Bridgestone Americas promotes 4 in drive toward sustainable mobility

NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Bridgestone Americas Inc. is expanding the roles of several key executives in a bid to strengthen the tire business and accelerate the execution of its sustainable-mobility solutions strategy.

"As Bridgestone continues to grow its efforts in the areas of mobility solutions and sustainability, it is imperative we create the necessary alignment within Bridgestone Americas to effectively realize our goals locally and globally," President and CEO Paolo Ferrari said.

"We have built a strong leadership team within Bridgestone Americas, and this new organizational structure strikes the right balance between execution on our core tire business and the further development of our medium and long-term sustainable and mobility solutions platforms."

Scott Damon, currently group president of operations, becomes chief operating officer, with responsibility for the company's various consumer, commercial, and OTR/agricultural tire business activities, including the original equipment, replacement and retread tire businesses. It also covers all Latin American activities.

He retains responsibility for the company's manufacturing, logistics/supply chain management, quality and procurement functions.

This new organizational structure is designed to enhance "enterprise prioritization" by aligning core tire business functions directly with the operational functions that support them.

Nizar Trigui, chief technology officer, is adding the responsibilities of group president of the solutions businesses, Bridgestone said, which include accountability for mobility solutions, information technology and circular economy strategies, in addition to R&D, Technology and all Akron, Ohio-based operations.

Aligning sustainability and mobility under Trigui's leadership will create the synergy needed to drive these core strategies and advance the company's digital innovation efforts, the company said.

In addition:

• Gabriel Asbun, currently group president of the Americas Tire & Solutions Business, becomes group president of Integrated Businesses. In this new role, Asbun will be responsible for Bridgestone Retail Operations (BSRO), Firestone Industrial Products and the company's Credit First National Association (CFNA) consumer credit division.
• Craig Schneider, who was instrumental in the recent sale of Firestone Building Products, becomes chief strategy officer for Bridgestone Americas. In this role, Schneider will support the company's evolution through the global strategies outlined in Bridgestone Corp.'s Mid-Long Term Business Plan, including shaping the portfolio, partnership development and all merger/acquisition activities