Two days before the annual Harley-Davidson shareholder’s meeting, a second motorcycle dealers association announced it is supporting a campaign from an investment firm to oust senior leadership within the company.
The Florida Harley-Davidson Dealers Association said Monday it’s joining the National Powersports Dealer Association in “calling for (CEO) Jochen Zeitz’s immediate removal.”
Last month, H Partners Management, which owns a 9.1% stake in Harley-Davidson, launched a campaign that hopes to convince Harley-Davidson shareholders to withhold re-electing three members of the Harley-Davidson board: Zeitz, board member Sara Levinson, and board member Tom Linebarger. H Partners is also calling on the board to immediately remove Zeitz as CEO and install a senior leader to the position temporarily.
“Dealer profitability has collapsed, with national averages showing a loss with each bike sold in quarter one of 2025,” according to a letter from the Florida Harley-Davidson Dealers Association. “Transaction volume is down, obsolescent inventory has surged, and absorption has hit an all-time low. Florida dealers – among the most committed in the country – are being buried under aging inventory, declining foot traffic, and top-down mandates that ignore the on-the-ground-realities. This isn’t just a poor performance. It’s a failure of leadership.”
Last week, the National Powersports Dealer Association, representing more than 170 Harley dealers across the U.S, also said it planned to support H Partners’ campaign.
The campaign follows the resignation of Jared Dourdeville, partner at H Partners, last month from Harley’s board of directors. In a letter, Dourdeville cited several concerns with the company’s leadership, strategies and “disappearing dealer profitability.”
“H Partners had a representative in the Harley-Davidson boardroom for three years and had every opportunity to address issues that were important to them, yet they never did,” said Linebarger in a previously released statement. “They could have taken steps to nominate competing director candidates and given shareholders an alternative they did not. They could have expressed their concerns about the directors they are now targeting – yet their representative on the board voted for these directors to stand for reelection. The launch of this misguided campaign is, in our view, an attempt to engineer an outcome in the CEO search process that they alone desire.”
Harley’s annual meeting of shareholders is scheduled to take place tomorrow afternoon.
More articles about Harley-Davidson:
- Harley-Davidson expects deal involving financial services business to close in Q3
- H Partners alleges Harley-Davidson board has made ‘secret, undisclosed’ commitments with some shareholders
- Harley-Davidson dealers across the U.S. vocalize support of leadership change
- Proxy advisor firms pick sides in H Partners, Harley-Davidson dispute
- Harley-Davidson expects tariff hit of at least $130 million this year
- Georgia-based investment firm throws support behind H Partners’ push to shake up Harley-Davidson leadership
- H Partners says Harley-Davidson recommended CFO as next CEO candidate
- Harley-Davidson board picks candidate to replace member who resigned
- Harley-Davidson to occupy 160,000-square-foot warehouse space at former JCPenney distribution center in Wauwatosa
- Investment firm launches activist campaign against Harley-Davidson leadership
- Split vote on CEO candidate played role in Harley-Davidson board member’s resignation
- Harley-Davidson board member resigns citing ‘severe underperformance’ and ‘cultural depletion’ of brand
- $365 million drop in Q4 leaves Harley sales down 11% for the year
