AKRON—Goodyear is expanding Ryan Patterson's role, establishing a new position that allows him to lead within Goodyear Americas, the company's largest business unit.
The Akron-based tire maker has named Patterson Goodyear Americas' chief operating and integration officer. In this role, he will lead the consumer and commercial business units in North America, overseeing the Americas integration plan.
Patterson formerly was senior vice president of business integration and was tasked with integrating the Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. operations following Goodyear's $2.5 billion cash-and-stock deal to purchase the Findlay, Ohio-based tire company. The combination, according to Rubber News data, brought together the world's No. 3 tire maker, with global sales of $11.4 billion in 2020, with Cooper, the No. 13 tire maker with $2.5 billion.
Patterson helped Goodyear "(leverage) the best thinking and best practices from both the Goodyear and Cooper teams to develop a thoughtful and effective plan for integrating our companies, supporting our goal of making it easier for customers and consumers to choose Goodyear and Cooper," Rich Kramer, Goodyear chairman, president and CEO, said in a statement. "Ryan's appointment as chief operating and integration officer for the Americas will position him to deliver and execute on our integration plan—and on our future goals for our combined Consumer and Commercial businesses in North America."
Patterson will report to Steve McClellan, president of Goodyear Americas.
"Ryan's deep knowledge of our business, our brand and our customers uniquely positions him to implement our integration plan, while also maintaining our shared focus on delivering business results," McClellan said. "I have enormous confidence in Ryan's ability to contribute immediate and sustained value to our business as we take it to the next level of success."
Patterson joined Goodyear in 2002, initially as part of its Latin America business, and later in leadership roles within North America, including president of the North America Consumer business. Prior to his current role, he served as president of Goodyear's Asia Pacific business.