I missed this news flash while on the road last week, but Bill Davidson, the current VP of Core Customer Marketing and great-grandson of the motor company founder was “promoted” to the flagship position of Museum Director.
Huh? Twenty-six years at the company to become the head honcho of factory tours and the Harley-Davidson museum?
Personally I’d find it to be a cool gig, but can you imagine the conversation at the next family BBQ gathering with Willie G. and Jean Davidson?! What’s next from the fancy-pants bean counters and marketers? Put Willie G. in charge of re-styling the employee café?
Did the H-D museum not reach its full potential or is this a continuation of the “hack-n-slash” which CEO, Keith Wandell seems fond of as he moves the “old guard” out? Maybe it was Mark-Hans Richer (Sr. VP and CMO) deciding a guy like Bill running the company’s core marketing just wasn’t throttled up enough? Change is good, right? Bill retains his executive management status as VP of the H-D Museum and Factory Tours.
More important is Bill’s replacement who starting in June, will be Stacey Watson. Ms. Watson will lead marketing for ALL of H-D customer segments across N.A. No easy task. Ms. Watson will hold the title of Sr. Director of Consumer Segment Marketing. Assuming positive results this is surely a segway to the board approving a VP title later in the year. I’m not taking anything away from Ms. Watson experience or accomplishments as she was instrumental in the design, development, construction and launch of H-D museum. Having visited this marquee facility I’m hopeful that Ms. Watson can do for marketing what she accomplished at the museum.
Let’s hope that Bill will continue to infuse the energy and passion of building out motorcycle exhibits, create educational programs and reaffirm the role of the museum with Harley riders around the world. One suggestion is to replicate on a smaller scale a west coast museum in Las Vegas. There are a lot of people visiting ‘sin city’ with disposable income and given all the motorcycle styling influences which came from nearby California it would be a unique showcase for them.
Photo’s taken at H-D Museum.
Northwest Harley Blog 
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