MIAMI — Zafco International has hired tire industry veteran Chris Tolbert to be its vice president of sales, East Zone, North America.
Mr. Tolbert will work with the Zafco sales team to build the Armstrong brand in the passenger, light and medium truck segments, Zafco said, as well as help grow the firm's Accelera, Forceum and Zeetex brands in the U.S. and Canada.
Mr. Tolbert moves to Zafco from American Kenda Rubber, where he's been director of business development, automotive, for the past year. Prior to that he held sales positions with Nexen Tire America Inc., Giti Tire USA Ltd., TCi Tire Centers L.L.C. and Ziegler Tire & Supply Corp. His experience totals more than 30 years.
"It's a great opportunity to help build a multi-brand strategy at Zafco and bring back a quintessential American brand that once had a strong and loyal distributor and customer base," Mr. Tolbert said.
"Armstrong is a name that is well-recognized, not to mention the added value of having a cool mascot like Tuffy the Rhino."
Dubai, United Arab Emirates-based Zafco resurrected the Armstrong brand in 2016, initially as a medium truck tire range, and then added passenger and light truck lines in 2017.
It acquired the global rights to the Armstrong brand in 2012 from Pirelli Tyre S.p.A., which had owned it since buying Armstrong Rubber Co. in 1988.