Bridgestone Corporation has announced executive leadership changes in its Americas and Asia Pacific regions.

These changes are effective at the end of March 2020:

• TJ Higgins, vice president and senior officer, global chief business strategic officer (G-CBSO) of Bridgestone Corp. has concurrently been named global chief digital strategic officer (G-CDSO) of Bridgestone Corporation, vice chair of the board, Bridgestone Americas, Inc. (BSAM) and chair of the board, Bridgestone Asia Pacific (BSCAP). The G-CDSO role was previously held by Paolo Ferrari, who was recently named member of the board, president, CEO & COO of BSAM, in addition to his roles as executive vice president and executive officer of Bridgestone Corp. Higgins, who currently also serves as member of the board and group president, Americas Tire for BSAM, will be based in Nashville. With respect to his G-CBSO and G-CDSO roles, Higgins will report directly to incoming Bridgestone Corporation CEO and Representative Executive Officer Shu Ishibashi while also maintaining additional matrixed dotted-line reporting structures across global SBUs with respect to his other responsibilities.
• Gabriel Asbun, vice president and senior officer of Bridgestone Corp. and member of the board, CEO & COO of BSCAP, will succeed Higgins as member of the board and group president of Americas Tire for BSAM. Asbun will be based in Nashville and report to Paolo Ferrari.
• Yoshikazu Shida, vice president and officer of Bridgestone Corporation seconded to BSCAP, has been named CEO and COO of BSCAP, succeeding Asbun. He also remains chairman of Bridgestone (China) Investment Co., Ltd. and Bridgestone Taiwan Co., Ltd. Shida will be based in Singapore and will report to Akihiro Eto, member of the board, president, COO and executive officer of Bridgestone Corporation.

Higgins joined BSAM as president of the consumer integrated tire division, U.S. and Canada, in 2014. He was named vice president and officer of Bridgestone Corporation in 2017 and served as chairman of the board for Bridgestone Europe, Middle East and Africa from 2018 to 2019. He was named vice president and senior officer of Bridgestone Corporation and group president, Americas Tire for BSAM in August 2019. Prior to joining Bridgestone, Higgins served in senior leadership roles across a number of consumer brands, including divisions of Pfizer and Merck. Higgins earned his bachelor’s degree from Lehigh University and his MBA from Harvard University.

Asbun joined the company in 2012 as president of Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations Latin America and was named COO of BSCAP in July 2018. He was named CEO of BSCAP in March 2019 while concurrently serving as COO of BSCAP. Prior to joining Bridgestone, Asbun worked for the Kellogg Company, where he served in a variety of leadership positions for more than 12 years. Prior to his tenure at Kellogg, Asbun spent 10 years in consulting. He earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical-electrical engineering with a concentration in industrial engineering from the Universidad Panamericana in Mexico and his MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He is tri-lingual in Spanish, English and Portuguese.

Yoshikazu Shida joined Bridgestone in 1989. Over the course of his more than 30-year Bridgestone career, he has held various leadership roles of increasing responsibility and scope, including a previous term as member of the board, CEO and COO of BSCAP in 2018. He has worked and lived throughout the U.S., Brazil, Australia, Taiwan and Indonesia and has been a vice president and officer of Bridgestone Corporation since 2018.