Jochen Zeitz

Jochen Zeitz (born 6 April 1963) is a businessman serving as the president, CEO and chairman of the board of Harley-Davidson, Inc. He is also Chairman of LiveWire Inc. Before that, he served as the chairman and CEO of Puma for 18 years.

He also served as board member of Kering, the luxury goods company and chaired their Sustainability Committee, for whom he developed its global sustainability strategy.

Zeitz is currently a board member of Harley Davidson, The B Team and Cranemere.

In addition to this, Zeitz previously served on the board of Wilderness Safaris.

Jochen Zeitz is also the co-founder of The B Team with Richard Branson, Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa and Founder of the Zeitz Foundation to support sustainable solutions that balance conservation, community, culture and commerce, and The Long Run.

Zeitz was born in Mannheim, Germany.

He studied in Germany, Italy, France, and the United States, and graduated from the European Business School in International Marketing and Finance.

Zeitz began his professional career with Colgate-Palmolive in New York and Hamburg.

He joined Puma in 1990, and in 1993 was appointed Chairman and CEO, becoming the youngest CEO in German history to head a public company at the age of 30.

The Zeitz Collection was founded in 2002.

He then led the worldwide restructuring of Puma, which was in financial difficulties at the time, and implemented a long-term development plan that saw Puma's share price gain around 4,000 percent in 13 years, from €8.6 in his first year as CEO to an all-time high of €350 when the majority stake of the company was acquired by Kering in 2007.

Zeitz turned Puma from a failing company into one of the top three sporting goods brands in the world.

After acquiring Puma, Jochen Zeitz then joined Kering as a board member.

He has been a member of the Board of Directors of Harley-Davidson since 2007 and served as the Chair of Harley-Davidson’s Sustainability Committee since its inception in 2011.

In 2008, Zeitz introduced PUMAVision, an ethical framework defined by the four key principles of being fair, honest, positive and creative as applied to all professional behaviour, business procedures and relationships throughout and outside of Puma.

Zeitz conceived of the Environmental Profit & Loss Account (E P&L).

In 2008 Zeitz founded the not-for-profit Zeitz Foundation for Intercultural Ecosphere Safety to support creative and innovative sustainable projects and solutions that balance conservation, community development, culture, and commerce (the "4Cs") in a quadruple bottom line approach, promoting an inclusive, holistic paradigm of conservation that enhances livelihoods and fosters intercultural dialogue while building sustainable businesses.

Owner of Segera Conservancy (including its eco-safari retreat that is a founding Long Run Destination), Zeitz preserves 50,000 acres of wildlife habitat in Kenya which follows the 4C approach to support its local communities and provide a safe refuge for endangered wildlife.

Since 2008 it has committed to becoming one of the most representative collections of contemporary art from the African continent and its diaspora.

Founded by Jochen Zeitz and the ZEITZ foundation in 2009, The Long Run is a membership organisation of nature-based tourism businesses that are committed to driving sustainability through a holistic 4C philosophy.

Safeguarding over 21 million acres of nature in 22 different countries, touching the lives of over 750,000 people and protecting over 30,000 plant and animal species, The Long Run has become the largest organisation of its kind worldwide.

Zeitz is also Vice-President of Fauna and Flora International.

From 2010 to 2012, Zeitz was CEO of the Sport & Lifestyle division, which included Puma and Volcom, and its Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO), then a Director of Kering and Chairman of the Board's sustainable development committee.

In May 2011 he announced Puma's Environmental Profit & Loss Account, which puts a monetary value to a businesses use of ecosystem services across the entire supply chain.

In 2014, Zeitz co-founded The B Team with Sir Richard Branson, an initiative which brings together the world's top business leaders to promote socially and environmentally conscious business practices across the globe.

Zeitz is also a board member of Cranemere, and served on the Board of the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) for three years.

Zeitz is now the Chairman, President and CEO of Harley-Davidson.

Zeitz is credited with bringing the company’s first electric model (Harley-Davidson LiveWire) to fruition in 2019.

In 2023, The Hardwire is now in its third year of implementation and since its launch, the company has not missed quarterly earnings.

Zeitz's turnaround plan at Harley, was aimed at revitalizing the company as a premium brand and is already considered a success story.

Known for “proven turnaround” skills Zeitz assumed the helm of Harley-Davidson first as interim CEO in February 2020 and took over the job permanently in May 2020.

In July, Zeitz announced The Rewire which led to a new five-year strategic plan called The Hardwire.

The Rewire included prioritizing markets that matter and enhancing core strengths of the company while balancing expansion into new spaces.

The Hardwire strategy includes a new pre-owned motorcycle program; investment in the parts, accessories, riding gear and financial services segments of the business; and a new division focused exclusively on electric motorcycles.

In a subsequent financial filing Harley-Davidson Inc. reported better-than-expected results in a sign that its turnaround plan was taking hold.

In February 2021, inspired by KKR & Co Inc executive Pete Stavros, Zeitz announced the motorcycle maker would give stock grants to employees, including hourly and factory workers, to align with executives and shareholders.

In December 2021, Zeitz announced LiveWire, the electric-motorcycle division of Harley-Davidson, will become a separate publicly traded company to "operate with the same agility and speed as a startup."

The company went public on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on 27 September 2022.

On the day of listing, Zeitz was the first CEO to ring the opening and closing bell of trading on the NYSE, also being the first to run two public-listed companies.

Serving as Livewire's first chairman & CEO since going public, he handed over leadership on 12 June 2023 to his successor Karim Donnez, while remaining as chairman of the company.