Interview: Michel Petitjean on life after ERA

IRN: First, how do you feel about entering a new chapter in your career?

Michel Petitjean: I had time to prepare myself, because I knew that was going to happen for a year and a half. And so, I was not nervous, because it was just the right time for me to retire.

I have nothing concrete organized yet for work, but I’m quiet because I’m discovering what it’s like to have no deadlines, no obligations, for the first time in my 55-year career. And it’s a pretty good feeling. You wake up in the morning and you say, I have nothing I must do, so let’s take my bicycle out.

Michel Petitjean receiving his lifetime achievement award from ERA president Stephane Henon at the 2025 ERA Convention in Dublin.

IRN: Are you surprised you’ve discovered that? As you say, you’ve just worked hard so continuously for such a long time. Is it a surprise that you find that you can enjoy it a bit now, not doing so much?

Michel Petitjean: I’m quite surprised. And it’s a pretty good feeling. No phone calls, no messages, no deadlines, no duties, no reports, no pressure, just me and my family. That’s a great feeling so far.

IRN: It’s good to hear that. But also, what allows you to feel good is what you’ve achieved. When you came on board as Secretary General of the European Rental Association 19 years ago, did you imagine what it would become?

Michel Petitjean: I didn’t. In September 2005 in Maastricht, KHL had invited Gerard Deprez as a keynote speaker. He finished his speech by saying ‘I’m frustrated. I’m working in six countries, and I must change the lights [on my equipment], I must change the fuel, I must change many things from one country to another. So, I propose to initiate the creation of a European level association for our industry. ’

And after the meeting, he came to me and asked if I would be interested and help create that new European association.

The following week, we met with Gerard Deprez and his assistant, Carole Bachmann. We started from day one with a white paper and put on the first line, it’s going to be in Brussels, it’s going to be no paper, it’s going to be continental English, and so on...

And the three pillars to create ERA would be promoting the rental industry, both inside the rental industry and outside; creating an economic vision of our industry, because we had approximative figures in most countries; and working on the harmonisation of EU and National regulations.

Those were the three pillars of the ERA at that time. And I started to make phone calls everywhere, because I was already acquainted with this industry. By January 2006, we organised the constitutive assembly with 33 founding members in Brussels. And that was the start. Then we had our first convention in June 2006 in Brussels. Then our first working committees…

On stage at the 2014 European Rental Awards.

IRN: What were the biggest challenges in the first years? What were the things that caused you problems in creating the association?

Michel Petitjean: The main issue was with the national associations, and trying to make them understand what we were trying to do….We had to convince them all the time that we would cover issues that were different from their national and daily issues dealing particularly with their small members – social, risks, theft, regulations.

We at ERA tried to cover priorities and concerns regarding the industry, including all the stakeholders, OEMs and service providers and so on. So, we were not doing the same thing, but it took several years before they trusted ERA.

IRN: And what made the difference in the end?

Michel Petitjean: It really happened when we started to deliver very critical issues such as the Market Report, the TCO calculator, and more recently the CO2 calculator. Reporting on those kinds of topics, which they saw as a big outcome.

IRN: Over those 19 years the industry has evolved. How would you describe the changes in the industry from then till now?

Michel Petitjean: It has evolved completely. In June 2006, I welcomed the heads of two major rental companies at the entrance to the Raddison Blu in Brussels, and they didn’t know each other, had never talked face to face. They were fierce business rivals.

At the convention they had the opportunity to talk and learn from each other. So, one of the main accomplishments is that the top managers at the top companies developed constructive and healthy relationship. This really gave a lot of opportunities to do networking, but more than networking, it created a lot of respect between them.

IRN: It created a rental community in Europe.

Michel Petitjean: Absolutely. A rental community, full of respect, geared towards positives issues and targets. But my mantra from day one at ERA has been to create value for the rental industry, and on all topics, and on an ethical basis. We never tried to do something to hurt a national association or anybody because we had a very strict ethical position and were always looking to create value for the industry. That’s how we built ERA.

Michel at an ERA Convention, speaking to Peter Schrader of Zeppelin Rental and ERA’s Carole Bachmann.

IRN: If you look back, what things gave you the greatest pleasure from your time at the ERA, the things that the association achieved?

Michel Petitjean: The greatest pleasure was the success of the events, the Conventions, but even more than that, the committees. I saw the people coming to the committees. I said all the time, an association like ERA is based on volunteers, people coming to the committees, spending money and the time of their organizations to look for results, to look for feedback.

If you don’t provide added value, you lose people. And I saw some committees growing, like the technical committee. It’s not all brilliant, and there are ups and downs, but overall, we had a lot of success on the major committees, and we had the trust of the board.

The technical committee is a good example. I went to Gerard Deprez, who was still the president of the ERA then, and I said, what if I put face-to-face the fleet managers and the OEMs? He said: Just do it and leave them together, they know what they have to talk about. So, I did, and in November 2010, we had 24 people - 12 fleet managers and 12 OEMs - facing each other.

After two or three hours of confrontational discussion, a representative from the OEMs said, what if we started by putting together a model of total cost of ownership (TCO), which was a brilliant idea. And after that, over 18 months we did it.

Finally, that was the source of many of the big topics that the technical committee undertook in the following years in terms of safety, trainings, telematics, theft, the energy transition…

IRN: It wasn’t always easy. The rental statistics issue was complicated, for example.

Michel Petitjean: We started the statistics committee in 2006. After 18 months we had come up with a consistent methodology across Europe with official statistics, which gave us some difficulty, but which got recognition from the financial markets. It was a huge project, and a big budget.

IRN: Are there any things that you were frustrated about that you couldn’t get done?

Michel Petitjean: I wish we could have gone further on statistics, but it’s very difficult and very costly. I think on Promotion, it was so difficult to come up with something significant. However, the best thing we did recently was the European Rental Week, which is great. So, I have very few frustrations, and partly because I always concentrate on the positive.

IRN: And during that last 19 years, alongside your ERA work, you trained to become a mediator. Did that happen partly because of your experience at the association, or was it something that you always wanted to do?

Michel Petitjean: No, that was different from the ERA work. There are local or social courts in countries, like magistrates’ courts in the UK. Since 2008 I had been a social court judge for 10 years in Paris, at the same time as being with the ERA. After that I was invited to join a higher court, a court of appeal, but that was taking too much of my time. I preferred to make conciliations, so that led me to learn mediation. I went to university for two years, on weekends, and I’m certified by the mediation court in France. I also completed the mediation certification in the UK.

IRN: Did those skills help you in working with the ERA?

Giving the rental statistics report at the 2017 ERA Convention.

Michel Petitjean: Quite frankly, learning about mediation really brought me on in my life at large, in my personal life, professional life, life at large. What are conflicts, what are miscommunications? I learned a lot about it. I understood the conflictive situations. Conflicts are a big, big issue and will be as long as human beings live. [Laughs]

IRN: The future direction of ERA is in the hands of the board and the new secretary general, Carole Bachmann. You had a long working relationship with Carole, what words would you have as she takes on this role?

Michel Petitjean: You know, we’ve been so close since I knew that she would be the next secretary general. I tried to be on her side to make some room for her, so that was the best I could do over the last year.

I know she will be very good because she is a very honest and well-educated person, and I admire her. I had a lot of pleasure working with her.

IRN: You are enjoying your newfound freedom, but in a month or two you’ll be thinking about coming back and getting more involved again. You may not work with the same intensity, but will you want to still be involved in some way?

Michel Petitjean: Off course, I would be happy to share my experience and knowledge if needed.

For example, in the issue of rental statistics, which has been my forte all the time at the ERA, I could bring some of my expertise.

IRN: What about consulting? Is that something you’re interested in, because that’s what you were doing before you joined the ERA.

Michel Petitjean: I may consider any proposals from the equipment industry where I feel I could contribute .

IRN: Michel, you’ve had some time since the Convention in Dublin, when you received the lifetime achievement award. How does it make you feel now?

In the audience at the 2024 International Rental Conference (IRC) in Shanghai, where he was a speaker.

Michel Petitjean: Two things. First, Carole and you have worked hard at preparing that, so I am very grateful for such recognition. So, thanks a lot to you, and to Stephane [Henon, president of ERA] who also covered it.

Then, the standing ovation was an unbelievable feeling, having 400 people in a room standing up for you makes you feel that you made a good job. It was fantastic, I felt like I had no enemies, only friends.

IRN: Thank you, Michel.