The award, presented April 30 at the chamber’s annual celebration of its “Other Voices” program, honored the Volvo Group’s diversity, equity and inclusion programs. In particular, the chamber highlighted Volvo’s Women in Leadership development program.
Diversity and inclusion is one of the Volvo Group’s strategic focus areas because it brings diversity of thought to solving problems and finding opportunities. The Volvo Group is committed to the goal of having more than a third female leaders, and workers in general, by 2030.“Our industry has been male-dominated and we wanted to change that,” said Peter Voorhoeve, president of Volvo Trucks North America. “We wanted Volvo and Volvo Group to be a place where everybody feels at home regardless of age or color or orientation. And diversity is also just good for business.”
The chamber recognized the Volvo Group’s diversity programs, including internal networks for groups such as women in engineering, LGBTQI+ employees, those with diverse abilities, multi-cultural employees, and early career professionals. The Women in Leadership program was created in 2018 by Iris Austin, Volvo Trucks North America’s director of people and culture. The Volvo Group recently held a networking conference to bring together the more than 100 alumnae of the program.
”Companies that want to develop female leaders need to be intentional about it,” Austin said. ”I’m proud of the Volvo Group’s support, not only of this program, but of the idea that one size does not fit all when it comes to developing leaders.”
The Greensboro Chamber’s Change Agent Award is awarded annually to a person or organization that demonstrates exemplary leadership, positively affecting the cultural diversity and inclusiveness of the citizens and community of Greensboro. The award is part of Other Voices, the Greensboro chamber’s main diversity, equity and inclusion training program.
May 2, 2024
For further information, please contact John Mies, Volvo Group North America: phone +1-336-543-9094, email john.mies@volvo.com.
The Volvo Group drives prosperity through transport and infrastructure solutions, offering trucks, buses, construction equipment, power solutions for marine and industrial applications, financing and services that increase our customers’ uptime and productivity. Founded in 1927, the Volvo Group is committed to shaping the future landscape of sustainable transport and infrastructure solutions. The Volvo Group is headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden, employs approximately 104,000 people and serves customers in more than 190 markets. Volvo Group North America, with headquarters in Greensboro, NC, employs 18,600 people in North America and operates 16 manufacturing and remanufacturing facilities in Canada, Mexico and the United States. In 2023, the Volvo Group’s global net sales amounted to about $52 billion USD. Volvo shares are listed on Nasdaq Stockholm. For more information, please visit www.volvogroup.com.
###