The Tire Industry Association announced its membership has voted in two incumbents, a newcomer and a former director to its 2022-2023 Board.
Re-elected were Russ Devens of McCarthy Tire Service, Wilkes-Barre, Penn., and T.J. Trum of Pomp’s Tire Service Inc., Kansas City, Kan.
Gary MacCausland of VIP Tires & Service, Auburn, Maine, was elected to his first term, and rejoining the Board after a three-year hiatus is 2019 TIA President John Evankovich of Sam’s Club Tire & Battery Centers in Bentonville, Ark.
The new Board members, who will serve three-year terms, were selected from a slate of 13 candidates vying for the four open positions, TIA says. Voting began in early July and ended Sept. 1
The newly elected directors will take office on Monday, Oct. 31, 2022, during TIA’s Annual Membership Meeting preceding the opening of the Global Tire Expo/SEMA show in Las Vegas. They will join an additional 14 directors to make up the Association’s 18-member Board.
TIA congratulates and welcomes our newly elected Board members and looks forward to their contributions in enhancing the Association as a valuable resource for tire safety and training, as a legislative watchdog and as a provider of programs, educational seminars and leadership for the betterment of tire dealers and the tire industry,” said TIA CEO Richard “Dick” Gust.
Russell Devens – McCarthy Tire Service
Russ Devens, director of safety & risk management at McCarthy Tire Service, is a current TIA Board member and chair, for the past three years, of TIA’s Training & Education Committee. He has more than 30 years of experience in safety, law enforcement, security, insurance and risk management and is a Level-400 Commercial Tire Service TIA instructor. He also is a Part 48 Certified and Part 46 Instructor with the Mine Safety & Health Administration (MSHA), 30-hour General Industry Certified with OSHA and a Certified Commercial Vehicle Inspector with U.S. DOT. In addition, he is the co-founder of the Tire Industry Safety Leadership Summit. He conducts ongoing training, evaluations of workplace safety, emergency response, hazardous- materials management and facility security for more than 70 McCarthy Tire locations and 1,300 employees. He looks forward to continuing TIA’s mission of updating and improving the association’s training programs. “Being a member and end user of all of the programs offers me a true perspective of the value of the training,” he said.
John Evankovich – Sam’s Club Tire and Battery Centers
John Evankovich is director of Sam’s Club Tire and Battery Centers, overseeing more than 580 retail outlets across the U.S. He has worked at Sam’s Club for nearly 33 years, starting out as a tire installation technician. In 2009, the company presented him with the Sam’s Club Achievement in Service Award for outstanding contributions in customer experience, and four years later recognized him with the Sam’s Club Carpe Diem Award for achievements in consumer and workplace safety. He also has received a Certificate in Human Resource Employment Practice and Law. Evankovich, who served as TIA president in 2019, said his strengths are in building relationships with stakeholders and collaborating to improve business operations to meet mutual goals. He describes himself as a student of the industry with a passion for consumer safety and environmental sustainability and is highly engaged in government relations.
Gary MacCausland – VIP Tires & Service
Gary MacCausland is senior vice president of operations for VIP Tires & Service, one of North America’s largest retail tire dealerships with 65 locations at the end of 2021. His entire career has been dedicated to the tire service profession, “with a huge focus on doing it the right way.” He has more than 35 years of experience overseeing multi-unit tire and service operations working for such companies as NTW, Tire America, Sears, Merchants, NTB, Pep Boys and now VIP. He is described as “super passionate” about training and employee development and was the lead at VIP to go “all-in” with TIA. Today, VIP has two advanced TIA instructors, 40+ TIA Certified Instructors and nearly 300 associates certified to Basic Automotive Tire Service and Advanced TPMS. MacCausland currently serves on the board of the Automotive Maintenance Repair Association (AMRA) and its Motor Assurance Program (MAP). About joining the TIA Board, MacCausland said “I would appreciate the opportunity to utilize my decades of experience, knowledge and industry relationships to work with an organization whose values of customer safety and associate training align directly with mine.”
T.J. Trum – Pomp’s Tire Service Inc.
T.J. Trum is the general counsel for Pomp’s Tire Service and a current TIA Board member presently serving as chair of the Association’s Government Affairs Committee and leading the Association’s support of Trucker’s Against Trafficking. He also chairs the American Commercial Tire Network (ACTN) Human Resources and Safety Committee and is a licensed legal counsel and certified senior professional in human resources by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM-SCP). Trum has hybrid tire industry experience in legal, operations, safety and human resources. He is committed to the servant leadership model that inspires leadership up the organizational structure and believes proper engagement, staffing and training will be defining keys to success for industry dealers.
For more information, visit www.tireindustry.org or call 800-876-8372
