THOR INDUSTRIES ELEVATES RYAN BIREN TO CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER, SIGNALING ACCELERATED ENTERPRISE DATA AND AI STRATEGY
THOR INDUSTRIES ELEVATES RYAN BIREN TO CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER, SIGNALING ACCELERATED ENTERPRISE DATA AND AI STRATEGY |
| [02-March-2026] |
ELKHART, Ind., March 2, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- THOR Industries, Inc. (NYSE: THO), the global leader in the recreational vehicle industry, today announced the promotion of Ryan Biren to Chief Information Officer (CIO), a newly created Executive Officer position. The appointment underscores THOR's decisive commitment to advancing its enterprise data, digital, and artificial intelligence strategies.
Biren joined THOR in February of 2024 as Vice President of Corporate Development. In this role, he has developed key data platforms utilized by the Company to improve its performance. Prior to joining THOR, Biren was with Camping World Holdings where he served as a Senior Vice President. As CIO and Executive Officer, Biren will lead THOR's North American IT, data, analytics, IT controls, and digital platform strategy—with a clear mandate: unlock enterprise-wide value from data, accelerate AI-driven innovation and strengthen THOR's competitive advantage in an increasingly digital marketplace. "This is more than a title change—it is an important strategic step for THOR to take," said Bob Martin, THOR Industries President and Chief Executive Officer. "Data, analytics and AI are central to the next era of value creation at THOR. Elevating the CIO role to the executive leadership team reflects how seriously we are investing in these capabilities to power smarter decisions, stronger operating performance and differentiated customer experiences." Accelerating the Enterprise Data and AI Agenda Under Biren's leadership, THOR has built and deployed a robust enterprise data platform now serving all operating companies, including THOR's European operations. The platform has enhanced enterprise visibility, improved speed to insight, and enabled advanced analytics across sales, operations, market intelligence and customer engagement. With the CIO role formalized at the Executive Officer level, THOR is accelerating into its next phase:
"This appointment positions THOR to compete—and win—in a marketplace where intelligent use of data increasingly defines performance," Martin added. "We are building enterprise intelligence as a strategic asset, and Ryan's leadership ensures we execute with urgency and discipline." Enterprise Alignment Without Sacrificing Decentralization THOR's operating companies have built strong and independent technology foundations that support its decentralized operating model. The updated reporting structure—which includes functional reporting of operating company IT leaders to the CIO—is designed to harmonize enterprise standards, strengthen interoperability and accelerate cross-brand digital initiatives while preserving the autonomy that drives THOR's entrepreneurial culture. THOR will strike a balance between maintaining that independence and harmonizing its digital presence to reduce complexity and strengthen its industry leadership in digital engagement with independent dealers—including the creation of a unified dealer portal designed to simplify connectivity and improve the dealer experience. "Looking ahead, THOR is making the deliberate investments necessary to fully unlock the value of our enterprise data and digital capabilities. The potential impact on our operations is transformative. From how we recruit and develop talent to how we build, sell, and support our products, data and AI will redefine our operating discipline and create measurable advantages across the entire value chain," stated Todd Woelfer, Chief Operating Officer of THOR Industries. "Our objective is simple but powerful: enable THOR companies to be stronger partners to our independent dealers and deliver the right products to consumers—when and where they want them—at a price and quality standard that leads the industry," continued Woelfer. "By driving efficiency, visibility, and smarter decision-making throughout the entire value chain, we are creating structural advantages that will benefit our dealers, our retail customers, and our shareholders alike." About THOR Industries, Inc. THOR Industries is the sole owner of operating companies which, combined, represent the world's largest manufacturer of recreational vehicles. For more information on the Company and its products, please go to www.thorindustries.com. Forward-Looking Statements This release includes certain statements that are "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements are made based on management's current expectations and beliefs regarding future and anticipated developments and their effects upon THOR, and inherently involve uncertainties and risks. These forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance. We cannot assure you that actual results will not differ materially from our expectations. Factors which could cause materially different results include, among others: the impact of inflation on the cost of our products as well as on general consumer demand; the effect of raw material and commodity price fluctuations, including the impact of tariffs, and/or raw material, commodity or chassis supply constraints; the impact of war, military conflict, terrorism and/or cyber-attacks, including state-sponsored or ransom attacks; the impact of sudden or significant adverse changes in the cost and/or availability of energy or fuel, including those caused by geopolitical events, on our costs of operation, on raw material prices, on our suppliers, on our independent dealers or on retail customers; the dependence on a small group of suppliers for certain components used in production, including chassis; interest rates and interest rate fluctuations and their potential impact on the general economy and, specifically, on our independent dealers and consumers and our profitability; the ability to ramp production up or down quickly in response to rapid changes in demand or market share while also managing associated costs, including labor-related costs and production capacity costs; the level and magnitude of warranty and recall claims incurred; the ability of our suppliers to financially support any defects in their products; the financial health of our independent dealers and their ability to successfully manage through various economic conditions; legislative, trade, regulatory and tax law and/or policy developments including their potential impact on our independent dealers, retail customers or on our suppliers; the costs of compliance with governmental regulation; the impact of an adverse outcome or conclusion related to current or future litigation or regulatory audits or investigations; public perception of and the costs related to environmental, social and governance matters; legal and compliance issues including those that may arise in conjunction with recently completed transactions; the ability to realize anticipated benefits of strategic realignments or other reorganizational actions; the level of consumer confidence and the level of discretionary consumer spending; the impact of exchange rate fluctuations; restrictive lending practices which could negatively impact our independent dealers and/or retail consumers; management changes; the success of new and existing products and services; the ability to maintain strong brands and develop innovative products that meet consumer demands; changes in consumer preferences; the risks associated with acquisitions, including: the pace and successful closing of an acquisition, the integration and financial impact thereof, the level of achievement of anticipated operating synergies from acquisitions, the potential for unknown or understated liabilities related to acquisitions, the potential loss of existing customers of acquisitions and our ability to retain key management personnel of acquired companies; a shortage of necessary personnel for production and increasing labor costs and related employee benefits to attract and retain production personnel in times of high demand; the loss or reduction of sales to key independent dealers, and stocking level decisions of our independent dealers; disruption of the delivery of units to independent dealers or the disruption of delivery of raw materials, including chassis, to our facilities; increasing costs for freight and transportation; the ability to protect our information technology systems, including confidential and personal information, from data breaches, cyber-attacks and/or network disruptions; asset impairment charges; competition; the impact of losses under repurchase agreements; the impact of the strength of the U.S. dollar on international demand for products priced in U.S. dollars; general economic, market, public health and political conditions in the various countries in which our products are produced and/or sold; the impact of adverse weather conditions and/or weather-related events; the impact of changing emissions and other related climate change regulations in the various jurisdictions in which our products are produced, used and/or sold; changes to our investment and capital allocation strategies or other facets of our strategic plan; and changes in market liquidity conditions, credit ratings and other factors that may impact our access to future funding and the cost of debt. These and other risks and uncertainties are discussed more fully in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended October 31, 2025 and in Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended July 31, 2025. We disclaim any obligation or undertaking to disseminate any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained in this release or to reflect any change in our expectations after the date hereof or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any statement is based, except as required by law.
SOURCE Thor Industries, Inc. | ||
Company Codes: NYSE:THO |
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