January
16, 2013 – “Green Media, a division of M2MEDIA360 -- publisher of Outdoor Power Equipment, Landscape and
Irrigation, Arbor Age and SportsTurf -- is proud to present the 2012
selections for “Most Influential People in the Green Industry.”
Green
Media’s “Most Influential People in the Green Industry” were nominated by their
peers for their ongoing contributions to the Green Industry. The professionals
selected for this honor were chosen from throughout the Green Industry, and
exemplify a commitment to the industry and a widespread influence on their
peers.
Green
Media congratulates all of those selected as “Most Influential People in the
Green Industry.”
Jim
Roche
Executive
Director
Equipment
& Engine Training Council, Inc.
As
executive director of the Equipment & Engine Training Council, Inc. (EETC)
since 2000, Jim Roche has been responsible for handing out dozens of awards to
his peers for their outstanding contributions to the EETC, a non-profit
association whose mission is to address the shortage of qualified service
technicians in the outdoor power equipment industry through education,
certification and training.
So,
after all that Roche has accomplished with the EETC -- as well as at the
dealer, distributor and manufacturer levels during his nearly 35-year career in
the OPE industry -- it is rather fitting that he was selected as one of the
“Most Influential People in the Green Industry,” shortly before he retired on
Dec. 17.
"Jim
Roche brought professionalism to the EETC in his role as Executive Director,”
said Jim Starmer, senior advisor, Servantage Dixie Sales. “He helped make the
EETC an organization highly respected throughout the OPE industry, focused on
the education and training of skilled technicians, for the benefit of all
industry participants. It was a huge task, but Jim, with his wife Rachel at his
side, succeeded in providing professional leadership to the EETC, strengthening
an organization that will benefit our industry for years to come. As a former
board member of the EETC, I am honored and proud to have known and worked with
Jim and Rachel, to be able to call them friends, and to thank them for what
they have accomplished for our industry."
And
Roche is quick to acknowledge that his wife, Rachel, had a tremendous amount to
do with his success. “Let me just say that when I married her, I married up,”
he said. “She is extremely intelligent. On top of that, she’s extremely
supportive. I could have never done it without her.”
The
EETC was founded in 1996 and incorporated in 1997, with Virgil Russell serving
as its first executive director until he underwent quadruple bypass surgery and
stepped down in 2000. Roche stepped in and worked tirelessly to take the
association to new heights. For starters, he developed a strategic plan for the
EETC’s mission, led the development and implementation of the EETC’s school accreditation
program, managed the EETC’s national technician certification program, and
launched the EETC’s website, among many other things.
Establishing
the school accreditation program was not only one of Roche’s proudest
accomplishments with the EETC, but it also set the tone for how he ultimately
ran the association, which is a diverse group currently made up of
approximately 450 industry professionals -- including manufacturers,
distributors, dealers, associations and educators.
“It
was a long, hard struggle because we had to have meetings with everybody,
committee meetings, to kind of lay out what should be in that manual; and it
took a lot of hard work and there was some ‘taking off of the hat,’ so to
speak, and I’ll use that terminology loosely,” he said. “Each manufacturer or
distributor walked in with his corporate hat on, and basically what we had to
do was say, ‘OK, well, take off your corporate hat. We’re all working together
for a common goal here. This common goal is going to help all of us, whether
there’s people that are not here from certain manufacturers or all of the
people that are here. We’re sharing information for a positive purpose, and
that is to promote our industry and to supply the industry that is constantly
growing and developing new products to having technicians that can repair
them.’ And so that was a big factor too is that everybody comes in, and you’re
no longer ‘Bob from Husqvarna.’ You’re just ‘Bob,’ and everybody knows you, and
it’s like, ‘Well, where does he work?’ Well, it doesn’t matter where he works.
He’s here to support the organization.”
Recognizing
those who support the EETC and its mission has always been of the utmost
importance to Roche, who established a formal awards reception/dinner, followed
by live entertainment, on the final evening of the annual conference. Roche
often became so overcome with emotion before or during the awards presentations
that he would call on others to handle the honors on his behalf.
When
asked what makes the awards presentations such an emotional experience for him,
Roche replied, “I’ve worked with these people for years. They’ve become family
to me. And it gets me to the point, when I think about it, I get very emotional
because I love these guys and because they deserve the award that they’re going
to get. So, what ends up happening for me is that it all comes to the surface
at that point. I’m very excited that they’ve been chosen to get the award,
number one. But to deliver the award, it’s like I’m delivering the award to
either one of my kids or my best friend in the whole world. We work with people
in our entire business lives. We find some that we really can connect with. We
find others that we don’t connect with very well. However, in the service
industry, it seems to be a little bit different. It seems to be less
dog-eat-dog, or I’m going towards the top -- I’m going to be the best of this
and the best of that. That never seems to play into the side of service. The
service guy’s attitude seems to be, ‘I’m going to do the best job I can for
this manufacturer or this distributorship, and represent the product as best I
can.’”
Pre-EETC
days
Given
Roche’s lifelong journey to become executive director of the EETC, it is easy
to see why his emotions would get the best of him when presenting the awards.
Born and raised in Milwaukee, Wis., he graduated from Washington High School.
He attended a local tech college, the Milwaukee Institute of Technology, where
he pursued Commercial Art as a career path, but found it really wasn’t enough
for him. He then attended a four-year college, Stout State University (now
known as the University of Wisconsin-Stout) in Menomonie, Wis., where he
majored in Fine Arts.
While
attending college, Roche became a professional musician, singing and playing guitar
among other instruments, and then traveled around the country, performing
mostly folk music at different college campuses. Although he couldn’t make a
living playing music, he said it helped him become comfortable standing up in
front of people.
When
his first wife became pregnant, Roche needed to figure out a way to make a
living, which prompted him to pursue a career as a service technician. He
enrolled in the power equipment program at what is now known as Chippewa Valley
Technical College in Eau Claire, Wis., and earned a two-year associate’s degree
in Small Engine & Chassis Repair. Despite graduating in a first-place tie
in his class, Roche had no luck finding a job in the power equipment industry,
so he decided to open his own dealership, H&R Small Engine Repair, in
Osseo, Wis. Roche ran the dealership for about three years before he and his
first wife split up, and she and their two children moved to Chicago.
“Ironically,
she was looking for an apartment,” Roche said, “and the prospective landlord
said, ‘Well, what does your husband do (for a living)?’ And she said, ‘Well,
he’s in the small-engine business and has his own shop.’ And the guy said,
‘Wow. That’s very interesting because my company is looking for a guy just like
that. Why don’t you have him call Ken Anderson (director of technical services)
at Echo Incorporated?’And so, I did that, because I was planning to move to the
Chicago area anyway, and ended up getting a job at Echo Incorporated.”
Roche
worked as the Eastern Regional Service Manager at Echo from 1981 to 1984, but
found that he was missing a connection between the dealership and manufacturer
levels, so he went to work for a distributor, Virginia Outdoor Equipment in
Charlottesville, Va., as service manager from 1984 to 1985. He then decided to
return to the Midwest and work for a manufacturer, landing a job as the North
American Service Manager at Husqvarna, which was then based in Itasca, Ill.,
from 1985 to 1990. When Husqvarna announced that it was moving to Charlotte,
N.C., Roche decided not to return to the South, opting to stay closer to his
son and daughter. He became president of Service Center/USA Inc. in Glenview,
Ill., from 1990 to 1992. Roche returned to his home state to serve as Technical
Service Manager at Scag Power Equipment in Mayville, Wis., from 1992 to 2000
before he became the executive director of the EETC and influenced the lives of
so many people.
“Jim
was always looking to promote an industry that he truly believes in,” said Dave
Worden, SkillsUSA program director, EETC board member and long-time friend. “It
allowed people like me to present and deliver information with a passion that
is becoming rare. He gives, and will continue to give, you his best and support
the cause and also look at how he can help out others. He is a mentor, a
passionate leader, an honest man doing what he could to try and ‘pay it
forward’ in an industry that was at times harsh and cold. He has a sense of
humor and was always available. He looks out for others and is always ready to
help advise and promote the association and the industry and its partners
without the political stress showing.”
Influential
people
When
asked who have been the most influential people in his life, both personally
and professionally, Roche was quick to name the man who gave him his first big
break. “There’s been a lot of different teachers that I’ve had through my life
that have influenced me a lot, but in business, it was Ken Anderson,” Roche
said. “Ken Anderson taught me how to handle myself in front of groups. Ken
Anderson taught me how to dress correctly for the job. He was truly, in my
life, a mentor in this industry. There have been other people in the industry
as well, but Ken Anderson really stands out as the first person that I met who
wasn’t critical of who you were. He looked for your potential.”
Roche
said the second-most influential person in his professional career has been
Andy Kuczmar, who currently works at Husqvarna but was the service manager at
Echo when Roche worked there. “Andy Kuczmar was a tyrant when it came to doing
things correctly and would let you know if you did it wrong,” Roche said. “And
in no few words, he would tell you that ‘You’re an idiot.’ And it took many,
many years for me not to be an idiot in Andy’s eyes, but he was, and is still,
probably one of the most influential people that I’ve ever come in contact
with. He’s a genius. He knows his stuff. He knows everything about engines that
could possibly be needed and constantly would test me on what I knew and what I
didn’t know.”
Future
plans
As
for the future, the 66-year-old Roche said that one of his first plans is to
get a dog in the spring. He also wants to get back to doing the things that he
pushed aside for years because of his devotion to the EETC. He plans to spend
more time playing music, which he currently does on Wednesday nights at a
“local watering hole” in Oconomowoc, Wis., as well as devote more time to his
artwork and other projects.
When
asked how he would like to be remembered by his peers, Roche responded, “as a
good guy who was helpful to people.” He added, “I just hope people feel that I
did a good job at the EETC and that they remember me for that. Like anything,
we all move on. We let the younger people who have the energy to come in and
take over, and I think that’s an important thing for our industry.”
Final
thoughts
For
those interested in pursuing a career in the OPE industry, Roche offered the
following words of wisdom: “I think this is a great industry to be in. I think
it’s extremely rewarding. I think it’s not too big where you get lost. And I
think it is not pretentious in how it runs its business. It’s very down to
earth. If you’re in this industry to make a living, you can make a good living
and also be very satisfied. What I have found is that it’s all about the inner
relationships. The power equipment industry is small enough that you know an
awful lot of people that are in the industry, and if you burn your bridges as
you go, you’re not going to be in the industry for very long. But if you become
part of it, if it becomes part of your soul, you’re going to be extremely
successful and you’re going to be rewarded financially as well. But if you
don’t put your soul into it, if you don’t put your heart into it, you’re just
spinning your wheels and kind of wasting your time. That’s always been my
philosophy of the power equipment industry.”
