The Industrial Truck Association (ITA) said Wednesday that William J. Montwieler, the group's executive director for 28 years, will retire on Dec. 31.

Montwieler will be succeeded by Brian Feehan, vice president of the Propane Education & Research Council, ITA said in a statement. Feehan will join ITA this fall and take over on Jan. 1.

"Bill's 28 years of service to the association have been marked by major changes to and improvement in the services that ITA offers its members. The association's statistics program, its engineering practices, the work with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the establishment of the Industrial Truck Standards Development Foundation, [and] the enhancement of our contacts with our sister associations abroad through the Alliance of Industrial Truck Organizations, all came about under Bill's leadership," said Jeff Rufener, president of ITA.

Rufener also lauded Feehan's commitment to ITA, saying he has attended every association meeting for the past six years and has been a key contributor to advancing ITA's air quality agenda.

Montwieler said, "I have had the pleasure of working with Brian over the course of the last several years and I am convinced that he has the experience, the ability and the desire to help lead the membership towards greater profitability."

Montwieler called the adoption of sweeping OSHA regulations improving the safety of industrial truck operations his "crowning achievement" over the past 25 years at ITA.

"Those regulations wouldn't have happened without ITA," he said. "Every member can be proud that, thanks mainly to the association's efforts, the lives