Holley, one of the biggest names in automotive performance, has announced Brian Appelgate as the interim chief operating officer (COO). Applegate has experience under the Bowling Green, Kentucky company, Applegate has been one advising Holley since 2018 as the head of Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A).
As Interim COO, Appelgate will be focused on driving near-term improvement in the end-to-end supply chain, manufacturing, and engineering functional areas.
“Over the last two quarters, supply chain constraints have prevented us from building and shipping our products in the volumes needed to satisfy the demand we’ve seen from our enthusiast consumers and resellers. Supply chain driven production inefficiencies along with inflationary pressures on many of our costs are further depressing our margins. Brian is a performance aftermarket industry veteran with a wealth of operating experience. He is a known quantity to our team and we are excited to partner with Brian to drive near-term improvement in our operating performance,” Holley President and CEO Tom Tomlinson said.
Appelgate is no rookie, he has been in the performance automotive sector for years and has experience in branded enthusiast consumer products, manufacturing, and distribution in private, private equity, and public market environments. He has served on multiple boards in the industry and is a former chairman of the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA). Prior to advising Holley, he was president and CEO of Driven Performance Brands.
As a Chief Operating Officer Brian Applegate has all the experience and competencies to take on a permanent role to direct the Holley group of companies to grow the business and increase profitability.
In speaking with a certified stock car engine builder parts shortage is a major issue, why? Going offshore for manufacturing High-Performance automotive products is a Major problem from an ISO/TS 16949 standard perspective,being conformant or non-conformant ,which causes QC audit issues and a slowdown in deliverables to the industries here in North America.It is time that engineering & manufacturing be brought back to North America to keep racing alive. We don’t need the Pacific Rim to manufacturer our products any longer. Thank you.