The Tire Industry Association (TIA) membership has voted in two incumbents, a newcomer and a former director to its 2022-2023 board.
Re-elected were Russ Devens of McCarthy Tire Service and T.J. Trum of Pomp’s Tire Service. Gary MacCausland of VIP Tires & Service was elected to his first term and rejoining the Board after a three-year hiatus is 2019 TIA President John Evankovich of Sam’s Club Tire & Battery Centers.
TIA says the new Board members, who will serve three-year terms, were selected from a slate of 13 candidates vying for the four open positions.
“TIA congratulates and welcomes our newly elected Board members and looks forward to their contributions to enhancing the Association as a valuable resource for tire safety and training,” says TIA CEO Richard “Dick” Gust.
The newly elected directors will take office on Monday, Oct. 31, 2022, during TIA’s Annual Membership Meeting preceding the opening of the Global Tire Expo/SEMA show in Las Vegas. They will join an additional 14 directors to make up the Association’s 18-member Board.
Below are the new Board members’ bios:
Russ Devens – McCarthy Tire Service
Russ Devens is the director of safety & risk management at McCarthy Tire Service. According to TIA, he is a current Board member and chair, for the past three years, of TIA’s Training & Education Committee. He has more than 30 years of experience in safety, law enforcement, security, insurance and risk management and is a Level-400 Commercial Tire Service TIA instructor. In addition, he is the co-founder of the Tire Industry Safety Leadership Summit. He conducts ongoing training, evaluations of workplace safety, emergency response, hazardous- materials management and facility security for more than 70 McCarthy Tire locations and 1,300 employees.
John Evankovich – Sam’s Club Tire and Battery Centers
John Evankovich is director of Sam’s Club Tire and Battery Centers, overseeing more than 580 retail outlets across the U.S. He has worked at Sam’s Club for nearly 33 years, starting out as a tire installation technician. Evankovich, who TIA says served as president in 2019, describes himself as a student of the industry with a passion for consumer safety and environmental sustainability and is highly engaged in government relations.
Gary MacCausland – VIP Tires & Service
Gary MacCausland is senior vice president of operations for VIP Tires & Service. He has more than 35 years of experience overseeing multi-unit tire and service operations working for such companies as NTW, Tire America, Sears, Merchants, NTB, Pep Boys and now VIP. He is described as “super passionate” about training and employee development and was the lead at VIP to go “all-in” with TIA.
T.J. Trum – Pomp’s Tire Service Inc.
T.J. Trum is the general counsel for Pomp’s Tire Service. According to TIA, he also is a Board member presently serving as chair of the Association’s Government Affairs Committee and leading the support of Trucker’s Against Trafficking. Trum has hybrid tire industry experience in legal, operations, safety and human resources.
