Q&A with Aine Denari

It was two years ago when Irish-born Aine Denari was hired by Brunswick Corp. to serve as president of the company’s flourishing, 17-brand Boat Group. Denari joined the marine industry titan after a two-decade career in the automotive and global consulting segments.

Denari earned a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering from the University College Dublin, a master’s in engineering management from University of Detroit Mercy, a master’s in mechanical engineering from Purdue University, and a master’s in business administration specializing in strategy, marketing and finance. She also participated in the Stanford University Graduate School of Business Stanford Executive program.

Early in her career, Denari was an engineer at Ford Motor Co. before joining global management consulting firm Bain & Co. She was an engagement manager at McKinsey & Co. and director of strategy and analytics at Ingersoll Rand. Most recently, she worked at ZF Group, where she steered the company’s Advanced Driver Assist and autonomous driving business.

Soundings Trade Only spoke with Denari just before the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show about topics including sustainability, work culture, design, electrification, translatable processes from the automotive industry, affordability, recyclable boats and more.

How did you come to work at Brunwsick from ZF Industries?

I spent a good chunk of my career in the automotive world. I started my career as an engineer, so I’ve always been interested in the product development side of things. And that’s where I spent most of my early years, on the product development side. I was delighted to have the opportunity.

After business school, I spent some time in consulting, and then [went] back into more engineering-focused organizations. When I first heard from Brunswick, I was very excited about the portfolio — not just the brands, but just the products themselves. Transportation and mobility are things that have always been very, very close to my heart. So that was super-interesting, and as I got to know the people, I think that was really a huge part of it. I mean, it’s just a fantastic team that is passionate about the products and the industry. That’s incredibly infectious and really invigorating to see that level of passion and engagement and commitment.

I think [the excitement] was also partially about the ability to take some of the things that I learned from the automotive industry and places where the automotive industry is maybe a little bit more advanced, and have the opportunity to be able to apply them in the marine industry. It’s been two years to this week. Absolutely no regrets.

When you came on board, you jumped into the middle of a maelstrom: Covid-19, supply-chain issues, tariffs and more.

It certainly has been a dynamic couple of years. We’ve been dealing with the same headwinds that most everyone else has. Supply-chain issues have been a major challenge. Earlier on in the pandemic, there were all the Covid-related shutdowns and labor shortages that we’re [still] dealing with. Recently, inflation has been one of the biggest challenges.

On the plus side, we have had strong demand, which has been great. And I would say, across the board, the teams have just been fantastic, especially the level of commitment to keep things going and improving and bringing things to the next level.

Some of the things we did to manage the challenges were around dual-sourcing and vertical integration. In places where we had some significant supply-chain challenges, we’ve done a lot to bring things in-house … to manage that continuity and also, frankly, to manage the inflation elements. A lot of that vertical integration and dual-sourcing has been very beneficial as we thought about managing the inflationary environment.

In parallel, to address the additional demand that we’ve been seeing, we’ve also delivered quite a bit of capacity ex­pansions. There are 14 manufacturing facilities within the Boat Group, and 10 of them have delivered capacity expansions over the course of the last two years. For the most part, that’s been kind of involving some level of brick-and-mortar expansion, but there’s also been a lot of adding additional [work] shifts.

There’s also been a lot of focus on operational excellence and productivity advancements — all those things have worked together to deliver higher capacity output, too. Despite all the challenges the team has been facing, just this year alone we have launched 60 new products across the 17 brands. In many cases, we leveraged the synergies across Brunswick, whether that’s working together with the Mercury propulsion division or integrating [Advanced Systems Group] into Navico Group or using newer technologies like digital switching.

You spoke at the 2022 American Boating Congress about electrification. How do you see this sort of technology fitting into the Boat Group?

To be clear, it’s an exciting technology evolution. And of course, as an engineer, I’m very excited about what it will bring — and it definitely is coming. It probably won’t come in the same way as it does in automotive, where a lot is driven short-term by regulation. That’s probably one of the big differences.

And the other big difference, of course, is just the power density requirements to push a boat through water versus driving a car along the road with the ability to regenerate [electricity]. But having said that, I’m really excited to see it come. I think there’s various use cases depending on the portfolio.

The first applications we’ll see [at Brunswick] will be in the lower-horsepower, lower-voltage space. The announcements that we’ve made about Avator, the first electric propulsion system that Mercury is developing, will be for the use cases where you’re not looking for the wide-open throttle, three hours across from Miami over to the Bahamas. The typical pontoon use case is a very good option, and maybe smaller fishing boats. There also are use cases like we see on any kind of horsepower-restricted lake, whether that’s in North America or in Europe.

Then there’s the high-performance, high-voltage, high-horsepower areas where you can bundle it with a premium offering where there’s maybe a little less price sensitivity, because the cost right now of electric propulsion for the marine environment is significantly higher than the cost of an internal combustion engine, despite what’s going on with gasoline prices. That’s why it makes a lot more sense to focus more on the early tech adopters and bundle a premium experience with additional features and functionality. That’s not a massive market, but it is an exciting market, an area where we’re certainly doing a lot to be able to deliver on that.

Of course, as the technologies mature and the cost curve comes back down, I think that’s where you’ll see [electrification] move into more of a mass-adoption space from a propulsion perspective.

Can you speak about the lower and middle ends of the boat market? This pool of potential buyers has been shrinking since the beginning of the year. How does that affect your new models or current product line? How often do affordability and accessibility come up?

It certainly comes up a lot, especially in the current environment with inflation. It’s an area where we’re making sure we’re managing our costs as closely as we possibly can. Vertical integration, dual-sourcing, contract negotiations … those things are all important to us to ensure that we’re managing the portfolio to ensure its affordable.

Throughout the pandemic, we saw a lot of first-time boat buyers enter the market. That’s been fantastic for all of us, and it’s really important for us to ensure that we keep all those people in the market throughout their lifetimes, and make sure that they are having a good experience. Across our portfolio today, about 80 percent of the boats that we sell cost $50,000 or less. So that’s an important part of that market for us.

What strategies, processes and engineering are translatable from automotive to the marine sector?

There are a lot of parallels. Also, I want to be clear that there are plenty of differences. Manufacturing a boat is not the same thing as manufacturing a car. Different levels of automation are involved, and different types of craftsmanship and workmanship go into boats. The volumes and the scale are just completely different. In my old world, we would look at implementing capital equipment for volumes that were all kind of north of a million units per year per platform. That’s just completely different.

The SLX 260 was the first Sea Ray designed by an all-women team. Was that coincidental or intentional?

Across Brunswick, diversity, equity and inclusion has been a key priority for the organization for quite a period of time now. And so I think as a result of that very intentional focus on D, E and I, we do have a more diverse workforce — and not just within the design community, but more broadly across the board. And that very definitely has been intentional. It has been top-down from [CEO] David Foulkes. We see a lot of the benefits of that diversity and inclusion across our organization, which is phenomenal. The SLX 260 designers, Carrie and Kristin, are a great example of that. They are super-talented and have done a phenomenal job.

Brunswick Boat Group introduced many new models this year, and the company had a 27-percent increase in unit sales in Q3. What strategies contributed to the uptick, and where are you seeing the most growth?

We’ve had a great year, and it’s been [built] around an intentional focus from the organization. I mentioned that across the 14 facilities, 10 of them have delivered capacity expansions in one way or the other over the last couple of years. That’s enabled us to increase output dramatically. We’re seeing growth across all the segments and across all of the brands — that’s 17 brands across Europe, Asia and North America. There has also been substantial growth in the pontoon market, and certainly in premium fiberglass, which also is really strong. [The towboat segment] is another space where we’ve seen growth. For example, that was another brand-new launch just last week, the Heyday H20.

How important is Brunswick’s vertical integration to the success of the Boat Group?

It’s very important, and more so in the current environment [looking through the] supply-chain, continuity and inflation lenses. [For example], we have great synergies with Navico Group. That’s been great to be able to really think through end-to-end systems development as we discuss moving from [specific,] component-based systems and solutions to broader systems. As we think about more connectivity and technical integrations, full systems development is more important than sourcing things by components. That’s another aspect where the vertical integration becomes more important because now we can jointly develop fully optimized systems that include components from Mercury and Navico Group, and integrate them into the Boat Group. That’s an aspect of the vertical integration piece that’s important.

What technologies do you see making boats better? Telematics is a big push right now — how big a part will that play in Brunswick boats?

We’ve been pretty public about our Autonomous, Connected, Electrified and Shared Access (ACES) strategy. I think all of those things are super-important to us. We’re investing pretty heavily in these areas and will continue to do so. You mentioned telematics — you think about connectivity and all of the user-interface elements. That is definitely important. So connectivity both on and off the water is important.

Autonomy is something near and dear to my heart, considering I used to run an autonomous driving business. We’re starting more in the assist phase. And then as the algorithms, as well as the sensor applications, mature, you’ll see that move further and further up the field, too. All of these things make [boating] more intuitive and safer, especially for first-time boaters or people who are maybe not as experienced.

I think as we’re bringing people into the space that they won’t be as forgiving because they have different experiences with other luxury products. This is an opportunity for us to be able to differentiate ourselves by having seamless, intuitive, completely reliable, high-quality, best-service experiences.

Forbes recently named Brunswick one of America’s best employers. What makes Brunswick a great place to work?

I think I mentioned earlier the passion, engagement and commitment from the team. That’s a huge piece of it. But I would also say that there are core cultural elements that you see across the board — not just within Boat Group, but across Brunswick overall. I’d say one important part is a really strong DNA of collaboration. We always say we’re kind of one Brunswick, and we’re united.

We have a mindset of being better together, and are supportive of each other. Everyone is kind, compassionate and caring, but also extremely respectful, which, in comparison to some other places I’ve worked, has been super-refreshing to see. It all makes [Brunswick] a great place to work, and an exciting place to come to every day.

There also is a focus on being creative, accountable, agile and able to deliver. That’s important, too, as is our culture of innovation. I think that’s an important piece of the Brunswick culture and the Brunswick DNA, too. We want to be market-leading. We want to be able to surprise and delight our customers. We want to always have the best solutions and deliver them in the best way.

What sort of sustainability initiatives is the Boat Group working on?

From a manufacturing perspective, we are super-focused on scope 1 and scope 2 emissions. Also, whether it’s things like LED lighting across the board, or implementing solar power, zero waste to landfill, all those kinds of things are front and center, and part of our ongoing strategy and budgeting process.

On the product-development side of things, we’re looking at recycled boats. Maybe you saw one of the announcements we made about Elium resin, which helps recycling boats at end-of-life. We want to avoid fiberglass boats from going into landfills; that’s a really important area for us.

Another area within the manufacturing process is around reducing the emissions as we think about volatile organic compounds. If you think about manufacturing processes like closed fiberglass molding, that’s where we will have the ability to reduce the VOC emissions.

What’s your boating background, and are you actively boating these days?

I grew up in Ireland, and as a kid, got to do various watersports while living close to the ocean, but it was mostly sailing and some windsurfing. Today, my family has a Sea Ray SLX 310 that we love getting out on. With my husband and the three kids, it’s a kind of perfect boat for a nice day out on the water. We don’t tend to spend a lot of overnights on the boat because of the three kids, but it’s always a ton of fun.

Prior to my role at Brunswick, I didn’t have nearly as much boating background as I wish I had. Whether it’s tubing or swimming or just hanging out and going to the sandbar, docking at a restaurant — whatever it is — it’s been fun. We’ve really enjoyed it. So with this current boating lifestyle, I only got more deeply into it once I joined Brunswick. It’s been fantastic for us, and certainly will be a lifelong passion going forward.

When did you buy the boat?

This was our first full summer with it here in the Chicago area. Other times, we go down to Florida for spring break and have access to a boat for the week down there too, which is lovely.

Does using the boat help with your position as Boat Group president?

It is great. I’m lucky — my youngest is 9, and she loves doing the poles for the canvas, so I’m like, that’s perfect. But then I’m like, man, when I’m a little bit older, it’s not going to be that easy to get in there and stick the poles up once I have the canvas up. We need to resolve that solution, right? So that’s great.

Talking to all my slipmates is great, too. It’s always interesting to pick their brains on what they like and don’t like, and what the pain points are. And then I’m always running back to the design team and the engineering team, “Oh, what about … ” I find it is super-interesting to get the team’s feedback and input, too.

Is there anything else you’d like to tell us about?

We launched 60 boats this year, and there’s a lot more to come across all the brands and segments. It’s really satisfying to have the leading portfolio across all the segments. We’re also enthusiastic about continued growth. We love the fact that we were able to bring so many new boaters into our industry during the pandemic, and it’s absolutely our mission now to keep them there through the best experiences, and having the best quality products, by offering the best service.

It’s an exciting time to be a part of this industry and this company. I’m very much looking forward to many years to come. 

This article was originally published in the December 2022 issue.