Two industry leaders will become the newest inductees into the Rental Hall of Fame

Each year, the American Rental Association (ARA) honors individuals for outstanding service to the association and the rental industry. This year’s inductees into the Rental Hall of Fame, the industry’s highest honor, will be recognized at The ARA Show™ 2026 in Orlando.

ARA created the Rental Hall of Fame in 2000 to honor those individuals who have changed the trajectory of the equipment and event rental industry. Each year, nominations are accepted to recognize outstanding industry leaders who have made a substantial and lasting impact on the industry’s success and growth at the national and/or international level.

The two inductees this year include Richard Frechette Sr. and Gary McArdle. Here is more information on the newest inductees:

Richard Frechette Sr., Quality Rental Centers

Richard Frechette Sr. entered the rental industry in 1969 when he and his wife, Elaine, opened a Taylor Rental Center franchise in Pawtucket, R.I., in the burned-out remains of a former body shop. The family-owned-and-operated business grew to the extent that it was later cited as the largest Taylor Rental in the country.

In 1985, deciding that his business had outgrown the Taylor Rental franchise, Frechette went independent and rebranded as Quality Rental. Quality Rental remains in operation today, with locations in Pawtucket and North Providence, R.I. Now spanning three generations of family ownership, the 53-year ARA member caters to both equipment and event rental needs in its community.

Frechette was a trailblazer in many ways during his career in rental. He was one of the first rental companies in the Northeast to successfully blend the offering of both homeowner tools and party rental supplies. He used and shared innovative building strategies, such as welding dry box trailers together to create loading dock platforms that maximize storage space and ease logistics — a practice still used and replicated to this day. Quality Rental was also used as a testing store for some of the earliest rental-specific software. It was an early adopter of the “ready to rent” tag system that would become an industry-wide operating procedure.

Frechette highly valued industry connections, and he left his mark on several regional networking groups. He served as president of the Northeast Equipment Rental Association in the late 1970s, co-founded the ARA of Massachusetts when that association became a state chapter in 1982, and co-founded the ARA of Rhode Island in 1984.

Frechette’s industry service extended to volunteering in a variety of roles with ARA at the national level. Between 1979 and 1996, he stepped up to help lead the ARA Mobile Equipment Council, the ARA Foundation Board of Trustees, and the ARA Executive Committee. Frechette served as ARA Region One director from 1981–1984 and in 1988, he became the 27th president of ARA.

During his time on the ARA board, Frechette envisioned the association as the mechanism for meeting industry needs that remain top priorities today: professional education and training, networking, employee recruitment, and promoting the concept of rental through national advertising campaigns.

In recognition of his industry service, Frechette has received ARA accolades, including the Region One Person of the Year Award, the Distinguished Service Award, the President’s Image Award, and the Rental Excellence Award for Best Customer Service in the party and event segment.

While Frechette stepped away from day-to-day operations at Quality Rental more than 15 years ago, he has remained an Active-Retired member of ARA and a frequent attendee of The ARA Show.

Gary McArdle, Rouse Services/RB Global

After a 1990s career in quality assurance, tax, and advisory services, McArdle shifted to auctions, appraisals, and liquidations, where his research led to an understanding of equipment marketing and appraisal data needs. His rental-focused career began in earnest in the early 2000s after meeting Scott Rouse, who had taken over his family’s auction business. McArdle’s expertise aligned with Rouse’s vision to transform the company into an information and services provider serving the rental industry. The pair joined forces under the Rouse Services banner to provide information analysis to rapidly growing rental companies acquired through acquisitions.

Over time, McArdle developed a reputation as an analyst with a keen ability to gather, analyze, and interpret sales and rental data, and then present solutions that enabled fleet and rental managers to make informed pricing decisions. His data-driven approach to supporting higher equipment valuations had a positive impact on rental companies’ ability to access capital for growth through asset-based loans.

In 2007, McArdle led the launch of Rouse Sales — now known as Rouse Fleet Manager. Today, the Rouse Fleet Manager product line is utilized by more than 120 rental companies and dealers across North America to manage their marketing and disposal of used rental assets.

McArdle was instrumental in developing Rouse Analytics — now known as Rouse Rental Insights — in 2010. The platform was designed to deliver accurate, actionable benchmarks to rental companies to help them make informed decisions about pricing and fleet deployment. Since its introduction, Rouse Rental Insights has grown to more than 400 companies across North America and has expanded into the U.K., Australia, Japan, and Europe.

As Rouse Rental Insights was being deployed, McArdle teamed up with representatives from ARA and key national rental companies to develop a standard set of metrics for measuring and reporting on rate changes, fleet age, utilization, and other critical rental fleet KPIs (key performance indicators). The result was ARA’s Rental Market Metrics™ — a benchmarking standard adopted by several national rental companies and incorporated into many rental software platforms.

McArdle’s achievements at Rouse Services ultimately led to the company’s acquisition by RB Global in 2020. He remained on board for three years following the acquisition to help ensure that the Rouse brand stayed on a growth trajectory and to develop the next generation of leadership for the business.

Now retired from Rouse and RB Global, McArdle remains involved in charitable donation programs within the rental industry, including the Plant and Hire Aid Alliance, which supports humanitarian efforts in Ukraine.