COVER STORY
ranks, the firm increased its focus on pile driving equipment.
By 1959, Kern strategically bought out 54 shareholders since
being hired and took control of operations, marking the start
of ECA’s reign as a family-owned business.
ECA specialized in repairing and refurbishing used equip-ment
and then renting and selling it during Kern’s tenure. His
son, Al, changed course. Al had studied civil engineering at
the University of Pittsburgh and applied that knowledge to
the construction and maintenance of cellular piers in Florida
and Hawaii just after the Korean War. He came to ECA in
1962, and took the helm when his father died in 1965. Under
Al’s leadership, ECA built relationships with manufacturers
and began distributing new equipment. Al also focused on
customer service and expanding the firm’s locations.
Al’s son, Roy, would take things to a new level, trans-forming
ECA into a global distributor. Roy and his brother
Dennis had gotten a taste of the equipment business work-ing
as mechanic’s helpers during high school. Although Roy
asserted his independence by working as a financial analyst
at Chicago’s Container Corporation of America, he returned
to ECA in 1986, to sell equipment. Armed with an MBA, a
Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering, hands-on
financial experience and an outgoing personality, he was
positioned to take ECA to new heights as CEO in 2000.
Empowering employees in a flat organization
While ECA’s success has unfolded under the leadership of the
Kern family, Roy defers the credit to his team.
“I’m more of a consensus builder than a top-down leader,”
he said. “They employees all have skill sets and talents and
it’s important to let that shine, prosper from it and allow
people to do their thing.”
Roy’s father had a similar leadership style. ECA presi-dent,
Ben Dutton, experienced this mindset when Al gave
him the reins of the Philadelphia branch as a “29-year-old
kid.” His counterparts in Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.,
Bill Rose and Pete Schell, were afforded the same level
of authority.
“I think that philosophy still exists,” said Dutton. “People
come here and stay because they know they are respected at
all levels, not just at the top management.”
ECA’s branch managers to this day help shape personnel,
organizational and marketing decisions.
A common theme among the ECA team is a recognition
and appreciation that the foundation construction business
allows them to be part of something bigger. Roy ticks off a
seemingly never-ending list of projects for which ECA sup-plied
foundation equipment: World Trade Center, Vietnam
Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, Hoover Dam, Washington
Metro System, the Big Dig, the Toronto subway system and
nearly every stadium east of the Mississippi.
“We’ve been all over the place and it’s very gratifying to
look at that finished product and realize that we provided the
equipment,” he said.
ECA goes well beyond the standard safety committee
meeting to keep its people safe, as well.
44 Q1 2018 www.pilingcanada.ca
/www.pilingcanada.ca
