Huw BowerWinnebago Industries has announced the appointment of Huw Bower as president, Winnebago Outdoors, effective October 12. Bower will report to President and CEO Michael Happe and will be based at the company’s Eden Prairie, Minn. office.
Bower’s primary responsibilities will include all revenue streams associated with the flagship brand, Winnebago, namely Winnebago-branded recreational and specialty vehicles. The company will also look to strategically expand the presence of the Winnebago brand in other outdoor lifestyle spaces.
Bower joins Winnebago Industries after more than 15 years in brand leadership and executive roles at Brunswick Corp., a prominent player in the marine industry. Most recently as president, Boat Group, he reported to the CEO of Brunswick. Bower was responsible for that organization’s portfolio of boat brands including Sea Ray, Boston Whaler and Lund, among others.
“We are extremely excited to have a high-quality leader such as Huw join our executive leadership team,” said Happe. “Not only will he add further strength to our motivated management team, his passion for leading premium, differentiated brands will enable Huw to build on the momentum of our flagship brand and advance our leadership position in the outdoor lifestyle industry. 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.”
Winnebago also announced that Brian Hazelton will assume an expanded role within the its brand structure. He will be promoted to senior vice president, Winnebago-brand RVs (both motorhomes and towables), reporting directly to Huw Bower.
Of Hazleton’s appointment, Happe said, “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. 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.”
