Jim Decatur, general manager, All Occasions Party Rentals, Knoxville, Tenn., has been elected to the ARA of Tennessee board of directors.
Decatur brings more than 25 years of event rental experience to the board.
“I started out in customer service with Chicago Party Rental in Countryside, Ill., in July 1996,” he says. “I moved my way up to operations — dispatch and production — then to outside sales in 2010, three years after the company’s purchase by Classic Party Rentals. After 17 years with the company, I moved on to Patten Caterpillar (now Altorfer Cat), where I built the Entertainment division in the Power and HVAC department. After two years there, I shifted back to tent rentals and large event business, joining Arena Americas for four years as the Midwest regional sales manager/new business development manager. I came on board with All Occasions in 2019.”
Recognizing the advantage of longtime industry experience that Decatur could bring to the ARA of Tennessee’s programs, All Occasions Party Rental owner Terry Turner, CERP, a past president of the American Rental Association (ARA), recommended him for the leadership opportunity.
Decatur says he answered the call to join the ARA of Tennessee team because “I like to coach and mentor. I have been in the industry for a long time, and I like to download my résumé of experiences so the next generation of rental professionals can learn from all of that time I had in the field.”
In response to the intense challenges the rental industry has faced over the last two years — particularly the event segment — Decatur states his initial goal for his tenure on the board simply: “I want to help smaller businesses navigate back from the pandemic.”
Away from work, Decatur enjoys hiking and raft tubing in the Smoky Mountains and — reflecting his Chicago roots — is a fan of the Chicago Bears and the Chicago Cubs.