Casey Tubman: Championing The Customer Experience
Casey Tubman, President of Newmar Corporation, has a lifelong love for exploring the great outdoors in an RV.
“I grew up in Michigan in a family with four kids. We went camping all the time and started out in a campervan, and then we traveled in a bread truck that my father converted to a camper, and then we moved onto a towable,” Casey recalls. “Having been an outdoor person for my most of my life was one of the draws to come to Newmar.”
Casey adds that he has three children and a spouse who share his enjoyment of RV trips. “My wife of 29 years, Nicole, comes with me a lot of the time when we travel in the RV,” he says. “So, she's also an advocate for the industry!”
Casey originally started out in the engineering field, graduating from the University of Michigan with his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. Throughout the next 10 years, Casey remained in the engineering sector before eventually obtaining his Master of Business Administration at the University of Notre Dame.
He began his career at Whirlpool, where he focused on business— particularly brand management, product, marketing, merchandising, sales, and project management. At the end of 2019, Casey moved to Milan, Italy to lead Whirlpool’s product marketing campaigns across 39 countries in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
His career with Winnebago started shortly after he returned to the United States in early 2022. “By the middle of 2022, Winnebago had contacted me. They had purchased Newmar, and Matt Miller—the President of Newmar at the time— had stayed on for a few more years, and then was ready to retire fully,” Casey explains. “They needed to bring someone in as a president, and they recruited me for that role. The timing worked out well. It’s been a good learning period to understand the industry, and make sure our company is strong for the future.”
Casey adds that he was asked to fill the position partly due to his enjoyment of the outdoors. “It was a good fit to my background and values as a person,” he notes.
Ever since he first started in the role, Casey has had a clear goal in mind: “Newmar was 54 years old when I joined. And my job was to make it strong and sustainable for the next 54 years. We want to bring luxury RVs to the industry and to the customers who want to buy them. We also want to have a company that can sustain their employees and be there when they need us.”
He adds that his day-to-day duties often vary. “My responsibilities involve pretty much all aspects of the business, from the brand development to new products to the manufacturing of the RVs,” Casey explains. “Luckily, I have an experienced executive staff that oversee the different departments which leads to building great products for our customers.”
Despite such a wide range of responsibilities, however, they all have a role in one key priority: “It comes down to taking care of the employees. They continue to build great products that our customers love, and that’s what makes it a sustainable company.”
In addition to his responsibilities with Newmar, Casey champions the RV industry in other key areas as well.
At the beginning of the year, Casey became the RV Technical Institute’s Board Chair. “I first joined the RV Technical Institute’s Board to represent Winnebago Industries and Newmar,” he says. “And then Curtis Hemmeler, the Institute’s Executive Director, asked me to become the Board Chair, which I was happy to do.”
Casey adds: “I'm hoping I can bring some of my previous experience outside the industry as well as some of my experience inside the industry to help the RV Technical Institute develop and reach the next level. We know there's a need for skilled technicians out there. It’s important to train them so that we have capable techs available to help our customers— who want to get their RVs fixed quickly so they can get back on the road.”
Additionally, Casey has supported the RV Industry Association’s advocacy efforts with the California Air Resources Board.
As of last year, sixteen states have adopted zero emission vehicles programs, including California. Several of these programs are focused on phasing out the sales of internal combustion engine vehicles by a certain target year.
This presents a major issue for RV manufacturers, especially those who build large class A motorhomes as there is not currently adequate feasible and affordable alternative power technology to replace all internal combustion engine vehicles. It will also affect tow vehicles as the states and the EPA increase the mandate on percentages of electric vehicles that must be produced by the automobile industry.
The RV Industry Association’s Government Affairs team has continued to monitor the states and educate lawmakers on the efforts being made by the RV industry to comply with these regulations and explain what is feasible for the industry. The Government Affairs team has also been engaged with the California Air Resources Board.
Casey, aware that this issue could impact Newmar’s California consumers, was prepared to get involved. “I wanted to help resolve what we could and make sure we could still have products for customers in the affected states, such as California and the others adopting their legislation,” he explains. “I worked directly with the RV Industry Association as well as the RV Dealers Association to hold meetings with the California Air Resources Board and make sure that we were communicating and understanding each other’s concerns.”
When looking to the future of Newmar, there are a few areas the company is focusing on. “We’ll keep advancing our quality capabilities through new technologies,” Casey says. “In particular, we’ll be advancing our product design through new technologies and innovation. Those are the types of things we work on every day to make the best luxury RVs that we can for our customers. We will continue to build on the heritage of our craftsmanship that Newmar is recognized for.”
When considering his own professional goals, Casey aims to continue spending time with employees from the production floor, something he’s been doing since becoming President two and a half years ago. “I try to get out every month and work the floor or shadow an office employee and learn the roles of our both our production and office folks,” he says. “It’s also important to spend time with our dealers out in the field, learn what they’re hearing from their customers, understand their business models, and how we can work together.”
Additionally, Casey prioritizes understanding Newmar’s customers by experiencing how they use the products. “To be a good brand, for the long term, you must know your customers and how they're using their products. The way you do that is by being one of them and using the products as much as they do.”
Recent examples of this include Casey’s trip to Tampa this past January to attend the consumer-focused Florida RV SuperShow, which featured Newmar products among the show’s 1,300 units on display. Casey also recently spent a week at the Daytona 500, connecting with Newmar customers. (Fun fact: several of Newmar’s customers are NASCAR cup drivers). This past February, Newmar partnered with Legacy Motor Club, a premier auto racing organization and co owner Jimmie Johnson, seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion to build them a Newmar King Aire motorhome for hosting events at the track.
“It’s important to me to visit customers, see dealers, and use the product to understand it better,” Casey explains, adding that this goal extends to Newmar employees as well: “We also have a demo fleet for our employees to use, particularly our brand specialists— who take the calls directly from our customers— and our product development team, who design the products. We try to prioritize their usage of the demo fleets so that, when they're talking to a customer, they’ll know exactly what that customer has experienced. They can also provide feedback on how we could improve our products. We put the customer at the center of our world.”