Killingstad took over leadership of the Golden Valley–based floor-cleaning equipment manufacturer just now in December, succeeding the well-regarded Janet Dolan in that job. His plan for Tennant (NYSE: TNC) during the next year or two: execute. “In 2002, we established a new strategic direction,” Killingstad says. “And that’s when we planted this flag five to ten years into the future that said we wanted to migrate from being a nonresidential floor-maintenance company to being more of an environmental health-and-safety products and services company. At that time, we also realized we wanted to be a much more profitable business, a more global business, and a more innovative business.” Tennant began as a lumber company and moved into floor cleaning; under Killingstad, expect more re-invention, toward a broader array of cleaning technologies.