KTM North America Restructures

KTM North America, Inc. has announced several major changes to its corporate management structure. The move follows the September 12 death of KTM North America president Rod Bush.
Jon-Erik Burleson, formerly vice president of Finance for KTM North America, Inc. will assume the role of President. Burleson will be responsible for all day-to-day U.S. and Canadian operations including sales, marketing, parts/accessory distribution, administration and finance. Burleson will continue to serve on the KTM North America, Inc. Board of Directors, a position he has held since 2003.
Winfried Kerschhaggl joins KTM North America, Inc. as a Member of the Board as well as Vice President. Kershhaggl has been a member of the KTM Sportmotorcycle AG Austria executive management team since 1999, serving most recently as Worldwide Marketing Director. He recently assumed a new role for KTM Austria as Strategic Product Planner responsible for future development of the KTM model line.
John Zolikoff, KTM North America, Inc. New Business Development Director joins the Board of Directors of KTM North America, Inc. In addition to managing new business opportunities for KTM North America, Zolikoff will focus on further developing the strategic partnership between KTM North America and Polaris.
Also joining the KTM North America, Inc. Board of Directors is Patrick Pruegger. Pruegger is a member of the KTM Sportmotorcycle AG Board of Directors.
Stefan Pierer, CEO of KTM Powersports AG, remains an active member of the Board for Directors for KTM North America, Inc.
Jakob Branner is named to the position of Vice President of KTM North America, Inc. Branner, an integral part of the KTM North America team since 2000 with responsibility in both finance and sales planning, now is responsible for coordinating KTM production planning with U.S. and Canadian model year sales plans and dealer order deliveries.
These new corporate officers join the existing KTM North America, Inc. executive management team consisting of Scot Harden, V.P. of Media Relations, Selvaraj Narayana V.P. of Amateur Racing and Event Promotion, Michael Turner V.P. of Corporate Training, Mario LaJoie, V.P./General Manager of KTM Canada and Tom Muzilla, Secretary of KTM North America, Inc.
KTM North America, Inc. just ended its 2005 Fiscal Year with sales of more than 21,000 unit sales producing in excess of $100 million. KTM officials said sales in the U.S. and Canada averaged a nearly 20% annual increase per year during the past 10 years.
“Rod Bush’s passing is a huge loss to us all,” commented Burleson. “We were fortunate that in the past several months Rod had already been working on this restructuring not only in response to the tremendous growth we’ve experienced but to take advantage of several new opportunities that lie before us.
“The strength of our company lies in the strong management team Rod assembled and in our close ties to our colleagues in Austria. Thanks to Rod, KTM is truly a ‘global’ company and these moves will take us further in that direction. I, along with the entire KTM organization, look forward to fulfilling Rod’s vision for KTM and all the success that it embodies.”