Yokohama Tire Corp. Announces Promotions and New Subsidiary

Takayuki Hamaya, COO at Yokohama Tire Corporation (YTC), has announced several promotions in its sales organization, effective April 1. 

These include:

• Fred Koplin: from director, marketing communications to senior director, consumer sales.
• Rick Phillips: from director, commercial sales to senior director, commercial and OTR sales. Tim Easter, director, OTR sales and marketing, will report to Phillips.
• Andrew Briggs: from director, product planning and motorsports to director, marketing communications and product planning. Briggs’ responsibilities will include marketing communications, consumer and commercial product planning, and he will continue to oversee motorsports.
• Lawrence Kull: from national sales manager, consumer division to director, tire business planning. Kull will oversee consumer and commercial sales planning, market analysis, sales strategy development and business performance measurement. He will continue as the national account manager for Discount Tire.

Koplin, Phillips, Briggs, and Kull will report to Hamaya. 

“Yokohama has aggressive growth goals,” said Hamaya, “and the only way to achieve those is to keep growing our dealers’ business the way we have been.  Our customers remain our top priority and we are confident that the sales management structure we have assembled makes us an even more effective business partner to them. We look forward to a mutually strong profitable future together.” 

Dan King, senior vice president of sales and marketing and who has been at the company for nearly 25 years, has accepted the position of president of Corona, Calif.-based Tire’s Warehouse. King’s last day with YTC is April 5.

YTC has also announced the establishment of a new subsidiary, Yokohama Tire Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V. (Sociedad De Responsabilidad Limitada De Capital Variable), incorporated in Silao, Guanajuato, Mexico. The subsidiary was created to meet the growing demand for consumer, commercial, and OTR tires in Mexico and is expected to provide YTC with critical sales, distribution, and business logistical advantages.

Yokohama Tire Mexico or YTMX will be headed by 45-year tire veteran Gary Nash, who has been appointed president of the new company, effective April 1.  Nash was previously vice president of YTC’s OTR sales, where he will now take on the new title of executive advisor to OTR sales and marketing.  

“We have ambitious growth goals,” said Takayuki Hamaya, YTC COO, “and who better to lead us in the high-growth market of Mexico than someone who is already intimately familiar with doing business there, a seasoned tire veteran and a widely respected individual in the industry. Gary will provide the strategic leadership we need to develop and successfully implement our market plans in Mexico.”