Harley-Davidson Appoints New Chief Financial Officer

Harley-Davidson has announced the appointment of a new Chief Financial Officer. Gina Goetter, a top finance executive at Tyson Foods. She will join Harley-Davidson as CFO effective September 30, 2020. Goetter has over two decades of experience driving strong financial and operational results and leading transformational change. Before joining Harley-Davidson, Goetter served as Senior Vice President and CFO of Tyson Foods. Prior to that role, Goetter held various global leadership positions at General Mills Inc, where she led business model re-engineering and optimised procurement strategies and logistics.

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Jochen Zeitz, Harley-Davidson President, Chairman and CEO, has been a board member since 2007

"Gina is a CFO with the experience to drive a transformation of core processes and reporting for improved operational efficiency, build a global shared services model and modernise accounting controls," said Jochen Zeitz, Chairman, President and CEO of Harley-Davidson. "She will add fresh perspectives and new capabilities now represented at the leadership level that complement the experienced talent that has been promoted from within. We have a diverse management team structured in a new way that is designed to fuel Harley-Davidson's brand desirability and lead Harley-Davidson as a high-performing organisation."

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Plans to launch the upcoming Harley-Davidson Bronx streetfighter have been shelved

Darell Thomas, who assumed the role of interim CFO, will continue as Vice President and Treasurer. In July, Harley-Davidson had announced that Chief Financial Officer John Olin had left the company. Olin had been with the company for 17 years. Harley-Davidson also replaced CEO Matt Levatich with Jochen Zeitz this year. Levatich had been with Harley-Davidson for 26 years. Zeitz had been a board member since 2007 and in July announced 700 job cuts at Harley-Davidson.

Also Read: Harley-Davidson Reports $92 Million Loss As Bike Sales Skid

The Pan America is Harley-Davidson's first foray into the adventure motorcycle space and will be launched, possibly in 2021

Also Read: Harley-Davidson Removed From S&P 500 Index

After Zeitz took over, the previous 'More Roads to Harley-Davidson' strategy begun by former CEO Matt Levatich was dropped in favour of Zeitz's 'Rewire' plan. The Rewire plan outlined by Zeitz will look at overhauling Harley-Davidson's operating model, and will continue through the end of 2020, leading to The Hardwire, a new strategic plan for 2021-2025.

Also Read: Harley-Davidson Likely To Streamline New Model Strategy; Future Models To Be Shelved

Sales of Harley-Davidson bikes has been under pressure, even in the home market of US

Harley-Davidson has been under pressure in recent years, in the face of a sales slowdown. The company faced another blow during the coronavirus pandemic and associated economic downturn. From April to June 2020, Harley-Davidson reported a loss of $92 million and motorcycle sales in US fell 27 per cent in that quarter, the steepest decline in at least six years. In 2019, Harley-Davidson reported $5.36 billion in consolidated revenue, and in June 2020, the iconic motorcycle brand was removed from the S&P 500 index due to a more than 30 per cent drop in its share price.