Winnebago Industries, Inc. has appointed Huw Bower as president of Winnebago Outdoors, effective on October 12, 2020. Mr. Bower will report to President and CEO Michael Happe. Bower’s primary responsibilities will include all revenue streams associated with the flagship brand, Winnebago, namely Winnebago-branded recreational and specialty vehicles.
Bower joins Winnebago after more than 15 years in brand leadership and executive roles at Brunswick Corp. a global leader in the marine industry. At Brunswick, Bower was responsible for the organization’s portfolio of iconic boat brands including Sea Ray, Boston Whaler and Lund, among others.
At Brunswick’s boat group, the company said he gained significant portfolio management experience, accelerated the growth of the boat business, strengthened dealer relationships, and created innovative, high performing teams. Bower was also instrumental in advancing strategic planning and business development activities within Brunswick.
Happe said, “We are extremely excited to have a high-quality leader such as Huw join our executive leadership team. Not only will he add further strength to our motivated management team, his passion for leading premium, but differentiated brands will also enable Huw to build on the momentum of our flagship brand…. His broad experience across the durable goods value chain, combining both operations and product development capabilities with a focus on the consumer, will be immediately accretive. While Huw will drive profitable growth within our Winnebago-branded recreational and specialty vehicles businesses, his knowledge of other outdoor markets will be welcomed, as we also explore new revenue opportunities for the Winnebago brand.”
Bower and will be based in the Eden Prairie, Minnesota office.
The moves announced today by Winnebago Industries do not have any impact on the leadership or operating structure of Grand Design, Newmar and Chris-Craft brands.
Towable and Motorized Combined
In addition, Brian Hazelton will now assume an expanded role within the Winnebago-brand structure. Hazelton is being promoted to senior vice president of all Winnebago-branded RVs and will report to Bower.
Hazelton will be responsible for all customer-facing areas of the full-line Winnebago RV business – including product management, engineering, sales, marketing, and customer service. He will oversee the company’s motorized and towable divisions. Hazelton immediately replaces Scott Degnan who was responsible for the towable division previously.
“Winnebago is the most well-known brand of recreational vehicles in the world, and we believe it is time to bring both the motorhome and towables businesses under that iconic brand together. Brian’s work over the past four years restructuring the Winnebago-brand motorhome business, and building credibility with our important external stakeholders, make him the ideal candidate to drive one full-line business forward in the future,” Happe said. The leadership strengths of Bower and Hazelton are complementary, and their partnership will significantly benefit our business and our customers. We are very appreciative of the work Scott Degnan has done professionally with Winnebago Industries through the years and wish him the very best in his future endeavors.”
