TIA Elects Six New Board Members

The Tire Industry Association (TIA) has elected six new members to its Board of Directors for 2023-2024.

Joining the Board for three-year terms are Josephine Foley of Sullivan Tire & Automotive Service Inc., Norwell, Mass.; Glen Nicholson of Midas International L.L.C., Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.; incumbent Brandy Sielaff of Business First Solutions, Meridian, Idaho; and Craig Stevens of Big Horn Tire, Gillette, Wyo.

Two additional newly elected Board members, Adam Moffatt of the Tire Dealers Association of Canada, Port Dover, Ontario, Canada, and Craig Tinklenberg of Fuller Brothers Inc., Clackamas, Ore., will serve out the remaining two-year terms of Board members Russ Devens and T.J. Trum, who were elected secretary and treasurer, respectively, of the Association, in June.

The new Board members were chosen from a slate of 12 candidates vying for the six open positions. Voting began in early July and ended Sept. 1.

“TIA is excited to welcome this impressive and diverse group of Board members to the Association,” said TIA CEO Richard “Dick” Gust. “We look forward to their contributions in carrying out TIA’s mission of promoting tire safety, tire technician training, serving as a government watchdog for tire dealers and the tire industry and providing educational seminars and events.”

The newly elected directors will take office on Monday, Oct. 30, 2023, during TIA’s Annual Membership Meeting preceding the opening of the Global Tire Expo/SEMA show in Las Vegas. They will join an additional 12 directors to make up the Association’s 18-member Board.

Below are the new Board members’ bios:

Josephine Foley – Sullivan Tire & Automotive Service

Manager of Sullivan Tire’s safety and fleet department, Josephine Foley is passionate about training, compliance and managing risk to create a safer operation. At Sullivan Tire, she has implemented several practical safety policies and procedures to ensure the continued wellbeing of employees and customers. Foley is a TIA Automotive Tire Service (ATS) and Commercial Tire Service (CTS) certified instructor and recently was named to the Certified Automotive Fleet Management Commission. In addition, she is a member of the National Association of Fleet Administrators, is a member of the American Society of Safety Professionals and has her Automotive Fleet Manager and Associate Safety Professional certifications. She believes industry partnerships are integral to advance training, which is the key to employee safety and retention. At TIA she looks to support the Association’s mission of promoting safety through training and education.

Glen Nicholson – Midas International L.L.C.

Glen Nicholson, a past TIA president (2016) and director, is rejoining the Board to give back to the tire industry that has been “very good to me over the past 40 years.” During his career, he has been a tire technician, store manager, district manager and training manager. Currently, he is training and program manager for Midas. As a TIA Board member, Nicholson said he would like to use his expertise in training, shop operations, tire sales and tire service to help TIA continue its good work.

Brandy Sielaff – Business First Solutions

Brandy Sielaff (incumbent) is president of Business First Solutions, which provides human resource, safety services and support to a variety of industries. She previously served as vice president of human resources and safety for Commercial Tire in Meridian, Idaho, where she worked on human resources and safety operational solutions to improve employees’ business outcomes. As a returning TIA Board member, she looks to continue her participation in the innovative ideas and solutions the Association has for the betterment of overall industry safety and employee engagement, including enticing people to see tires as more than just a job.

Craig Stevens – Big Horn Tire

Craig Stevens, general manager at Big Horn Tire, has a passion for the tire industry, the people who work in it and finds it rewarding to bring solutions to his customers and provide safe working environments and stable, fulfilling careers for employees. He believes the smaller independent tire dealer has a big role to continue to play in TIA. Along with the “sometimes overlooked” OTR tire segment, he feels that being an advocate for these segments is crucial to continued success in the industry. Stevens’ career includes 14 years at Michelin, where his last assignment was operations manager for the North American Mine Group. At Michelin he assisted with the development of the company’s best practices training program and helped with the rollout of the MEMS TPMS System. As a new TIA Board member, Stevens said he brings a unique perspective to the Association, specifically OTR/mining.

Adam Moffatt – Tire Dealers Association of Canada

Adam Moffatt, executive director of the Tire Dealers Association of Canada (TDAC), describes himself as passionate about the tire industry, the advancement of “our” image, safe operations and the overall role the tire sector plays in the automotive field. In addition to his position at the TDAC, Moffatt serves as executive director of the Ontario Tire Dealers Association (OTDA). His previous work experience includes involvement in the tire hauling and recycling industries. Moffat is a certified 400-level TIA instructor and worked with the OTDA to reintroduce TIA’s Automotive Tire Service training courses to the Ontario market. His interest in joining the TIA Board is to ensure the smaller Canadian market is not overlooked through national representation and to share his knowledge as a tire recycler and association director.

Craig Tinklenberg – Fuller Brothers Inc.

Craig Tinklenberg, sales and safety trainer for Fuller Brothers Inc., has held multiple management positions during his tire industry career but has never forgotten that it’s the service techs and retread plant craftsmen who make the tire industry roll. Tinklenberg is a TIA 400-level, certified trainer in earthmover and commercial truck tire service. His career includes working in his family’s tire and retread shop and later at Belle Tire in Grand Rapids, Mich. Tinklenberg has a passion for retreading, has done commercial work for some of the biggest fleets in Michigan and performed service work on some of the world’s largest mining equipment. In joining the TIA Board, Tinklenberg seeks to help and serve the next generation of techs to “pass the torch so to speak” to help them understand that safety is paramount to the tech, the companies they work for and the customers they service.

Source: TIA