Bridgestone Americas Inc. has named a new president of its consumer replacement tire business in the U.S. and Canada. Mirella Cielo, who has spent the last three years as vice president of the consumer replacement business for Bridgestone in Europe, will replace Erik Seidel, who has been named to a new role.
Cielo's appointment is effective Sept. 1, while Seidel's new job overseeing corporate development and mergers and acquisitions for Bridgestone Americas begins immediately.
“Mirella is a dynamic leader with tremendous expertise and experience in the tire industry,” said Paolo Ferrari, CEO & president of Bridgestone Americas. “She is very familiar with our customers and strategies making her well positioned to build on Erik’s success as president of the consumer replacement business. I am excited to welcome Mirella to the Bridgestone Americas team and to have Erik in this new corporate development role overseeing our M&A efforts.”
As president of consumer replacement tire sales and marketing, Cielo will be responsible for setting the sales and marketing strategy for the consumer replacement tire business in the U.S. and Canada. The tiremaker says she will focus on pursuing new business opportunities, enhancing revenue and increasing brand equity with consumers. She also will be responsible for cultivating customer relationships that accelerate sales growth for the company’s core tire business.
Since 2017 Cielo has worked for Bridgestone Europe, Middle East, India and Africa (EMIA), where she most recently served as vice president of the consumer replacement business. While in Europe, the company says she has been instrumental in delivering the consumer replacement strategy through a relentless focus on continuous and sustainable growth. Cielo has laid the foundation for future success by delivering enhanced pricing and channel management, improved demand planning and several successful product launches, in addition to employing a customer-centric focus.
Prior to joining Bridgestone, she spent over a decade with Pirelli in various marketing and management roles of increasing responsibility across North America and in Europe.
Seidel's new role
As senior vice president of corporate development, Seidel will lead a newly formed corporate development team to enhance and strengthen the company’s mergers and acquisitions capability and capacity. He will partner with leaders across the organization to accelerate the delivery of the company’s tire and mobility solutions strategies through acquisitions, strategic partnerships and joint venture opportunities. Seidel also will establish and oversee the Bridgestone Americas Investment Committee and lead the sourcing, modeling, negotiating and closing of M&A deals in partnership with the business.
Seidel joined Bridgestone in 2013 as vice president of consumer marketing and quickly transitioned into leading the replacement tire business. He has played a key role in the delivery of some of the company’s most important consumer tire initiatives, including the DriveGuard tire launch, the acquisition of the TireConnect e-commerce platform and the start of the company’s TireHub joint venture with Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. in tire distribution.
