The Tire Industry Association (TIA) 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 Co. Inc., which is based in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and T.J. Trum of Green Bay, Wis.-based Pomp’s Tire Service Inc.
Gary MacCausland of VIP Tires & Service, which is based in Lewiston, Maine, was elected to his first term. Rejoining the board after a three-year hiatus is 2019 TIA President John Evankovich of Sam’s Club Tire & Battery Centers.
Devens is director of safety and risk management at McCarthy Tire Service. He is a current TIA board member and chair of TIA’s Training & Education Committee.
Devens 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 Part 48 Certified and a Part 46 Instructor with the Mine Safety & Health Administration, 30-hour General Industry Certified with OSHA and a Certified Commercial Vehicle Inspector with U.S. DOT.
In addition, Devens 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 says 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.”
Trum is 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 Truckers Against Trafficking.
He also chairs the American Commercial Tire Network 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.
Trum “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,” say TIA officials.
MacCausland is senior vice president of operations for VIP Tires & Service, one of North America’s largest retail tire dealerships with 65 locations, according to the 2022 MTD 100 list.
His entire career has been dedicated to the tire service profession, “with a huge focus on doing it the right way,” he says. MacCausland has more than 35 years of experience overseeing multi-unit tire and service operations, working for such companies as Tire America, Sears, Merchants, National Tire & Battery, Pep Boys — Manny, Moe & Jack and others.
He is described as “super-passionate” about training and employee development.
Today, VIP employs two advanced TIA instructors, 40-plus TIA Certified Instructors and nearly 300 associates certified for Basic Automotive Tire Service and Advanced TPMS.
MacCausland currently serves on the board of the Automotive Maintenance Repair Association and its Motor Assuraance Program.
Evankovich is director of Sam’s Club Tire & 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.
The new board members, who will serve three-year terms, were selected from a slate of 13 candidates vying for the four open positions.
