Darren Ho joined Furrion as its chief operating officer five years ago. Since that time, co-founder Aaron Fidler has been preparing Ho for a promotion.
Ho’s promotion has come in an executive transition spanning six months, leading to his selection as Furrion CEO. Fidler, the previous CEO, is transitioning to a role as chairman. Fidler will provide high-level operations oversight but is leaving day-to-day management in Ho’s hands.
“Darren has been involved on everything from overall operations management,” Furrion Vice President of North American Operations Mike Lindgren said.
Ho will remain based in Hong Kong. Lindgren leads the North American-based team, with Senior Vice President of Sales Grant Olafson in charge of regional sales. Tracy Anglemeyer is the vice president of RV sales.
Lindgren joined Furrion three years ago and has worked closely with Ho. Lindgren said the new CEO’s biggest strength has been his ability to adapt to any situation.
“In the last year-and-a-half, we have had five different mountains to scale, when you would probably want to do one a year,” Lindgren said, citing business operation changes, tariffs, pandemic shifts and logistical difficulties. “Ho’s ability to help steer the team is definitely an asset to us and something that will be an asset to the company overall.”
Furrion began the executive shift in the fall, with Ho taking over day-to-day operations in February. Lindgren said Fidler will focus on high-level industry relationships with customers and partners. Fidler also is expected to oversee future category growth, driving new initiatives, particularly in off-grid opportunities.
The moves also come as U.K.-based private equity firm VIDA Capital took an additional equity stake in Furrion. VIDA Capital has been an investor since 2008, and has been the primary investor since.
“That is where I am, and we are, most excited,” Lindgren said of the additional investment. “One of the hardest parts of gaining sales quickly is the ramp up, and this will alleviate some of those issues. They will provide more capital and assist on the management side. They will help us grow into more of a corporation instead of a design and development firm we previously have been. Part of that stems from our LCI move and beyond.”
In January 2020, Furrion and new distribution partner, Exertis, took over the sale and distribution of products previously handled by Lippert Components. Coupled with the pandemic’s onset, Lindgren said Furrion faced new logistical challenges.
“We have grown up quickly on that side as one of our necessary core competencies,” he said. “We are pretty focused – to the tune of at least a half-dozen meetings each week – working on supply chain and logistics.”
Lindgren said partnering with an additional freight company that aids functions from picking up product in Asia to its final drop-off in the United States has helped. Furrion also has learned to manage products in new ways as the company expanded into larger products such as air conditioners and refrigerators.
“We have grown in units – part of that is coming in new product introductions and part in industry trends overall,” Lindgren said. “We have grown in size. The new products we have introduced, like air conditioners and refrigerators, are larger products. As we look into loading them, our units per space have gone down. So, we have to get a little more creative in sourcing, flowing and storing those items.”
