A. Don Shea, Rubber Manufacturers Association president/CEO, and Roy Littlefield, Tire Industry Association executive vice president, pledged a "renewed commitment to dialogue" between the two associations for the industry's betterment.
B. Tom Dattilo, Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. chairman, guided the tire maker's sale of its Cooper-Standard Automotive business, signed a distribution deal with online/mail order marketer Tire Rack and is pushing the company to become a big player in China.
C. Jimmy Yang, American Kenda Rubber Ind. Co. Ltd. president, continued to push the firm beyond its specialty tire roots into passenger and light truck tires and was instrumental in a planned joint venture between Kenda Rubber Ind. Co. Ltd. and Cooper Tire to build a tire plant in China.
D. Robert Gross, Monro Muffler Brake Inc. president/CEO, enhanced the auto repair chain's expansion into tire sales via acquisitions of the Mr. Tire dealership and Donald B. Rice Tire Co. retail outlets.
E. Robert Keegan, Goodyear chairman/CEO, led the tire maker's continuing return to profitability, launch of the Assurance tire line and boosting of its sagging Dunlop brand with three new tires.
F. Dick Johnson, American Tire Distributors Inc. chairman/CEO, headed the firm's continued expansion with buyouts of Target Tire and Big State Tire and becoming an American Car Care Centers Inc. member distributor.