Wayne Lawson, JLG vice-president and managing director for EAME, was elected as the new president of the International Powered Access Federation at its annual general meeting on April 14, in Amsterdam. He succeeds Steve Shaughnessy.
In his incoming president’s address, Lawson paid tribute to Shaughnessy. “Steve has brought unique skills and great strategic thinking to IPAF,” Lawson said. “The industry cannot afford to lose people like him. Steve has done a great job and I think it is disappointing that it could not have been for the complete two-year term.”
In concluding his term, Shaughnessy presented the first IPAF President’s Award to Keith Smith of Loxam for his long-standing years of service to the IPAF Council and his work in the truck-mounted sector. Smith recently retired from the IPAF Council.
Lawson has more than 25 years of experience in the powered access industry. Since joining JLG in 2001, he has been instrumental in the development of JLG’s business in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. In this role, he has led the cross-functional leadership team, in addition to his responsibility in the areas of market development, sales and product support. He also has worked collaboratively with the leaders of the other functional areas in developing and strengthening the JLG brand while also positioning the organization in the region.
Lawson outlined three goals for his term as IPAF president: extension of the global footprint of IPAF, addressing challenges of developing the training program in emerging markets, and improving communication between the IPAF Board, Council, members and industry.
He said that different levels of training might be required as IPAF extends its global footprint into emerging markets. “There are two ends — raising the bar in mature markets and developing new markets. We will have to look at new levels of training. I don’t have the solutions, but there is going to be a lot of good discussion and debate.”
