The Tire Industry Association (TIA) will induct Thomas "Tom" Foord and Marvin Bozarth into the Tire Industry Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony will be held during TIA's Breakfast with the President on Nov. 4 at the International Tire Expo in Las Vegas, Nev.
Both candidates were chosen by TIA's Hall of Fame Selection Committee "for their achievements and leadership that have helped shaped the tire and transportation industries."
Foord is founder and president of Kal Tire, a 113-store tire chain based in Vernon, British Columbia, Canada. Kal Tire is the fifth largest independent tire dealer in North America, and the largest in Canada based on number of outlets.
Kal Tire also has 50 associate dealers, 15 retread plants, five distribution centers, a subsidiary operation in Chile and associated operations in Ontario. Sales exceeded $400 million Canadian ($260 million U.S.) last year.
Foord started the company in 1953. Kal Tire serves all tire market segments, including passenger and light truck, commercial truck, earthmover, agricultural, and underground and open pit mining.
Under Foord's leadership, Kal Tire was the first dealer in Western Canada to:
* use service trucks to make runs to customer sites;
* aggressively use credit as a means of gaining customers and increasing sales;
* invest in a distribution system to provide stores with a source for certain supplies of product at terms that allowed them to sell at solid margins;
* offer employees a defined training program and career path;
* offer employees 50% of store profits.
Foord also helped found the Western Canada Tire Dealers Association, and has been a dealer counsel member for various manufacturers.
Bozarth, TIA's senior technical consultant, has been a part of the tire industry since 1958, when he began a seven-year stint as plant manager of the Missouri Farmers Association Oil Co. In 1965, he hired on with Community Tire Co. in St. Louis, Mo., where he served as general manager of the Retread Division.
In 1970 he joined Purcell Tire Co. in Potosi, Mo. He served as plant manager for five years and vice president of manufacturing for 15 years.
In 1990, Bozarth accepted the position of technical director of the American Retreaders Association (ARA) in Louisville, Ky. His first major assignment was overseeing the design and construction of the organization’s state-of-the-art headquarters and training center. He was promoted to executive director in 1991.
During his tenure, he served as editor of the legendary Tire Retreading/Repair Journal and managed the organization’s name change transition from ARA to the International Tire & Rubber Association (ITRA). Bozarth resigned his position in 2002 when ITRA merged with the Tire Association of North America.
In addition to serving as senior technical consultant for TIA, he operates Bozarth Tire Industry Consultants LLC. Its services include tire and wheel failure analysis, expert witness testimony, equipment evaluation, plant surveys, troubleshooting, plant analysis, fleet surveys and more.
Bozarth served on the American Society for Testing and Materials F9 Committee and was a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers on the Off-the-Road Tire & Rim Committee. He was a member of the Society Automotive Engineers J2014 Committee for Tactical Military Tires and a board member of the Tire Retread Information Bureau.
He is past chairman of the Retread Industry Government Advisory Council and a past member of the ITRA Advisory Council.
In 1991, he received the ITRA Industry Recognition Award.
TIA’s Breakfast with the President is scheduled from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. on Tuesday, November 4. Tickets for the event are $30 apiece.
The Special Events Registration Form is available online at www.tireindustry.org or www.SEMAshow.com.
