Monty Hawthorne Joins CEAT Specialty Tires in North America

Monty Hawthorne, who has been involved in the US commercial tire industry for close to 20 years, has joined CEAT Specialty Tires as director of agricultural sales, North America.

Hawthorne’s previous position was South Central territory manager for IMI, which provides tire, wheel, and fuel preserving solutions for commercial tires. Prior to joining IMI, Hawthorne was with Michelin for 15 years, serving the truck tire and agriculture business segments.

“We are thrilled to have Monty join the team as we continue to expand our distribution footprint across North America,” said Ryan Loethen, president of CEAT Specialty Tires, North America. “He has a proven track record in working closely with tire distributors and dealers. CEAT is growing rapidly but it is still a relatively new tire brand here. Monty will help our distributors and dealers tell the CEAT story of quality and value to their farmer and rancher customers.”

Loethen added that Hawthorne’s technical expertise in Ag tires will be very beneficial as CEAT continues to expand its VF range of radial tires and deliver other advanced tire technologies to farmers of all sizes.

Hawthorne grew up in Conroe, TX, and currently resides with this wife, twin sons and labrador retriever in Edmond, OK.

CEAT was established in 1924 in Turin, Italy. Today, it is one of India’s leading tire manufacturers, and CEAT tires are sold in more than 115 countries worldwide. The brand came to India in 1958, and later became part of the RPG Group. RPG is among the top business houses in India, with a group turnover of $3 billion. The CEAT Specialty Tires office in Charlotte was opened in 2017.