FINDLAY, Ohio (June 15, 2010) — Carl Montalbine, global quality, operational excellence and information technology vice president for Cooper Tire & Rubber Co., has been named the American Society for Quality's (ASQ) Automotive Division “Quality Leader of the Year.”
In accepting the award, Mr. Montalbine said it is “less about my vision and leadership than it is a reflection of the teamwork and dedication Cooper people exhibit every day. It was the entire team's creativity, initiative and hard work that helped us exceed expectations and surpass our goals.”
He added that in his role he is “responsible for supporting the company's strategic imperative by continuing to drive quality and process improvements in the manufacturing and administrative processes.”
ASQ Automotive Division Chairman Ha Dao said he nominated Mr. Montalbine for his visionary leadership, ability to drive transformational change, demonstration of customer focus, demonstration of the quality philosophy, demonstration of sustained results and building of organizational capabilities.
Among Mr. Montalbine's accomplishments cited by Mr. Dao are:
- Establishing a lean six sigma program at Cooper;
- Achieving 34 percent more than expected savings;
- Achieving ISO 9000 certifications in all plants globally;
- Implementing a global enterprise resource planning initiative;
- Driving a cultural change that embraces continuous improvement; and
- Sharing best practices to spread the quality improvement.
A native of New York, Mr. Montalbine earned a bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Cincinnati and a master's degree in mechanical engineering from Polytechnic Institute of New York.
Since beginning his career in 1975, Mr. Montalbine has worked in engineering and a number of executive positions with several companies. He joined Findlay-based Cooper in 2007 as vice president of global quality and operational excellence and also serves on the board of directors for Roman Stone Construction Co., New York.