Swede inspiration.

• Position: Heavy Truck Corp. President and Chief Executive Officer Karl-Erling Trogen

He is predecessor raised eyebrows by driving a big rig home at night. Karl-Erling Trogen, president and CEO of Volvo GM Heavy Truck Corp. in Greensboro, travels lighter: He tools around on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

Trogen rode into town in 1991 after Volvo's innovative heavy-truck joint venture with General Motors slipped gears. With corporate offices in Greensboro and plants in Dublin, Va., and Orrville, Ohio, Volvo and GM collaborate to make 20,000 trucks a year.

The son of a Swedish farmer, Trogen joined Volvo Truck Corp. at its Gothenburg, Sweden, headquarters in 1971 with a master's in engineering. By 1980 he was overseeing Volvo's Australian operations. After heading Volvo truck operations in Europe, he went to Turkey in 1986 to pull together a joint venture between Volvo and British Motor Corp.

"My personality is not to be a maintenance guy," he says. "My personality is to develop and improve."

Things sure needed some improvement in Greensboro, where he replaced Thage Berggren, who moved the headquarters of the old Volvo White Truck Corp. to the Gate City from Detroit in 1981. Berggren guided the merger of Volvo White with General...