Goodyear appoints former Cooper execs to leadership positions

AKRON—Goodyear has appointed former Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. executives to leadership positions in its Americas Manufacturing and Supply Chain organizations.

Scott Cole, who served as vice president of Cooper Global Operations, has been named vice president of Goodyear Americas Manufacturing, where he will lead the company's integrated Americas' factory footprint.

While at Cooper, Cole served as plant manager of the company's Texarkana facility and vice president of global operations. He previously held roles at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.

Mike Calabro, the former Cooper North America Supply Chain executive director, has been named vice president of Goodyear Americas Supply Chain. Before joining Cooper, Calabro held several supply chain, manufacturing, operations and sales roles at the Whirlpool Corp. and Mueller Industries.

Meanwhile, Steve Pauly, vice president of Goodyear Americas Operations, and Bill Gaudet, vice president of Goodyear Americas Supply Chain, said they will retire in 2022.

Cole and Calabro will collaborate with their predecessors throughout the extended transition period, Goodyear said, in order to define 2022 plans and develop an integrated structure for Goodyear's combined manufacturing and supply chain organization.

"I can't fully express the impact Steve and Bill have had on our business during their more than 40-year careers with Goodyear, and we all wish them both the very best in this next chapter," Steve McClellan, president, Goodyear Americas said. "At the same time, we have great confidence in Scott and Mike, who have been successfully leading Cooper Tire through the extraordinary challenges of managing supply and demand in a volatile and constrained environment."

Goodyear officially closed the deal to purchase Cooper in early June, after agreeing to the $2.5 billion cash-and-stock purchase on Feb. 22.