Career in Cranes Gives Etchart Foundation to Lead MCG

Eric Etchart

May 23, 2007 • Eric Etchart, the new president and general manager of Manitowoc Crane Group Inc., Manitowoc, Wis., brings with him a strong crane background and perhaps feet big enough to fill Glen Tellock's shoes.

Under Tellock, who has led the crane group as president since 2002, MCG has experienced significant financial and market growth. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal, sales increased 37 percent in 2006 from the year before, to $2.2 billion. Operating earnings were up 143 percent, partly due to the introduction of 15 new products. Additionally, the company has become more international, with 48 percent of its sales from outside of the United States • compared with 5 percent only eight years ago.

“Glen has been a tremendous leader over the past five years, driving us to the front our industry,” said Etchart. “We have a great team of managers in place and I don't intend to make any major changes,” he continued.

Etchart, who has been with MCG since its acquisition of Potain in 2001, boasts a crane education that dates back to the early 1980s when he worked with both PPM and P&H mobile cranes, including experience with selling those products in the U.S. market. In 1995 he joined Potain and was involved with implementing that company's growth strategy first in Italy then focusing on the Asia-Pacific region. He has served as MCG's executive vice president for the Asia-Pacific region since 2001.

Among Etchart's goals for the company is a continued focus on global markets. Likewise, he said the company will continue to look for opportunities to expand its product line with complimentary products either through acquisitions or alliances with other companies.

Etchart, who has not yet named his replacement in the Asia-Pacific region, hopes to relocate to the Manitowoc area by this fall.