FINDLAY, Ohio—Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. has realigned executive responsibilities in its tire group to improve its focus on target markets.
D. Richard Stephens has become president of Cooper´s North American Tire Division. Harold C. Miller was named president of the International Tire Division; Patricia J. Brown vice president of global branding and communications; Carl A. Casalbore vice president of marketing and retail sales for the North American division; Phillip Caris vice president of sales and marketing; and David S. Craig director of advertising for North America.
Stephens has been president of Cooper Tire since December 2001. Before that he was vice president of technical and commercial tire operations, and has spent 26 years with the company, including 22 years in the technical and product development areas.
Miller came to Cooper in March 2002 as vice president of corporate planning and control. He joined the firm from Eaton Corp., where he worked for 16 years, most recently as vice president and general manager for the fluid power hose and plastic operation. He also spent 10 years in public accounting.
Brown has been with Cooper nearly 36 years. Since 2000 she has served as vice president of advertising and communications. Brown began her career as a sales analyst in the marketing research department, and held numerous advertising posts until becoming director of communications in 1997.
Casalbore has been Cooper vice president of retail sales and high performance tire development for two years. He came to the company in 1999 as director of sales, after serving for 20 years with a competitor in several managerial positions.
During his 21-year Cooper career, Caris has held several sales and marketing positions, most recently as vice president of marketing, since 2002. He also headed the sales and marketing team in Europe between 2000 and 2002.
Craig joined Cooper in 1993 as a territory sales manager in the international sales department. Among several titles he held was his last, manager of associated brand advertising and communications.