Skip to main content

AEM names Charlie O’Brien as its new senior vice president

The Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) in the United States has named Charlie O’Brien as senior vice president. The appointment is said by the AEM to be in recognition of his increased leadership role for the association. These include activities under AEM’s new strategic plan, initiated in 2012, to better serve all members’ current and future business-development needs.
January 11, 2013 Read time: 3 mins
The 1100 Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) in the United States has named Charlie O’Brien as senior vice president. The appointment is said by the AEM to be in recognition of his increased leadership role for the association. These include activities under AEM’s new strategic plan, initiated in 2012, to better serve all members’ current and future business-development needs.

In addition to increased responsibilities since joining AEM in 2007, O’Brien has taken a leadership post with expanded responsibilities in development of strategic initiatives to achieve the plan’s Key Result Area (KRA) goals and objectives, and AEM goals development to continue implementation of the strategic plan.  He is also said to have been instrumental in developing the AEM’s successful AG CONNECT Expo and Summit, with its third show taking place January 29-31, 2013 in Kansas City, Missouri. 

The initial AEM strategic initiatives focus on increased advocacy, a services’ plan to respond to membership-survey results, and a new financial model to sustain expanded services and activities. New initiatives being implemented for 2013 include increased member engagement, market information services and global business development.

“This is not another layer of management; it is a way to improve our service to the membership and better represent the industry through better use of staff capabilities,” said AEM president Dennis Slater. “Charlie serves as the recognised face and voice of AEM agriculture activities, and provides the solid management and leadership credentials to enable AEM to achieve this higher level of action,” added Slater.

Having joined the AEM in 2007 as vice president, O’Brien serves as agriculture sector leader and also oversees AEM’s market information, technical/safety and member services divisions. He came to AEM with more than 20 years of experience in the off-road equipment industry, including as president and chief executive officer of FPC Financial, as Farm Plan & AgLine (Canada) product manager, as sales manager for 257 John Deere Financial; and as branch manager and director of strategic initiatives for Deere Financial’s England operations. He has also held Deere Financial management positions in sales, market and business development, and risk management. 

A Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based trade group providing innovative business development resources to advance the off-road equipment manufacturing industry in the global marketplace, AEM membership comprises more than 850 companies and more than 200 product lines in the agriculture, construction, forestry, mining and utility sectors worldwide. The AEM also has offices in the world capitals of Washington, D.C.; Ottawa, Canada; and Beijing, China.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Road professionals of exception - IRF names top individual award
    November 13, 2017
    Dr Kyung-Soo Yoo, an IRF Fellow (Class of 1979) and one of the chief architects behind Korea's world-class road connectivity programs has been nominated to receive IRF's most distinguished individual honour
  • CONEXPO-CON/AGG expected to hit record in 2017, create new pavilion
    April 19, 2016
    As bauma winds down, CONEXPO-CON/AGG is heating up. Officials of the Association of Equipment Manufacturers and other CONEXPO-CON/AGG organisers on Thursday offered a brief preview of what to expect in Las Vegas in 2017. The show will be bigger than ever, with a 450,000m2 footprint, said Rich Goldsbury, AEM board member and the president of Bobcat North America and Oceania. “It will be our largest show ever,” said Goldsbury, who spoke during a press conference at bauma. AEM is continually focuse
  • Freedonia: Global off-road equipment demand to rise 5.4% in 2021
    May 10, 2021
    Freedonia reports that global off-road equipment demand is to rise 5.4% to US$439 billion in 2021.
  • AEM establishes telematics team to ensure compatibility
    July 1, 2013
    A new team has been established by the US-based Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) to ensure telematics technologies being offered by different firms will be compatible. The telematics task force is providing the AEM members with a comprehensive industry response to end-user requests for a standard machine data interface. The team is working to reach a consensus on an industry telematics data standard that will enable equipment manufacturers to support the needs of contractors, rental houses and d