Michael J. Kneeland

Portrait
Michael J. Kneeland, Chairman

Mr. Kneeland became non-executive Chair of the Board of the Company in May 2019, following his retirement as the Company’s CEO, a position he held since 2008. He has served as a member of the Board since 2008. From 2008 until March 2018, he also served as President. Previously, he served as interim CEO from 2007 to 2008. Mr. Kneeland joined the Company in 1998 as district manager upon the Company’s acquisition of Equipment Supply Company and held a variety of management roles from 1998 to 2007, including being named as Executive Vice President-Operations in 2003. His more than 35 years of management experience in the equipment rental industry includes key positions in sales and operations with private, public and investor-owned companies, including Free State Industries, Inc. (“Free State”). Mr. Kneeland served as Free State’s president from 1995 until the company was sold to Equipment Supply Company in 1996. From 1996 to 1998, he served as general manager for Rylan Rents d/b/a Free State Industries, a division of Equipment Supply. At the time it was acquired by United Rentals, Equipment Supply was the largest aerial equipment rental company in North America. In 2020, Mr. Kneeland was appointed to serve as non-executive Chair of the board of directors of Maxim Crane, a private company. Mr. Kneeland also served on the board of directors of America Tire Distributors, one of the largest independent suppliers of tires, wheels and supplies to the automotive market, from 2019 to 2025; on the board of directors of Anticimex Group, a private pest-control company with headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden, from 2017 to 2021; and on the National Advisory Board for the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics, from 2015 to 2024. Mr. Kneeland served in a variety of positions in the equipment rental industry for over 35 years, including a number of senior management positions with the Company, as well as Free State and Equipment Supply Company. He has extensive experience and knowledge of the competitive environment in which the Company operates. Further, he has demonstrated strategic and operational acumen that the Board believes has been of significant value to the Company.