The Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) announces its 2021 officers and directors elected to the AEM Board of Directors and Agriculture and Construction Equipment Sector Boards at its annual meeting. The association also announced its 2020 Hall of Fame inductees.

The Officers for the AEM Board of Directors for 2021 are:

• AEM Chair: Steven Berglund, Executive Chairman, Trimble Inc.
• Vice Chair: Robert Crain, Sr. VP & General Manager North America, AGCO Corp.
• Ag Chair: Todd Stucke, Sr. VP Marketing, Product Support & Strategic Projects, Kubota Tractor Corp.
• CE Chair: Rod Schrader, Chairman & CEO, Komatsu America Corp.
• Treasurer: Linda Hasenfratz, CEO, Linamar Corp.
• Secretary: Dennis Slater, President, AEM

Directors and officers for the AEM Board of Directors come from a broad selection of AEM member companies from both the agriculture and construction equipment fields. “The guidance and leadership talent from our member companies greatly benefit AEM, and we always appreciate their participation,” said AEM President Dennis Slater. “We also greatly appreciate the broad spectrum of participation, not just from equipment OEMs in the ag and construction equipment sectors, but from component manufacturers, tech developers, and service providers. This is a great group of industry leaders, and I am looking forward to working with them.”

2021 AEM Board of Directors also include fluid power manufacturer members, who are bolded:

• Jason Andringa, President & CEO, Vermeer Corp.
• Steven Berglund, Executive Chairman, Trimble Inc.
• Ted Bojanowski, VP Sales, Marketing & System Engineering, Parker Hannifin Corp.
• Robert Crain, Sr. VP & General Manager North America, AGCO Corp.
• John Garrison, Chairman & Chief Executive, Terex Corp.
• David Gilmore, Sr. VP Sales & Marketing Regions 3 & 4 Agriculture & Turf Division, Deere & Co.
• Grant Godbersen, VP Manufacturing, GOMACO Corp.
• Michael Haberman, President, Gradall Industries, Inc.
• Scott Harris, VP Case IH North America, CNH Industrial
• Linda Hasenfratz, CEO, Linamar Corp.
• Philip Kelliher, VP Americas Distribution, Service & Marketing, Caterpillar Inc.
• Leif Magnusson, President, CLAAS of America, Inc.
• Laura Ness Owens, VP Marketing, Communication & Public Affairs, Doosan Bobcat North America
• Ray O’Connor, President & CEO, Topcon Positioning Systems, Inc.
• Brad Olson, VP, Two Rivers Marketing
• Greg Petras, President, Kuhn North America, Inc.
• Austin Ramirez, President & CEO, Husco
• Jeffrey Reed, President & CEO, Reed International/VSS Macropaver
• Rod Schrader, Chairman & CEO, Komatsu America Corp.
• Todd Stucke, Sr. VP Marketing, Product Support & Strategic Projects, Kubota Tractor Corp.

Ag Sector Board

• Ag Chair: Todd Stucke, Sr. VP Marketing, Product Support & Strategic Projects, Kubota Tractor Corp.
• Ag Vice Chair: Bill Hurley, VP Aftersales, Customer Support & Distribution Development, AGCO Corp.
• Grant Adolph, COO, Buhler Industries Inc.
• Kim Boccardi, VP Marketing & Salesforce Champion, Titan International, Inc.
• Mark Core, Exec. VP & Chief Marketing Officer, Vermeer Corp.
• Fernando Cuccioli, Exec. VP Cluster Americas, DeLaval Inc.
• Brett Davis, VP New Holland North America, CNH Industrial
• Charlene Finck, President, Farm Journal
• Richard Fox-Marrs, President & CEO, JCB Inc.
• Gene Fraser, VP Global Sales & Marketing, MacDon Industries Ltd.
• David Gilmore, Sr. VP Sales & Marketing Regions 3 & 4 Agriculture & Turf Division, Deere & Co.
• Bill Hurley, VP Aftersales, Customer Support & Distribution Development, AGCO Corp.
• Angela Larson, VP Marketing Farm, Ranch & Ag Div., Blount International
• Leif Magnusson, President, CLAAS of America, Inc.
• Darryl Matthews, Sr. VP, Trimble Inc.
• Brian McKown, Exec. VP & COO, Kinze Manufacturing, Inc.
• BVrian Nelson, President & Chairman, HCC, Inc.
• Greg Petras, President, Kuhn North America, Inc.
• Viren Popli, President & CEO, Mahindra USA, Inc.
• Todd Stucke, Sr. VP Marketing, Product Support & Strategic Projects, Kubota Tractor Corp.
• James Wessing, Vice President, Kondex Corp.
• Jeremy Yoder, President & CEO, DISTek Integration, Inc.

Construction Equipment Sector Board

• CE Chair: Rod Schrader, Chairman & CEO, Komatsu America Corp.
• CE Vice Chair: Stephen Roy, Sr. VP Sales Region Americas, Volvo Construction Equip.
• Brian Bieller, President & Regional General Manager, Dynapac North America LLC
• Susanne Cobey, President & CEO, Eagle Crusher Co., Inc.
• Angie Drake, VP Construction Business, The Toro Company
• Mary Erholtz, VP Marketing, Superior Industries, Inc.
• Anthony Fassino, VP Building Construction Products Div., Caterpillar Inc.
• John Grote, Global VP Sales & Marketing, Grote Industries, Inc.
• Willie Harbert, VP Sales, Eaton
• David Hughes, VP Global Sales, McElroy Manufacturing, Inc.
• Robert Mortensen, President Off Highway Div., Husco
• Frank Nerenhausen, President, JLG Industries, Inc.
• Ray O’Connor, President & CEO, Topcon Positioning Systems, Inc.
• Melvin Porter, President & CEO, Link-Belt Cranes
• Bryan Rich, Chairman & CEO, SmartEquip Inc.
• Stephen Roy, Sr. VP Sales Region Americas, Volvo Construction Equip.
• Barry Ruffalo, President & CEO, Astec Industries Inc.
• Eric Sauvage, President & CEO, LBX Company LLC
• Ingo Schiller, President & CEO, Tadano America Corp.
• Rod Schrader, Chairman & CEO, Komatsu America Corp.
• David Thorne, Sr. VP Worldwide Sales & Marketing, Construction & Forestry Div., Deere & Co.
• Patrick Weiler, President & CEO, Weiler

Additionally, the AEM Hall of Fame recognizes the pioneers whose inventions, ideas, leadership and courage have contributed to the industry and our community’s quality of life. For 2020, AEM has selected three individuals to celebrate in its Hall of Fame: Art Moore, founder of Snorkel Lifts, and brothers Ray and Koop Ferwerda, inventors of the Gradall excavator.

“Art Moore’s creations have saved thousands of lives in allowing firefighters to reach blazes they couldn’t before, and enabled thousands more with their innovative construction and access lifts,” said AEM President Dennis Slater. “The innovation of the Ferwerda brothers and their Gradall excavator has enabled thousands of miles of roadway to be built more quickly, allowing us to build the future we know today. AEM is proud to welcome these innovators to our respected list of industry leaders, inspiring the next generation to develop and pursue their ideas for a better future for everyone.”

Art Moore (1924-2019) Founder, Snorkel Lifts

Art Moore grew up in St. Joseph, Missouri, just north of Kansas City, where he became childhood friends with future business partner Ray Pitman. Pitman and Moore started the Pitman Manufacturing Company in 1949, focusing on hydraulic lift trucks. In 1958, the Chicago Fire Department modified a Pitman truck with a fire hose, and Moore saw the benefit of the idea, breaking off to focus on lifted fire equipment with the Snorkel Fire Equipment Company, which he opened in 1959.

In 1977, Moore took his designs for the Snorkel Telesquirt and applied them to a construction access lift, developing the first TB42 lift. In 1986, Moore led Snorkel to develop the “Uno” articulated boom lift for industrial plant maintenance. Two years later, Snorkel entered the scissor lift market with the acquisition of Economy Engineering. In 1991, Moore retired from snorkel, however, returned to the board of directors after Snorkel was acquired by Ahern, where he served until his passing in 2019.

“Thank you for preserving his legacy,” said Sue Moore, wife of Art Moore. “He was a really great man, great in the industry, and I feel really great about this.”

Ray (1899-1976) and Koop Ferwerda (1900-1955) Inventors, Gradall excavator

Born and raised in the town of Sneek, The Netherlands, brothers Ray and Koop Ferwerda took a job aboard the Great Lakes-bound steam ship Sardinian in 1920 as a means of passage to North America. While steaming across Lake Erie, the boiler of the Sardinian exploded, and rescuers took Ray to Ohio, while Koop made ground in Ontario. Writing back home to The Netherlands in order to find each other, both Ray and Koop eventually made a home in the Cleveland area, finding jobs first at a local dairy, then building roads and sidewalks in Cleveland’s eastern suburbs.

In 1925, the brothers had saved up enough to open the Ferwerda Brothers Contracting Company, still focusing their work in the eastern suburbs. By 1940, they had sold some equipment, and saved enough money, to start developing an idea they had: A hydraulic excavator with an extendable boom that could reach down beneath the roadway to grade embankments, a previously time and labor-intensive task.

In 1946, in working with Warner-Swasey, the Gradall M2400 would become the first hydraulic excavator to enter series production in the U.S. Since then, the Gradall excavator concept has been expanded, still using the triangular, extendable boom design first devised by the Ferwerda brothers.

“We’re honored by this induction into the AEM Hall of Fame,” said Ray K. Ferwerda, Jr., grandson of Koop Ferwerda. “We looked at some of the other award winners over the years, and it’s quite incredible, the people the Ferwerda Brothers will be alongside.”

The induction of Moore and the Ferwerda Brothers brings the total number of inductees to sixty-four. The AEM Hall of Fame has been recognizing luminaries in the agriculture and construction equipment manufacturing industry since 1993, and includes such names as Benjamin Holt (Caterpillar), Joseph Cyril Bamford (JCB), Jerome Increase Case (CNH Industrial), and John Deere (Deere & Co.).

The Ferwerda Brothers are the third sibling team to be inducted into the Hall after Louis and Cyril Keller (Bobcat) and Maurice and Douglass Steiger (Steiger, along with their father John).

To learn more about the AEM Hall of Fame and its members, visit the website here, and also learn about the six Hall of Fame inventors who literally changed the world, and where the first combined AEM Hall of Fame class went.

AEM 
www.aem.org