Reggie Fountain Resigns, Eyes New Direction
Amid plenty of speculation over the past few weeks, Reggie Fountain, the legend behind Fountain Powerboats, announced his resignation today from the Washington, N.C., company that he founded more than 30 years ago and developed into one of the world’s leading high-performance boat builders.
Powerboat’s calls to Fountain went unreturned on Friday afternoon (Dec. 10), but here are his comments from a press release that was sent out.
“When I first started building performance sport and fishing boats in the late 1970s, I was personally involved in every facet of the operation,” Fountain said. “At this stage of my career I’ve come full circle and want to return to the custom, one-on-one roots I started with.
“There are key differences in opinion and philosophy between the current owners and myself on how to run the company,” he added. “I’ve always been one that plotted his own course and feel the best ways to utilize my talents is in new product development, racing and working directly with my customers. The performance boat business is changing fast and there are certain basic elements that must be in place to succeed.”
Earlier this year, Fountain Powerboats emerged from bankruptcy thanks to the financial backing of Liberty Associates. The company, which is led by CEO Bill Gates, also owns the Baja Marine brand and American Marine Holdings, which is the group behind the Donzi and Pro-Line brands. Liberty Associates had recently announced that the manufacturing operations of Donzi and Pro-Line were being relocated from production facilities in Sarasota and Crystal River, Fla., to the 250,000-aquare-foot, 66-acre Washington plant.
“We’ve sold more than a billion dollars worth of boats since we started,” Fountain concluded in the press release. ”And although I’m not able to announce any firm plans moving forward, boat building has always been my passion and the future looks both exciting and challenging.”
Stay tuned for news at PowerboatMag.com and in Powerboat magazine.
Amid plenty of speculation over the past few weeks, Reggie Fountain, the legend behind Fountain Powerboats, announced his resignation today from the Washington, N.C., company that he founded more than 30 years ago and developed into one of the world’s leading high-performance boat builders.
Powerboat’s calls to Fountain went unreturned on Friday afternoon (Dec. 10), but here are his comments from a press release that was sent out.
“When I first started building performance sport and fishing boats in the late 1970s, I was personally involved in every facet of the operation,” Fountain said. “At this stage of my career I’ve come full circle and want to return to the custom, one-on-one roots I started with.
“There are key differences in opinion and philosophy between the current owners and myself on how to run the company,” he added. “I’ve always been one that plotted his own course and feel the best ways to utilize my talents is in new product development, racing and working directly with my customers. The performance boat business is changing fast and there are certain basic elements that must be in place to succeed.”
Earlier this year, Fountain Powerboats emerged from bankruptcy thanks to the financial backing of Liberty Associates. The company, which is led by CEO Bill Gates, also owns the Baja Marine brand and American Marine Holdings, which is the group behind the Donzi and Pro-Line brands. Liberty Associates had recently announced that the manufacturing operations of Donzi and Pro-Line were being relocated from production facilities in Sarasota and Crystal River, Fla., to the 250,000-aquare-foot, 66-acre Washington plant.
“We’ve sold more than a billion dollars worth of boats since we started,” Fountain concluded in the press release. ”And although I’m not able to announce any firm plans moving forward, boat building has always been my passion and the future looks both exciting and challenging.”
Stay tuned for news at PowerboatMag.com and in Powerboat magazine.
