Tim Maloney, CERP, president, Canton Chair Rental, Canton, Ohio, remembers when he served on the American Rental Association (ARA) committee that helped choose Rental Hall of Fame recipients. He was so impressed with the candidates that he thought rental operators like him could never compete for such an honor.
So, when notified that he was being honored with this most prestigious award, “I was flabbergasted,” he admits. “I was so surprised as those who have achieved this award are in pretty rarified air. It was really nice to see those of us who wanted to work in the trenches and weren’t able to aspire to the presidency were even considered, let alone could actually make it into the Rental Hall of Fame.”
Maloney’s path into rental started in 1972 when his father bought a Taylor Rental franchise.
“It was a leap as my dad was an accountant and not a mechanic, but he learned and worked hard to make it a success,” says Maloney, who worked summers and weekends throughout high school and then started full time after college.
The business began as an equipment rental operation with just a small party section. “We downplayed party because we didn’t have the room and it was hard to keep the stuff clean as we had small engines running,” he says.
But by the mid-1980s, Maloney had eased back into party. Soon thereafter, he purchased Canton Chair and Table. “I bought the rental part — primarily tables, chairs and dishes. We took part of the name and called it Canton Chair Rental. I then moved out of the tool rental building and moved into a party rental building we rented. Dad handled the tool rental and I handled the party rental,” Maloney says.
After his father retired in 1995, Maloney sold the tool rental since he was working seven days a week handling the event side of the business.
Throughout the years, the Maloneys always sought assistance from others in the industry. At first it came from Taylor Rental Corp. Then they got involved with ARA, including the local Northeast Ohio Rental Association (NEORA). “The NEORA had monthly meetings, which I attended and found very valuable. That is where my volunteer efforts started. I was asked and said yes. The rest is history,” Maloney says.
During this time, Maloney also became involved with the ARA of Ohio. Maloney’s national service began in the 1980s when he served on ARA’s Advertising and Public Relations Committee. In 1993, he served as a member of the Party Equipment Council. He also served as chair of the Party & Event Services Shared Interest Group from 1993-1996 and became a member of the Party Equipment Special Interest Group in 1994.
In 2002, he was elected Region Five Director. Then in 2008 he was named chair of the Party Certification Task Force.
In 2012, he served as chair of the ARA/ARA Insurance Services Member Risk Management Committee, and in 2013, he became chair of the ARA Insurance Services board, a board that he had been a member of since 2010.
Maloney also headed a group of rental operators, manufacturers/suppliers and ARA staff in developing the tenting evacuation best practices guide, Statement of Best Practices for Emergency Evacuation Planning for Tented Events, a document that is still in demand by party and event rental operators and their customers.
Maloney has served on almost every ARA committee and task force and continues to find ways to assist those in rental. For his service, he received the ARA Meritorious Award in 1996 and again in 1998, the Rental Excellence Award: Party & Event Services Best Business in 2001 and the ARA Distinguished Service Award in 2017.
However, he is most proud of “the fact that we started a business that is still around today and is based on my dad’s principles of treating the customer right — like how we would want to be treated. To this day, we still go above and beyond. We aren’t just renting stuff out. We rent events — a motto that everyone in my operation really believes in,” he says.