Takayuki Hamaya, chief operating officer at Yokohama Tire Corporation (YTC), announced the addition of two top-level executives: Naoki “Nick” Takeda, executive vice president and chief financial officer; and Taketoshi Morita, vice president, OE business.

Takeda, who started working for YTC’s parent company, The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd. (YRC) in 1988, returns to YTC after 2½ years as GM of YRC’s tire business planning department.

In 1993, Takeda worked at YTC as assistant treasurer in finance and accounting. He went back to Japan in 1995 and held several positions, including assistant manager of the Mishima plant (2000). He returned again to YTC in 2010 as CFO and treasurer before going back to YRC in 2011.

“While being the head of Yokohama’s global tire business, Mr. Takeda was also supporting various YTC projects, such as the new Mississippi plant,” said Hamaya. “Now he will not only be supporting but creating more strategic projects for YTC’s future growth.”

Morita moved from Spain to the U.S. to join YTC in the newly created VP, OE business position, said Hamaya.  Morita began his career with YRC in 1987 and has held several positions, including manager of OE sales (1993), manager of the tire overseas sales department (2002), GM of the Dubai office (2003) and president of Yokohama Iberia (Spain and Portugal) from 2009 to 2013.

“With his experience in YRC’s OE business and overseas sales departments, Mr. Morita will prove to be a great asset for developing new OE opportunities for YTC,” Hamaya said. “Andy Zeisser, YTC’s OE director, will report to Mr. Morita.”

Yokohama Tire Corporation is the North American manufacturing and marketing arm of Tokyo, Japan-based The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., a global manufacturing and sales company of premium tires since 1917. Servicing a network of more than 4,500 points of sale in the U.S., Yokohama Tire Corporation is a leader in technology and innovation. The company’s complete product line includes tires for high-performance, light truck, passenger car, commercial truck and bus, and off-the-road mining and construction applications. For more information on Yokohama’s extensive product line, visit www.yokohamatire.com.