McDougall to Retire as Skyjack President, Will be Replaced by Charlie Patterson
Skyjack announced the retirement of its president Ken McDougall, and subsequent appointment of Charlie Patterson as president, effective January 1, 2024. The two will be working together over the next several months to ensure a seamless transition for the organization.
McDougall (at left in above picture) started his career at Skyjack parent company Linamar in 1987 as a tool designer, moving up into various key roles including global sales and estimating manager, and vice president of operations. During two-time Skyjack president McDougall’s tenure the company acquired telehandler lines from Carelift/Zoom Boom and Volvo, an important foundation for the company’s existing telehandler line up.
More recently, McDougall led Skyjack’s global capacity increases, taking the number of manufacturing plants from two in Canada to five globally, with plants in Mexico, China and Hungary. Skyjack expects its potential global unit capacity to increase 235 percent compared to 2022.
During McDougall’s tenure, Skyjack expanded its Elevate telematics offering and updated a number of boom and vertical mast lines.
“It has been an honor to serve as Skyjack president during this period of immense growth and transformation,” said McDougall. “2023 marks my 36th anniversary with Linamar and Skyjack, and over those years I have had the great pleasure of working for and with countless talented and dedicated individuals. It has been an honor to lead the Skyjack team and I am confident that with his experience, knowledge and leadership skills Charlie Patterson will do an outstanding job in moving Skyjack forward.”
Current vice president of international operations, Charlie Patterson started with Skyjack in 2000 as UK sales manager and went on to head the UK and European operations for the organization. Patterson oversaw the opening of Skyjack offices in the UK, Germany, France, Sweden and Australia and previously led sales in Asia-Pacific.
“I am thrilled and honored to take on the role as Skyjack president,” said Patterson. “Ken has done an exceptional job moving Skyjack forward to date, and I look forward to continuing to build upon that momentum. As always Skyjack will be dedicated to being easy to do business with, while developing simple and reliable solutions for rental companies worldwide.”
Patterson’s title as Skyjack president will be effective January 1, 2024 as he and McDougall work together for the remainder of 2023 to facilitate a smooth transition.
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.