CRA President’s Message: A tradition of leadership continues

As some of you may know, my presidential year began at the 2019 AGM with Mike Maltby turning over the gavel to me. I have the great pleasure of serving as the 53rd president of the association. The Canadian Rental Association and the equipment and event rental industry have a great future. As we enter into 2019 and prepare to update our strategic plan, I can’t help but to look back at the history of our association and at the vision of 1963 when a few early rental operators wanted to help each other and formed an Association for Rental Operators. While this vision became official in 1966, year after year I am reminded of what a great idea it was.

Once again, our Hospitality event in Anaheim exceeded last year’s attendance with 465 attendees.  This reinforces not only the importance of representing the association but also how a community can work together.  

The 2019-2020 board of directors is certainly a promising team. With a perfect blend of professional representatives, the CRA board covers all important segments of the industry. Around the table we have women in rental; the equipment and event rental community; young professional directors; and a few specialists in safety and insurance all proudly representing our membership and prepared to tackle many new initiatives this year. 

Speaking of community coming together, in my previous messages I touched on the 2019 CRA government affairs initiative. I believe that working together is how we will strengthen the industry. CRA is committed to increasing advocacy and therefore will be moving forward to consult our industry stakeholders to find out what issues they want addressed this year. As our CEO, Nathalie McGregor, mentioned to our membership in January, the CRA will be putting together a political action committee to represent the membership and voice any concerns or questions that have arisen. This cannot happen without your feedback and it is essential we hear from you what the main topics of concern are. You can always email us with comments and or issues at membershipservices@crarental.org.

The CRA will also be working on the development and identification of future leaders through a young professionals network. To all professionals 40 years of age and under, please keep an eye out for the upcoming announcement on how to join this group. Participants will see a number of special opportunities and benefits that will help them develop their careers and form bonds with other young rental people. Our hope is that by encouraging young rental professionals to come together and get to know each other they will find the business contacts, collaborators and mentors that will encourage their growth in the industry.

In closing, I would like to thank our staff and volunteers for their commitment to our association, meeting the needs of our ever-evolving industry.

Dan Spencer has worked in the rental industry for 11 years and has been actively involved with the CRA locally and nationally for the past eight years. He resides near Antigonish, N.S., with his wife Heidi and their two chocolate labs, Keppoch and Cali.