Stramer to Retire Following Storied Career

Wed March 05, 2025
Link-Belt Cranes

Following 50 years of service to Link-Belt Cranes, Bill Stramer, senior vice president of marketing, sales and customer support, is retiring at the end of June 2025. Melvin Porter, president and CEO of Link-Belt Cranes, made the announcement.

The announcement follows a long, storied career for Stramer, which began in 1975 as a design engineering draftsman, followed by several years as a member of the technical services group for FMC Link-Belt in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. From 1981 to 1989, Stramer was a district sales manager of the Rocky Mountain region, working directly with Link-Belt's distributor network and overseeing Link-Belt Construction Equipment sales from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, to El Paso, Texas.

In 1989, Stramer moved to Lexington, Ky., as product manager of telescopic cranes and played a key role in the development of Link-Belt's successful hydraulic truck and rough-terrain crane lines of that era. In 1994, he was promoted to director of crane marketing and sales. It also was at this time that he began his long association with key industry lifting associations like the Specialized Carrier and Rigging Association (SCRA) as well as the Canadian Crane Rental Association, both of which he held leadership positions in.

In 2004, Stramer was named vice president of marketing, sales and customer support, a role he held until he was promoted to senior vice president of marketing, sales and customer support in 2017.

"I would like to thank Bill for five decades of dedicated service to Link-Belt Cranes. In his role as senior vice president of marketing, sales and customer support and as a member of the LBC board, he has helped to shape and grow the company," Porter said. "He is a well-known and respected leader within the industry. I want to wish Bill and his family the very best as he begins a new chapter in his life."