Gabriel Asbun
President, Bridgestone Latin America Tire Division, BATO LA
Bridgestone Americas, Inc.
Gabriel Asbun joined the Bridgestone Group in November 2012. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, he is President of the Bridgestone Latin America Tire Division, which is part of Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations. Asbun is accountable for all Tire Operations in Latin America with full P&L responsibility, strategic direction and policy setting in the region. With around 10,000 employees, BATO LA, through seven manufacturing and sales subsidiaries, operates six tire production plants — two in Brazil, and one each in Argentina, Costa Rica, Mexico and Venezuela — along with proving grounds in Acuña, Mexico, and São Pedro, Brazil. In addition, through Bandag do Brazil Ltda. and Bandag de Mexico, S.A. de C.V., the companies manufacture and market pre-cure retread for truck and bus tires.
Before joining the company, Asbun worked for the Kellogg Company where he served for twelve years, most recently as President of the company’s Mexico Business Unit. Prior to his appointment to that position in 2009, Asbun held a number of other key leadership positions with Kellogg, including General Manager – Mercosur based in Brazil and overseeing that country as well as Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay; Director, New Product Development - Mexico; and Global Strategy Development Director for Latin America.
Prior to his tenure at Kellogg, Asbun worked for the well-respected strategy-consulting firm, Booz Allen Hamilton, for almost a decade assisting companies in developing business strategies and transformational initiatives throughout Latin America. Previously, he also worked in the telecommunications industry.
Asbun earned a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical-Electrical Engineering with a concentration in Industrial Engineering from the Universidad Panamericana in Mexico City where he graduated with Honors, and a Master of Business Administration from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Asbun is tri-lingual in Spanish, English and Portuguese with a basic knowledge of French.