Bridgestone Americas (Bridgestone) today announced leadership changes in support of the company’s ongoing evolution to become a sustainable mobility and advanced solutions company. Mirella Cielo will join Bridgestone Americas as president, consumer replacement tire sales and marketing, U.S. and Canada, effective Sept. 1. She backfills Erik Seidel, who has been named to a new role overseeing corporate development and M&A for Bridgestone Americas, effective immediately.
“Mirella is a dynamic leader with tremendous expertise and experience in the tire industry,” said Paolo Ferrari, CEO & president, Bridgestone Americas. “She is very familiar with our customers and strategies making her well positioned to build on Erik’s success as president of the consumer replacement business. I am excited to welcome Mirella to the Bridgestone Americas team and to have Erik in this new corporate development role overseeing our M&A efforts.”
As president of consumer replacement tire sales and marketing, Cielo will be responsible for setting the sales and marketing strategy for the consumer replacement tire business in the U.S. and Canada with a focus on pursuing new business opportunities, enhancing revenue and increasing brand equity with consumers. She also will be responsible for cultivating customer relationships that accelerate sales growth for the company’s core tire business.
Cielo joins Bridgestone Americas from Bridgestone Europe, Middle East, India and Africa (EMIA), where she most recently served as vice president of the consumer replacement business. While in Europe, she has been instrumental in delivering the consumer replacement strategy through a relentless focus on continuous and sustainable growth. Cielo has laid the foundation for future success by delivering enhanced pricing and channel management, improved demand planning and several successful product launches, in addition to employing a customer-centric focus. Prior to joining Bridgestone EMIA in 2017, she spent over a decade with Pirelli Tire in various marketing and management roles of increasing responsibility across North America and in Europe.
As senior vice president of corporate development, Seidel will lead a newly formed corporate development team to enhance and strengthen the company’s M&A capability and capacity. He will partner with leaders across the organization to accelerate the delivery of the company’s tire and mobility solutions strategies through acquisitions, strategic partnerships and joint venture opportunities. Seidel also will establish and oversee the Bridgestone Americas Investment Committee and lead the sourcing, modeling, negotiating and closing of M&A deals in partnership with the business.
Seidel joined Bridgestone in 2013 as vice president of consumer marketing and quickly transitioned into leading the replacement tire business. He has played a key role in the delivery of some of the company’s most important consumer tire initiatives, including the revolutionary DriveGuard tire launch, the acquisition of the TireConnect e-commerce platform and the successful launch of the company’s TireHub joint venture in tire distribution. Prior to Bridgestone, Seidel spent more than a decade at Kimberly-Clark Corporation in marketing and general management roles of increasing responsibility.
