BURGESSVILLE, Ontario —Todd Richardson, senior director of sales and marketing for Tirecraft Ontario, took the reins Jan. 1 as president of Tirecraft Canada, overseeing the network of 700-plus affiliated Tirecraft stores across the country.
Mr. Richardson succeeds Corey Miller of Tirecraft Atlantic Canada, who held the Tirecraft Canada presidency for the past five years.
In addition, James Channer—director of brand and business development for Tirecraft Ontario since April—will take over the position of vice president, strategic marketing, for Tirecraft Canada. He succeeds Sean Williams.
Messrs. Richardson and Channer are committed to growing the Tirecraft brand by strengthening the dealer base, negotiating with key suppliers and continuing to make Tirecraft a household name across Canada, the organization said.
"The previous leadership put in place a solid foundation for us to build on," Mr. Richardson said. "I am both honored and humbled to step into the role held by Corey Miller and Don Gauthier. Our future success will be a team effort—and we have an incredible team across the country.
"One of the most critical parts of our team is our retail and commercial strategic partners," he added, "and we have some of the best from coast to coast. When we get to our destination it will be amazing to watch what it does for our partner's businesses and we are all excited to play a part."
During Mr. Miller's tenure, Tirecraft grew from a regionally driven organization to a more nationally focused retail entity, more than doubling its points of sale to 700-plus from 300. The group also realigned its corporate structure and strategic focus, grew and strengthened supplier relationships and positioned itself as a "major player" in the tire and mechanical retail business.
Mr. Miller credited much of the organization's success the past five years to the work of his predecessor Mr. Gauthier and Mr. Williams.
In his role at Tirecraft Ontario the past six years, Mr. Richardson helped develop sales and marketing initiatives to increase the number of Ontario retail locations to 200-plus from 40, Tirecraft said, as well as modernize Tirecraft Ontario through technological improvements, improved efficiencies and directed marketing initiatives.
Mr. Williams is credited with helping develop a distinctive "national brand strategy," implementing a fresh retail "look," expanding advertising efforts in both traditional and non-traditional channels, aligning marketing programs with key suppliers, bringing on several key marketing partners and tripling traffic to Tirecraft.com.
Prior to joining Tirecraft Ontario in 2008, Mr. Richardson worked with Remington Tire and Beverly Tire and Mack Trucks.
Each Tirecraft store is owner-operated.