Skyjack’s McDougall to retire – Patterson to succeed

Skyjack has announced the retirement of Skyjack president Ken McDougall, and subsequent appointment of Charlie Patterson as president, effective 1 January 2024. The two will be working together over the next several months to ensure a seamless transition for the organisation.

McDougall 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. Two-time Skyjack president McDougall’s tenure also saw the acquisition of two telehander lines from Carelift/Zoom Boom and Volvo, a crucial foundation for the company’s existing telehandler line up. More recently, McDougall led Skyjack’s immense global capacity increases. Taking the number of manufacturing plants from two in Canada to five globally, Skyjack’s potential global unit capacity is expected to increase 235% when compared to 2022.

McDougall’s tenure also saw a number of successful Skyjack product launches including Elevate, updated boom and vertical mast lines.

“It has been an honour to serve as Skyjack president during this period of immense growth and transformation. 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,” shared McDougall. “It has been an honour 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 organisation. 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 honoured to take on the role as Skyjack president,” shared 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 1 January 2024 as he and McDougall work together for the remainder of 2023 to facilitate a smooth transition.