Pennsylvania-Based Stephenson Equipment Acquires Valley Supply & Equipment
[Pictured, from left: Charlie Walsh, president; Brandon Klein, Adam Klein, Tom Schneider, and Steve Franz, chief financial officer.]
Stephenson Equipment, a provider of construction equipment, public works equipment and cranes in Pennsylvania and Upstate New York, has acquired Valley Supply & Equipment in Maryland, Virginia and District of Columbia.
“Valley Supply & Equipment has built a reputation of strong customer relationships and local expertise in the construction and asphalt industry, which pairs nicely with SEI’s core values of customer service,” said Stephenson Equipment president Charlie Walsh. “This acquisition not only broadens our geographic reach but also strengthens our ability to offer even better service and support in Maryland, Virgina and D.C. markets. We look forward to welcoming the Kleins and all of Valley’s employees to the SEI team.”
Customers in Valley’s market area will now have additional benefits of SEI’s resources, including its full inventory of equipment, parts, rental fleet and additional service technicians and product specialists. Valley employees will now become employee-owners of Stephenson Equipment. SEI became an employee-owned company in 2023 and full-time employees receive ESOP contributions as an additional benefit.
Valley Supply and SEI share a number of important manufacturers, the company said.
SEI will now grow to 294 employees.
Stephenson Equipment was founded by Paul Stephenson in 1957. He sold the majority interest to Jim and Karen Penman in 1992, and then sold to Dennis Heller and Bob Criste in 2003.
Stephenson Equipment expands to 13 service locations, adding locations in Hagerstown and Baltimore, Md., and Manassas Park, Va. SEI also operates a service operation at the U.S. Army’s Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland.
Stephenson Equipment, based in Harrisburg, Pa., is No. 94 on the RER 100.
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.