MEMBER PROFILE Benjamin Dutton: Icon of the Equipment Industry worked there since 1975. Now a $70 million company, ECA began with selling and leasing commercial and industrial equipment as well as defense surplus equipment. One of its first agreements to sell new equipment was with MKT Corp- oration which manufactured pile driving equipment. This was the beginning of the company’s evolution into a foundation construction equipment company. Ben Dutton, executive vice president of Equipment Corporation of America (ECA), was born and educated in Philadelphia and now lives in nearby Springfield, Pa. However, he is no stay-at-home. He spends almost three quarters of his working hours traveling to manage the firm’s growing number of locations, now eight. Dutton began college after accepting an offer to play football at North Carolina Wesleyan College, Rocky Mount, N.C. The school cut the program when he started and Dutton returned home to Philadelphia, where he studied accounting at Saint Joseph’s University. He never worked as one. Instead, while he was still in college, he began to sell construction equipment for a local company as a commissioned salesman while still attending classes. That first venture into equipment sales seems prescient now. After working in his dad’s paving and excavating company for three years, he decided to return to his old career path, selling construction equipment. His first interview was at ECA. The interviewer turned out to be the father of a high school football teammate and the pair just “talked football” for quite a while. Dutton got the job, which was only 2 miles from his house, and never left the firm. ECA was founded in 1918, by several Midwestern firms that wanted to create an outlet for their trade in equipment and machinery. The group was one of the first to promote renting equipment. Dutton has Family-owned Firm Dutton has had a long and successful career, and has especially enjoyed working with the Kerns in the family-owned firm. The Kerns did not found the firm but have built on the original 1918 concept, and over the years, the firm has improved by adapting to many types of foundation equipment. Roy Kern is the president of ECA. Asked how he would describe Ben Dutton’s personality, he said “lots of it!” Kern says Dutton is outgoing and funny, and connects with employees and customers. Recently after an industry meeting, Dutton delivered an hour-long standup comedy routine and had the audience “mesmerized,” telling jokes and stories about the equipment business, according to Kern. ECA has grown from 20 employees in 1975 and now has over 80 employees, says Kern, and this growth is “largely due to Ben Dutton.” Dutton has a broad knowledge of the foundation equipment industry and products, plus a great memory about the industry’s history. He has been Kern’s “right hand man.” Kern says he could not have overseen the growth without Dutton — a problem solver who learned about the industry and the equipment on the job, and is well respected by employees and customers. Dutton also travels 70% of the time and his mobility has been key to the company’s success. Dutton greatly admires a self-made man in the equipment business, Jim Harmston, whom he met at an ADSC meeting while checking out of a crowded hotel 20 years ago. Harmston started out as a crane operator, bought out a small company and built it into a successful firm, Foundation Services, and eventually sold it to Hayward Baker, which is owned by Keller. Dutton talks to Harmston daily, and the latter man even has a “Dutton Suite” at his own home in Greensboro, N.C. Dutton is an “icon in the equipment world,” says Harmston, and “everyone knows and respects him; he is a go-to guy, who doesn’t just push his own products. Dutton is very fair, very knowledgeable, very outgoing and has high standards.” Another colleague whom Dutton has known for years is Bob Tuleya, of Tuleya Pile Foundation. They met over 35 years ago and have traveled to Europe, including two ECA/Bauer sponsored trips to Schrobenhausen, Germany, and to Italy and Hawaii. Tuleya says Dutton displayed remarkable organizational skills in man- aging the 40 trip participants — overseeing meals, housing and transportation for everyone. Part of one trip included Dutton wearing lederhosen, a bow to the German location. He furnished the reluctant Tuleya with a pair of his own. Tuleya notes that everywhere he goes, someone knows Dutton and speaks well of him. He extends that compliment to ECA, calling it a “top of the line firm,” always reliable, and one that always solves any problems. Tuleya offers a reflective view on their multi-year relationship, saying “the construction industry can affect one’s values and integrity. Not only has Ben Dutton maintained his, these attributes have grown stronger.” DFI Involvement The Deep Foundations Institute played a role in Dutton’s career early on. He was invited to DFI’s inaugural meeting by Bob Compton, who along with Jack Daugherty and others, co-founded DFI. So Dutton was a witness to DFI’s birth and has been a loyal member during its subsequent growth. He commends Theresa Engler, DFI’s executive director, for her success in overseeing that growth. DEEP FOUNDATIONS • NOV/DEC 2015 • 69
