NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Hank Hara has been selected to succeed Shigehisa Sano as executive vice president of tire development and technology at the Bridgestone/Firestone North American Tire L.L.C. Technology Center in Akron.
Sano has returned to parent company Bridgestone Corp. in Japan, where he now is vice president of research and development and technology.
Hara has been with Bridgestone since 1977. He started in the material development department at the Kodira Tech Center in Japan, and spent many years working in original equipment tire development.
He moved to Akron in 1992 as technical assistant to the BFS vice president of technology.
After returning to Japan for a few years, he came back to the U.S. in 2000, and took his latest job, divisional vice president of technology planning, in 2001.