MILWAUKEE — A campaign from Harley-Davidson’s second-largest shareholder to oust CEO Jochen Zeitz didn’t quite pan out.
According to a Milwaukee Business Journal report, shareholders reelected Harley-Davidson’s entire board of directors, including two other longtime directors targeted by H Partners Management.
The exact voting results have not been released, but H Partners tells the Business Journal it was “razor-thin” for Zeitz. About 48% of shareholders did not support him and 44% withheld support for the two directors, Norman Thomas Linebarger and Sara Levinson.
Zeitz announced in April his plan to retire sometime this year, and has said he plans to stay on until his successor is named. Linebarger and Levinson have now signaled they might exit the board by 2026 — another goal of H Partners.
Just days after Zeitz’s retirement announcement, board member Jared Dourdeville resigned with a scathing five-page letter citing poor leadership and a poor corporate culture.
