Leigh Tiffin spent nearly a dozen years of his professional career working for the family business, first as Vanleigh RV general manager and then as Tiffin Motorhomes president.
As he enters his new role as National Indoor RV Centers president, he said leaving the family company was difficult.
“It is the hardest decision in my entire life,” he said. “I owed too much to too many people to make a decision like that on a whim.”
Tiffin said his decision to change careers was not related to Tiffin’s business. He said it was not related to Thor Industries’ ownership. He said he did not have a contract with Thor Industries that expired.
“It was a long time coming,” he said. “I really looked at it as running to something and not running from something.”
Talks with NIRVC and its founder and CEO, Brett Davis, began in 2024. When the offer became serious, he said he spent months with his wife, Bayless, evaluating the decision from both a family and a Tiffin perspective.
He said, “We went where we felt we were called.”
Then came the conversation with his grandfather, Tiffin founder Bob Tiffin.
Leigh Tiffin said he visited his grandfather at his home to share the plans Leigh and Bayless Tiffin made. The first thing Bob Tiffin told Leigh was to find a great church in Texas, and everything else would be fine.
“He is the eternal optimist,” Leigh Tiffin said of his grandfather. “He was very understanding and encouraging.”
He said his father, Tiffin Senior Advisor of Manufacturing Van Tiffin, was just as supportive.
“He said, ‘I’m your dad, and I love you no matter what,’” Leigh Tiffin said. “He said, if this is something I felt I needed to do, then he was behind me 100%.”
The decision to leave involved more than a job change. The Tiffins are moving the family, including teenage children Ava and Van, to Dallas.
“That is not a small thing,” he said. “It was really gut-wrenching.”
Leigh Tiffin said his family loved Red Bay, Alabama, and their lives were settled in a good routine. Overall, he said, the family was on board with the decision. He said he leaves Tiffin Motorhomes with nothing but the best wishes.
“Some of the most committed people I know are in that organization,” he said. “At the end of the day, family comes first. It just does, and it always will. That is forever.”
