IPAF Summit and IAPAs booking up as final speakers confirmed

Places are filling up fast at for the International Powered Access Federation (IPAF) Summit and the International Awards for Powered Access (IAPAs) celebration dinner, to be held at the Hilton Miami Downtown in Florida, USA, on 8 March 2018.

The theme for the Summit will be “Quantifying Sustainability”, and there will be two sessions in the morning, one for Mobile Elevating Work Platforms (MEWPs) and one for Mast-Climbing Work Platforms (MCWPs).

The final line-up of confirmed speakers is as follows: William Plummer, Executive VP and CFO United Rentals, who will give the keynote speech; Brad Boehler, President Skyjack; Norty Turner, Riwal Managing Director; Guru Bandekar, Global Vice President, Product Management & Development JLG; Giancarlo Bobbio, Marketing Director for the Americas, Haulotte and Pedro Luis Fernández Pérez, Chairman & CEO, General de Alquiler de Maquinaria (GAM). The majority of the Summit speakers will be simultaneously translated into Spanish and English, though not the MCWPs break-out session.

Speakers for the MCWP strand include: Kevin O’Shea, Director of Safety, and Sony Trudel, Director of Engineering, both from Hydro Mobile; Diego Benetton, Sales Director, Maber Hoist; and Romina Vanzi, Head of Regional Development & MCWPs, and Angel Ibañez, Global Representative for MCWP and Related Products, from IPAF.

There will be a morning panel discussion on the potential of Virtual Reality and Platform Simulators chaired by Andy Studdert, former CEO of NES Rentals and IPAF’s Immediate Past President. That features Jim Colvin, Chief Executive Officer, Serious Labs Inc; Brad Boehler; James Dorris, Vice President, Environment, Health and Safety, United Rentals; Giles Councell, Director of Operations, IPAF; Peter Douglas, Executive Director of Operations, Nationwide Platforms; and Darren Bechtel, Founder & Managing Director, Brick & Mortar Ventures.  

In the afternoon there will be a second panel session on the rental market, again chaired by Andy Studdert, featuring: Michael Kneeland, President and Chief Executive Officer, United Rentals; Norty Turner, Nick Selley, Group Business Development Director, AFI; Dan Kaplan, CEO, Daniel Kaplan Associates; and Pedro Luis Fernández Pérez.

Nick Selley, IPAF’s President, will make the closing address. A full program for the IPAF Summit will be available nearer the time from www.iapa-summit.info and will also be made available throughout the event via an online app that will allow interactive participation and feedback from all attendees.

The evening prior to the Summit, IPAF hosts a networking event at the American Airlines Arena. The day after the Summit there will be escorted site visits to United Rentals and BlueLine Rental depots for those wishing to attend.

The IPAF Summit is free to attend but ticketed, while tables at the IAPAs dinner and winners’ celebration are also filling up fast, so those planning to attend are advised to book now to avoid disappointment at www.iapa-summit.info