by Margaret Naczek from https://www.bizjournals.com/
Harley-Davidson Inc. confirmed Friday that Neil Grimmer, president of Harley’s global brand development, is no longer with the company.
“His departure comes after an internal inquiry along with a third-party investigation into concerns that his judgement and conduct as a senior leader did not align with our culture and the values we expect all our employees to demonstrate,” a Harley-Davidson spokesperson said via email.
A source familiar with the matter indicated that Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG) received complaints about Grimmer which did not align with the company’s code of business conduct. The departure reflected multiple actions by Grimmer, not a single event, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Harley-Davidson president and CEO Matt Levatich told employees about Grimmer’s departure Friday morning in an internal memo acquired by the Milwaukee Business Journal. The memo indicated that Levatich would be assuming Grimmer’s responsibilities as president of global brand development in the interim.
Harley-Davidson announced the hiring of Grimmer into the newly created global brand development president position in April of this year. Grimmer had most recently worked as CEO of Habit, a personalized nutrition life science company he had founded. Grimmer was a direct report to Levatich, and his duties ranged from product planning, marketing and retail to communications.
“Based upon our internal inquiry along with the findings of this third-party investigation, we determined that Mr. Grimmer leaving Harley-Davidson was the appropriate course of action. Harley-Davidson takes all matters related to workplace conduct and our Valued Behaviors very seriously. All Harley-Davidson employees, regardless of level, are expected to follow our Code of Business Conduct and Valued Behaviors,” a Harley-Davidson spokesperson said via email.
