Jeff Barna, president of Yokohama Tire Corporation, named four vice president positions and one senior director position.

• Bruce Besancon was named vice president of OTR sales. Besancon joined Yokohama as senior director of OTR sales in 2017.  Previously, he was vice president of marketing at Alliance Tire Americas and has nearly 30 years of OTR tire experience.
• Dan Funkhouser was named vice president of commercial sales and has been with the company since 1994. He has held several positions, including senior director of commercial sales.
• Larry Kull will be the company’s new vice president of consumer sales. He joined Yokohama in 2003 as an account manager.
• Andrew Zeisser, who joined the company in 2013, is now the new vice president of OEM sales. Zeisser has more than 37 years of experience in the OE arena and is responsible for the company’s OE business in North America.
• Fardad Niknam has been named the director of consumer product planning and product marketing. With experience in corporate planning and segment development, Niknam will leverage his engineering background and market experience to support the company’s product and marketing initiatives in the U.S.

“At Yokohama, our number one strength is our people,” Barna said. “Bruce, Dan, Larry, Andrew and Fardad have definitely made important contributions across our business. As we continue to build upon our success, we felt this was the right time to broaden their management responsibilities through stronger leadership roles, while providing them the opportunity to contribute further to our growth.”