Two ARA members join the ARA of Illinois board
By Connie Lannan
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Two ARA members join the ARA of Illinois board

Stephen (Sal) Salvatori, president, Event Equipment Rentals & Sales, Hodgkins, Ill., and Michelle Saxman, owner, Rapid Rental & Sales, Brookfield, Ill., recently joined the ARA of Illinois board.

Salvatori brings a lot of industry experience to his new ARA of Illinois role.

“I have been involved in the industry for more than 25 years. I started my rental career as a dispatcher for Chicago Party Rental and worked closely with our warehouse team while in college. From there I went to work for Braun Event & Tent because I wanted to work in sales. Braun merged with Chicago Party Rental, and I continued to work in sales. Chicago Party Rental was then sold to Classic Party Rentals. I stayed on with Classic and became the senior sales consultant managing many accounts, including the Midwest. I left Classic to work for Event Equipment Sales and Event Equipment Rentals, coming back to work for the Shipper family. Event Equipment Sales and Event Equipment Rentals are now one company, and I was promoted and named president of our new company, Event Equipment Rentals & Sales. We are a distributor, manufacturer and a rental company. We also offer warehouse solutions with some of our products. We do a lot of rentals and sales,” he says.

He also brings plenty of board experience, having served in a variety of capacities on the ARA of Chicagoland board since 2013. He currently serves as vice president and treasurer of that board.

Why join another board? “Don Thennes, owner, Ed’s Rental & Sales, based in Crystal Lake, Ill., was on the ARA of Chicagoland board and also on the ARA of Illinois board. When he stepped down from both boards, I was asked if I wanted to take part in the ARA of Illinois board. I said sure because I love the industry. I love helping people and I can be a resource. I thought this was an opportunity to help the ARA of Illinois and the industry I love,” he says.

Salvatori has definite goals for his tenure on the ARA of Illinois board. “I certainly want to be a strong volunteer, create new networking events, help with offering education and see more of a presence of women in our industry and on our board. That is very important to me. I would like to see more women in leadership roles. You are only as good as your team,” he says.

Whether it’s volunteering or working in the industry, everything centers around living your values, he notes. “My values are simple: Do not lie, do not steal, exceed client expectations and make sure safety is a top priority because we all want to go home to our families safe at the end of the day. If you do those four things well, the rest seems to fall in place. I live by that stuff, and I will definitely carry them over into my volunteer efforts,” he says.

Saxman also has a long history in the industry — 35 years. “I cater primarily to the warehousing market. I also offer a lot of sideloaders. For the last 35 years, I have done 99 percent sales of used equipment and 1 percent of rentals. This past year I did 99 percent in rentals and 1 percent in sales. I have done more construction equipment this year, including aerial equipment, light towers, etc.,” she says.

Many of those renting were bids related to government work. “Most — 99 percent of it — is the rental of equipment. I need to do more networking all over the U.S. to find dealers who have this equipment as we all know equipment is very hard to find right now. The more people I know, the more possibilities I have,” she says.

That shift to primarily rental was one of the reasons she decided to join the American Rental Association (ARA).

“I finally joined and went to The ARA Show™ in October. It was awesome. There were so many people there. I didn’t even cover everything in two days. I couldn’t walk or smile anymore,” she says with a laugh.

Joining ARA sparked her interest in becoming more involved with those in her home state. “I thought I should be networking with members closer to me,” she says. “For some strange reason, I have not done business in Chicago. I do it in all other places, such as Pittsburgh, Virginia, North Carolina, Texas and Hawaii. I want to meet people because I would like to do more business in my backyard. I also want to share my knowledge and help, particularly women in this business. I have been in the man’s business so long and have seen so many things. When I started, I knew very few women. Now there are lots of women involved. Maybe I can help someone step out and start their own company or climb the ladder where they are at. I would like to be able to help women realize that they have what it takes — their mind and their abilities. If they have a dream, they should go for it.”

Saxman speaks from experience. Her career has covered all aspects of the industry, part of which she covered by writing a chapter about her experience in “Overcoming Mediocrity: Strong Women,” which is part of a series of books that are continually best-sellers on Amazon.

“My ex-husband started to work for a German sideloader company. He was the first American employee right out of college. After five years, we started our own company doing the same thing,” she says.

In her career, she has started eight companies, importing sideloaders from Europe. “I sold an English sideloader that had an internal combustion engine and a German sideloader that was electric. I tried to start a Chinese forklift importing business, but at that time they decided not to come to the U.S. We also were the first people to sell six- and eight-high empty shipping container handlers. No one in the U.S. had done more than five. We sold the very largest reach stacker, which is the same thing, but it picks up full containers. I have covered the market worldwide. Now that I am doing a lot of aerial and construction equipment, it gives me the opportunity to learn more. I say that as long as you can keep learning and using your brain, you aren’t so old,” she says.

In her new role on the ARA of Illinois board, Saxman looks forward to diving in, meeting others and helping in any way she can. “I like to help people and I have a lot of knowledge to share,” she says.

 

Connie Lannan

Connie LannanConnie Lannan

Connie Lannan is special projects editor for Rental Management. She helps plan, coordinate, write and edit ARA’s quarterly regional newsletters, In Your Region. She also researches, writes and edits news and feature articles for Rental Management, Rental Pulse, supplements, special reports and other special projects. Outside of work, she loves to bake for others, go for walks with her husband and volunteer for her church and causes she believes in.

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