b'KENNARDS HIRE Since 1948TAKING HIRE HIGHER | 120FROM WASH BAY TO THE EXECUTIVE SUITEOne of the earlier examples that anything is possible atAfter successfully Kennardising the company in Kennards Hire with hard yakka was Allen Besseling, whoVictoria, Bill took on responsibility for South Australia, began in the wash bay in 1989. He worked his way upcommuting weekly from Sydney (his wife put her foot through the ranks from serviceman-driver to second-in- down over moving the family to Adelaide). He continued charge, then on to branch manager, area manager andto take on more responsibility until he was appointed then state operations manager for New South Wales,COO in 2003, alongside CEO Peter Lancken. After Petes ACT and Queensland. Wanting to try something new,departure, there were a series of CEO appointments of he proposed a partnership with Kennards Hire, whichvarying lengths until Bill took over the role in 2020just became the Lift & Shift business venture in 2003. Itin time for the pandemic. It was probably the most proved to be a runaway success for both parties, soonchallenging time of my career, Bill says. Despite the becoming the most successful of the SBUs. In 2011,Covid curveball, Bill credits the support of the general when Kennards Hire restructured, Allen was appointedmanagers, state leaders and operational staff for specialist business CEO and helped develop both thekeeping the company strong throughout the journey.pump and power and traffic divisions. In 2012 he was appointed CEO, a position he held until 2015, when heSome may think that the days of starting in the wash left to start his own hire company.bay and working up to a significant position are gone. Chairman Brendan Fleiter disagrees. You only have to Bill Whitehouse, the current CEO of Kennards Hire,look to Jihad Farah as a prominent recent example of joined the company as a trainee manager in the samesomeone who had the smarts and the right attitudeyear as Allen. He quickly moved up the ranks, managingto rise to the top, he says.the Rydalmere branch for two years and then becoming area manager after the acquisition of GKN. It was theJihad started in the wash bay at Girraween while purchase of BE Hire in Melbourne, however, that reallystudying in 1998, taking over from his brother. Upon allowed him to make his mark. My philosophy was youfinishing his degree, Jihad transitioned to a permanent always send your best man to the next battle. So whenrole in the finance team and progressed through various we made our move into Melbourne, we asked Bill to gosupport roles in Finance, Operations, IT, Commercial down there, Peter Lancken says.and Marketing before eventually being appointed CFO. My philosophy was you always send your best man to the next battle. So when we made our move into Melbourne, we asked Bill to go down there, Peter Lancken says.'