NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Bridgestone Americas Inc. has revamped its senior leadership structure and promoted TJ Higgins to a newly created position. Higgins who served as Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations' president of the consumer integrated tire division in U.S. & Canada since 2014, has been appointed president of Americas Tire Business for Bridgestone Americas.
In the new structure, Higgins will be responsible for sales of all tire-led businesses across the Americas region, including the company's consumer and commercial tire businesses, Bridgestone said.
Additionally, Scott Damon—BATO's president for the commercial group in U.S. & Canada since September 2017—was named group president of operations for Bridgestone Americas. He will be responsible for the company's operational functions, including information technology, procurement and strategic sourcing, logistics and supply chain, and manufacturing.
This new role is designed to create greater focus on the company's end-to-end supply-chain capabilities and includes some of the previous responsibilities of the chief operating officer role, Bridgestone said.
The changes take effect Sept. 16.
Bridgestone Americas President and CEO Gordon Knapp called the new structure and executive changes strategic, adding that Bridgestone's "ability to develop leaders into global roles across the Bridgestone portfolio is a competitive advantage and allows us to be more agile.
"Moving forward," he said, "we will continue to adapt our management structure to best meet the market challenges of today and prepare for the opportunities of tomorrow."
The changes at Bridgestone Americas are being made in conjunction with and complementary to global leadership changes recently announced by parent Bridgestone Corp. All of the moves are part of a broader succession platform designed to cultivate global leaders throughout the enterprise, the company said.
Prior to joining Bridgestone, Higgins held senior leadership roles across a number of consumer brands, including Pfizer Consumer Healthcare and Merck & Co. Inc.
Damon has been with Bridgestone since 2007, coming aboard when Bridgestone bought Bandag Inc., where he had been a development engineer for 11 years. He also has been executive director of strategic planning for the Bridgestone Americas Technical Center and president, Speedco Inc.