NASHVILLE, Tenn.-Thomas M. ``Tom'' Raben of Raben Tire Co. in Evansville, Ind., was elected president of the International Tire & Rubber Association at the World ITRA Expo, held in Nashville April 19-21.
Mr. Raben replaces Robert Sherwood of Tristani Retreading Corp. in Sabana Seca, Puerto Rico, who was president the past 12 months.
Elected vice president of the Louisville, Ky.-based ITRA was Richard Gust of Lakin General Corp. in Chicago. Jimmy Crews Jr. of Tire Treads Inc. in Jackson, Tenn., was named secretary-treasurer.
Russell R. ``Buck'' Blair of Tech International in Johns- town, Ohio, and Mark Whaley of Iowa Mold Tooling Co. in Garner, Iowa, were elected as ITRA directors, replacing past presidents Mr. Sherwood and William Babek of Babek Commercial Tire Services in Avenel, N.J.
Larry Sehman of Sehman Tire Service in Franklin, Pa., and Peggy Fisher of Fleet Tire Consulting in Rochester Hills, Mich., were re-elected to the ITRA board.
Raben Tire, run by Mr. Raben and five younger brothers, operates 32 combination commercial-retail outlets, two Bandag retreading plants and five retail outlets.
The company retreads an average of 228 medium truck tires a day and had sales in 2000 of approximately $76.1 million-about 63 percent of which was derived from commercial and retreading operations.