So long and thanks for all the fun

After 13 years of editing Canadian Rental Service, I’m moving on.

Surprisingly, this is not because I’ve been fired. I’m taking on some additional responsibilities as publisher/editor in two of my other channels and focusing on an overhaul of my largest channel, Canadian Contractor, which I took over earlier this year. You deserve the full attention of an editorial team and, after such a long run, any media brand benefits from new voices, new approaches and new energy.

You’ll be getting plenty of all of this with Mike Lacey, the incoming editor, and Macenzie Rebelo, who will be moving over to work with him. Mike is the editor of the Rock to Road channel for the roadbuilding and aggregates industry. So he’s familiar with a lot of the equipment and business models we work with. He comes from a community newspaper background so the quality of his content is top-notch. Macenzie will already be familiar as she’s been my associate editor for most of this year and has written several excellent items for the channel. She produced all the stories for our Top Ten Under 40 feature this year and I hope you’ll agree she has a real talent for introducing us to amazing people and their stories. In an industry that’s all about the people, she’s a perfect fit.

When I joined this channel in 2011 I had never so much as set foot in an equipment rental store. I’m not handy. Any success I’ve had covering this industry is due to the help of many generous and knowledgeable people. So bear with me while I shout out a few of them here.

My sales manager, Ed Cosman, had been in the industry for around 25 years already at that time and quite simply knew everything and everyone in it. So all I had to do was what he said to do. Ed attended every single Ontario Canadian Rental Association meeting and took me with him. It was there that I discovered the great warmth, good humour and community spirit of the people in this business. I was instantly charmed and wrote about it in some of my early editorials. 

Mandy Wellnitz was the national CRA executive director at the time. She made a special effort to welcome me, keep me informed and introduce me around at every show. 

Jeff Campbell of St. Thomas Rent-All became a friend. He was rising up the chairs in Ontario, becoming CRA national president in 2013. If you know Jeff, you know no one takes this business more seriously nor has more to say about it. I got the benefit of Jeff’s insight through many hours in show hotel bars and on drives and flights. Jeff was good at making sure I didn’t miss any of those opportunities, even when I slept through alarms.

Ingersoll Rent-All was the first industry profile I did and Mike Maltby, its president, also became a friend. Mike likes the big picture and thinking about how this whole rental thing works. Accordingly, he’s been one of the most dedicated association supporters I’ve seen. I’ve always been able to count on Mike to take my call and give me valuable real talk on what’s going on and what it means.

Neil DeJong of ITE Equipment Rentals gets special mention, too, for his passion for the business and interest in sharing his opinions. Angie Venekamp from Rental Network…a more passionate industry volunteer never was born. Then all the industry suppliers helped me so much with their wisdom and were sometimes even willing to put it into writing for my use. Gary Webb from Norseman; Dean Nasato from Western Global; Kim Wiles from CES; the late, great John King of TES; Jim Freeman of Rentquip; Rick Darche of RDSI; John Ciraldi from Tsurumi. Ciraldi will be happy that he doesn’t have to hand over his phone at every event when mine runs out of charge.

There will be many I’ve missed and I hope you reach out to give me a hard time about it. I would expect no less from my rental friends. Thanks for letting me into your business and please be proud of what you do in this remarkable industry.