News Opinion
CCRA executive share their thoughts on the association

The Canadian Crane Rental Association’s (CCRA) Executive for 2023-24 will consist of Chair Shannon Moir-Riendeau, fifth generation at Moir Crane Service; Vice-Chair Steve Anema, TNT Crane & Rigging Ltd.; Secretary-Treasurer Ryan Long, A.W. Leil Cranes & Equip. Ltd.; and Past-Chair Trevor Eckert, Sterling Crane.

Here are the some of the thoughts, plans and reflections on the association from three current members and the past char, Trevor Eckert:

Chair
Shannon Moir-Riendeau, Vice-President of Operations, Moir Crane Service
The fifth generation of her family’s business to lead Moir Crane Service, Shannon has been overseeing her family’s company in Oldcastle, Ont. for the past six years. She has been volunteering with the CCRA Board of Directors since 2019-2020. During her time on the Board, Shannon has worked on a variety of initiatives, including the founding of the CCRA’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee. She says attracting more young people to the crane rental industry should be a top priority for the CCRA.

“This has been a big discussion over the past two years. We’re all working together to figure out how to get more young people involved in the industry. I plan to work on this locally with the schools to get the younger kids more information about what we do,” Shannon says. “I’ve got teenage kids myself, so I know the local schools don’t have a whole lot of information available to them about the industry. We want to work on that.”

Vice-Chair
Steve Anema, General Manager, Eagle West Crane & Rigging
Steve has been involved in the crane and rigging industry for more than 16 years all with Eagle West Crane & Rigging. Steve entered the industry as a fleet coordinator and held that role for four years before moving into an outside sales position, which he held for two years. Steve then spent nine years working in a business development manager role before being promoted to his current role as general manager. He joined the CCRA’s board of directors during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic and was named Secretary-Treasurer in 2022-23. His goal is to continue to build on the financial health of the association.

“My focus is on financial health of the organization, making sure we are able to progress as an association and support the initiatives we’re undertaking,” Steve says.

Secretary-Treasurer
Ryan Long, President, A.W. Leil Cranes & Equipment
Ryan is currently serving on his second term on the board of directors and first on the executive committee. During his first term, he served as Chair of the Membership Committee and played a role in the development of the Standard Terms & Conditions template for members and, more recently, preparing and launching the Canada-wide industry survey. With the entirety of his 20-year professional career spent in the crane and rigging service industry, he currently serves as the President of Nova Scotia-based crane rental firm A.W. Leil Cranes & Equipment, with coverage in five branches throughout Atlantic Canada.

“I have truly enjoyed my time on the board and learned so much from my colleagues. Now on my second term, I’ve come to realize that I am at the ‘sweet spot’ of both my career and time with the association. I’m at the half-way mark, which means I have considerable expertise and experience that I can use to help contribute to the board, support new members, and share experiences and learnings with others during our conferences. At the same time, I can still take advantage of being surrounded by industry leaders as the recipient of those same contributions,” Ryan says.
Outside of work, Ryan spends every possible minute with his wife Heidi and their two children. Together they enjoy all things outdoors, travel adventures, and rare quiet time at home.

Past-Chair
Trevor Eckert, Sterling Crane
Trevor Eckert has been very active within the crane rental sector over the past 25 years working at Sterling Crane. The industry veteran started his career as a crane rigging supervisor before taking on new roles as a branch manager in Saskatoon, then as Regional Vice-President and Vice-President of Operations, and now as Director of Shutdowns. He has been busy working on a variety of projects during his time on the CCRA Board, including starting up a new technical committee that works with companies like WorkSafeBC and CSA – Z150,

“Without that technical committee in place, bureaucrats will come up rules and regulation changes that affect our industry. But having a technical committee, we can have our Industry experts consult with CSA Z150, which gives us a voice,” Trevor says. “We can have industry stakeholders review the proposed changes before they become law, because once it gets written into law, it becomes very difficult to change.”