Mitchell Peeters new Goodyear GM Middle East and Africa

DUBAI: Goodyear has announced the appointment of Mitchell Peeters as the new General Manager for the company’s Middle East & Africa operations. The Belgian national will assume his role as of 1 February 2012 from Octavian Grigore Velcan.

In his new role, Peeters will oversee overall operations across the region. During his six years experience with Goodyear, he fulfilled a number of key management roles in planning, strategy, operations and sales across Goodyear Dunlop Europe (notably Switzerland and Austria) and Dunlop Europe, Middle East & Africa.

Prior to joining Goodyear in 2005, Peeters worked in several senior management positions with international tire manufacturers bringing with him diverse market experience from the United Kingdom, Belgium, Poland and Scandinavia. Peeters studied Management at a number of international universities and is a fluent English, Dutch, French and German speaker.

Commenting on his new appointment, Peeters said, “Since 2001, Goodyear has been carving its mark in the Middle East region catering to market-specific needs and growing its market share in both consumer and commercial lines of business. The new role presents an exciting opportunity at a time where the company is launching a number of new products and initiatives that are planned for roll out in the next year. I look forward to working with the team and business partners across the region to further build on Goodyear’s established success and continue our strategic expansion plans to increase our regional presence.”

As one of the world’s most prestigious and oldest tire manufacturing companies, Goodyear is widely recognized for its long standing commitment to safety and performance through leadership, innovation and technology focused products. Goodyear witnessed a hugely successful year in 2011 achieving great sales results with the launch of new products, particularly the global launch of Eagle F1 Asymmetric 2 tire. In line with Goodyear’s mission of manufacturing sustainable and environmentally conscious products, the tire has proven to perform exceptionally, delivering shorter braking distances on both wet and dry roads against competitors and delivering top-class rolling resistance.