LAS VEGAS — Members of the Automotive Lift Institute (ALI) have elected Jeff Kritzer of BendPak Inc. to be chairman of the group's board of directors, succeeding Stet Schanze of Gray Manufacturing Co., who has served three-plus terms as chairman.
Mr. Kritzer, executive vice president for Santa Paula, Calif.-based BendPak, has served multiple terms on the ALI board. Mr. Schanze, who was chairman for 2016-18, was named interim chairman in May following the retirement of Jerome Jerome Lentz of Challenger Lifts.
Cortland, N.Y.-based ALI is a trade association of North America-based lift manufacturers dedicated to promoting the safe design, construction, installation, service, inspection and use of automotive lifts.
Mr. Kritzer was elected chairman at the ALI's annual meeting in Las Vegas on Nov. 4.
In addition, Allan Pavlick of Stertil-Koni USA Inc. and Gary DiAngelo of Total Automotive Lifting Solutions Inc. were elected to three-year terms on the board of directors.
They join returning board members Doug Brown of Vehicle Service Group; Stan Poweska of PKS Lifts; Mr. Schanze; ALI President R.W. O'Gorman; and Buck Gasner of DEKRA North America. Long-time ALI Administrative Manager Heather Almeida was appointed board secretary and treasurer.
ALI developed the first commercial standard covering vehicle lifts published by the National Bureau of Standards. Today, ALI sponsors several national lift safety standards and offers third-party certification programs for automotive lifts and automotive lift inspectors.