RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. – The Heavy Duty Manufacturers Association (HDMA), the heavy-duty division of MEMA, announced that Volvo Group CEO Olof Persson will serve as keynote speaker at the 25th annual Breakfast & Briefing, scheduled to take place from 7-9:30 a.m. on March 27, immediately preceding the opening of the Mid-America Trucking Show (MATS) in Louisville, Ky. As the keynote speaker, Persson will discuss Volvo’s views on some of the key issues and trends affecting the global and North American commercial transportation markets.
The Breakfast & Briefing event was first held in 1990 and has sold out every year since 1997, making it one of the most popular events during show week at the Mid-America Trucking Show (MATS). The event provides a hearty breakfast, great opportunities to network with industry peers and a keynote address given by an industry-leading, top OEM executive. The event is traditionally held the Friday during MATS in Louisville, Ky.
Persson began his business career in 1988 at the ABB Group. From 1996 on, he held a number of executive positions at AdTranz, a German/Swedish company designing rail cars and engines, and in 2001 he joined Bombardier Transportation, which had acquired AdTranz, becoming the world’s largest company in the rail equipment manufacturing and servicing industry.
Persson joined the Volvo Group in 2006 as president and CEO of Volvo Aero Corp. and took up the position of president and CEO at Volvo Construction Equipment in 2008. On Sept. 1, 2011, Persson was appointed president of AB Volvo and CEO of the Volvo Group and became a member of the Volvo Board. Persson is a member of the European Round Table of Industrialists and the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences.
In August 2014, Persson was appointed co-chairman when United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon assembled a high-level Advisory Group on Sustainable Transport. The advisory group, consisting of 12 members, is charged with providing recommendations on sustainable transport actionable at global, national and local levels.
