28.10.2019

CraneWorks expands management team

US based lifting equipment distributor and service and rental company CraneWorks has added three new members to its management team.

Paul Hecker has been appointed as product manager for service vehicles, Gene Johnston as director of service, and David Beck director of rental operations.
Hecker joins the company from SWP – South West Products – where he has been market development manager for the past eight years. He started out in the lifting industry when he joined IMT- Iowa Mold Tooling as an engineering manager in 1983, setting up his own business Hecker Development and Technology in 2003, moving to his first stint at CraneWorks as a regional manager after the recession hit in 2008. A couple of years later he was recruited by Palfinger North America where he was responsible for field training and demonstrations until he left to join SWP in 2012.
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Paul Hecker

Gene Johnston grew up in the crane business and joins the company from Maxim Crane Works where he has been central region service director for the past nine years.
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Gene Johnston

Dave Beck joins the company after more than three years with Ahern Rentals as director of rental operations. He began his career in 1978 with Brown and Root as superintendent of rigging & structural iron. He moved to the Houston depot of Turner Brothers Crane & Rigging in 1992 as general manger operations, a year later he was appointed as regional manager sales & marketing at Anthony Crane, which was acquired by Maxim. In late 2000 he joined Sunbelt Rentals as Texas divisional manager, leaving in late 2005 to take up a position as general manager operations for Texas and Florida with Ray Anthony. Two years later he mad a move to Lewis Crane & Equipment as national general manager for operations, re-joining Ray Anthony after a couple of years or so. In 2011 he was appointed vice president Texas division at B&G Crane Service leaving for Crane Rental Corp at the end of 2012, moving to ECM Energy the following year, but departed a year later after it was acquired by Sunbelt, to take up a position with Blueline Rental as director of operational excellence. In 2015 he moved to Oilstone Energy services for eight months before taking up his role with Ahern.
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Dave Beck

Chief executive Keith Ayers said: “First and foremost, we are excited about bringing Paul, David, and Gene into the fold because they are all industry leaders. But we are also excited because these hires are a sign of the company’s growth. Our rental fleet nearly doubled in size over the past year, leading to David Beck’s hire. All nine CraneWorks locations are becoming market leaders in service and maintenance, so we are also ready for Gene Johnston to help take us to the next level. And now that we have agreements in place with Auto Crane and IMT, our service truck business has exploded in both sales and rentals, leading us to bringing Paul Hecker on board. All we’ve done as a company over the past several years is grow, so it’s a great time to be here.”

Paul Hecker added: “I chose to join CraneWorks because I see so much potential here. Between my experience and our sales team’s dedication to their customers, we can grow our service truck business tenfold.”

Johnston said: “My family has been in the crane business since before I was born, and I grew up as a grease monkey for a crane shop during the summers. Between our tenured employees and the exceptional talent we’re recruiting, I believe we can make CraneWorks the premier crane company in North America and our customers’ first call for service and maintenance.”

Beck added: “Even back when I was just getting started in the business I was working with cranes, so I guess you could say that cranes are in my blood. My goal is to build the best customer service experience in the industry while rapidly growing our fleet to provide the widest range of options for our customers’ projects.”

Houston, Texas based CraneWorks operates from nine locations across the USA. It is a dealer for IMT which also brands HMF cranes in North America, Auto Crane service cranes, Jekko spider and pick & carry cranes, Fassi loader cranes, Kinshofer attachments, Manitex boom trucks, Manitou telehandlers, Palfinger cranes, Socage truck mounted and spider lifts, Bronto truck mounted lifts, Cormach loader cranes, Elliot cranes and aerial devices as well as Demag mobile cranes.