Brunswick names new Lowe and Crestliner presidents

LAKE FOREST, Ill. March 27, 2013 – The Brunswick Boat Group (BBG), a unit of Brunswick Corporation (NYSE: BC), today announced Ben Cast has been named president of Lowe Boats, and Cecil Cohn president of Crestliner Boats, succeeding Cast.  Both report to Jeff Kinsey, president – Freshwater Boats.  Both appointments are effective April 1.

Both Cast and Cohn joined Brunswick in 2005, and since 2010 Cast has served as president – Crestliner Boats, while Cohn has been vice president – marketing and sales support for Brunswick’s freshwater fishing boat and pontoon businesses.  Brunswick Freshwater Boats is comprised of Brunswick’s Crestliner, Cypress Cay, Harris FloteBote, Lowe, Lund, and Princecraft brands.

While with Brunswick, Cast has served in two roles at Boston Whaler as the brand’s vice president of sales, marketing and customer service as well as Whaler’s director of quality and customer service.  Prior to Whaler, Cast also was a program manager in the engineering department focusing on saltwater boats and began his Brunswick career in the Company’s strategy group.  Cast has his baccalaureate degree from the University of Notre Dame, and his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Before joining Brunswick’s Freshwater Group in 2008, Cohn had most recently managed Bayliner’s inside sales & customer support operation as well as Bayliner’s supply chain function prior to that.  His management experience with the Company also includes leading various strategic planning and business development opportunities for the Brunswick Boat Group.  Cohn has his baccalaureate from Emory University and his MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.

“Both Ben and Cecil have been instrumental in Freshwater Boats’ success,” explained Kinsey. “Displaying a great track record of growth and building strong dealer relationships during his tenure at Crestliner, Ben’s leadership also has helped to reinvigorate a proud brand by introducing a number of innovations and new models to the Crestliner portfolio.

“Cecil has been instrumental in launching our lead response program and subsequent efforts in the areas of lead generation and other marketing improvements that have benefitted the Freshwater dealer network,” Kinsey said.  “In addition, he has worked closely with our sales team to help drive market share gains in collaboration with all of our Freshwater dealers.  Given Cecil’s track record with the Freshwater Group and Brunswick over the past eight years, I anticipate this transition to be a smooth and seamless one.”

At Lowe Boats, Cast succeeds Huw Bower, who recently was named president of the BBG’s Boston Whaler Group.