AKRON—Rob Williams, president of Hankook Tire America Corp., has been in the tire and related industries for 36 years, and he's been in leadership roles for 33 of those.
He started with Goodyear back in 1988, moved from there to Michelin's Tire Centers Inc. commercial division and took a short detour as a vice president for AAA Car Care before landing at Hankook in January 2019.
Williams was appointed senior vice president of commercial and consumer sales in June 2022 for Hankook Tire America, and then in January 2023 was promoted to president of the business, which oversees the U.S. and Canada for South Korean parent Hankook Tire & Technology Co. Ltd.
Over those years, he's seen a myriad of changes in the industry, most significantly the advancement of the technology that goes into the manufacturing of tires. He recalls that treadwear and wet weather traction mattered early in his career, but customer expectations now have grown exponentially since then.
"Today the consumers' expectations have risen so much that I would say the very best tire back in the day today would probably not even meet the minimum standards of what consumers want," Williams told Rubber News in an interview after he gave the keynote address Sept. 11 at the Tire Society Annual Meeting and Conference in Akron.
"Whether it be the high performance capabilities, the wet weather capabilities, handling, dry traction. It's almost become an expectation of us to meet those needs of the consumer. ... When you look at the work the technical folks are doing, it is really unbelievable, and I don't think the average consumer sees that."
While navigating his career over this evolving landscape, the stops along the way and the lessons he's learned have brought him to where he believes he's in the perfect place to use his leadership skills. At a company that competes at the premium end of the market and is in a growth mode, both globally and in the U.S. and Canada, the regions he has been entrusted to lead.