Jay Williford

Vesco Material Handling Equipment Inc, doing business as Atlantic Coast Toyotalift, has named a new president, but the last name is exceedingly familiar within the industry.

Jay Williford, previously vice president of operations, assumes the duties of president from his father, Vann Williford, who held the position for 36 years and remains as chief executive officer and treasurer of the Winston-Salem-based business. The dealership serves portions of the North Carolina and Virginia markets through four locations.

Greg Creed, vice president of sales and marketing since 1999, continues in that role and as corporate secretary.

Jay Williford began working part-time in the business in 1990. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering and an MBA degree from North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina. He came back to the business full time in 2001 and became a part owner in 2004. His hobbies include soccer, saltwater fishing and snow skiing.

Vann Williford was born and raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina and played basketball for North Carolina State where he completed a degree in industrial engineering. He won the Everett Case award as the most valuable player in the 1970 Atlantic Coast Conference basketball tournament. He played professional basketball, served in the US Army and returned to acquire the forklift dealership. His hobbies include saltwater fishing, golf and spending time with his grandson.

The business was founded in 1951 as Veneman Equipment Services Co (Vesco) and, in 1970, became the first Toyota Industrial Equipment dealership east of the Mississippi River. The current legal name took effect in 1970, and the doing-business-as identity was adopted in 1999 for better marketing visibility.

In addition to the Toyota brand, the firm began representing Lift-a-Loft aerial work platforms in 1973, Blue Giant industrial trucks in 1997, JLG units in 1998, truck-mounted Kesmac equipment in 1999, Mariotti narrow-aisle specialty vehicles in 2003, Hoist large-capacity forklifts in 2006, JCB teletrucks and construction equipment in 2007, Aichi aerial work platforms in 2008 and Takeuchi track loaders and mini excavators in May 2009.

The dealership moved to a new state-of-the-art Winston-Salem facility in 2006 as its third home office location since 1973.

The dealership opened branches in Martinsville, Virginia in 1978, Wilmington, North Carolina in 1993 and Roanoke, Virginia in 2001. The business invested recently to upgrade the Wilmington facility.