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CEO of Harley-Davidson
Jochen Zeitz is the president, CEO and chairman of the board of Harley-Davidson, Inc.(HOG)
He is also CEO and Chairman of LiveWire Inc..Before that, he served as the chairman and CEO of Puma for 18 years. He also served as board member of Kering, the luxury goods company and chaired their Sustainability Committee, for whom he developed its global sustainability strategy. Zeitz is currently a board member of Harley Davidson, The B Team and Cranemere. In addition to this, Zeitz previously served on the board of Wilderness Safaris. Jochen Zeitz is also the co-founder of The B Team with Sir Richard Branson, Zeitz MOCAA and Founder of the Zeitz Foundation to support sustainable solutions that balance conservation, community, culture and commerce, and The Long Run.
Zeitz began his professional career with Colgate-Palmolive in New York and Hamburg. He joined PUMA in 1990, and in 1993 was appointed Chairman and CEO, becoming the youngest CEO in German history to head a public company at the age of 30. He then spearheaded the worldwide restructuring of PUMA, which was in financial difficulties at the time, and implemented a long-term development plan t hat saw PUMA's share price gain around 4000 percent in 13 years, from 8.6 Euros in his first year as CEO to an all-time high of 350 Euros when the majority stake of the company was acquired by Kering in 2007. Zeitz turned PUMA from a failing company into one of the top three sporting goods brands in the world. After acquiring PUMA, Jochen Zeitz then joined Kering as a board member.
In 2008, Zeitz introduced PUMAVision, an ethical framework defined by the four key principles of being fair, honest, positive and creative as applied to all professional behaviour, business procedures and relationships throughout and outside of PUMA. Zeitz conceived of the Environmental Profit & Loss Account (E P&L). In May 2011 he announced PUMA's Environmental Profit & Loss Account, which puts a monetary value to a businesses use of ecosystem services across the entire supply chain. From 2010 to 2012, Zeitz was CEO of the Sport & Lifestyle division, which included PUMA and Volcom, and its Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO), then a Director of Kering and Chairman of the Board's sustainable development committee.
In 2014, Zeitz co-founded The B Team with Sir Richard Branson, an initiative which brings together the world’s top business leaders to promote socially and environmentally conscious business practices across the globe. Zeitz is also a board member of The B Team, Cranemere, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS).
Zeitz is now the Chairman, President and CEO of Harley-Davidson. He has been a member of the Board of Directors of Harley-Davidson since 2007 and served as the Chair of Harley-Davidson’s Sustainability Committee since its inception in 2011.
Known for “proven turnaround” skills Zeitz assumed the helm of Harley-Davidson first as interim CEO in February 2020 and took over the job permanently in May 2020. In July, Zeitz announced The Rewire which led to a new five-year strategic plan called The Hardwire. The Rewire included prioritizing markets that matter and enhancing core strengths of the company while balancing expansion into new spaces. The Hardwire strategy includes a new pre-owned motorcycle program; investment in the parts, accessories, riding geal and financial services segments of the business; and a new division focused exclusively on electric motorcycles. In a subsequent financial filing Harley-Davidson Inc. reported better-than-expected results in a sign that its turnaround plan was taking hold.
In February 2021, inspired by KKR & Co Inc executive Pete Stavros, Zeitz announced the motorcycle maker would give stock grants to employees, including hourly and factory workers, to align with executives and shareholders.
In December 2021, Zeitz announced LiveWire, the electric-motorcycle division of Harley-Davidson, will become a separate publicly traded company to “operate with the same agility and speed as a startup.” The company went public on the NYSE on September 27, 2022. On the day of listing, Zeitz was the first CEO to ring the opening and closing bell of trading on the NYSE, also being the first to run two public-listed companies. Zeitz serves as LiveWire’s chairman and CEO for up to two years as it searches for a permanent leader. Zeitz is credited with bringing the company’s first electric model (Harley-Davidson LiveWireTM) to fruition in 2019.
In 2023, The Hardwire is now in its third year of implementation and since its launch, the company has not missed quarterly earnings
Jochen Zeitz born 6 April 1963 in Mannheim, Germany. He studied in Germany, Italy, France, and the United States, and graduated from the European Business School in International Marketing and Finance.
Recognition :
Zeitz has received the "Strategist of the Year" three times from the Financial Times, "Entrepreneur of the Year", “Trendsetter of the Year” and “Best of European Business Award 2006″. In 2004, he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit of Germany. In 2009, he was named Honorary Warden of Kenya by the Kenya Wildlife Service. In 2010, the German Sustainability Foundation gave Zeitz an award for Germany's most sustainable future strategies. He was named a Conde Nast Traveler “Visionaries 2012” and one of Fast Company’s “10 Most Important Players at the Rio +20 Conference”. He received the 2012 German Image Award, the 2013 Banksia International Award[36] and the Visionary Award for the 2013 Travel + Leisure Global Vision Award. In 2015 he was awarded the Special Advocacy Award for Responsible Capitalism.> The award ceremony was held at Lancaster House in London, and presented by Sajid Javid, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills. In the same year, he was ranked #18 of "The World's Top 100 Compassionate Business Leaders" by Salt Magazine and awarded for his advocacy of Responsible Capitalism by FIRST Magazine. In 2016, the Zoological Society of London honoured Zeitz as a ZSL Conservation Fellow. In 2017, Zeitz was named #26 in OOOM's "The World's Most Inspiring People" list. In 2019, Conde Nast Traveler named Zeitz as one of “The 44 People Changing the Way We Travel”
