TIA elects Russ Devens, TJ Trum as officers

BOWIE, Md. – The Tire Industry Association (TIA) elected Russ Devens of McCarthy Tire Service as secretary and TJ Trum of Pomp's Tire Service Inc. as treasurer during its recent mid-year board meeting.

The new TIA officers will begin their terms Oct. 30 during the TIA board meeting in Las Vegas prior to the opening of the 2023 Global Tire Expo/SEMA Show.

Devens' election as TIA secretary places him in line to become the association's president in 2026-27, according to TIA's succession plan.

Trum, chair of the association's government affairs committee, will replace TIA Treasurer Mike Wolfe of Southeastern Wholesale Tire, who is stepping down this fall after 14 years on the board, including seven as treasurer.

Devens, director of safety and risk management at McCarthy Tire, has chaired TIA's training and education committee since 2020 and has been a board member for the past five years. He is a member of the membership, nominating and strategic planning committees as well as the electric vehicle advisory council.

Devens has over 30 years of experience in safety, law enforcement, security, insurance and risk management, is a Level-400 commercial tire service TIA instructor, a Part 48 certified and Part 46 instructor with the Mine Safety & Health Administration (MSHA), is 30-hour general industry certified with OSHA and is a certified commercial vehicle inspector with U.S. DOT. In addition, he is co-founder of the Tire Industry Safety Leadership Summit.

Trum, Pomp's Tire's general counsel, joined the board in 2019 and was re-elected to a second three-year term in 2022.

He serves on TIA's strategic planning and training and education committees and leads the association's support of Trucker's Against Trafficking.

Trum also chairs the American Commercial Tire Network (ACTN) human resources and safety committee, is a licensed legal counsel and is a certified senior professional in human resources by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM-SCP).

Trum will replace long-time treasurer Wolfe, who became a TIA director in 2007, filling a vacated board seat. Wolfe was then re-elected to successive three-year terms in 2009 and 2012 and became treasurer and a member of the executive committee in 2014.

During his time on the board, Wolfe chaired the strategic planning committee in 2017 and 2018 and the hall of fame committee in 2022 and 2023.

Sandra Martinez, TIA' s chief operating officer, who has worked closely with Wolfe for the past nine years, called him a tremendous asset to the association.

"He helped guide TIA through some challenging times and worked to build a strong foundation for the association," she said. "I greatly admire and respect Mike's calm and pragmatic approach and his unwavering commitment to the advancement of the association and our industry."

TIA CEO Richard Gust also hailed Wolfe's contributions and the election of Devens and Trum to the executive committee.

"The association is blessed to have such talented and dedicated individuals on the board," he said.

"As the tire and automotive world evolves, we rely on the guidance of our board in meeting new challenges. We look forward to Russ's and TJ's leadership efforts and thank those of Mike Wolfe, who has been a strong advocate and supporter of TIA during his many years on the board and executive committee."