Polaris Industries Inc. Announces New Business Unit and Leadership Changes in EMEA Business
OutdoorHub 07.29.14
Organizational changes enable company to leverage scale and resources for global growth
Polaris Industries Inc. (NYSE: PII) today announced that it is integrating several emerging business lines to create a new Global Adjacent Markets business and that it has named Matt Homan to lead the fully integrated business as President, Global Adjacent Markets. This new business unit is operational effective immediately.
“In his time with Polaris, Matt Homan has demonstrated the ability to spur growth and develop synergies amongst a range of businesses,” said Scott Wine, Polaris Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “His background makes him ideally suited to lead our vitally important Global Adjacent Markets business, which aggregates our adjacency initiatives to better utilize scale and resources while providing clearer accountability. Building this business is one of the foundations of our long term strategy, and we are excited to apply Matt’s talents to this task.”
Homan has been with Polaris for 12 years and was previously Vice President, EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and Small Vehicles and prior to that Vice President of Off-Road Vehicles. In this new role, he will report to President and Chief Operating Officer Bennett Morgan and will be supported by dedicated Global Adjacent Markets teams, including human resources, engineering, finance, business development, operations and legal. Homan will also report to Wine for business development activities in the adjacent-market space.
Under Homan’s leadership, the Global Adjacent Markets business will have responsibility for all Small Vehicles product lines, including GEM, Goupil, Aixam/Mega and Brammo, as well as all commercial, Brutus, government and B2B applications of Off-Road Vehicles (ORV), Snow and Motorcycles outside Polaris’ traditional dealer channels. Homan’s team will also have responsibility for all merger and acquisition activity related to adjacent markets. Polaris’ Defense product line will report financial results through the Global Adjacent Markets business, but continue to operate as a separate business line.
This change does not affect Polaris’ core consumer business units including Off-Road Vehicles, Snow, Motorcycles, Parts Garments & Accessories (PG&A) or Eicher Polaris Private Limited (EPPL).
Commensurate with Homan’s promotion, Suresh Krishna has accepted the position of Vice President, EMEA. Krishna joined Polaris in March 2010 and previously served as Vice President, Global Operations and Integration. In his new role, Krishna will lead the company’s EMEA business, concentrating on the continued development of both organic and new growth opportunities in the region. He will also expand the EMEA role to include responsibility for manufacturing, sourcing, new product development and expanded distribution.
The move also allows Krishna to build on his strong portfolio of operations, supply chain and successful lean manufacturing experience to take the EMEA region to the next level of development. With the rapidly expanding business opportunity in the region, including the start-up of the Poland plant, Suresh and his team will be positioned to build out Polaris’ presence through both top- and bottom-line performance improvements. In this fully-loaded regional P&L role, Suresh will have a dedicated team for sales and marketing, operations, engineering, product development, finance, HR, legal, business development and IT. Suresh will report to Bennett Morgan, President and COO, for day-to-day business and to Scott Wine, Chairman, CEO, for business development.
“Suresh Krishna has done a tremendous job overseeing the seamless integration of several key acquisitions and multiple facility expansions, improving our supply chain and forging Polaris into a more lean organization,” said Wine. “We are excited for him to bring this same passion and focus to his new role as we look to continue growing our footprint in the EMEA region.”
Information regarding the replacement for Krishna’s previous position as Vice President, Global Operations and Integration will be forthcoming.
