Goodyear Names Richard Kramer to Succeed Jonathan Rich as President of North American Tire Business

AKRON, Ohio, March 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company today announced that Richard J. Kramer has been appointed president of the company's North American Tire unit, effective immediately. Kramer succeeds Jonathan D. Rich, 51, who is leaving the company to pursue other leadership options. Currently executive vice president and chief financial officer for Goodyear, Kramer, 43, also will continue as CFO until the company names a replacement.

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Kramer joined Goodyear in March of 2000 and was elected an officer of the company as vice president, corporate finance. He became vice president of finance for the North American Tire business in July of 2002 and was promoted to senior vice president, strategic planning and restructuring in August of 2003. In May of 2004 Kramer became chief financial officer.

"Rich Kramer has demonstrated outstanding business leadership at every level in his career and has earned the respect of his peers, his associates and Wall Street," said Robert J. Keegan, Goodyear chairman and chief executive officer. "Rich became our chief financial officer under very challenging circumstances, made courageous value-creating decisions, recruited top talent, and built a strong finance team."

Keegan said that in Kramer's time in North American Tire as that business' chief financial officer, he helped build the business platforms for our improvement. "He knows the business, knows the customers and understands the challenges," Keegan said. "I believe Rich is the ideal leader to take the North American Tire business to the next level of performance.

"At the same time, I want to thank Jon Rich for his outstanding service to the company and the significant contributions that he made in helping to create the foundation for the future success of the North American business," Keegan added. "Jon assembled a strong, capable team that has earned the respect of our customers in a challenging environment."

Rich was elected president of Goodyear Chemical in August of 2001 after joining the company in September of 2000. He was named president of North American Tire in December of 2002. Prior to joining Goodyear, Rich served in various senior management roles at General Electric where he worked for 18 years.

A native of Cleveland, Kramer received a bachelor of science in business administration degree from John Carroll University in Cleveland in 1986. Prior to joining Goodyear he spent 13 years with PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Goodyear is one of the world's largest tire companies. The company manufactures tires, engineered rubber products and chemicals in more than 90 facilities in 28 countries around the world. Goodyear employs more than 75,000 people worldwide.