Mills veteran Cristian Nacht gets lifetime accolade at IAPA awards

The former long-time leader of Mills Rental in Brazil, Cristian Nacht, was awarded the lifetime achievement award at the International Awards for Powered Access (IAPAs) in Istanbul last week.

Nacht, the son of the founder José Nacht, joined the firm in 1969 and became CEO in 1978, a role he retained until 1998. Thereafter he was chairman for more than 20 years.

During that period he oversaw its expansion into powered access rental – beyond the scaffolding, formwork and shoring activities of the original business – and its IPO in 2010.

Cristian Nacht and his wife, Jytte Kjellerup Nacht, pictured at the 2026 IAPA awards in Istanbul. (Image: KHL Group)

He is pictured right at the Istanbul ceremony with his wife of 60 years, Jytte Kjellerup Nacht.

‘It is a great honour’

Accepting the award, Nacht said; “I’ve been involved with Mills for 60 years. Despite the fact that we only began with MEWPs in 1996, I refer to 60 years because much of what Mills achieved during the last 30 years was sown during the previous 30.”

Nacht paid tribute to his daughter, Francisca Nacht, who has been co-chair of the board for the last 10 years, and “our remarkable CEO, that many of you know, Sérgio Kariya.”

He said the Mills employees at the awards ceremony in Istanbul represented “the many thousands of employees responsible not only for the very courageous, enterprising and successful performance of Mills, but also for making Mills a great place to work, making it possible for Mills to become a B Corp certified company, and to be chosen as the rental company of the year at the IAPAs in 2024.

“To cap it all, we are in the final steps to enable the sale of Mills to Loxam, a company I have admired for a long time, not least because our values are very similar.

“I am immensely grateful to each of the incredible colleagues who have made this lifetime achievement award possible. Thank you. Thank you. It is a great honour to receive this award.”

The full list of the 2026 IAPAs winners can be found here.