Mack Trucks Inc. announced that Dennis R. Slagle will succeed Paul L. Vikner as president and chief executive officer of the company effective April 1, 2008. Slagle has served since 2003 as president and CEO of Volvo Construction Equipment North America, headquartered in Asheville NC. He will be based at Mack's headquarters in Allentown PA. Vikner, who has served as president and CEO since 2001, will become vice-chairman of the Mack board of directors. He will also continue to represent both Mack and its parent company, the Volvo Group, in their work with federal government entities and industry groups. Mack has named Matthew Walsh vice-president-export for its International Operations business, effective immediately. He joined Mack in 1996 and has held positions within International Operations, most recently as director of international parts sales, logistics, and CKD (completely knocked down or disassembled trucks for export) operations.
Heil Trailer International has appointed Bernie Riggin sales product manager. He has 23 years of trailer experience working for Heil as a product engineering manager, product manager, and manufacturing manager.
Polar Tank Trailer Corp has named Cynthia Anderson director of sales-truck division, responsible for expanding that division. She most recently served as vice-president of sales-truck division for Werts Welding since July 2006.
George Wall, after founding and leading XL Special Specialized Trailers since its inception, is retiring and turning over the reins of the company to his son, Scott Wall. Concurrently, the elder Wall has sold his ownership stake in XL to Granite Equity Partners and RockWood Equity Partners, while Scott Wall has maintained his current ownership stake in the business.
The Strick Group, consisting of Strick Trailers, Cheetah Chassis, and John Evans Manufacturing, announced personnel changes in conjunction with a recent organizational realignment. Leading the sales effort in the Northeast for all the companies in the group will be Murray Zwickel, who most recently was vice-president of sales for Cheetah. Heading the Southeast effort will be Cameron Evans, who has been president of John Evans for more than 20 years. New to the organization is Jim Sharkey, who will be in charge of the Midwestern effort and who has 20-plus years of experience in the trailer industry.