Six new inductees have been selected for enshrinement into the Tire Industry Association (TIA) Hall of Fame.
They are Gus Hawkinson, owner of Hawkinson Tire Consulting; Nick Hodel, former CEO at the Portland Tire Factory; Russell MacCleery, a retired tire industry veteran; Gary Nash, director of OTR sales at Yokohama; Jerry White, chairman of White Tire Supply; and Don Blythe, former executive director of the Western Canada Tire Dealers Association.
The Hall of Fame inductions are a part of the TIA’s Tire Industry Honors event, which will take place from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 1 at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas.
Hawkinson is the owner of Hawkinson Tire Consulting in Las Vegas. Prior to establishing his consultancy, he was the third-generation owner of the Paul E. Hawkinson Co, and is credited with many developments in the retread industry, including being primarily responsible for developing the industry-standard NDT beginning in 1980, with the initial patent issued in 1981.
Hodel has 45 years of experience in the retail tire sector; he was a co-founder of Northwest Tire Factory, LLC, and also served as CEO at the Portland Tire Factory. He is also a past board member of the Northwest Tire Dealers Association and is a past president of the Tire Association of North America (TANA), a predecessor organization of the TIA.
MacCleery has years of experience working for various trade associations. He created the government affairs program for the National Tire Dealers & Retreaders Association (NTDRA), also a predecessor of the TIA.
Nash has more than 45 years of experience in the tire industry, with 35 of them being spent in the OTR tire sector. Currently the director of OTR sales at Yokohama, he has also worked at Goodyear, Purcell Tire and Bridgestone.
White has more than 60 years of experience in the tire industry and is currently the chairman of White Tire Supply. He has served on numerous industry panels, including being on the board of the NTDRA, plus he was a founding board member of the Texas Tire Dealers Association.
Blythe is the former executive director of the Western Canada Tire Dealers Association (WCTDA). He helped guide the WCTDA toward becoming one of Canada’s most successful tire organizations.
For more information, visit www.tireindustry.org.
