Forest River GM Brent Stevens Announces Retirement
Brent Stevens
Brent Stevens, a long-time RV industry executive and current general manager of Forest River Inc.’s XLR toy hauler division, announced his retirement Wednesday (Feb. 22). His departure is effective March 31.
Stevens began his career in the RV industry in 1989 in the service department at Fleetwood Enterprises in Decatur, Ind., not far from his home in Van Wert, Ohio. When his supervisor learned Stevens had a background in sales — “I’d tried my hand at selling cars, selling real estate,” said Stevens — he was invited to join a sales team. Before long, he was selling Pace Arrow and, later, American Coach motorhomes before getting into the NASCAR business and moving to Harrisburg, North Carolina. Then came the telephone call that would change his life.
Rich Florea, former CEO of Skyline Corp. and, at the time, an executive at Dutchmen RV who had known Stevens while both were at Fleetwood, offered him a sales manager’s position at Dutchmen. Stevens climbed the ladder at Dutchmen, first as vice president of sales for Aerolite and Kodiak and ultimately overseeing sales for the entire company.
In 2010, a chance encounter with Forest River Group General Manager Doug Gaeddert during the Florida RV SuperShow in Tampa led Stevens to Forest River, where he initially landed as sales manager for the V-Cross brand. Six months later, Stevens moved to the XLR family.
Tapping into the rugged enthusiasm of the toy hauler crowd — “toy hauler owners as so unique and I wanted people to understand that toy haulers are different than traditional RVing” — Stevens and his XLR team began moving to cutting-edge graphics, more open floorplans and ever-larger garages as the segment evolved from carrying motorcycles to side-by-side sport utility vehicles. The changes — including a rebranding to “Action Camping” to acknowledge a toy hauler’s myriad uses — found a ready audience, and XLR moved up the national sales charts; for 2022, in fact, Stevens related that the division ended the year as No. 2 nationally in overall (fifth wheel and travel trailer) toy hauler sales.
But while Stevens told RVBusiness that he and his wife, Vicki, had discussed his possible retirement for several months, the untimely Feb. 13 passing of lifelong friend Kelly Green — who joined Stevens at both Fleetwood and Dutchmen before following him to Forest River, where he advanced to product sales manager for XLR’s Boost brand — cemented Stevens’ decision to “slow down” after 34 years in the hectic RV business.
Still, at 62, Stevens can’t, by his own admission, “just do nothing.” On April 1, the graduate of Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio, will assume the position of executive director for the Van Wert Area Economic Development Corporation. Both Brent and Vicki Stevens have deep, multi-generational roots in the small northwestern town, including a family farm, and the Wassenberg Art Center located there permanently displays the “Faces of Little Big Horn” art collection, a group of paintings by David Humphreys that Stevens acquired through the years. Stevens’ association with the Wassenberg, in fact, led him to establish the annual “Warm Up the Ridge” humanitarian project that delivers coats, heaters, food and more to the impoverished residents of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. This winter the 8th annual drive sent three semi tractor-trailers filled with such necessities to the reservation.
“I’m still going to count on my RV friends to help continue pushing that forward,” Stevens said. “I really appreciate the support the industry has provided for the ‘Warm Up the Ridge’ program — it couldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for my RV ‘family’.”
Stevens’ successor at Forest River has not been named.
Source: https://rvbusiness.com/forest-river-gm-brent-stevens-announces-retirement/
