SALISBURY — The F&M Trolley Barn was abuzz with activity on Friday as various community stakeholders gathered for the Rowan Economic Development Council’s 5th annual meeting to celebrate the organization’s achievements and future growth initiatives.

The sold-out event was exclusive to Forward Rowan investors, bringing together top employers, community partners and government officials for an afternoon of networking and insights from industry leaders.

Daimler Truck North America President and CEO John O’Leary was the keynote speaker for the event. O’Leary oversees all aspects of the company and its affiliated brands, including Freightliner Trucks, Western Star Trucks, Thomas Built Buses and Detroit Diesel Corporation. Although he now lives in Oregon, O’Leary spent several years in the Piedmont region and had a notable Salisbury connection.

“Salisbury especially holds great memories, because about 15 years, 50 pounds and 5,000 gray hairs ago, I raced for a cycling team based and largely sponsored from here,” O’Leary said. “It was organized by several local star bike racers who you might know: Judge Charlie Brown, Brian Jenkins, John Patterson, the Shields Family. Although we raced pretty much all over the Carolinas, one of the few photos from them that I managed to hold on to was for a race here in Salisbury.”

Daimler Truck North America owns the Freightliner facility in Cleveland. It is one of many manufacturing operations in the Carolinas.

“Although our North America headquarters are in Portland, Oregon, most of our U.S. manufacturing is out here in the Carolinas, as far south as Gaffney, to as far northeast as High Point,” he said. “We employ almost 9,000 people across five major production campuses.”

The plant in Cleveland employs more than 2,000 people.

“This summer, in fact, its 850,000th truck will roll off the line,” O’Leary said. “It’s also proven to be one of the most versatile plants in our network, with the ability to rapidly switch vehicle mix to be shifting customer preferences. During the freight recession last year, for example, the team in Cleveland was able to convert the line from primarily Freightliner Cascadias to mostly Western Star vocational products. It really got us out of a tough spot, and it’s in large part thanks to the skills and enthusiasm of folks employed here within Rowan County.

“Even though the volumes have shifted recently, we still build quite a few of our flagship on-highway product Freightliner Cascadia here in Rowan County. Cascadia is celebrating its one-millionth truck as well as the launch of its fifth generation platform, just last year, designed to optimize safety, efficiency and profitability for our customers. It’s driven by some of the nation’s largest fleets, including Ryder, Schneider, Old Dominion over in Thomasville, Swift, Amazon, J.B. Hunt, Warner, Penske, you name it, but those are just a few. The backbone of our Cleveland truck plant these days, however, is our Western Star X series, the vocational 47X and 49X.

O’Leary said that those trucks specialize in the “toughest jobs in commercial transportation,” such as logging, mining and oil drilling.

“I can’t overstate how impressive these versatile machines are,” he said. “Once they’ve been up-fitted for duty, they are, without a doubt, the hero of the job site, and in many cases, they actually become the job site, without which all productivity grinds to the stock. That’s what we built here today …

“Our products are produced locally by your neighbors, friends and family members, and those products are built on parts sourced largely from local manufacturers as well. None of our competitors have production facilities in the Carolinas, much less as many as we do … the more local talent we can employ, the more competitive we can compensate them. Everyone wins by developing a competitive business environment here in Rowan County. You make it possible for Daimler Truck North America, the largest manufacturer of these vehicles, to fulfill our purpose, so that our customers can fulfill theirs.”

Rockstar of the Year Award

Purpose was a big part of the remarks shared by the man named at the annual meeting as the Rockstar of the Year.

Steve Fisher is the president and CEO of F&M Bank, but on Friday, he was the recipient of the EDC’s annual honor.

“I am blown away by this,” Fisher said. “Thank you so much. My dad (Paul E. Fisher) always talked a lot about one thing. It’s being useful, finding a way in life to be useful. What did God put us here to do but to be useful to one another? This community has given me so many wonderful opportunities to be useful.”

Fisher said that creating avenues for usefulness harkens to the core of the EDC mission.

“The EDC is a ripple effect of that,” he said. “There is no better way to allow people to be useful than to give them a job and purpose. That is what this organization is about. We talk a lot about having buildings and properties ready and all kinds of incentives, blah blah blah. It’s allowing someone to be useful. Don’t ever lose sight of that because that is what we do. It’s incredibly important.”

Rowan EDC President and CEO Rod Crider added, “Steve and I were on a panel discussion talking about leadership. We talked about how leadership is about vision and trust and the ability to bring people together around a common goal. Wherever Steve is serving, he challenges us to think bigger, to act boldly and never lose sight of the impact that we have.”

Nicole Holmes Matangira was also recognized at the meeting for her service as the immediate past board chair.

“Her ability to lead both with her head and especially her heart has made a real difference, not just with me personally but the entire team at the EDC and our community as a whole,” Crider said.