Richard Teerlink

Harley-Davidson's chief financial officer at the time of the 1984 crisis with Citicorp. Citicorp, Harley's original financial backer from the 1981 buyout, wanted its money back; so Teerlink, together with Vaughn Beals, Tom Gelb and others, managed to negotiate a refinancing deal with Heller Financial. It was finally signed on 31 December 1985, just weeks before the company would have needed to file for protection against bankruptcy, for which a legal team had already been hired. Richard Teerlink later succeeded Vaughn Beals as chief executive officer.