A February 21 press release from Harley-Davidson, Inc. announced top executive position changes within two subsidiaries, Harley-Davidson Motor Company and Buell Motor Company.

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Harley-Davidson Inc. Jeffrey L. Bleustein announced that James A. McCaslin, 52, would replace him as the President and Chief Operating Officer of Harley-Davidson Motor Company. Harley company spokesman Paul James said, ” Jeff (Bleustein) is going to maintain his CEO position and will give Presidential status to Jim. It really was too much for one person to do, to be both President and CEO.” Bleustein, 61, has been the Chairman and CEO of H-D, Inc. since 1997 and President and COO of H-D Motor Co. since 1993.

In a separate but simultaneous announcement, John A. Hevey, 43, and Jerry G. Wilke, 49, will exchange positions. Hevey will become the President and Chief Operating Officer of Buell Motor Company. Hevey joined Harley in 1992 and served as the VP-GM Asia/Pacific and Latin America since 1998. Wilke has been named Vice President and General Manager Asia/Pacific and Latin America. Wilke had been the President and COO of Buell since 1997 after joining Harley in 1975. James said, “It’s more of a lateral swap for those positions. Those two positions are considered equal status here at Harley. They (Hevey and Wilke) have different strengths. Harley actually does this quite a bit. They’ll have different executive officer positions change over the course of the years so that people get different training and skill sets and viewpoints in different jobs.”

All changes become effective March 1, 2001.