It has been nearly a year since Dave Stevens took over as Managing Director of the Tire Retread & Repair Information Bureau. Stevens says the past year has been a busy one at TRIB, and he is looking forward to 2012.


As Stevens prepares to head for Las Vegas for SEMA and the Global Tire Expo, he offers some reflections on the job and the work TRIB has done in the past year.

"I think the list below is a decent start, but I have bigger ambitions for TRIB and several ideas for 2012 that I'll be discussing with the Board of Directors at our meeting next week," he says. "I'll provide an update after that meeting, but as always, if there are things you want to see from TRIB in 2012, give me a call or drop me a line."

In that time, TRIB has relocated its offices to the Washington D.C. area to be closer to member activities, and other industry associations. It has also transitioned to a new financial management program, brought all financial and corporate filings up to date, and revised the organizations bylaws.

TRIP has recently completed a redesign and relaunch of its website, and created a YouTube channel with links on the website.

"The website is a constant source of new member inquiries/sign-ups, potential customers looking for retreaders and suppliers," Stevens says. "It's a source of information for fleets, the public, and media outlets around the world."

In addition to the new website, Stevens has redesigned and relaunched Voice of Retreading newsletter. TRIB is now distributing a revised "Industry Recommended Practices for Tire Retreading & Tire Repairing" and through it new online store. A new e-mail and casing/supplier memo program is up and running and memos are sent out immediately, not weekly, Stevens says.

Stevens says he attended 11 trade shows over the course of the year, including, the TMC Spring Conference, the Mid-America Trucking Show, the Latin American & Caribbean Tire Expo, and in November he will be at the Tire Industry Association Global Tire Expo in Las Vegas.

TRIB is also making greater use of Social Media such as Facebook and Twitter, and he is constantly on the look out for inaccurate representation of retreaded tires in the mainstream media.

He recently completed work on the TRIB Membership Survey to better understand his members' needs.

"It's not quite 2012 yet, but I'm looking forward to a great year with TRIB and continuing to move our association forward," says Stevens.

More info: www.retread.org.