Craig Paylor to retire from JLG

Craig Paylor is to retire as president of JLG Industries on 1 July and will be replaced by Wilson Jones, the current president of Oshkosh Corp's Fire & Emergency business, which includes the Pierce branded fire fighting platforms.

Mr Paylor, who has had a 32 year career with JLG, has been an executive vice president of Oshkosh and president of the Access Equipment segment since 2007. He also served as president of JLG Industries before its acquisition by Oshkosh in 2006.

Oshkosh president and chief operating officer Charlie Szews said, "We expect to build upon the outstanding foundation set by Craig at JLG, and are pleased to bring Wilson's skills to sustain and grow JLG's global leadership position in the Access Equipment market."

The news of Mr Paylor's departure has taken the access industry by surprise, even if had been anticipated that Oshkosh was at some point likely to appoint its own candidate.

Since making the announcement on 24 May Mr Paylor has been calling some of JLG's largest customers to explain the change. European rental executives attending the European Rental Association's annual convention in Prague on 26-27 May expressed regret at his departure and there was also some surprise at the timing of the move, taking place at the bottom of the current business cycle.

Mr Paylor is a highly-respected veteran of the powered access industry. Dick Schalekamp, chief executive of Riwal, told AI in Prague that he had known Mr Paylor for 25 years.

Mr Paylor joined JLG in 1978 as a district sales manager and held a variety of positions focused on sales and business development. He become the senior vice president of sales and market development in 1999 and during his more than 30-year tenure at JLG, he played a key role in developing the company from a US$40 million privately held company to a publicly traded global corporation with sales approaching $3 billion prior to the Oshkosh acquisition in 2006.

His successor at JLG, Wilson Jones, has been in the specialty vehicle manufacturing industry for more than 20 years. He joined Oshkosh Corporation in 2005 as the vice president and general manager of the airport products business unit and later became vice-president, sales and marketing for the fire and emergency group.

In 2007, Mr Jones was promoted to president of Pierce Manufacturing and to the position of executive vice-president of the Fire and Emergency segment in 2008.