This is The Harley-Davidson Board of Directors After Annual Shareholder Vote

Despite a boardroom power-struggle that played out right until the eleventh hour, Harley-Davidson shareholders have spoken, and Jochen Zeitz is still the one they are backing after majority vote.

Zeitz joined the Harley-Davidson board of directors in the mid-2000s, after forging a career with the sports clothing brand Puma, which began in 1990. He was catapulted into the role of interim CEO in February 2020, in the wake of Matthew Levatich’s ‘More Roads to Harley-Davidson’ strategy failing to deliver.

Shortly after taking over, Zeitz announced the ‘Rewire’ business plan, which was quickly flipped to being called ‘Hardwire’. Flashy name aside, they basically meant the same thing - focus on the markets and segments that mattered most to them, while Rewire also included a plan to set LiveWire up as a standalone EV brand.

Some of that worked, some of it inevitably didn’t, but nonetheless, Zeitz and some of his core team have done enough to earn the support of the majority of shareholders.

The results of the vote are preliminary, although we’d not expect them to change. It means Zeitz will stay as President and CEO, backed by Tom Linebarger, who will be the Presiding Director. Another name that’s been in the news recently is remaining on the board, as Sara Levinson is once again named as a Director. She’ll be joined in the position by Troy Alstead, James Duncan Farley Jr, Lori Flees, Allan Golston, Rafeh Masood, and Maryrose Sylvester.

Speaking about the results, Linebarger, said:

“On behalf of the entire Board and management team, I would like to extend our gratitude to our shareholders for their trust and support. We appreciate the valuable perspectives and feedback our shareholders have provided leading up to our Annual Meeting, and we look forward to continuing to engage going forward. The Board remains committed to executing its duties in the best interest of all the Company's shareholders.”

The news of Zeits, Levinson, and Linebarger remaining at the head of the board wasn’t music to everyone’s ears, with H Partners, a shareholder in Harley-Davidson (it claims to hold approximately 9.3 per cent of outstanding shares in the company) which has been vocal recently in its efforts to oust the trio. H Partners have been firing out press releases left, right and centre, but its desperate fight to take down the three board members was ultimately a failure.

Once the votes were counted, it released the following statement on the result of the vote:

“We thank our fellow shareholders and all other stakeholders, including dealers, riders, and employees, for their outpouring of support during this campaign for change at Harley. While we are disappointed with the state of the Company under the leadership of Mr. Zeitz, Mr. Linebarger, and Ms. Levinson, we believe that this shareholder mandate can create a brighter future for Harley-Davidson.

“We are encouraged that this campaign compelled Harley’s Board to commit to numerous shareholders that Mr. Zeitz, Mr. Linebarger, and Ms. Levinson will resign from the Board before the 2026 Annual Meeting, that it will appoint a new, external CEO, and that it will eliminate any consideration of Mr. Zeitz remaining on in an Executive Chair role. With such a large withhold vote, we call on the Board to follow through on these promises.

“We believe the outcome of today’s Annual Meeting sends a clear message that the direction of the Company needs to change. We are pleased that our campaign forced the Board to engage directly with stakeholders that they had long ignored, including dealers, employees, and shareholders. We encourage all stakeholders to continue to voice their perspectives on what is required to fix this great company.”

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