SEMA Board of Directors 2026: Meet Jeff Hermann
Before reading this, you should know that nobody paid us to write this. The 2026 SEMA Board of Directors election is coming up, and Jeff Hermann didn’t buy an ad package, didn’t slide into our inbox with a sponsorship pitch, and didn’t ask us to cover his campaign. We ran into him the way most things happen in this industry: organically, through a shared connection and a conversation that went somewhere real.
But before we get into Jeff, we need to talk about something that affects every SEMA member reading this.
Your Vote Matters
SEMA Board of Directors voting opens May 4 and runs through May 27, 2026. Voter turnout is historically low, which means the members who actually show up to vote carry real weight in deciding who represents this industry on the board. If your company is a SEMA member, watch your inbox on May 4 for a ballot from noreply@directvote.net and make sure it doesn’t end up in spam. You can also call (909) 610-2030 or email member@sema.org to confirm who at your company receives the ballot.
Vote for whoever you believe in. That’s the point. This is your industry, and the people making decisions about Right to Repair, motorsports access, the future of the SEMA Show, and the direction of the aftermarket are elected by members who bother to participate. Be one of them.
Now, back to Jeff.
After a few messages back and forth on LinkedIn and some time digging into his campaign, we realized this was somebody worth introducing to the Car Junkie audience. He’s VP of Brand and Strategy at MagnaFlow Group. He co-founded Foose Performance and MagnaVolt. He led the acquisition of Camburg Engineering and helped build a race program that just won the Mint 400 overall against trucks running more than twice the horsepower of his SPEC class rig. And the values he’s campaigning on, protecting car culture, defending motorsports access, keeping the hobby accessible to the next generation of builders, line up with what we started Car Junkie to talk about in the first place.
We sent him 18 questions. He answered all of them. Here’s what he had to say.
Where It All Started
Jeff grew up around Volkswagens. Buses, Beetles, Ghias; his dad was deep in the old SoCal VW club scene in the ’60s and ’70s, and Jeff came up hearing those stories. By high school, there was a ’68 Camaro in the driveway and a 1987 Celica in his lane. One of his first jobs was working on exhibits at the NHRA Museum in Pomona. The wrench was always nearby.
The career pivot from enthusiast to industry professional came through an unexpected path. He spent years in tech, working in semiconductor product management and learning orbital welding and gas plumbing manifolds along the way. His wife worked in marketing at Bilstein, so the aftermarket was always in the conversation. Because a product management role opened at Fox Factory, he made the jump. That’s where the suspension and performance career started in earnest.
His 1981 DeLorean DMC-12 is the build that shows up in his campaign photos, and the story behind it says a lot about how he thinks. He bought it in 2020 and drives it every week, because he doesn’t believe in cars that just sit. Before the DeLorean, there was a 1955 Buick Special four-door sedan. Big, heavy, and a completely different personality. He appreciates both ends of the spectrum, and that comes through in everything he talks about.
What He Does At MagnaFlow
Most people know MagnaFlow for performance exhaust. What they might not know is that a significant part of the business is direct-fit repair: catalytic converters, replacement exhaust systems, products that keep everyday cars on the road. Jeff’s role as VP of Brand and Strategy spans corporate development, acquisitions, innovation, racing, and marketing. The through line in all of it is the same question: what’s next?
The Camburg acquisition fits that philosophy well. Camburg is one of the most respected names in off-road suspension, and the co-founders, Jerry Zaiden and Jason Campbell, stayed on as part of the MagnaFlow Group team. Racing has driven real product development from the start. Early on, braking and steering failures on the race truck sent the engineering team back to the drawing board. New brake calipers and rotors came out of those DNFs. A completely redesigned power steering system followed. Both are now available on the Kinetik truck platform. Jeff’s approach is deliberate: build it in racing first, prove it there, and then bring it to the aftermarket when it’s actually ready.
The Foose Performance joint venture pairs MagnaFlow with one of the most recognized names in the industry. MagnaVolt, the other joint venture, partners with Revolt Systems, the company that holds the land speed record in EVs, to develop large-scale power generation technology. Jeff is clear that MagnaVolt isn’t about becoming an EV company. It’s about performance and power, applied to where the technology is heading.
Five Wins In A Row
The Mint 400 overall win is the one that stands out. The Camburg/MagnaFlow team races SPEC class, where everyone runs the same 525-horsepower LS engine in a 2WD platform. Beating the 1,200-plus-horsepower AWD trucks overall is the goal, and they’ve been working toward it for years, consistently winning their class and sitting on the overall podium. At the Mint 400, it finally happened.
Jeff was quick to point to the people behind it: driver Kyle Jergensen, co-driver Shawn Shanks, and a full crew including Jason Campbell, Cory Spang, Carlos Gonzalez, and everyone else in the pits. Racing, he said, taught him that team dynamics are everything. As a result, the win doesn’t belong to anyone.
Why He’s Running For SEMA Board Of Directors In 2026
Jeff’s campaign runs on three pillars: Preserve Automotive Culture, Protect Motorsports, and Drive the Future Forward. We asked him straight up if he could only move the needle on one in his first term, which one does he chase first? His answer was honest. “It’s an impossible question to answer. It’s all interconnected for me in a circular fashion. It’s an entire ecosystem. We lose one element, and the entire ecosystem breaks down. That’s really the magic of what makes SEMA special for me.”
We asked him about Leno’s Law next, because it’s the kind of policy that sounds distant until you realize it directly affects the car sitting in your garage. He breaks it down simply. The proposal would exempt vehicles 35 years or older, driven only occasionally, from smog checks in California. His 1981 DeLorean would qualify. “It’s important to tackle these issues in California,” he told us, “as these policies often influence rules across the country.” For that reason, what happens there matters to the guy with a ’76 Camaro in Missouri just as much as it matters to someone in Los Angeles.
We also asked him what losing Right to Repair and Right to Modify actually looks like in practice for the average builder, because enthusiasts feel it in their gut without always being able to explain it technically. His answer put it in terms that anyone who has spent time under a car understands. “Think about a parent in their garage working on a car with their kid. Maybe it’s fixing something that broke, maybe it’s building something better. That’s where so many of us got our start.” When that access gets locked down at the software level or through data restrictions, the cost of repair goes up, the ability to modify goes down, and the next generation loses the on-ramp into this hobby that the rest of us took for granted.
On motorsports access, the threats are real and underreported. Racetracks that have existed for decades are now facing nuisance claims from neighboring development. Off-road access in places like Johnson Valley and Moab is under pressure. These aren’t abstract policy debates. They’re direct threats to the places where enthusiasts actually use their vehicles. We covered the 2025 SEMA Show firsthand, and if you need a reminder of what that energy looks like, start here.
The Grassroots Lesson
When we asked Jeff about the build he’s most proud of, he went somewhere unexpected. A 24 Hours of Lemons car themed around The Simpsons. Built on almost no budget, just a group of people getting creative and having fun. That car got national attention and eventually landed an invitation to Fox Television Studios to meet Matt Groening. Disney brought them to D23. All of that from a $500 race car.
That story still shapes how he thinks about leadership. The most meaningful ideas in this industry often start at the grassroots level, from people who are just passionate enough to try something different. A SEMA Board of Directors seat, in his view, exists to protect the environment that makes those stories possible. While big budgets and established brands get most of the attention, the next great idea is just as likely to come from a two-car garage somewhere in the middle of the country.
Cast Your Vote In The 2026 SEMA Board Of Directors Election
Voting runs May 4 through May 27, 2026. Watch for the ballot email from noreply@directvote.net and add that address to your contacts now so it doesn’t disappear into spam. To confirm who receives the ballot for your company, call (909) 610-2030 or email member@sema.org.
Learn more about Jeff’s campaign on his campaign website. You can review all 2026 SEMA Board of Directors candidates at sema.org/2026-bod-candidates.
Frequently Asked Questions
Jeff Hermann is the Vice President of Brand and Strategy at MagnaFlow Group, where he oversees corporate development, acquisitions, innovation, racing, and marketing. He led the acquisition of Camburg Engineering and co-founded both Foose Performance and MagnaVolt. He is running for the 2026 SEMA Board of Directors on three pillars: Preserve Automotive Culture, Protect Motorsports, and Drive the Future Forward. His background spans performance manufacturing, off-road racing, and new technology ventures, and he holds formal board education through the Stanford Directors’ Consortium.
Leno’s Law is a proposed California rule that would exempt vehicles 35 years or older, driven only occasionally, from smog inspections. The reasoning is straightforward: these vehicles are rarely used and contribute very little to overall emissions. Because California emissions policy tends to influence regulations across the country, the outcome of this proposal matters to classic car owners everywhere, not just in California. For someone with a ’76 Camaro, a ’69 Nova, or any other vintage vehicle sitting in the garage, passage of Leno’s Law would mean one less barrier to keeping that car registered and on the road.
Right to Repair is the legal protection that allows vehicle owners, independent shops, and enthusiasts to access the data, tools, and software needed to repair and modify their own vehicles without being forced back to a dealership or OEM. In practice, losing those rights means repair costs go up, modification options shrink, and the hands-on experience of working on your own vehicle gets locked behind proprietary systems. For the person wrenching in a two-car garage, it’s the difference between being able to diagnose and fix a problem yourself and being told you can’t touch it. Right to Modify extends that protection to performance upgrades and custom builds.
Voting in the 2026 SEMA Board of Directors election opens May 4 and runs through May 27, 2026. Ballots are sent by email from noreply@directvote.net to each SEMA member company’s primary contact. Add that address to your contacts now so the ballot doesn’t get caught in spam filtering. To confirm who receives the ballot for your company, call (909) 610-2030 or email member@sema.org. You can also review all candidates at sema.org/2026-bod-candidates before casting your vote.
The Camburg MagnaFlow race team competes in SPEC class off-road racing, where all competitors run the same 525-horsepower LS engine in a 2WD truck platform. The class is designed to level the playing field and prove that engineering and execution matter more than raw horsepower. The team has won five consecutive races, including the overall at the Mint 400, beating four-wheel-drive trucks running more than 1,200 horsepower. Products developed through that racing program, including new brake calipers, rotors, and a redesigned power steering system, are now available on the Kinetik truck platform in the aftermarket.
