Speakers

Kurt Fearnley is a three-time Paralympic gold medalist and two time Commonwealth Games gold medalist. He has won over 30 marathons, including New York, Chicago and London in a career spanning more than 20 years. In 2009 Kurt crawled the Kokoda track, in Papua New Guinea, to raise awareness of men’s health. Kurt was also a member of the winning Sydney to Hobart yacht crew, Investec Loyal, in 2012. He is New South Wales Australian of the Year for 2019.

About

Raised in the small country town of Carcoar, Kurt Fearnley has always been determined. Being born without the lower portion of his spine has never held him back, from backyard games of football to crewing a winning Sydney to Hobart yacht, crawling the Kokoda Track and winning dozens of marathons around the world.

Turning his attention to wheelchair sports in his teens, Kurt quickly became a world beater. He started his career with two Silver medals at the 2000 Sydney Paralympic games, before making his winning breakthrough at the 2004 Athens Paralympics with Gold in the 5000m and marathon races. Following the 2004 games, Kurt conquered the world, winning seven world championships and more than 30 marathons around the globe, including 10 marathons in 2007 and three straight New York marathon titles. He solidified his standing as a marathon great by defending his Gold medal at the Beijing Paralympics, before winning Bronze at the London games in 2012 and finishing his Paralympic career with Silver in the marathon at the 2016 Rio games. Kurt finished his Australian representative as he started it, on home soil, with a win in the marathon at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

In 2009 Kurt spent two weeks in Papua New Guinea crawling the 96-kilometre Kokoda Track raising awareness and funding for men’s health charity Movember and beyond blue. In 2012 he was an active member of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race winning crew aboard Investec Loyal.

Kurt is a passionate disability advocate and devotes himself to a number of national and Hunter-based charitable initiatives. He is a board member of the Australian Paralympic Committee, Newcastle Permanent Charitable Foundation and member of the International Paralympic Committee’s Athlete Advisory Council. Kurt is a former board member of Australian Volunteers International and NSW Australia Day Council and was a founding member of the National Disability Insurance Scheme’s Advisory Council. His involvement at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games wasn’t limited to competing, having been a member of the formal bid team, Games Technical Committee and an official ambassador. Kurt’s exploits both in and out of sport over many years have seen him recognised with a number of honours including 2019 NSW Australian of the Year, 2009 NSW Young Australian of the Year and 2018 The Don winner as the Australian sports person most likely to inspire the nation. In 2018 Kurt was recognised as an Officer of the Australian Order, and received an Honorary Doctorate from Griffith University for his contribution to sport and disability advocacy.

Marianne Van Dorslar is one of Australia's most versatile television presenters. 

Marianne held a regular role as guest presenter and advertorial host on Network Ten's national morning show 'The Circle'. For over a decade she presented on Bert Newton's 'Good Morning Australia' – and hosted Channel 7's Lotto draws for over 22 years.

From her earliest beginnings as a photographic model and performer in television commercials, Marianne's experience has spanned a breathtaking range of media and corporate presenting instances over two decades. Her past work has included presenting Seven Network's news and weather, before moving into morning television. She also works in radio, filling in on air at 3AW reading weather/ads and writing and presenting a TV segment.

Marianne brings a naturally warm personality and sense of humour to all her events.

Mike joined Terex in 2008 as Product Support Engineer, bringing experience from time spent in the automotive and racing sectors. Spending 6 years in Product Support, Mike gained knowledge of business operations, customer expectations and service, while gaining technical experience in a wide range of Terex products. Since 2014, Mike has worked within the Engineering team at Terex, holding various roles, with the current responsibility as co-leader of the Engineering group as Principal Engineer. 

As Principal Engineer, Mike has been involved with many aspects of Pick & Carry design, development and testing. The newest machine in the Franna fleet, AT40, has been a key focus for the Engineering team at Franna, allowing Mike to provide special insight into Pick & Carry Innovation.

Craig is a workplace relations, employment and safety specialist working with clients in the mobile crane, government, construction, engineering, agriculture, transport and logistics and mining and mining services sectors. 
Craig provides advice across the full spectrum of workplace relations issues, and is recognised by Doyle’s Guide as a ‘Leading Employment Lawyer’ and a ‘Leading Workplace Health and Safety Lawyer’. He has particular expertise in advising employers in respect of occupational health and safety, discrimination claims, industrial dispute resolution and enterprise bargaining.
Craig is committed to helping his clients to achieve their commercial and operational objectives in a legally sustainable way. He is well known for providing the highest level of support, communication and service right through until his clients' issues are fully resolved. 

Simon has worked in the roads and bridges industry for over 37 years, working in both the UK and Australia and in both the public and private sectors. 
Simon is currently the Manager of Heavy Vehicle Access at the Department of State Growth in Tasmania.

Bruce Carden is an Executive Director at TRT and knows Australia well. He led the expansion of TRT operations into the Australian market over 19 year ago and hasn’t looked back. He knows the industry intimately and has great passion and drive for leading through innovative product design and first-class customer engagement and service.  

Having been part of the TRT team and journey for over 30 years, working across all areas of the organisation, he has seen his fair share of highs and lows but wouldn’t trade them for anything as they have helped shape TRT’s success today.  

Now Manufacturing Director, Bruce is responsible for leading the design, manufacturing, and fabrication teams along with heading up sales of trailers and other manufactured product. Bruce’s extensive experience and passion means he leaves no stone unturned, values the small things and has an innate drive to lead by example in helping to solve problems for our industry and customers.

Excited about presenting at this year’s CICA event, Bruce is looking forward to sharing his learning and experiences.

Robert Carden is an Executive Director at TRT and is well respected across the New Zealand and Australian Crane industries for his leading product innovations and approaches. Having worked for nearly 40 years at TRT from the shop floor to his current role of Technical Director, there is very little Robert has not seen or encountered along his journey. As Technical Director, Robert leads product innovation, sales and service for TRT’s Crane Division across New Zealand and Australia. 

With a commitment and passion for innovation, it comes as no surprise that Robert is the powerhouse behind arguably one of TRT’s (and the industry’s) biggest success stories, the launch of the TIDD PC25/PC28 Pick and Carry Crane. Since launch, the TIDD PC28 crane has been referred to as “the world’s safest pick and carry crane” and “unrivaled in its class for innovation and smarts”.

As a key driver of its success, Robert continues to push boundaries and help provide solutions to the challenges faced by the industry. With his uncanny ability to think outside the box and challenge himself to break the mold, Robert looks forward to sharing some of his TIDD development journey with the team at CICA.

Robert has 13 years experience with heavy vehicle policy and projects at local, state and federal government. 
He has spent 3 years in his current role as the project manager – Heavy Vehicle Access at the Local Government Association of Queensland, helping local government in Queensland with their responsibilities of the Heavy Vehicle National Law.
His previous roles included 4 years at the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator and 7 years with the Department of Transport and Main Roads.

Patrick Cran joined CICA in July 2015 as the Plant and Operator Assessment Officer. Patrick’s roles include the overseeing the technical aspects of the CraneSafe program and the development of the new CrewSafe program. Prior to joining CICA, Patrick worked as a CraneSafe Assessor for 3 years based in Brisbane.
 
Patrick has a career spanning 18 years with extensive experience as a Field Technician in Australia, New Zealand, UK and America including time spent with a major crane manufacturer. Patrick completed his electrical trade certificate in 2000 and holds licenses for mobile crane, tower crane operation and intermediate rigging.
 
Patrick is one of CICA’s representatives for the Technical Advisory Group for the update of current High Risk Work Licences and qualifications.  He has completed a TAE Certificate in Training & Assessment and has had experience in training High Risk licencing in Queensland. Pat is also qualified in the American assessment program through NCCCO.

Based at the Manitowoc factory in Wilhelmshaven, Germany, Andreas Cremer is the Global Product Director for Grove all-terrain cranes. A leading authority on mobile crane engineering, his role encompasses global responsibility for directing all product launches and updates for Grove GMK cranes. He joined Manitowoc back in 2004 as a Product Specialist before moving to the company’s plant in Shady Grove, Pennsylvania, U.S., in 2007 to work as a Product Manager for mobile cranes in the Americas. 
After three years in the U.S., Andreas returned to Germany to take on a new role as Project Manager with responsibility for special projects. During this time he was instrumental in the development of several notable Grove cranes, including the GMK3060 all-terrain and RT550E rough-terrain crane. Since 2014 he has been Manitowoc’s Global Product Director for all-terrain cranes. 
Originally from Germany’s iconic Black Forest, Andreas studied Commercial Engineering at Wilhelmshaven University, graduating in 2004. He lives close to Wilhelmshaven with his wife and their 8-year old twin girls.

Stephen Dance is TRT Australia’s Country Manager. Stephen leads the team in Australia, based at TRT’s Brisbane operation in Murarrie. Stephen is responsible for leading the business growth and product development plans across the country.  
Stephen’s appointment follows TRT’s recent growth in key markets of construction, mining and defence, the development of new products and obviously the new TIDD PC28, pick and carry crane, trailer and manufactured product sales.
Stephen brings a wealth of experience that will support our team and operations across Australia, he shares the TRT vision. His extensive end to end manufacturing experience will diversify our capability bringing a new perspective, and he will champion the expansion of TRT’s operation. 
Stephen’s qualifications in business and commerce, backed by a diverse manufacturing experience, bring great value to TRTA. Based in NSW for most of his career after settling there at 21, Stephen returned to Queensland to lead TRTA. Together with the NZ TRT team Stephen will work to deliver TRT’s three-year strategic growth plan in this key focus market.

Alice Edwards joined CICA in January 2014 as CICA’s Technical Project Engineer. Alice has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and a master’s degree in engineering from the Australian National University. Alice is a Chartered Professional Engineer with Engineers Australia (CPEng) and the Board of Professional Engineers of Queensland (RPEQ). 

Alice has been working at CICA for almost 6 years, she has a strong interest in cranes and the crane industry as cranes play an important role in nearly all the industries in the modern society. Alice works with the CICA Technical Committee to provide professional technical service and technical support to CICA members on industrial issues, she represents CICA on several Australian Standard committees. Alice has been working on drafting and publishing CICA Crane Safety Manual, CICA training DVDs, CICA technical guidance, position papers, calculation tools, information bulletins and Code of Practice on varies topics to benefit CICA members.  Alice is the winner of the 2019 Women in Industry - Industry Advocacy Award. 

Tony started his crane career more than 30 years ago before becoming a hands on operations manager. After 15 years working in the field he became a 50% shareholder and Managing Director. A career highlight was recovering freight off a ship that had run aground onto a reef 22 kilometers off the east coast of New Zealand using a 8000 tonne barge and two crawler cranes. Today the business now has a Board and CEO running it and consists of 58 cranes based in the upper North island cities of Auckland and Hamilton, with the business focused on mobile taxi crane work, precast and steel erection plus turn key lift and shift operations using their own fleet of trucks.

John Gillespie is Managing Director of Gillespies Crane Services and Director of Gillespies Cranes Nominees P/L and other companies in the group.
 
John has over 40 year’s industry experience in a career which began with Gillespies Crane Services in 1969. He sat on the CICA board for over 25 successive years, joining in 1985 and held the position of CICA President for 16 years including 10 consecutive years from 2004 to 2014.

John continues to be a CICA Director and is still active at a state level, as a past president and committee member for CICA NSW Committee.
 
John was awarded the Con Popov Memorial Award in 2002 for outstanding industry service and CICA Life Membership in 2010.

Anthony Grosser's 20+ year crane industry career commenced in the outback town of Kalgoorlie. As a diesel mechanic Anthony took on the role as Maintenance Foreman for Brambles Goldfields region, which involved the management of 40+ cranes in their regional fleet. During the changeover to BOOM Logistics in 2000 Anthony identified a requirement for external mobile crane repairs and servicing and so he commenced AML Equipment, growing the company over subsequent years to become one of the country’s largest repair facilities. AML acted as a service and support agent for Tadano for seven years, and for Terex in its final two years. After the purchase of the company by Tadano Oceania, Anthony stepped into the role of National General Manager and now Managing Director. Anthony has been active in CICAWA (previously CAWA) serving as a committee member since 2010 and Chairman since 2014. Anthony was one of the original Cranesafe inspectors until 2014 and has consulted on numerous large construction projects in Australia, the Middle East and Asia.

Kieran Hegarty was named President, Terex Materials Processing in March 2010. Prior to this position, Mr Hegarty was Vice President, Materials Processing, a position he had held since January 2006. Previously, he held general management positions for both the former Finlay and the Powerscreen business, based in Northern Ireland. Prior to that he held general management positions in the United States for two subsidiaries of Powerscreen International. He joined Powerscreen International in 1992. Powerscreen was acquired by Terex in 1999. Mr Hegarty earned a bachelors degree in Psychology from Queens University in Belfast, Northern Ireland and an MBA degree from the University of Ulster, also located in Belfast.

A graduate of Business from Swinburne University, Melbourne Australia, Damien Hense was part of the Australian Road Research Board (ARRB) for 13 years, with particular focus on research-based applications development, innovation and industry consultation activities, including interaction with Australian governments and municipal bodies across key road transport projects. Damien has been involved in programs of work related to road infrastructure management, including intermodal solutions, network operations, road safety (including risk assessment technology) and the operation of high productivity freight vehicles.

As of January 2018, Damien joined The Crane Industry Council of Australia in a role dedicated to stakeholder engagement, mainly focused upon road safety, road access and network operations outcomes.

Brandon Hitch joined CICA in October 2011 as the CraneSafe Engineer. In 2012 Brandon was promoted to CraneSafe General Manager overseeing the technical and day-to-day operations of the CraneSafe program. In November 2014 Brandon was appointed as CICA CEO. Prior to joining CICA, Brandon held a position as Senior Engineer with Cargotec Australia working on their Hiab and Kalmar load handling equipment.
 
Brandon is one of CICA’s representatives for Australian Standards and Chair of ME-005-05, Mobile Crane and Vehicle Loading Crane Sub-Committee.  Brandon represents Australia on ISO TC96 – Cranes.
 
Brandon is originally from Chicago, USA where he worked for the past 10 years in the automotive and heavy trucking sector with emphasis on structural and chassis design.
 
Brandon has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Iowa State University and a master’s degree in engineering from the University of Michigan. Brandon is a registered chartered engineer and Fellow with Engineers Australia and is a licensed professional engineer in the USA.

In 2018 Hans was appointed Sales Manager Mobile Cranes Australia & New Zealand for Liebherr-Werk Ehingen GmbH, Germany.
His previous industry experience included an internship with Liebherr Machinery Service in Shanghai in 2017, and prior to that in 2015 he was a corporate student at Liebherr-Werk Ehingen GmbH in connection with Baden-Württemberg Corporate State University.

Gareth is one of Australia’s leading industrial relations and employment law specialists. He has formidable public and private sector experience in litigious, commercial and strategic matters and deals widely in highly unionised industries as well as highly sensitive issues at head office and board level.
Gareth has been involved in a range of high profile matters in the construction industry including pattern bargaining disputes in the mobile crane industry, acting for Lendlease in a range of matters concerning industrial action, right of entry and enterprise agreement approvals and representing the Australian Building and Construction Commission and its predecessors, since 2003, in a series of successful Federal Court prosecutions against the CFMEU and others.
Gareth also has a passion for technology and innovation, which he brings to his legal practice. Gareth's unique expertise has recently been recognised by the Financial Times Innovative Lawyers who have named him one of the top ten Legal Innovators in the Asia-Pacific Region for 2019.

Ben Kang (BEng(Hons), MIEAust) Sector Manager - Wind Energy for Schaeffler Australia, has over 10 years’ experience in application engineering for rolling bearings and industrial aftermarket MRO service. Responding to increasing demands for optimum reliability, Ben specialises in reliability improvements and increasing productivity across Heavy Industries such as Wind Energy, Industrial Gearboxes, Mining and Pulp & Paper throughout Australia and New Zealand.  

Schaeffler Australia is part of the worldwide Schaeffler Group, which has been producing bearings used in wind turbines for more than 30 years and is a world leader in Industry 4 technologies that address increasing demands for optimum reliability. The Schaeffler Australia operation - with its brands FAG and INA - has long-standing OEM relationships with wind turbine manufacturers and extensive local experience in MRO service, extending operational life and identifying early warning signs.

Christoph Kleiner was born on the 8th October 1965 in Laupheim, Germany.
In 1993 he graduated in Industrial Engineering and Management at the University of Applied Sciences Heilbronn, Germany. Christoph started his career as a CRM-Software Advisor at Liebherr-Hydraulic Excavator GmbH, Germany in January 1994.
After two years, he started to operate as an Export-Sales Engineer at Liebherr-Concrete Technologies GmbH, Germany in the field concrete batching plants and truck mixers for more than 3 years. In December 1999, he became Export-Sales Manager and Head of Division at Liebherr-Concrete Technologies GmbH, Germany. In August 2004, Christoph continued his career for Saudi-Liebherr Co. Ltd Jeddah in Saudi Arabia as General Manager of Sales and Service Company for Liebherr Construction Machines.
Since November 2007, Christoph is operating as Managing Director Sales Mobile and Crawler Cranes at Liebherr-Werk Ehingen in Germany.

Chris Kolodziej is the owner and manager of Cranes Combined Pty Ltd. From the purchase of his first crane, a P&H T300, over 21 years ago the business has grown to be the largest crane hire business in Tasmania, currently employing 31 people with a total of 27 cranes available for hire.
Some of the opportunities and challenges along the way have been buying out his original partner 7 years ago and then purchasing Statewide Cranes’ Hobart depot from Hazell Bros in May 2015.
Chris is a member of the CICA National Reference Group and regularly travels to attend their meetings. He has also been actively working with the NHVR and the Tasmanian Department of Stage Growth to represent the crane hire industry in decisions regarding access to State and Local Government roads in Tasmania.

Nigel Mainland is a State Inspector with SafeWork NSW who has specialised in high risk work licensing for the past 14 years. Nigel is a member of national technical working groups involved with modernising and strengthening licensing units of competency and the national assessment instrument. Nigel also participated on the working group that developed the unit of competency for driving an articulated mobile crane on road. Nigel’s role includes providing technical advice on high risk work licensing to customers and verifying licensing assessments conducted by SafeWork NSW accredited assessors. 

John March is Director and founder of JPM Crane Hire based in Sydney NSW. 
JPM Crane Hire has been operating for over 25 years specialising in the Energy field, machinery relocation and general hire.
John has been involved in the crane industry for over 42 years. He commenced in industry as a dogman, then gained his crane operators ticket before moving into middle management. John worked in a handful of Sydney based companies of various sizes gaining knowledge and experience before starting his own business.
John currently is the Vice Chairperson of CICA NSW and is also involved with NRG (National Reference Group).

Wayne Matherson is the Owner and Managing Director of Matherson Crane Hire.

Wayne was born in the same year the company was formed in 1979. Second generation of this 40-year family owned & run company, he has now been directly involved for 20 years. He purchased the company when Neil Matherson retired in 2010. He has grown the company from a small owner operator business to currently running 13 units, employing 15 staff. 

Wayne is passionate about taking the industry into the future and is a State Delegate for CICA Qld and on the Code of Practice Review Committee.

Wayne strongly believes in two mottos:
“Don’t work in your business – work on it”
“Don’t come to me with problems, come to me with solutions” 

Wayne now operates the company remotely and believes the key to this being sustainable is creating a culture with a solutions-based focus, giving staff ownership of their roles and each team member having a dedicated piece of equipment.
 
Growing his business organically from the bottom up has resulted in a stable work force that have pride in what they do. This is reflected in staff retention: of 15 current team members, average employment is 7 years.

In Wayne’s spare time he enjoys traveling, racing mountain bikes and now he is “old” at 40, he has taken up golf.

Nick has been actively involved with the crane industry in Australia for 15 years, working for companies including BOOM Logistics, Universal Cranes and Aus Truestyle. 
Growing up within a family crane hire business, upon finishing university Nick ventured into site based engineering roles in High Voltage Power Line Construction, before shifting into Civil Construction and securing Engineering Manager roles with leading crane hirers in recent years. A former CICA Board Member, and active member of the CICA Technical Committee, Nick has a strong focus on engineering and improvements in the industry.
Nick holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil), and Bachelor of Business from RMIT University in Melbourne.

Michael has more than 35 years’ experience across the financial services sector. Michael has been the CEO of the UAA Group for more than nine years and provides expertise in strategic planning, analytical and relationship management skills. In his time at UAA, Michael has overseen the rapid global expansion of the company making it the leading mobile plant and crane specialist insurer in Australia, New Zealand and globally. Prior to joining UAA, he spent 10 years with Citigroup, where he held a number of senior roles, most recently as Head of Oneport (the firm’s mortgage distribution platform). At Citigroup, he led a national sales team responsible for generating 80 per cent of all new business originating from the mortgage broker market.

Kirra Pendergast is the CEO of Safe on Social Media Pty Ltd. 

In 2009 Kirra founded Australia's first consulting company focused solely on Social Media Security, Privacy, and Risk Management and completed social media risk reviews for organisations ranging in size from 5 to over 12,000 employees. 

Prior to 2009 she spent more than 18 years providing strategic advice to government and industry and held State Director level positions with key international IT and business consulting firms in Australia, predominantly in information/cyber security. In 2014 she was inspired to create Safe on Social Media Pty Ltd after experiencing serious and relentless cyberbullying and trolling. Kirra's knowledge of cyber safety and cyber security offers a practical approach without the fear mongering and hysteria that often accompanies cyber safety talks.

Ben started his career working as a fleet controller and has worked in the crane hire industry for the past 13 years, establishing his role in senior management.

In many years working in the Mining and Oil and Gas sectors, he has gained experince and knowledge in operations, specializing in civil construction and industrial/mining maintenance sectors, as well as HR/IR, Engineering and Projects departments.

Ben has been strongly involved in the Crane Industry, sitting on the Western Australian Crane Council as Vice President and as a Director on the board of CICA until 2018 to provide support and guidance in regulatory and policy development for both organisations.

Born in France, Ben studied sales, business management and commerce. He came to Australia to study Business and HR in 1999.

Aaron Ravenscroft is responsible for all of Manitowoc’s Cranes business activities globally, including Mobile and Tower cranes. He joined the company as the EVP of the Mobile Cranes business in March of 2016 and took responsibility for the Tower Cranes business in September 2017. Prior to joining Manitowoc, Mr Ravenscroft served as a Regional Managing Director at Weir Group (2013-2016); President of the Process Flow Control Group at Robbins & Myers (2011-2013) and Regional Vice President of the Industrial Products Group for Gardner Denver (2008-2011). Prior to that, he held a series of positions with increasing responsibility at Wabtec (2003-2008) and he started his career as a Sell Side stock analyst at Janney Montgomery Scott (2000-2003).
Mr Ravenscroft earned a MBA from Carnegie Mellon University and a BA degree in Economics from Bucknell University. He currently resides in Lyon, France.

Marcus Rigney is the Director and Founder of Load 28 Crane Hire, as well as a director of Australian Glass Install. He started Load 28 with his brother in 2011 as an owner operator, moving from his prior office based role in the construction industry. Without any prior experience in the crane industry, Marcus saw a gap in supply for limited access crane hire for higher density developments in Adelaide and relished the challenge to start his own business. He taught himself to drive a small city crane and became a licensed operator, then worked to build a client base and improve service delivery. 

This grew the business from one single 10 tonne city crane to Load 28’s current fleet of 19 cranes, ranging from Mini Crawler cranes up to 130 tonne models. The addition of a remote glass handler to Mini Crawler cranes allows for installation of major glass panel projects in limited access areas. Between both companies Marcus now employs 65 people who work across a number of major façade projects in both Adelaide and Melbourne.

Tom Smith is a Director for McKay United, Williamstown Crane Hire, Eastside Crane Hire and Elliott’s Crane Hire. He holds a Bachelor of Economics and a Master of Business Administration. 
Tom is a long standing member of the former Victorian Crane Association Executive Committee and the CICA Victoria / Tasmania Branch Steering Committee. He has been a member of the CICA Board since 2013, with special responsibilities as a member of the CICA Executive Committee and the CEO Review Committee.

Rolf Sonntag has 27 years experience in Tadano Faun GmbH, Germany. He started in 1992 in Production Planning, worked from 1995 to 1999 in R&D, and since 2000 has taken on different roles in Sales Organisation. He was appointed a Director in 2007. 
His current responsabilities include HR and Sales as Director in Tadano Faun GmbH, as well as CEO in the four subsidiaries of Tadano Faun GmbH in Netherlands, Belgium, France and the UK.

John Stewart joined Grove Cranes as part of its marketing team in 1988, working from the Shady Grove, PA facility. He had long before been influenced by cranes as his father was Parts Manager for a Grove North American dealer for 43 years. He came to Grove after graduating from the University of Michigan specialising in Marketing and Economics. Starting his international career in 1990 with a move to Grove Europe based in England, he started as the European product manager and ended up becoming the Senior Sales Manager for the UK, Southern Europe and North Africa. His next move was to Asia Pacific with Grove Cranes in mid-1994 and expanded his role dramatically leading all Asia Pacific. Since 2003’s combination of Manitowoc, Grove & Potain, John’s position was again expanded to be Senior Vice President of Sales for Greater Asia Pacific for the three product lines. Manitowoc Crane Group’s growth in APAC has been continuous and dramatic with the expansion of Australia as one of the major achievements. John has been involved with Australasia since 1994 and moved to Sydney Australia in 2015 to head the ANZ business unit with a combined direct sales and distribution model. John lives in Sydney with his wife and daughter.

Jeff Wilson is a Senior Finance Broker at Finlease. After commencing work in banking in the 1980’s Jeff Wilson moved to Finlease an Equipment Finance Broking house in 1994 and since then Jeff Wilson has firmly established himself as the crane finance specialist. Jeff is well known for his commitment to his clients and is a committee member of the NSW Crane Association and serves as an advocate for crane operators in dealing with the country’s leading financiers.