Al Harper, owner of American Heritage Railways, wasn’t looking for a job when former Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Interim CEO Jeffrey Geygan resigned last week – but he couldn’t pass up a surprise offer from the Board of Directors to sign on as the confectionary’s temporary new commander-in-chief.
“I had no idea I’d ever be coming back here – it just wasn't on my schedule,” said Harper, who served on the RMCF board for a year back in 2024. “(The board) said that he (Geygan) had resigned, and would I consider coming and being the interim CEO of Rocky Mountain Chocolate, and I said, ‘You’re kidding me.’ It was not a job I was looking for. I don’t need a job – but I like the idea of a challenge.”
Geygan resigned June 26, and the board called Harper the next day, he said. His first day of work was Wednesday.
He was offered a hefty salary, but said he told the board he would rather keep the funds circulating in the struggling business and be paid the equivalent of $200,000 in stocks instead.
“I said, ‘Well, here’s the deal: my stock is so low, you can pay me in stock. If I’m successful, then I’ll do really well. If I’m not, I’m stuck with a bunch of not very valuable stock,’” he said. “That way, we’re not taking any cash from the company. The company needs the cash.”
A recent fourth-quarter fiscal 2026 earnings report reflected a $3.4 million loss and a 23.6% year-over-year revenue decline for the company. Meanwhile, RMCF’s daily stock prices have plummeted over 85% in the last five years.
Geygan once described the company as experiencing a financial “hemorrhage.”
The board offered Harper a 90-day tenure, but he insisted on serving for at least 180 days to adequately address the issues being experienced by the company, he said.
“I said, ‘Geez, it’s going to take maybe longer than 90 days, one: to figure out what’s going on, two: to find the right person, if you want to replace me,” he said. “So, let’s make it for six months, and who knows? Maybe I’ll apply to be permanent.”
Harper said his main initiatives will be working to address RMCF’s financial struggles, including the consistently low stock prices; focusing on relationships with franchisees and employees; and “putting the fun back into chocolate.”
“My theme is, ‘Let’s make chocolate fun again,’” he said.
That intention means hearing his employees and franchisees’ ideas and needs, exploring adding new items like chocolate slushies, possibly bringing factory tours back from the dead and making RMCF an enjoyable and collaborative place to work, he said.
“This is going to be a team effort,” he said. “We’re in this together, we’re all family, we’re all on a team, and we’re going to make it work together. It will be fun, you know?”
Part of the “make chocolate fun again” initiative involves some additional “secret” plans Harper said could not yet be disclosed.
More than anything, Harper wants to refocus the company through a local lens after years of out-of-state CEO leadership and RMCF taking on an increasingly “corporate” energy, he said.
“I just want to get back to the old fashioned fun that Rocky Mountain was, and get away from this really corporate Wall Street kind of approach,” he said. “It doesn’t work out – not in the chocolate business, not in Durango, Colorado.”
Harper wants the next CEO who succeeds him to live in Durango – which was not a requirement of most of the previous CEOs.
“I think (the next CEO) needs to be local and needs to live here,” he said. “I mean, you can’t build a real corporate culture when you’re only here two weeks out of the month – you need to live it. You need to have the passion.”
Harper said he doesn’t know why Geygan resigned, but he has some guesses. Harper was on the board when Geygan was hired, and saw some of his early work up close.
“I think he had a lot of plans, and was frustrated things weren’t happening as fast as he would have liked,” he said. “Certainly, my style of business is much different than his. He’s very much a corporate guy, and I’m very much a family team guy. ... I think maybe he was the right guy at that time when he came on, and maybe I'm the right guy now to take it to a different level. I hope that’s true.”
Geygan, who will remain on the RMCF board, according to a Form 8-K filed last week, told the Herald in a written statement Thursday that he welcomes Harper joining the team.
“Al will find the executive team has invested significant time developing a strategic plan that is generating exceptional results, as evidenced by multiple new store openings,” he said. “I welcome Al and believe he will act in the best interest of stockholders, many of whom are employees and residents of Durango.”
Harper has a modest “maybe, maybe not” outlook on his ability to raise prices, despite his pay day being directly tied to his ability to improve numbers.
“Obviously, now that I know that I’m getting this huge (stock) compensation as CEO, I want to work hard,” he said. “(But) I’m not telling anybody to run and buy stock. ... I’m just saying I’m going to work really hard to make Rocky Mountain Chocolate do well.”
Harper, who is a major investor in the company, recently sold about 190,000 shares over the course of three months after the release of the company’s underwhelming fourth-quarter fiscal 2026 earnings report.
He told The Durango Herald in a previous interview – and reiterated Wednesday – that the sales were made as a prudent business move, not as an attempt to distance himself from the company.
“Why did I sell stock? It was really simple,” he said. “The price went so that it was a 53% profit per share, and I didn’t know if I’d ever come back to Rocky Mountain, and I thought, ‘Well, I’ll sell a little bit at a time.’ ... Now it’s way down.”
The shares, which were bought by Harper for $1.75 per share in 2024, sold at about $2.60 per share this year during a temporary spring stock price increase.
Stocks closed at $1.05 Wednesday.
“I sold some shares at that, because it was a good profit – not because I was particularly trying to get away from Rocky Mountain,” he said.
Harper said he’s ready to put his best effort into leading the company for the foreseeable future.
“My whole goal is that I'll be here every day,” he said. “And I love chocolate, so that's not a problem.”
epond@durangoherald.com
