FINDLAY, Ohio—Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. hired Mark Chung, formerly with Yokohama Tire Corp. and Ford Motor Co., to be vice president, strategy and business development for the Americas.
Chung is responsible for leading the development and execution of Cooper's North and South America business strategy, spearheading business intelligence and business development and establishing processes to support the company's growth initiatives in North America.
He reports to Chris Ostrander, president, Americas Operations.
Chung brings nearly 15 years of automotive and industrial-related corporate strategy, marketing and sales experience to Cooper, including six years with Yokohama Tire, where he was director of strategic marketing, corporate strategy and product marketing, responsible for marketing and corporate strategic planning process.
Most recently he was director, global marketing for Cummins Inc.'s Filtration Business Unit. Prior to his time with Yokohama, Chung spent five years with Ford as part of that firm's accelerated marketing executive management development program.
“Mark brings a wealth of experience in strategic business planning, as well as marketing and sales leadership to Cooper,” Ostrander said.
“As we work toward achieving the ambitious goals we have for the Americas region to drive improvements in mix and margin, increase our participation in the original equipment channel, and grow our commercial vehicle and Latin American sales, Mark's leadership will be instrumental to develop and implement the strategy to attain these goals,” the executive added.
Cooper said recently in an investors' presentation it has ambitious goals for business in Central and South America, targeting sales of 4 million to 5 million units a year there by 2020.