Skyjack President Ken McDougall has announced he will retire at the end of the year.
Charlie Patterson will become the Guelph, Ontario-based company’s President effective January 1, 2024. Patterson and McDougall will work together in the coming months to
McDougall started his career at Skyjack’s parent company Linamar in 1987 as a tool designer. From there, he moved into several key roles including Global Sales and Estimating Manager and Vice President of Operations.
He has held the title of Skyjack President twice throughout his 36-year career at Linemar, serving in the role from 2004 to 2009 before returning to the automotive side of the company. He returned as President in 2019.
During his tenure, Skyjack acquired two telehander lines from Carelift/Zoom Boom and Volvo, a crucial foundation for the company’s 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.
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,” McDougall said.
“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.”
Charlie Patterson is currently the Vice President of International Operations. He joined Skyjack in 2000 as the United Kingdom Sales Manager and went on to head the United Kingdom and European operations. Patterson oversaw the opening of Skyjack’s 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,” Patterson said. “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.”
