Paolo Ferrari to step down from Bridgestone executive team

Tokyo – Paolo Ferrari, currently Bridgestone executive officer, joint global chief operating office (COO), Bridgestone West CEO and concurrently global chief digital transformation officer (CDXO) is stepping down from his positions at the end of October.

The announcement came as Bridgestone Corp. unveiled a new executive management structure on 30 Sept, set to take effect as of 2025.

The new structure will incorporate the management reshuffle, announced by the Japanese group on 19 Sept. (ERJ report), and will introduce four new executive vice president (EVP) positions, reporting to global CEO.

The four EVP positions will include Bridgestone West CEO (Scott Damon); Bridgestone East CEO (Nobuyuki Tamura); chief technology officer (Masato Banno), and chief administration officer/chief strategy officer (Yasuhiro Morita).

Furthermore, as of 1 Jan 2025, the position of ‘joint global COO’ will be discontinued, Brigestone added.

Bridgestone West CEO and Bridgestone East CEO will be responsible for the profit & loss of operations, while global CTO and the global CAO/CSO will be responsible for the cross-functional & global optimisation in the business.

The four EVPs will hold equal positions to support global CEO, Bridgestone added.

Scott Damon will be appointed as the VP and senior officer, Bridgestone West
CEO concurrently Global CDXO effective from 1 Nov, to replace Paulo Ferrari.

He will then be promoted to EVP and executive officer, Bridgestone West CEO concurrently Global CDXO as of 1 Jan 2025.

Other members of the executive team will include Emilio Tiberio, Bridgestone West CTO and Tomohiro Kusano, global chief innovation officer.

Ferrari jointed Bridgestone as president and CEO of its Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) business unit based in Zaventem, Belgium in 2016.

Prior to that, he held various management roles at Pirelli in North America, Europe and Latin America, including CEO of Pirelli's LATAM division and CEO and chairman of the North American business.