AMD 253 August 2020 American Motorcycle Dealer 253 | Page 10

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NEWS
BRIEFS
Buzz Kanter has announced that he
has had to wave the white flag and
suspend publication of American Iron
due to the collapse in advertising
revenue during the COVID-19
Pandemic. Kanter bought AIM in
1991, which had been launched in
California two years earlier in
association with HOG. It was
conceived as a family-friendly
antidote to the dominance back then
of T&A titles - not least Easyriders
Magazine. The focus was on "the tin
and not the skin."
AFT has partnered with KICKER
Performance Audio as the
Official Sound System of the
2020 AFT series. "Starting
nearly 50 years ago as a twoman
operation specializing in
professional systems, KICKER
has evolved into the benchmark
for all audio systems, including
personal products for digital
media devices." KICKER will be
producing a custom PA system
to work with existing
jumbotron and victory lane
equipment "to enhance the fan
experience at AFT events."
Former MIC Chairman and Cycle
World publisher Larry Little is retiring
after more than 40 years in the
powersports industry. In recent years
Little is best known for conceiving
and founding AIMExpo at Orlando,
Florida. A one-time AMA Rider of the
Year, it was Little who engineered the
MIC's acquisition of AIMExpo and
the establishment of its Events
division. Little's original vision was
for a European style joint consumer
and trade, OEM and aftermarket
expo. That has not worked in the
21st century American motorcycle
industry context, and in January
2021 AIMExpo will be staged at
Columbus, Ohio, as a three-day
industry and dealer only expo.
Following Paul Aiken's decision
to close Aeromach, his
Charlotte, NC., based
manufacturing and distribution
business, Milan, Italy based
exhaust manufacturer Manuel
De Liso of QD Exhaust and V-
Performance fame is looking for
a new distributor in the USA for
his line of handmade, highperformance
H-D, Victory and
Indian FTR exhausts.
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- lead in the electrification of
motorcycles,
- improve fuel economy of our
motorcycles,
- reduce the impacts from our
products and operations, which
includes committing to increasing our
use of renewable energy.
By way of a mission statement on
Climate Change, and how
Environmental Sustainability informs
achievement of its 2027
environmental ambitions, the report
states Harley's goals are to…
Deliver a portfolio of electric twowheel
vehicles.
Increase the average fleet fuel
economy of our gas-powered vehicles
to >50 mpg.
Reduce the energy intensity of our
global manufacturing operations to
<8.00 mm Btu per motorcycle.
Achieve 15% renewables from onsite
sources and through renewable
energy credits (RECs) from projects
that increase renewable power
generation.
"In addition, we will use market-based
RECs ( Renewable Energy
Certificates) from existing projects
to offset an increasing portion of the
rest of our electricity consumption. We
will go beyond these current long-term
goals and determine how to
participate effectively in efforts to
achieve net zero emissions by 2050
through the principles of the Science
Based Targets initiative."
The report is a closely argued and
sweeping manifesto, packed with
metrics of where the company was by
the end of 2019. Moving forward,
those metrics will allow it to calibrate
progress, strengths, weaknesses,
changes and improvements to the
directions it is taking to achieve these
lofty objectives.
Regardless of what one's personal or
ideologically dictated views on such
matters are, that a culture of such
forward facing governance has started
to steer the Motor Company as it faces
an uncertain future is far from being a
"bad thing". In years to come, future
generations of consumers would
expect any and all businesses it
considers doing business with - from
Apple and Tesla on down - to have
reports like this filed away in the
cabinet marked "Blindingly Obvious"
with "thank God we started down this
route when we did" scrawled all over
them.
Indeed, with a time of great change
and further management churn likely
upon us at Harley, it is on the subject
of governance that the report is
particularly interesting at this time. It is
especially insightful that at long last
the concepts of 'Brand' and
'Sustainability' are now understood as
being natural, indeed essential
bedfellows. That is a sure sign that
someone at the top really has been
listening to 'New Gen' consumers and
is understanding what their hot
buttons are and how to start building
a corporate infrastructure that stands
a chance of pushing them. Hurrah for
that!
"The Board Brand & Sustainability
Committee was first formed [as the
Sustainability Committee] in 2011 and
has played an integral role in providing
oversight and assistance to the
company management in driving
sustainability – environmental
sustainability and social responsibility
– at Harley-Davidson.
"What became our long-term
objective to grow our business without
growing our environmental impact
'we all need Harley
to learn how to
speak Millennial’
began as an aspirational challenge
from the committee. The committee
was also instrumental in Harley-
Davidson undertaking a complete
value chain assessment of
environmental impacts utilizing an
Environmental Profit & Loss
methodology. This work is the
foundation for understanding our
most significant impacts and taking
actions to reduce those impacts."
A majority of the Board is comprised
of independent directors - currently,
eight of nine directors are
independent, though the number and
composition may change when two
nominations by Bob Bishop's Impala
Asset Management are weighed
against two new nominations from
Harley after May's 2020 Annual
Meeting.
"The Harley-Davidson Board of
Directors is composed of
accomplished leaders from a range of
industries who meet regularly to
review company objectives and plan
for future growth. These individuals
draw on their diverse backgrounds
and experiences. They are proud
Harley-Davidson enthusiasts, and they
work to ensure that the decisions
made by Harley-Davidson promote
fairness, financial transparency and
accountability to all our
shareholders."
These directors must meet the
independence and other requirements
of the New York Stock Exchange
(NYSE) and other applicable laws,
regulations and rules.
The Board maintains four committees
- its Nominating and Corporate
Governance Committee, a Human
Resources Committee, an Audit and
Finance Committee and the Brand &
Sustainability Committee. A written
charter is maintained for each
committee that states the committee’s
duties and responsibilities.
The Audit and Finance Committee,
Human Resources Committee and the
Nominating and Corporate
Governance Committee must be
comprised entirely of independent
directors.
The Nominating and Corporate
Governance Committee makes
recommendations on the size of the
Board, the frequency of its meetings
and the operation of the Board,
including director qualifications. The
bylaws contain additional provisions
relating to director tenure, including
director retirement following a
director’s 75th birthday, and the
required submission of a director’s
resignation upon a substantial change
of the director’s employment,
occupation or affiliation, or if any
conflict of interest develops or based
on votes withheld in an election of
directors.
The Board and company management
embrace corporate governance
practices in keeping with their
leadership positions in the business.
Harley state that "as a U.S. publiclyheld
company, Harley-Davidson and
its Board of Directors believe that
strong corporate governance practices
and shareholder rights are
important."
In Harley's case, those shareholder
rights include just 10% of
shareholders being able to call a
special meeting - interestingly three
investors currently hold nearly 10% of
Harley's stock - Vanguard Group,
11.55%; BlackRock, 9.54%, and Bank
of New York Mellon, 9.27%. A
powerful platform from which a takeover
could be launched; also of
interest in that context - Vanguard and
BlackRock additionally own nearly
10% each of Polaris Industries.
There is no material restriction on the
right of shareholders to call a special
meeting. All merger or acquisition
transactions simply require majority
voting and there is no 'poison pill'
provision to influence which way an
investor may wish to vote; neither does
Harley issue any dual-class stock.
Currently Harley describes its board as
being "89% independent" (eight out
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10 AMERICAN MOTORCYCLE DEALER - AUGUST 2020 www.AMDchampionship.com