Wofford College launched Mike Cunningham ’76 on the ride of a lifetime — on two wheels.
Cunningham has worked in the motorcycle business his entire career and has been in executive positions with several motorcycle companies. Now he lives and works in Las Vegas as director of sales for Zero Motorcycles, an electric motorcycle company.
Although the vast majority of motorcycle sales in the U.S. are for those powered by gasoline, electric motorcycles are growing in popularity. Zero Motorcycles began operations in 2006 in a small shop in Santa Cruz, Calif. The company has made significant sales gains each year since.
“It’s so very different than anything I’ve done before,” Cunningham says. “It’s a new and upcoming segment, and I couldn’t resist. They brought me on board because I’ve built over time a good rapport and understanding with dealers.”
The link to motorcycles came naturally for Cunningham, who was born in Fayetteville, N.C. His family owned and operated a motorcycle dealership in Fayetteville, and he returned there in 1976 after graduation to assist in its operation. The dealership was sold in 1996, and Cunningham began a journey that has included management stops at several major motorcycle companies, including Vespa and Triumph.
He moved to Zero seven years ago because he was intrigued by the concept of electric cycles and was impressed with the company’s environmentally friendly operations and goals.
Cunningham describes himself as an “Army brat,” whose family moved several times as his father’s orders changed.
“Dad had known the head of the ROTC department at Wofford, and he told him that’s where I should go,” Cunningham says. “I was all for it, but the first time I went to Wofford was the day I registered for classes. I loved it. The last couple of years I was there, my dad was stationed in Korea, so over holidays I’d go ‘camp out’ at friends’ houses.”
Because he had moved often as a child as his father moved from post to post, Cunningham found something new – stability – at Wofford.
“I think I grew up there,” he says. “I had always been in communities that were transient. For the first time, I knew I would be in one place for a period of time. I made great friends.”
Cunningham still considers geology professor John Harrington and Dean of Students Mike Preston ’63 as major influences during his time at Wofford.