Our View: Littlefield perfect fit for tire industry

When the annual SEMA Show returns the first week of November to a live in-person event in Las Vegas, longtime Tire Industry Association (TIA) CEO Roy Littlefield will be making a lot of speeches.

Not only will he be heading the events surrounding TIA's massive centennial celebration, but he will also be speaking when inducted into TIA's Hall of Fame.

Mr. Littlefield and the late Martin J. Barry will be welcomed to the Hall of Fame.

• This piece appears in the Oct. 25 print edition of Tire Business.

The trade group also will recognize a pair of individuals for their contributions to the industry during the event: Monte Niemi, CEO of First State Tire Recycling in Isanti, Minn., as the winner of the 2021 Ed Wagner Leadership Award, and Miles D. Moore, retired senior Washington reporter for trade publications Tire Business and Rubber News, as the recipient of the Friend of the Industry Award.

The honorees will be recognized at the Tire Industry Honors Awards Luncheon on Nov. 1 at 11:30 a.m. (PST) at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas hotel & casino.

It will be a bittersweet moment for Mr. Littlefield, who has worked with the organization (and its predecessors) for 42 years. He announced he will retire at year-end.

Mr. Littlefield said it was the excitement of politics that drew him to Washington all those years ago, and it was luck that landed him in the tire industry.

But, he said, it was the relationships he built with people in the tire industry and the friendships that made him stick around for four decades.

Really, Mr. Littlefield has hit the nail on the head when it comes to the TIA celebration. The events in Las Vegas will be all about the people of the industry coming together to meet for the first time or renew friendships and to share stories from the past.

And it will be a great time to take a step back and see how far things have come.

Mr. Littlefield said he likes the direction the tire industry is heading and believes TIA will play an important part in helping the independent tire dealer. In its 20 years under the TIA name, the organization has grown from 2,700 to more than 13,000. Mr. Littlefield thinks that number will continue to grow, and it will elevate the voice of the tire dealer in Washington, Which is good news for everyone.

"It's a great organization, and I'm proud to have been a part of it," Mr. Littlefield said. "I've been around for over 40 years with a group that's a 100 years old. I know the history, and I've been a part of some of it.

"I'm just blessed to have been a part of it."

Well, Mr. Littlefield, we're glad that you decided to stick around, too.