Dana appoints new Chairman and CEO and plans to sell Off-Highway business

Dana Incorporated announced the appointment of R. Bruce McDonald, a member of the Dana Board of Directors, as Chairman and CEO, effective immediately. Mr. McDonald’s appointment follows the retirement of James Kamsickas as Chief Executive Officer and his departure from the Board. Mr. Kamsickas will remain as an advisor to the Company through March 2025 to support the transition. The Board has retained a leading executive search firm to identify the Company’s next permanent CEO.

Keith Wandell, Dana’s Lead Independent Director, said, “Jim is an exceptional leader with more than 18 years as a CEO in the industry. He led Dana through one of the industry’s most challenging periods while successfully building a high-performance culture, enabling a world-class manufacturing company and assembling a portfolio of leading products and technologies. The Board and Jim agreed that now is the right time to transition the leadership of Dana, and we thank Jim for his many contributions over his nine years leading the Company and wish him all the best.”

Mr. Kamsickas said, “I am proud of the work the Dana team has done over the past decade to grow revenues and successfully enhance the technology to serve all mobility markets no matter what type of propulsion they may use. It has been an honor to lead this talented global team during that time and I am confident the Company is well positioned for the future.”

Mr. Wandell continued, “We continue to have confidence in the long-term opportunity in the mobility industry, however it is undergoing a significant transformation, including protracted cost pressures and demand uncertainty. To address these challenges and deliver more value to customers and shareholders, Dana is taking action to streamline the business, unlock the value of its Off-Highway business and further reduce costs. Bruce is an experienced public company CEO in our industry with significant M&A expertise, and we are confident that he is the right person to oversee this transformation while the Board conducts a search for a permanent successor.”

Dana plans to sell Off-Highway business

Dana also announced it has engaged financial advisors Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to sell its Off-Highway business, which the Board believes will unlock substantial value for shareholders. The Off-Highway business provides drive and motion systems for heavy-duty vehicles in markets such as agriculture, materials handling, mining, construction and forestry. A sale will position Dana with a streamlined go-to-market approach focused on serving its light and commercial vehicle customers, with traditional and electrified products that are largely shared across the remaining portfolio. Proceeds from a potential sale will enable Dana to strengthen its balance sheet through substantially reduced leverage, and to return capital to shareholders.

While the Company and its advisors believe there is strong interest in the Off-Highway business, there can be no assurance that the sale process for Off-Highway will result in a transaction.

Furthermore, the Company plans to reduce capital spending to reflect the revised market demand for electric vehicles.