Polaris have found their replacement for Chris Wolf as the head of snow and named John Stockman as general manager of snowmobiles and timbersleds.
Stockman got his start riding snowmobiles with his cousins at a young age in Northern Minnesota. Those days out on the trails or lakes grew his passion for the sport early on.
Stockman worked at General Mills for 14 years before his recruitment to Polaris six years ago. He started in the global adjacent markets business, trying to grow Polaris outside their core sports before transitioning to snow. He’s excited to continue the legacy that Polaris has brought into the sport.
“One of the reasons I was excited to get back to Polaris was getting back into snowmobiling,” Stockman said. “I love snowmobiling. The six years I’ve been here I’ve always wanted to be in this business. I’m super excited to be in the business now and get to work in a business that I have a lot of passion for.”
A point of emphasis for Stockman is growing the sport and bringing in new riders, especially families and women. Polaris has an Adventure Program designed to do just that. It puts new riders on fresh sleds and immerses them into the sport. Stockman also sees a silver lining in COVID-19, that it forced families to come to together, get outside and ride snowmobiles.
Stockman acknowledged the delay that COVID-19 has had on them receiving parts for sleds. He said that two of the biggest issues have been in receiving plastics and semi-conductor chips. Despite this, Polaris plans on having new sleds to SnowCheck customers in November. Those in the SnowCheck program pre-order next season’s sleds in the spring.
“SnowCheck customers are our most valuable, more loyal customers,” he said. “We want to make sure, more than anybody, that we’re providing them with our sleds. We prioritize those orders.”
While Stockman is excited to have his hand in growing Polaris and the sport, he’s also excited to get out on a sled more often himself.
“I’ve always had a bucket list to go do riding out West in the mountains,” Stockman said, “and so this year before I knew I was going to be in this business I ordered a mountain sled and committed to going out. Little did I know I would be doing a lot more of it being in this business.”