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ARA Announces 2024 Industry Award Recipients

Each year, the American Rental Association (ARA) honors individuals for outstanding service to the association and the equipment and event rental industry.

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The following are recipients of this year’s industry contributor awards, which will be presented at The ARA Show 2025 in Las Vegas.

Industry Ambassador Award

Glen Benrus has been selected to receive the 2024 ARA Industry Ambassador Award. Benrus served as general manager with RentalMax in Carol Stream, Ill., from 1997-2024.

Glen Benrus

The Industry Ambassador Award recognizes an individual who has demonstrated long-term leadership and service to the association at the national, state, local or provincial levels.

He was a rental industry leader in Chicagoland and Illinois for more than two decades. He served on the ARA of Chicagoland Board of Directors from 2001-2013, including service as an officer (vice president, president and board chair) from 2005-2010.

Benrus also served on the ARA of Illinois board from 2003-2023, including service as an officer (vice president, president and board chair) from 2012-2017. To help maintain board continuity, Benrus recruited a manager from his then-employer, RentalMax, to join the board when his term was drawing to a close. The transition was successful, and Benrus’ successor today serves as vice president of the ARA of Illinois.

While serving on state and local chapter boards, Benrus was deeply involved in government and advocacy initiatives. For many years he was part of the ARA of Illinois group that organized and participated in member trips to the state capitol in Springfield to help get bills passed to benefit equipment and event rental businesses in the state. He also participated in ARA’s National Legislative Caucus in Washington, D.C.

Benrus received the ARA Region Five Person of the Year award in 2010 in recognition of his service.

Even after departing the Chicagoland and Illinois chapter boards, Benrus remained involved to provide leadership, guidance and experience to help the chapters learn and add value for members.

Exemplary Service Award

Patti Whittaker, owner, Cardinal Rents, Charlotte, N.C., has been selected to receive the 2024 ARA Exemplary Service Award.

Patti Whittaker

The Exemplary Service Award recognizes an individual or group that has made a significant contribution in a defined area of association service (such as government affairs, education, technology or workforce development).

Whittaker has championed ARA’s Women in Rental initiatives. She was instrumental in achieving a record number of attendees for a one-day group Women in Rental Career Development Program certification class held in North Carolina in March 2024.

ARA’s Women in Rental Career Development Program is a six-course program featuring modules on increasing your visibility at work, the Imposter Syndrome, dealing with stress, pressure and burnout, and more. Participants receive a certificate of completion once all six courses are completed.

Whittaker’s inspiration for the event came during the ARA Show 2024 in New Orleans when, while attending the Women in Rental breakfast, it was mentioned that up to that point only 74 people across the U.S. had taken part in the newly minted certification program.

Feeling that this number was astonishingly low, Whittaker quickly began to formulate an event to get industry members in her home state of North Carolina Women in Rental-certified. The event was planned and hosted in Belmont, N.C., in just over a month, with 34 women certified together that day — nearly half of what had, up to then, been achieved nationwide. Networking and excitement were prevalent throughout the event, which helped to increase the profile of the Women in Rental Career Development Program.

Whittaker has served on the national ARA Women in Rental Committee and remains a firm believer in the promotion of this group to women in North Carolina and throughout the industry. In addition, she also serves as president of the ARA of North Carolina and is committed to her duties of steering the chapter’s board of directors while promoting its meetings and events. 

Industry Impact Award

The 2024 ARA Industry Impact Award will be presented to Mary Crosslin, co-president and chief operating officer, Alert Rental Software, Colorado Springs, Colo.

Mary Crosslin

The Industry Impact Award recognizes a manufacturer supplier and/or independent manufacturer representative rental industry professional who made a significant impact on the association and/or industry during the past three years.

Observers have expressed admiration with Crosslin’s ability to remove her “Alert Rental Software hat” and put on the “industry service hat” consistently over the past four years.

In addition to serving as ARA associate member director from 2022-2024, Crosslin has served on several other committees. She has lent her insights as a member of ARA’s Equipment Rental Shared Interest Group, the Exhibitor Advisory Council for The ARA Show and the Rental Hall of Fame Selection Committee.

In each of these roles, Crosslin has adeptly voiced the concerns of the average ARA member and helped to connect the dots between building products and services that meet members’ needs.

Crosslin also has supported ARA’s Women in Rental activities and in 2023 participated in the association’s National Legislative Caucus in Washington, D.C.

Rising Star Award

Matt Mutton

Matt Mutton, president of Mutton Party & Tent Rental, Fort Wayne, Ind., has been selected to receive the 2024 ARA Rising Star Award.

The Rising Star Award recognizes a young professional who has demonstrated leadership at the grassroots level.

Mutton has been an active volunteer in the ARA of Indiana since 2012 when the chapter reactivated after a yearslong period of dormancy. He joined the board of directors as secretary and has gone on to serve several more terms, currently serving as vice president.

To supplement his ARA state board duties, Mutton has participated in ARA’s Leadership Conference, an event designed to educate and motivate emerging leaders within the association.

A member of the ARA Young Professional Network (YPN), Mutton has attended several YPN conferences. He also has participated in ARA’s National Legislative Caucus in Washington, D.C., and is a consistent attendee of The ARA Show.

During The ARA Show, the ARA of Indiana frequently joins forces with the ARA of Ohio for a member mixer in the show’s host city. Mutton has been instrumental in organizing these events that add networking value for members.

Mutton’s company received the ARA President’s Image Award in 2017 and in the same year, Mutton himself was named one of Rental Management’s “10 to Watch Under 40.” 

Leadership Impact Awards

These awards recognize an individual in each of ARA’s 10 regions whose leadership benefited their state and/or local association and its members over the past year.

• Region One: Brittany Sherwood, Tents Unlimited, Torrington, Conn.
• Region Two: Kevin Karcher Jr., InTENTional Systems, Binghamton, N.Y.
• Region Three: Patti Whittaker, Cardinal Rents, Charlotte, N.C.
• Region Four: Stephanie Layson, Party Pro Rents, Tulsa, Okla.
• Region Five: Amanda Withee, CERP, Sully’s Tool & Party Rental, Akron, Ohio
• Region Six: Dave Hehr, Contractor Solutions Trench Shoring, Altoona, Iowa
• Region Seven: Katey Naylor, CERP, Bright Event Rentals, Phoenix
• Region Eight: Shannon Botten, Botten’s Equipment & Event Rental, McMinnville, Ore.
• Region Nine: Holly Ford, HK Sales, Irvine, Calif.
• Region 10: Gord Ellis, Western Global, Burlington, Ontario, Canada