21.02.2024

New CEO for Hy-Brid

Asko Holding has appointed Eric Liner as chief executive of Custom Equipment/Hy-Brid Lifts. The move comes after the current chief executive decided to step back from the day to day role for personal reasons and comes a few months after the Turkish owner of ELS platforms and MTS telehandlers acquired a majority stake in Hy-Brid. See: New owner for Hy-Brid Lifts

Liner was previously chief executive of LGMG North America, until the start of last year. He joined the aerial lift industry in 1999, starting out at Genie as a marketing account manager, leaving for Stone Construction Equipment in 2001 to become a district manager. Just over a year later he re-joined the access industry with Skyjack where he was appointed territory manager for the Pacific Northwest and Western Canada. Over the next 18 years he held a number of increasingly senior roles with the Canadian manufacturer, becoming a regional vice president for Western Canada in 2007 and vice president of sales for North America in 2014. In late 2016 he became executive vice president of the Americas with responsibility for sales, financial services, product support and replacement parts but left the business in 2020, joining LGMG the following year.

Asko is currently working with Hy-Brid to begin marketing the ELS and MTS products in North America under the AXCS brand, which was unveiled at the ARA Show this week. It is possible that going forward the company might also adopt this brand for the Hy-Brid products in North America.

At the same time expect to see Hy-Brid machines turning up in Europe and the Middle East in red livery with the ELS branding.

Custom Equipment’s chairman Steve Ellis said: “We are extremely pleased to welcome Eric Liner as our president and chief executive. Eric’s extensive background in both the access and material handling industry is a perfect fit for our vision to expand our product portfolio under our new AXCS brand name and grow our market share in North America.”

“On behalf of the board, we would also like to take this opportunity to thank Jay Sugar for his leadership over the past three years, having successfully navigated the company through an extremely challenging business environment. His vision and perseverance have the company poised to capitalize on significant new growth opportunities well into the future.”

Liner added: “I am excited for the opportunity to lead Hy-Brid Lifts into the future. The new partnership with ASKO, and their family of brands, creates a tremendous opportunity. It immediately expands our access equipment portfolio, quickly positions us to enter the North American telehandler market and provides additional workforce and financial resources as we continue to grow. The new products will be brought to the North American market under a newly formed brand name, AXCS. I am looking forward to working alongside our strong veteran leadership team as we establish ourselves as one of the industry’s premier equipment manufacturers.”