Continental Tire the Americas LLC has hired former American Tire Distributors Inc. (ATD) executive Ron Sinclair to serve as director of sales, distribution.
In his new role, Sinclair also will lead Continental's Gold Retailer program.
"Sinclair joins Continental Tire with significant experience in the tire industry, having served in several roles over his 15 years at American Tire Distributors, including vice president of marketing; senior vice president, marketing; president, Tire Pros franchise (program) and president of Tire Pros franchise and vice president of retail sales," say Continental officials. "He has additional experience in consulting with Cannondale Association and in marketing at Pfizer."
In related moves, Continental has promoted Dave Deronne to director of sales for its retail channel. Bob Jones has been promoted to director of sales for the company's car dealer channel.
Deronne has been with Continental Tire for 17 years "and comes with previous experience in supply chain, purchasing, and sales. He started out as a commodity manager and has served in various roles since, including senior manager of sales programs and planning and most recently, as senior key account executive."
In his new role, Deronne will lead Continental's retail channel, which includes regional and national retailers.
Jones has been with Continental Tire for nearly 12 years "and has vast experience in the sales department. Having started out as an area dealer manager, he also has previous experience at Continental Tire as the head of pricing and most recently, head of programs and planning. Prior to his time at Continental Tire, Jones spent seven years with Michelin."
"We are very pleased with this team of sales directors that we’ve assembled," says Chris Charity, vice president of sales, Continental. "Each have a tremendous background both in sales and in the tire industry and we are confident that their leadership will further strengthen our overall strategy and strong customer focus."
All three directors will begin their new roles this month.