Pete Selleck will retire as chairman and president of Michelin North America, effective Dec. 31, 2017, concluding a six-year tenure in the role, the company announced today.
“Pete’s leadership of Michelin North America has represented many of the best ideals of our culture at Michelin,” said Jean-Dominique Senard, CEO of Michelin Group. “With a spirit of humility and kindness, Pete has left an indelible mark on the lives of many people, even as he has inspired them to raise performance, innovation, quality, safety and so many other measures to exciting new heights.”
Selleck’s successor will be named in January 2018, consistent with ongoing plans for the company’s global reorganization project. The group’s new organization structure is expected to be implemented in early 2018.
“I’ve only had two jobs in my entire life — Michelin and the U.S. Army,” said Selleck, an engineering graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., with 26 years of active and reserve Army service. “The company has given me the most outstanding professional journey I could ever have imagined, and I feel a debt of deepest gratitude to every person who has played a role in my career.
“My plan for several years has been to retire at this time, and my family and I are excited about the next chapter in our lives. I’ll remain available to support the business as needed, and I look forward to the success that I know will follow on the path set by the new leader for Michelin in our zone.”
As chairman and president for Michelin Group’s largest global operating unit, Selleck was responsible for coordinating Michelin North America’s business activities across the U.S., Canada and Mexico, which together comprise more than 22,000 employees. He entered the role in October 2011, serving previously for more than five years as the president of Michelin’s global heavy-truck tire unit based at the company’s headquarters in Clermont-Ferrand, France, and also serving as a member of Michelin’s Group executive committee. Selleck presided over Michelin North America in a period of dynamic growth, in which Michelin Group has invested nearly $4 billion in its North American operations.
Outside the company, Selleck has been recognized broadly by leaders in the community, in business and in industry, across the local, state and national levels. In recent years, Selleck played a key role advocating for road improvements across South Carolina; advocating for fiscal reform in the federal government; promoting dialogue and understanding on matters of diversity and inclusion; developing technical education to support industrial careers in South Carolina; and active support for the community of West Point alumni, the Boy Scouts of America and the United Way.
Selleck started his career with Michelin in 1982 as an industrial engineer at Michelin’s first U.S. plant. He eventually became the plant’s manager, a role he consistently described as “my dream job” in the years after. Subsequent chapters of Selleck’s career included various roles in the passenger-vehicle tire units in North America and Europe followed by global responsibility for the heavy-truck tire product line, before accepting his final assignment as chairman and president of Michelin North America in late 2011.
Selleck and his wife, Nancy, will maintain their residence in Greenville, where he will continue to assist the company through the leadership transition and with other consulting matters as needed.
