Harley Hires Former Federal Prosecutor
The C-Suite Shuffle continues as the Artie Starrs Harley era closes in on it first anniversary. Paul Krause stepped down as Chief Legal Officer at the end of June 2026, after replacing Paul Jones six years prior in a previous CEO shake up.
His replacement is Gayle Littleton, who had previously served as Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary at Chicago-based utility giant Exelon Corp., a position she left in January 2025 after some 4-years there.
Before that Littleton was a partner at Jenner & Block for five years and spent about 12 years as an assistant U.S. attorney. A a graduate of Stetson University in DeLand, Florida, and of Cornell Law School, she clerked for two federal judges, Senior Judge Gerald W. Heaney of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and U.S. District Judge Joseph Tauro in Boston.
This is the latest in a slew of senior management changes to take place in the nine months since Artie Starrs took the reins, including the departure of former Chief Commercial Officer Luke Mansfield and Chief Digital Officer Jagdish Krishnan; the hiring of Matt Ryan as Chief Marketing and Technology Officer and Marcus Fischer as Chief Brand Officer.
Starrs also brought back Bryan Niketh - who had spent 20 years with the company before leaving in August 2022 - as Chief Operations Officer and named founding family member Bill Davidson, who previously held executive positions with the motorcycle manufacturer, to the newly created role of special adviser to the CEO.
Jonathan Root remains the company's CFO in what may prove to be succession planning. Another significant change has been the promotion of former Comms supremo Paul James to GM of Motorcycle Portfolio Planning - a promising step!
