PIrelli's former CEO becomes Apollo Tyres' advisor

Apollo Tyres has appointed former CEO of Pirelli Tyre Francesco Gori as an advisor to identify and create new opportunities for international growth. Apart from this, Gori will also develop a strategy to help the company become a global brand.

Neeraj Kanwar, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of Apollo, called it a privilege for Apollo to have a person of Gori’s stature join the Indian tyre manufacturer.

"He is widely acknowledged as the architect of the successful premium strategy of his former company," Kanwar said, "and we look forward to his insight and guidance to sharpen Apollo's focus and implementation in the brand and technology areas."

[caption id="attachment_1818" align="alignnone" width="672"] Francesco Gori[/caption]

Francesco has had a long career of 33 years at Pirelli. For the last six years, he held the position of CEO and <anaging Director of Pirelli & C. S.p.A. Also, Pirelli earlier said that Francesco was bound by a three-year non-compete agreement.

A native of Florence, Italy, Gori joined Pirelli in 1978 to play his part in the firm's motorcycle tyre business. He stayed committed to the company and moved steadily up through the firm's sales and marketing ranks. He became the General Manager of the company's car tyre sector in 2001 and finally went on to become the CEO in 2006.

Francesco Gori said, "As a successful organization, Apollo Tyres is accelerating its growth by strengthening its presence in its existing markets and extracting value from its recent [$615 million] greenfield investment in Europe to enhance its key global brands - Apollo and Vredestein. I look forward to work with Neeraj and his team in their journey to become a significant player in the tire industry."

Apollo Tyres is one of the biggest tyre manufacturers in the world. Based on the 2014 sales volume, the tyre marque is ranked 2nd in India and 17th worldwide by Rubber and Plastics News.