Bridgestone Americas, Inc. announced new senior hires to lead business functions and better enable the company’s growth, Bridgestone says.
Rebecca Vest has joined the company as senior vice president, procurement and strategic sourcing partnerships, and Andrea Arrowsmith joins the tiremaker as its vice president of transformation initiatives and enterprise project management office (EPMO). Vest and Arrowsmith will be based in Nashville and will report to Bill Thompson, chief operating officer for Bridgestone Americas.
“We’re thrilled that Rebecca and Andrea have chosen to join our team of strong leaders and take on these mission-critical roles to build on our solid foundation for the future of Bridgestone Americas,” said Thompson. “Each will play a unique and important role in partnering with our businesses and functions to elevate the already strong work of our teams and help us achieve our company’s growth and financial targets.”
Vest will be responsible for leading the integrated procurement organization at Bridgestone, working across the Americas with consumer and commercial tire businesses, marketing and logistics and supply chain. She also will partner with the leadership team of Firestone Natural Rubber to ensure sourcing best practices and organizational alignment.
Vest joins Bridgestone after spending nine years at Nissan North America, where she most recently served as vice president of corporate development and social responsibility. Prior, she served as vice president of purchasing where she oversaw procurement of parts, materials, vendor tooling, logistics, services, machinery and equipment, media, aftersales and accessories throughout the North American region. She also served as the North American regional purchasing head for the Renault-Nissan Purchasing Organization and also on the Nissan Foundation board of directors. In 2017, she was awarded Nashville Business Journal’s Women of Influence Award in the corporate executive category. In 2015, she was named to the Automotive News Top 100 Leading Women list and the University of Kentucky Gatton School of Business Alumni Hall of Fame. Prior to Nissan, Vest worked for 22 years at Toyota in purchasing roles. In her role, Arrowsmith will be responsible for helping leaders and teams deliver projects that drive business strategy, transform and elevate the way the company operates across its value chain and consistently drive continuous improvement across the enterprise.
Arrowsmith joins Bridgestone after spending three years at Bed Bath & Beyond, where she managed a portfolio of operational excellence and change management initiatives as vice president of the strategy portfolio management office. Prior, Arrowsmith served as director of the program management office for the B2B division of Office Depot and led large, cross-functional internal and consultant teams to deliver business transformation and cost savings programs following the company’s merger with Office Max. She began her career in technology consulting at The Revere Group building financial ERP solutions and spent 12 years at Accenture, ultimately leading global operational excellence and strategic financial management teams for Accenture’s outsourcing division.
