Rebooting the World's Largest Marine Company: Ryan Gwillim, CFO & CSO of Brunswick

Brunswick Corporation has been rebooting itself since 1845. The company that started in woodworking went on to build pool tables, bowling equipment, fitness machines, coolers, and bicycles before making one of the most disciplined strategic pivots in modern manufacturing history: selling off everything that was not marine and doubling down on building the world's most complete marine ecosystem. Today, Brunswick is a roughly 6 billion dollar global powerhouse with more than 60 industry-leading brands across 26 countries and approximately 14,000 employees. Its outboard engine business has grown from low thirties market share to nearly 50 percent in the United States. Its parts and accessories business now represents 60 percent of earnings and revenue, a recurring annuity model that insulates the company from the volatility of new boat sales cycles. And its Freedom Boat Club, acquired for 60 million dollars in 2019, is worth conservatively half a billion dollars today. At the center of this transformation is Ryan Gwillim, who holds one of the rarest roles in corporate America: Chief Financial Officer and Chief Strategy Officer simultaneously.

On this episode of The Reboot Chronicles Podcast, we sit down with Ryan Gwillim, CFO and CSO of Brunswick, to unpack how the world's oldest and largest marine company transformed itself from a conglomerate into a focused ecosystem platform, what the ACES strategy means for the future of boating, how Freedom Boat Club is redefining who gets to be on the water, why Brunswick is bringing manufacturing in-house as tariff pressure mounts, and what it took personally for a lawyer turned investor relations executive to end up steering the financial and strategic future of a 180 year old company.