Keith Kreps, COO, 21st Century Equipment

As dealerships expand and add locations, there comes a point when the CEO can no longer properly oversee all aspects of the business. Executives from 3 dealerships share how they updated their organizational structures and management layers to lead the business.

Keith Kreps, COO, 21st Century Equipment — As 21st Century prepared for a 2022 merger with a neighboring dealer, it consolidated 3 districts of 5-6 stores to 2 regions of 8 stores each. At the same time, the John Deere group moved from the traditional store manager model to a territory structure.

In 2023 when 21st Century merged with 4Rivers Ag, it created a 3rd region with those 10 stores. Five of the locations are now managed in the same territory manager model as 21st Century’s legacy stores, but the other 5 are primarily small ag and turf locations where a tra- ditional store manager structure was maintained.

Bryndon Meinhardt, Regional Manager, KanEquip

Bryndon Meinhardt, Regional Manager, KanEquip — New Holland dealer KanEquip, with 14 locations across Kansas and Nebraska, has 3 regional managers. The group has had to adapt as more stores have been acquired over the years. You’ll hear from Meinhardt, who oversees 7 stores, with all store managers reporting to him. KanEquip also has a Field Support Team that brings services like human resources, accounting and capi- tal to each store.

Chuck Hoober, Owner, Hoober Inc. — Anticipating the strategic and capital resources that would be need- ed to move Hoober Inc. for- ward into future generations, the 12-store Case IH dealership implemented 2 key changes in 2018. First, was the formation of a board of directors and second was the appointment of an independent president/CEO in June 2018. Hoober calls out the pros/cons and successes/ pitfalls as the group went out- side for its top leadership in what was described by industry experts as a sign of organiza- tional maturity.

Chuck Hoober, Owner, Hoober Inc.

You’ll Learn:

1. What the tipping point is for knowing when to add in another layer of management.
2. When and why a non-family executive can be an important move for a family business.
3. How shifts in organizational structures create more visible career paths for younger talent to see career potential.

To register for this dealer-only event visit www.DealershipMindsSummit.com.

Click here to download the 2024 Dealership Minds Summit program.

The Dealership Minds Summit features collaborative, dealer-to-dealer learning over a 2-day, knowledge-packed agenda that is guaranteed to give you authoritative strategies from the most progressive minds at farm equipment dealers. Join the top farm equipment dealerships from around North America on August 6-7, 2024 in Madison, Wis., for two days of unrivaled learning and networking. Limited seats available.

Title Sponsors for the 2024 event are AgDirect, Machinery Scope, IronSolutions by Fusable, AXON, Dealer Information Systems Corporation (DIS), TractorHouse, VitalEdge Technologies, Basic Software Systems, Associated Equipment Distributors (AED), AgGuard, Geringhoff, PTx Trimble , Agri Spray Drones, and LST Group.