ARA appoints new president

Photo: ARA

The American Rental Association (ARA) has announced new appointments to its board of directors, with current president-elect Robert H. Pedersen assuming the office of president in 2025.

Brian Richardson, president and CEO, L & A Tent Rentals, is set to join as the president-elect, effective from 2025.

Pedersen has appointed two ARA board members to serve a one-year term on the 2025-2026 Executive Committee.

Appointed to serve are Robert Copley, CERP, ARA Region Five director, and Sarah Wilper, CERP, ARA Region One director.

Copley, who has served on the ARA Board of Directors since 2023, is director of sales at Event Essentials.

Wilper, who also has served on the ARA Board of Directors since 2023, is vice president of Taylor Rental Center in Manchester, Conneticut.

Copley and Wilper will join Pedersen and Richardson on the Executive Committee, along with current president Jeff Crotto, who assumes the board chair position in 2025.

Kevin Karcher Jr., regional sales representative, InTENTional Systems, joins as an ARA associate member director. Danny Showalter, president, CVR Rentals, joins as the ARA region two director while Brandon Ahlgren (owner of CERP) and Jared Medaris (CEO of CERP) join as directors of region three and nine respectively.

Tony Conant, ARA CEO, said, “The ARA board of directors is responsible for charting the course for the association and making all of the key decisions around how we support the rental industry. This elite group of very talented and passionate people understand what it takes to serve our varied and vast membership. And it’s only a three-year term, so we are constantly looking for special folks that are up to the task.

“We replace a third of the board every year and candidates for the open seats are evaluated against specific criteria that are developed by the board. This process has served us well and having a strong board is the primary reason the association continues to reach new milestones in terms of membership and, more importantly, member engagement.”

At the same time, the ARA has appointed John Jeanguenat as its new vice president of equipment segment, workforce development and analytics.

Jeanguenat replaces outgoing vice president Josh Nickell, who is joining Atlanta-based equipment rental company Northside Tool Rental as CEO.

He initially joined the ARA in February 2021 as a member of its board. He was also the president of RentalMax until may 2024, when the company was acquired by Sunbelt Rentals. Upon completion of the deal, he acted as a consultant to Sunbelt.

Prior to that, he was the vice president of administration for Learfield Licensing Partners.