Bridgestone Americas, Inc. (BSAM) has announced that Dan MacDonald, currently executive director, communications, has been promoted to vp, community & corporate relations, effective May 1. He assumes the role previously held by Christine Karbowiak, who was promoted to the newly created position of chief administrative officer on April 1. Succeeding MacDonald as executive director of communications is Don Darden, who was most recently director of media relations. His promotion also takes effect May 1.
MacDonald will be responsible for the flow of communications among BSA’s family of companies and will oversee community and corporate relations function, including media, public, internal and community relations and social media outreach efforts. “Dan has the skills, experience and the enthusiasm to help Bridgestone Americas continue to communicate effectively with its many audiences,” Karbowiak said. “He’s the right person to lead this department as we work with our new management team to develop communications efforts to support the company’s business and corporate social responsibility goals.”
MacDonald, formerly an award-winning broadcast journalist, joined BSAM in 2002 after having worked in broadcast news for 18 years. He graduated from Michigan State with bachelor’s degrees in international relations and broadcast journalism. He also earned a master’s degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. e Tennessee Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence.
Darden will be in charge of managing corporate communications to both internal and external audiences and will be responsible for ensuring that accurate information about the company is provided to the news media, company co-workers, dealers and the community in a clear and consistent manner, noted BSAM.
Darden joined Bridgestone in 1995 as a territory manager for the Commercial Products Group. Since then he has assumed roles of increasing responsibility, including regional training manager and manager of marketing communications & advertising for the truck and bus tire division of the former Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire. Before joining Bridgestone, he worked for Holiday Inn and Gaylord Entertainment Co. Darden holds a bachelor’s in communications from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
BSAM also announced the addition of two new staffers to its Community and Corporate Relations department. Elizabeth Lewis, a former Dye, Van Mol and Lawrence (DVL) account executive, has joined the company as a public relations coordinator, and former Tennessean reporter Angela Patterson has been named digital media coordinator.
“At Bridgestone Americas it’s our company’s mission to serve our customers and society with superior quality, and being able to do that requires having an exceptional team in place,” MacDonald said. “We’re excited about Don’s promotion and the addition of Elizabeth and Angela to our Community and Corporate Relations team, and we look forward to advancing our company’s many communications activities with the help of their many talents.”
