Vaughn Beals

<h2 id="early-life-and-education">Early life and education</h2>
An only child, Beals was born and raised in the <a href="/facts/Boston/exjfn6xf">Boston</a> area. Although neither of his parents finished high school, Beals was a standout student and his high school guidance counselor encouraged him to apply to <a href="/facts/Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology/Xk49vNA8">Massachusetts Institute of Technology</a> instead of his first choice, <a href="/facts/Northeastern_University/8maXMkEb">Northeastern University</a>. 
Beals earned bachelor's <a href="/facts/Aeronautical_engineering/2Ib02w7f">aeronautical engineering</a> at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4">4</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5">5</a> After his earning his degree, he worked for <a href="/facts/Calspan/fsAVXaPA">Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory</a> in <a href="/facts/Buffalo,_New_York/PVfdkYft">Buffalo, New York</a> where he met and married his wife, Eleanore Woods. Subsequently, he returned to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and earned his master's degree in aeronautics.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6">6</a>
Beals then worked at <a href="/facts/North_American_Aviation/zY6IG0pa">North American Aviation</a> and <a href="/facts/Cummins/WsqK1nha">Cummins</a> as engineer and executive.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7">7</a> He was CEO, chairman, and president of Formac (<a href="/facts/Washington_Iron_Works/WfwmQvUy">Washington Iron Works</a>) in Seattle, a company that made large engines and logging equipment.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8">8</a> In 1975, Beals was recruited by the conglomerate <a href="/facts/American_Machine_and_Foundry/pYvVMwkL">American Machine and Foundry</a> (AMF), where he was hired to oversee engineering of new products for <a href="/facts/Harley-Davidson/sefsPLqR">Harley-Davidson</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9">9</a>

<h2 id="harley-davidson-buyout-and-leadership">Harley-Davidson buyout and leadership</h2>
At the time Beals was hired, Harley-Davidson was struggling with quality control issues and sales of its motorcycles had decreased significantly, losing market share mostly to Japanese imports. Partly because AMF was unwilling to invest in the company, in 1981, Beals and 12 other investors, including <a href="/facts/Willie_G._Davidson/WawwYakY">Willie G. Davidson</a>, initiated a highly leveraged $80 million buy out of Harley-Davidson that took the company private at the equivalent of 25 cents per share.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10">10</a> After touring several Japanese motorcycle plants, Beals concluded that Harley-Davidson's problems were not foreign imports, but rather the company's own mismanagement. As a result, he initiated the use of <a href="/facts/Just_in_time_(business)/h4dNAj42">just-in-time delivery</a> and other manufacturing reforms, after seeing these practices in use at the Honda <a href="/facts/Marysville_Motorcycle_Plant/3R4VL91w">Marysville Motorcycle Plant</a> in Ohio.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:11" href="#fn:11">11</a> Beals also directed a number of changes in the company's motorcycles designed to make them more comfortable to ride and operate. Beals also directed creation of <a href="/facts/Harley_Owners_Group/2vupCedj">Harley Owners Group</a> in 1983, today the world's largest factory-sponsored motorcycle club.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:12" href="#fn:12">12</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:13" href="#fn:13">13</a>
Following the successful buyout and turn-around of Harley-Davidson, Beals purchased the <a href="/facts/Holiday_Rambler/FLp3YQoM">Holiday Rambler</a> company, a manufacturer of recreational vehicles. The acquisition did not prove profitable, and Beals eventually sold the company for $50 million in 1996.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:14" href="#fn:14">14</a>

<h2 id="retirement-and-later-life">Retirement and later life</h2>
After his retirement from Harley-Davidson, Beals and his wife Eleanore Woods Beals, an alumna, established the Woods-Beals endowed chair at <a href="/facts/Buffalo_State_College/gCzLVYcz">Buffalo State College</a> in 2004. It was the institution's first endowed chair.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:15" href="#fn:15">15</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:16" href="#fn:16">16</a>
Beals died at the age of 90 in <a href="/facts/Gig_Harbor,_Washington/usmzm1mt">Gig Harbor, Washington</a> where he and his wife spent their summers. At the time of his death, he was survived by his wife of 67 years, their two daughters, five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:17" href="#fn:17">17</a>

<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>
<ul><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0NV89IdWKE">AMA Motorycle [sic] Hall of Famer Vaughn Beals</a> on <a href="/facts/YouTube_video_(identifier)/db276jst">YouTube</a>, uploaded by AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame</li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1">Vaughn Beals at the Motorcycle Hall of Fame <a href="http://hof.motorcyclemuseum.org/halloffame/detail.aspx?RacerID=402" target="_blank">http://hof.motorcyclemuseum.org/halloffame/detail.aspx?RacerID=402</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:2">Vaughn Beals at the Motorcycle Hall of Fame <a href="http://hof.motorcyclemuseum.org/halloffame/detail.aspx?RacerID=402" target="_blank">http://hof.motorcyclemuseum.org/halloffame/detail.aspx?RacerID=402</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:3">Hagerty, James R. (September 1, 2018). "Harley-Davidson CEO Made a Startling Discovery: 'The Problem Was Us'". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 3 September 2018. <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/harley-davidson-ceo-made-a-startling-discovery-the-problem-was-us-1535725800?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=1" target="_blank">https://www.wsj.com/articles/harley-davidson-ceo-made-a-startling-discovery-the-problem-was-us-1535725800?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=1</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:4">"Vaughn Beals, Jr.", Great American Business Leaders of the 20th Century, Harvard Business School, retrieved 2013-03-18 <a href="http://www.hbs.edu/leadership/database/leaders/vaughn_l_beals_jr.html" target="_blank">http://www.hbs.edu/leadership/database/leaders/vaughn_l_beals_jr.html</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:5">"Vaughn L. Beals, Jr.: Chairman, Harley-Davidson, Inc". Wisconsin Business Gallery. UW Milwaukee. Retrieved 2013-03-17. <a href="http://www4.uwm.edu/business/corporate/gallery/beals.cfm" target="_blank">http://www4.uwm.edu/business/corporate/gallery/beals.cfm</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:6">Hagerty, James R. (September 1, 2018). "Harley-Davidson CEO Made a Startling Discovery: 'The Problem Was Us'". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 3 September 2018. <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/harley-davidson-ceo-made-a-startling-discovery-the-problem-was-us-1535725800?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=1" target="_blank">https://www.wsj.com/articles/harley-davidson-ceo-made-a-startling-discovery-the-problem-was-us-1535725800?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=1</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:7">Greg Field (2002). "Leader of the Pack: Vaughn Beals". In Darwin Holmstrom (ed.). The Harley-Davidson Century. St. Paul, MN: MBI Publishing. ISBN 0-7603-1155-2. <a href="0-7603-1155-2" target="_blank">0-7603-1155-2</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:8">"Vaughn L. Beals, Jr.: Chairman, Harley-Davidson, Inc". Wisconsin Business Gallery. UW Milwaukee. Retrieved 2013-03-17. <a href="http://www4.uwm.edu/business/corporate/gallery/beals.cfm" target="_blank">http://www4.uwm.edu/business/corporate/gallery/beals.cfm</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:9">Hagerty, James R. (September 1, 2018). "Harley-Davidson CEO Made a Startling Discovery: 'The Problem Was Us'". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 3 September 2018. <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/harley-davidson-ceo-made-a-startling-discovery-the-problem-was-us-1535725800?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=1" target="_blank">https://www.wsj.com/articles/harley-davidson-ceo-made-a-startling-discovery-the-problem-was-us-1535725800?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=1</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:10">Hagerty, James R. (September 1, 2018). "Harley-Davidson CEO Made a Startling Discovery: 'The Problem Was Us'". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 3 September 2018. <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/harley-davidson-ceo-made-a-startling-discovery-the-problem-was-us-1535725800?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=1" target="_blank">https://www.wsj.com/articles/harley-davidson-ceo-made-a-startling-discovery-the-problem-was-us-1535725800?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=1</a> <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:11">Kotha, S. & Dutton, J. Transformation at Harley-Davidson. In Strategic Management: An Integrated Approach by C. Hill & G. Jones, Fourth Edition, Houghton-Mifflin 1997. Also reprinted in Managing Organizations and People: Cases in Management Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management, by Schuler, R. & Buller, P. South-Western Publishers, Spring 1999. <a href="http://faculty.bschool.washington.edu/skotha/website/cases%20pdf/hd.pdf" target="_blank">http://faculty.bschool.washington.edu/skotha/website/cases%20pdf/hd.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:11" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:12">Hagerty, James R. (September 1, 2018). "Harley-Davidson CEO Made a Startling Discovery: 'The Problem Was Us'". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 3 September 2018. <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/harley-davidson-ceo-made-a-startling-discovery-the-problem-was-us-1535725800?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=1" target="_blank">https://www.wsj.com/articles/harley-davidson-ceo-made-a-startling-discovery-the-problem-was-us-1535725800?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=1</a> <a href="#fnref:12" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:13">Matthew Ragas; Bolivar Bueno (2002). The Power of Cult Branding: How 9 Magnetic Brands Turned Customers Into Loyal Followers (and Yours Can Too!). Prima Venture. ISBN 0761536949. <a href="0761536949" target="_blank">0761536949</a> <a href="#fnref:13" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:14">Hagerty, James R. (September 1, 2018). "Harley-Davidson CEO Made a Startling Discovery: 'The Problem Was Us'". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 3 September 2018. <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/harley-davidson-ceo-made-a-startling-discovery-the-problem-was-us-1535725800?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=1" target="_blank">https://www.wsj.com/articles/harley-davidson-ceo-made-a-startling-discovery-the-problem-was-us-1535725800?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=1</a> <a href="#fnref:14" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:15">Woods-Beals Endowed Chair, Buffalo State Center for Excellence in Rural and Urban Education, retrieved 2013-03-18 <a href="http://www.buffalostate.edu/ceure/woodsbeals.xml" target="_blank">http://www.buffalostate.edu/ceure/woodsbeals.xml</a> <a href="#fnref:15" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:16">Woods-Beals Endowed Chair for Excellence in Urban and Rural Education, Buffalo State College, retrieved 2013-03-18 <a href="http://buffalostate.edu/woodsbeals/" target="_blank">http://buffalostate.edu/woodsbeals/</a> <a href="#fnref:16" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:17">Hagerty, James R. (September 1, 2018). "Harley-Davidson CEO Made a Startling Discovery: 'The Problem Was Us'". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 3 September 2018. <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/harley-davidson-ceo-made-a-startling-discovery-the-problem-was-us-1535725800?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=1" target="_blank">https://www.wsj.com/articles/harley-davidson-ceo-made-a-startling-discovery-the-problem-was-us-1535725800?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=1</a> <a href="#fnref:17" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
</ol>

Vaughn Beals open-in-new

Vaughn Beals