Harley-Davidson is Looking for a New CEO

Harley-Davidson is planning a change at the very top of the company as current CEO Jochen Zeitz will leave his post later this year.

Zeitz has been in the role of CEO since 2020 and after gaining the position a five-year plan called “hardwire” was outlined to address H-D’s plummeting demand as well as modernising the brand’s appeal, amongst other things.

Zeitz was also at the helm when ‘woke’ accusations were made against the company from social media commentators. H-D would go on to confirm that it would no longer pursue diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies, which centres around the themes of representation and participation of different groups of individuals, regardless of age, race, gender, ethnicity, age, disability and sexual orientation.

Prior to landing the CEO role at H-D, Zeitz previously worked at Puma, the shoe and apparel firm, and was credited as an executive that could turn struggling companies around.

With a strong reputation behind him, Zeitz was seen as the right man to resolve Harley's struggling economic outlook. But Zeitz now wants to leave his role and H-D has confirmed it is searching for a replacement that it wishes to have in place at some point in 2025.

A statement from the American manufacturer said: "The Board of Directors of Harley-Davidson, Inc. today confirmed that it is engaged in an on-going CEO search process, as part of the Board's succession planning responsibilities. The search process was initiated in Q4 2024 with the retention of a leading executive search firm after Jochen Zeitz, the current CEO, expressed his interest in retiring from the Company in 2025 after five years in the CEO position, and subject to the appointment of a suitable successor."

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