The International Powered Access Federation (IPAF) has appointed Norty Turner of United Rentals as its new president during its annual general meeting (AGM) for 2020 last week, which was held virtually for the first time due to the Covid-19 emergency.
Along with Turner, a new presidential team was also put in place comprising Karin Nars of Dinolift as deputy president and JLG’s Karel Huijser as vice president. Three new members of the IPAF board – Pedro Torres of Riwal, Lolex Ltd’s Julie Houston Smyth and Ben Hirst of Horizon Platforms – were also officially confirmed in the AGM after they were seconded last year. Meanwhile, Nick Selley of AFI-Uplift continues his ex officio role on the board, the AGM confirmed.
The AGM, the first since Peter Douglas took up post as IPAF CEO and MD in December last year, saw Turner succeed Brad Boehler, who stepped down in October after leaving his role with Skyjack.
“I would like to reiterate our thanks to Brad Boehler, who selflessly stepped down last year after leaving his role with Skyjack. His tenure as President was shorter than planned, but his leadership and dynamism over many years with the Federation will not be forgotten, and we at IPAF wish him well in his future endeavours,” said Turner in his inaugural address.
He added that his first priority would be to “support our entire team and all the federation’s members worldwide through this global public health crisis, and to assist our industry in whatever way we can to recover from this challenging situation as quickly as possible”.
Turner added that among his aims was to increase “sustainability in our industry, embracing and integrating new technology into everything we do”.
“The way the world learns is evolving due to the pandemic, and ever adaptable, IPAF will bring forward new innovations, including but not limited to a digital app for operators and managers, paperless IPAF courses, and adapting more of IPAF’s training programme into both eLearning and virtual reality applications,” Turner said.