07.02.2022

Graham Brent to retire

Graham Brent, chief executive of the NCCCO (National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators) Foundation, is to retire at the end of July after 26 years with the organisation.

Brent has led the NCCCO Foundation since 2019 when he stepped down after 23 years as CEO of the National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators. Since since its formation in 1995, the Foundation has achieved industry wide recognition for its studies on crane operator evaluation and virtual reality, its accreditation and operator certification reference directories and its advocacy for the crane and rigging industries in outreach to young people and veterans. The foundation also hosts the annual Industry Forum on Personnel Qualifications which last year attracted almost 500 registrations from safety and health professionals from across the USA.
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Graham Brent

NCCCO Foundation president Chris Ryan said: “While we are sorry to see Graham go, we are very proud of the sound footing he has established for the foundation. We are confident that the organisation is poised to capitalise on the progress made to date and that it will continue to impact the industry with its safety driven mission.”
Brent added: “The last 26 years have been extraordinary in so many ways. I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to have served the NCCCO during that time, and the last three years with the Foundation. I look forward to achieving a smooth and seamless transition to new leadership.”

The not for profit organisation has already launched a search for a successor.

“We are looking for a highly self-motivated individual, who is in complete alignment with, and has demonstrated commitment to, the stated mission of the NCCCO Foundation in advocating for personnel safety and education, and facilitating access by youth, military personnel, and underserved communities to the crane and rigging and associated industries,” said NCCCO president, Tim Watters.

Brent began his crane related career in 1970s when he joined MW Publishers, the publisher of Cranes
Today. By the early 1980s he had become the editor, a job he held until the mid to late 1980s, when he moved to Virginia, USA to become editor of the SC&RA’s crane and heavy haulage magazine Transportation Engineer. His appointment was encouraged by SC&RA executive vice present Gene Brymer who handled the sales and advertising side of the publication.
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1989 - Graham Brent chats with Stuart Anderson at an SC&RA event

Sometime in 1989 he teamed up with Stuart Anderson, who was working at Grove in Shady Grove, Pennsylvania at the time, to set up a subscription funded crane newsletter - the Crane Report, and quarterly Market Report. The business they founded to run it was ABH Partnership, with each of them owning a 50 percent stake. In 1993 they mutually agreed to go their separate ways, with Anderson publishing the Crane & Lift Report covering both cranes and access news, while Brent planned to publish the Crane Safety Report. However, he soon became involved with the SC&RA again with the idea to create the crane operators safety certification programme, which was launched in 1996 under the auspices of a new organisation - the NCCCO. The rest, as they say is history.