Bridgestone announces executive leadership changes

To provide increased clarity of scope and focus to deliver on our business goals, the roles of West CEO and Group President, North America are being decoupled. Scott Damon will continue in his current role as West CEO. Robert Johnson has been appointed Group President, North America. In this role, he will assume leadership of North America Core Tire as well as have end-to-end ownership and accountability for the full North America profit and loss (P&L). Wade Sempkowski has been named West Chief Financial Officer, succeeding Johnson in that role. 

"Robert and Wade are experienced leaders with a strong understanding of our business, our customers and the priorities ahead," said Scott Damon, Bridgestone West CEO. "Robert brings a powerful combination of financial, operational and customer-facing leadership to the North America region, and Wade brings deep finance expertise to the West CFO role." 

Johnson held leadership roles across finance and operations. He joined Bridgestone in 2016 as Executive Director of Finance for Bridgestone Retail Operations, later taking on the same role for Bridgestone Americas' Integrated Consumer Group. In 2020, he was promoted to Vice President of Finance for the Americas Tire Group and Marketing function, and in 2021 became Vice President of Stores for Bridgestone Retail Operations. He was named Chief Financial Officer for Bridgestone West in May 2024. Before joining Bridgestone, Johnson held senior finance and operations roles at Advance Auto Parts, Best Buy and Lifepoint Health. He holds a bachelor's degree in finance and information systems from Belmont University and an MBA from the University of St. Thomas.

Sempkowski joined Bridgestone Americas in 2019 as Director of FP&A and was promoted in 2021 to Executive Director of Finance. In 2022, he became Vice President of Finance, Bridgestone Americas, supporting the company's operations, financial discipline and growth priorities. Since 2022, he has also served on the Board of Directors for TireHub. Prior to joining Bridgestone, Sempkowski held sales analytics, reporting and finance roles at Mars Petcare and Southern Land Company. He earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Tennessee and his MBA from Vanderbilt University.

Both appointments take effect on May 1, 2026.

About Bridgestone Americas, Inc.: 
Bridgestone Americas, Inc. is the U.S.-based subsidiary of Bridgestone Corporation, a global leader in tires and rubber, building on its expertise to provide solutions for safe and sustainable mobility. Headquartered in Nashville, Tenn., Bridgestone Americas employs more than 45,000 people across its worldwide operations. Bridgestone offers a diverse product portfolio of premium tires and advanced solutions backed by innovative technologies, improving the way people around the world move, live, work and play. 

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SOURCE Bridgestone Americas, Inc.