association. The following are the recipients of this year’s
volunteer recognition awards, which will be presented during The Rental Show in
Las Vegas.

The Distinguished
Service, Meritorious Service, Special Service and Outstanding Leadership Awards
will be presented during Lunch With ARA on Sunday, Feb. 10, while the Regional
Persons of the Year and President’s Image Awards are presented during the
regional receptions on Monday, Feb. 11.

Distinguished Service Award

Next to the Rental
Hall of Fame, this is the most prestigious award ARA presents. This award
recognizes an individual who has demonstrated exemplary leadership with
long-term service to the association at the national, state/provincial and
local levels.

Hal Y. Roe,
president of Bradley Rentals in Cleveland, Tenn., receives this year’s
Distinguished Service Award. He’s being honored for his continued service and
dedication to ARA since 1992, when his business opened.

Roe began his
involvement serving on the ARA of Tennessee board and has served on a wide
range of committees for ARA as well as the ARA Insurance board, the ARA Political
Action Committee Council and ARA Foundation board. He was elected an officer of
the ARA board in 2009, serving as president-elect, president and chairman of
the board. He continues to serve as an ARA Foundation Rental Executive Advisory
Program advisor, providing mentoring and guidance to others within the
industry.

Meritorious
Service Award

The award recognizes
an individual who has demonstrated exemplary leadership in a defined area of
association service, such as through a committee, special project or service
activity.

Terry Bryant,
president of Bryant’s Rent-All of Lexington in Lexington, Ky., will receive the
Meritorious Service Award for his personal activity, support and dedication in
the area of public policy and government affairs. He’s been a member of ARA
since 1976. In 1993, Bryant became the legislative chair for ARA of Kentucky
and has remained active in the state association since that time. He’s also
served on ARA’s Government Affairs Committee numerous times, including as
chair, has been a continuous supporter of ARAPAC for more than 17 years and
also attended the National Legislative Caucus in Washington, DC, during that
same time. Bryant is personally acquainted with his federal and state
legislators and is a strong supporter of member involvement in the political
process. 

Special
Service Award

This honor
recognizes an industry supplier who has made an outstanding contribution to the
association and will be presented to Dave Garton, marketing manager for John
Deere, Moline, Ill. The company is a 35-year associate member of ARA and
exhibitor at The Rental Show.

Garton has worked
in the rental industry and been involved with ARA since 2006, serving on the
Construction and Industrial Services Shared Interest Group and Construction U
Task Force. Currently he’s serving a three-year term as ARA Foundation trustee.  He’s also worked with John Deere in support
of The Rental Show sponsorships and donations for the ARA Foundation charity
auction, which for several years has been a VIP trip to the John Deere Classic
PGA tournament each July. His added touches for the top bidders, such as
welcoming them at the airport, arranging visits with John Deere senior staff
and bringing them to the ARA headquarters, expand the experience and he serves
as an ambassador for the ARA Foundation, ARA and John Deere for these trips.

Outstanding
Leadership Award

Recipients of this
award have demonstrated superlative leadership at the grassroots level – state,
local or provincial. This year’s recipient is Darren Morizet, owner of
PartyTime Rentals in Poughquag, N.Y., who is being recognized for his work in
reactivating ARA of New York.

The first meeting
to discuss reactivating the state association was at The Rental Show 2011 and,
during the meeting, Morizet volunteered to serve as president. He’s been an
outstanding leader, engaging fellow members of the board of directors to
actively represent the membership and established consistency with meetings to
serve the members in all areas of the state. ARA of New York now has 178
members, with those companies having 77 branch locations. He will continue to
serve as the association’s president in 2013.

Regional
Persons of the Year

These awards honor
members who have made outstanding contributions to the association and the
rental industry on the regional, state, provincial or local levels.

Region 1: George
Jones, Solutions by Computer, North Bennington, Vt.

Region 2: Carol
Frederick, Tel-Power Tool and Equipment Rental, Altoona, Pa.

Region 3: Jim
Browning, The Browning Agency, Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.

Region 4: Willie
Strange, Eagle Rentals, Seguin, Texas

Region 5: John
Fuchs, Anchor Industries, Evansville, Ind.

Region 6: The late
Dennis Vis, Attema Marketing, Burnsville, Minn.

Region 7: Joseph
Muench, ProCon, Las Cruces, N.M.

Region 8: Mike
Blaisdell, Bunce Rental, Tacoma, Wash.

Region 9: Ted Cook,
Ventura Rental Center, Ventura, Calif.

Region 10: Mike
Maltby: Ingersoll Rent-All, Woodstock, Ontario, Canada

President’s
Image Award

This is a business
facility or store award celebrating a commitment to improving the rental
industry image through a remodeling, rebuilding or renovation project.

Aspen Rent-All,
Aspen Colo. – Beth Hoff Blackmer

Aurora Rents,
Seattle – Larry Steele

George’s Tool
Rental, Hatfield, Pa. – Alan Wismer

One Stop Party
Shop, Webster, Texas – Karen Keesler

Rental World,
Harlingen, Texas – Bryan Wolf

Robinson’s
Hardware, Hudson, Mass. – Steve Reitter

Related Link

www.ararental.org