Goodyear's new CEO: 3 things we know about Mark Stewart

AKRON—Goodyear has its guy.

Mark Stewart, chief operating officer for Stellantis N.V. in North America, has been named president and CEO of Goodyear. He will step into the position Jan. 29, succeeding long-time CEO Rich Kramer who announced his retirement in November.

The months ahead have a lot in store for Stewart as he leads the world's third-largest tire maker through financial, structural and industry transitions.

"I am honored and humbled to join Goodyear at such a pivotal time in its history," Stewart said in statement Jan. 18. "I have deep respect and admiration for everything Rich and the Goodyear team have accomplished together. Goodyear is an iconic company with an unmatched brand, industry-leading innovation and significant opportunity for growth."

Here's a look at three things we know about Goodyear's new CEO.

Stewart will be the face of a new Goodyear for a new era.

A very different Goodyear.

Because this year marks a critical one for the company, which has vowed to redefine itself as it works to strengthen its financial position and innovation. That, of course, culminates with Goodyear Forward, a plan that gives Stewart very clear direction and targets for the first two years.

"I am confident," Stewart said in a statement, "that Goodyear Forward is the right strategy to unlock the company's full potential in its next chapter. I look forward to working alongside the talented team around the globe as we drive sustainable and substantial value together."

The plan, articulated late in 2023, was spurred by a letter from Elliott Investment Management L.P., one of the tire maker's largest shareholders, in which it shared its disappointment with Goodyear's poor stock performance and demanded changes.

By the end of 2025, the resulting Goodyear Forward plan should include:

• cost reductions netting $1 billion annually;
• top line actions that result in $300 million annually;
• doubling of segment operating income to 10 percent; and
• bringing Goodyear closer to an investment-grade rating through a strengthened financial profile, enhanced earnings, cash flow generation and $1.5 billion in debt reduction.

In the end, Goodyear Forward will leave the tire maker more streamlined as well, as it looks to divest chemicals/synthetic rubber, off-the-road tire and Dunlop brand businesses.

At the same time, through Goodyear Forward, the company looks to better leverage its aircraft tire business as well as retail stores.

Kramer, Goodyear's outgoing CEO, said it best last fall when he said the tire industry was "in flux."

In flux, indeed.

The automotive industry—and, subsequently, the tire industry—is evolving at the speed of innovation. From electrification and autonomy to an all-in approach to sustainability and connectivity, tires are being asked to do a whole lot more.

It's something that Stewart knows well, having served at the helm of Stellantis North America for more than five years. He's watched the industry transition. Moreover, he's helped to lead it—advocate for it—as the Milan, Italy-based auto maker took an aggressive approach to electrification and hydrogen.

In fact, when President Biden issued that now infamous vision that EVs would account for at least 50 percent of new vehicle sales in the U.S. by 2030, Stewart was there. He represented Stellantis at the signing of the executive order, standing alongside Ford and General Motors CEOs Jim Farley and Mary Barra.

Stewart, as COO of Stellantis North America, sat down with Automotive News Executive Editor Jamie Butters in early summer, in part to discuss the auto maker's transition from ICE to EVs and hybrids.

When it comes to hydrogen, it is worth noting that Stellantis' aggressive global approach to EVs and HFCVs led to it becoming a key partner in the hydrogen fuel cell joint venture Symbio, which was launched by Michelin and Forvia.

Stellantis looks to be ahead of the curve when it comes to hydrogen electric vehicles. In Europe, yes, but North America as well. Particularly, Stellantis sees the technology having a particular niche in the commercial vehicle space, and it intends to launch a hydrogen model in the U.S. soon.

Turns out 2023 was a little on the rocky side for Stellantis.

In the end, it was the only major auto maker to post lower—or relatively flat—U.S. sales year-over-year.

Automotive News notes that the company's 1.2-percent decline in 2023 contrasted with a 13-percent gain for the overall market. And the Jeep brand was hit the hardest. Sales fell 6.1 percent for Jeep—the brand's fifth consecutive drop after nearly surpassing 1 million sales in 2018. Ram sales fell 1 percent.

One reason for that? The United Auto Workers strike.

Shortly after Sean Fain was elected president of the UAW in March 2023, Stewart discussed the auto maker-union relationship with Butters.

"The hand-in-hand partnership that we have had with the UAW, from being quite the underdog to being a force to be reckoned with in a very humble way, a very proud way, we had done that working together," he said of both the auto maker and the union. "And we are very confident we are going to find ways to do that. … We have got to be viable together. We win together. That is how we do it."

That prediction was put to the test about five months later, when the UAW launched its multi-faceted strike against Stellantis, Ford and GM.

Ultimately, Stellantis and the UAW reached a tentative labor contract agreement Oct. 28 that included a 25-percent raise for workers over the life of the pact, a commitment to revive the idled Belvidere Assembly plant in Illinois and nearly $19 billion in new U.S. investments. The union ratified the deal in mid-November.

The two-month strike turned quite contentious and union leaders heavily criticized Stellantis as stubborn and stingy. But Stewart was quick "to get the record straight" and defend the auto maker's proposals.

"We've got to have a viable industry for the Big Three," Stewart said. "At the end of the day, we have to be able to compete against the non-union competitors here in the U.S.—be it Tesla who is already at a much lower cost structure to us, be it the transplants."