Chris Blanchette, 33
Director of Operations, Technical and Innovation,Bridgestone Retail Operations
Blanchette thrives on opportunity.
“One of the things that gets me up and running, is opportunity,” he says. “Opportunity for business, increased operational efficiency. Customer satisfaction. Customer delight. Employee opportunity.”
Two years ago, he had the opportunity to join Bridgestone and has since been instrumental in getting Bridgestone Retail Operation’s Vision 2020 retail concept going. In fact, he has been working on creating a number of different Vision 2020 lab stores across the country.
Blanchette’s roots are in the tire industry, starting as a technician at a tire store 17 years ago and eventually working for Best Buy’s Geek Squad garages before joining Bridgestone.
“What I love the most about the tire industry is everybody is involved,” he says. “Every individual is impacted by automotives.”
He sees the future of the industry as one with better technologies, greater fuel economy and even innovations such as airless tires.
“I truly think this industry is poised for something dramatically different,” he shares. The future will also need more technicians as tech school enrollment has been down, he adds.
