Bridgestone promotes Cielo, Seidel to new corporate roles

NASHVILLE—Bridgestone Americas Inc. has promoted Mirella Cielo to president, consumer replacement tire sales and marketing, U.S. and Canada. The move is effective Sept. 1.

Cielo replaces Erik Seidel, who has been named to a new role overseeing corporate development and mergers and acquisitions for Bridgestone Americas. That move is effective immediately.

In her new role, Cielo will be responsible for setting sales and marketing strategy for the consumer replacement tire business in the U.S. and Canada, focusing on pursuing new business opportunities, enhancing revenue and increasing brand equity with consumers, Bridgestone said.

She also will cultivate customer relationships to accelerate sales growth for the company's core tire business.

Paolo Ferrari, CEO and president of Bridgestone Americas, called Cielo a "dynamic leader with tremendous expertise and experience in the tire industry.

"She is very familiar with our customers and strategies, making her well positioned to build on Erik's success as president of the consumer replacement business," Ferrari said.

Cielo previously served as vice president of the consumer replacement business for Bridgestone in Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa. There, she was instrumental in producing consumer replacement strategy by focusing on continuous and sustainable growth.

According to Bridgestone, Cielo "has laid the foundation for future success by delivering enhanced pricing and channel management, improved demand planning and several successful product launches, in addition to employing a customer-centric focus."

Before joining Bridgestone EMIA in 2017, she spent more than a decade with Pirelli & C. S.p.A. in various marketing and management roles of increasing responsibility in North America and in Europe.

As senior vice president of corporate development, Seidel will spearhead a newly formed corporate development team to enhance and strengthen the company's M&A capability and capacity.

Bridgestone said he will collaborate with leaders across the organization to accelerate the company's tire and mobility strategies through acquisitions, strategic partnerships and joint venture opportunities. Seidel will be tasked with establishing and overseeing the Bridgestone Americas Investment Committee and lead the sourcing, modeling, negotiating and closing of M&A deals in partnership with the business.

Seidel has been with Bridgestone since 2013, when he served as vice president of consumer marketing, then quickly moved into the replacement tire business. Bridgestone said he has played a key role in the delivery of some of the company's most important consumer tire initiatives, including the DriveGuard tire launch, the acquisition of the TireConnect e-commerce platform and the launch of TireHub L.L.C., a joint venture in tire distribution with Goodyear.

Seidel previously spent more than a decade at Kimberly-Clark Corp. in marketing and general management roles of increasing responsibility.