(FORTUNE Magazine) – JAMES H. PATERSON, 41 HARLEY-DAVIDSON INC. When Harley asked Paterson to oversee marketing of its motorcycles in 1984, the former accountant put away his spreadsheets and strapped on his helmet. He was in for a bumpy ride: Harley's share of the U.S. market had skidded to 23%, an all-time low. Paterson and his gang quickly launched programs to rebuild bikers' loyalty. Says he: ''We gave customers new reasons to ride and put the fun back in the business for our dealers.'' Thanks to his efforts -- and to the 1983 imposition of high tariffs on heavyweight imported cycles -- Harley's market share climbed. The company asked for the removal of the tariffs in 1987, and Harley's share was holding at 46% by the end of 1988. Paterson, the new president of the motorcycle division, now wants to rev up sales overseas, where No. 1 rival Honda still rules the roads.

RAUL ALARCON JR., 33 SPANISH BROADCASTING SYSTEM In less than six years Alarcon, the president of Spanish Broadcasting, has built a single New York City AM station into the largest Hispanic radio company in the U.S. (1988 revenues: $21.1 million). Not afraid to pay high prices, he shelled out $55.5 million for a New York City FM station last fall, his sixth acquisition. ''Some people call me a crazy Cuban,'' says Alarcon, who was born in Camaguey. ''But if you don't take calculated risks, you can't make huge gains.'' So far, so good. Alarcon says the flagship Spanish-language AM station in New York and AM-FM combinations in Los Angeles and Miami are ''extremely profitable.''

LALITA L. TADEMY, 40 ALPS ELECTRIC CO. LTD. A veteran of Memorex and ITT's printer company, Tademy helped found ALPS America in 1985 to market high-performance dot-matrix printers for personal computers. A San Jose, California, unit of Japan's ALPS Electric Co., the company is up against more than 100 competitors. Unlike most, ALPS avoids national retailers and sells to the government directly and to businesses through a network of regional distributors. Sales exceeded $60 million in 1988, when ALPS ranked among the top ten U.S. printer brands. Tademy aims to improve that position, expand into international markets, and broaden the product line to other computer peripherals. Says she: ''I want ALPS to be a * respected brand name in business offices throughout the world.''Carol Davenport