Hy-Brid Lifts Names Jay Sugar New President and CEO
Hy-Brid Lifts by Custom Equipment LLC has appointed Jay Sugar as its new president and CEO. Sugar brings more than 20 years of industrial manufacturing experience to the organization and will lead the overall direction and strategy of the company.
“We are extremely pleased to welcome Jay Sugar back to Custom Equipment, now in the role of president and CEO,” said Steve Ellis, Custom Equipment chairman of the board. “Jay is an accomplished leader and with his background in both engineering and operations, Jay brings a wide skill set to drive Custom Equipment forward in value creation and performance.”
Sugar possesses a knack for strategic guidance that allows him to sell into dealer networks, infiltrate new vertical markets and realize company goals, Hy-Brid Lifts said. Not only does his analytical approach optimize resources and business systems, but his expertise helps companies pivot to meet future growth opportunities.
He is an industry veteran with more than 20 years of general management and executive experience in the industrial equipment sector. Sugar’s background includes a multitude of business areas—such as engineering, supply chain, finance, and sales—that give him a unique perspective on operations and management.
His dedication to manufacturing was clear from the start. Sugar earned an MBA in accounting and business management from Carnegie Mellon University, in addition to a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Sugar’s career began on the shop floor where he went on to develop several start-ups into multi-million-dollar enterprises, holding positions such as general manager, vice president of operations, vice president of industrial sales and executive vice president along the way. He eventually joined the Custom Equipment team for a brief stint in 2019 to implement a new plant layout at the company’s headquarters in Richfield, Wis.
“I’m looking forward to working with the strong leadership team at Custom Equipment again to help position the company for future growth,” Sugar said. “Strategically expanding our product offerings and introducing new products will reinforce our commitment to implementing customer feedback and increase market share.”
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About the Author
Michael Roth
Editor
Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.