Tire Technology Expo 2027 Exhibitor List

Nicolas de Mahieu has been secretary general of ETRTO (European Tyre and Rim Technical Organisation) since 2015, with a previous 21 years of experience in tire technical activities and the tire business. As ETRTO secretary general, he manages ETRTO companies’ experts on topics ranging from engineering design guidelines to new tire types definitions, new performance test measuring method development as contribution to the regulatory scenario evolution and providing freely available technical recommendations for the use/maintanance of tires/rims/valves.

Lars Netsch is a senior tyre specialist with over 20 years of experience in the field of tyre testing, simulation, homologation and assessment and with many years of active committee experience in the development and updating of relevant standards and regulations.

Jun Liu is a Senior Marketing Manager responsible for Industrial Chemistry segment marketing activities at Revvity Signals Inc. Jun has over 10 years of marketing and business development experience in the Specialty Chemical industry and worked as a software engineer in the semi-conductor industry. He has an MBA degree and…

Anke Blume studied chemistry at the university of Hanover, Germany. She did her PhD thesis at the German Institute for Rubber Technology (DIK). After that, she worked in the applied technology department of Degussa (later Evonik) to develop new silica and silanes for use in rubber from 1996-2021. In October 2013, she became the head of the chair Elastomer Technology and Engineering at the University of Twente, Netherlands.

Lukas Jongkind was born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands and holds a PhD in chemistry from the Universiteit van Amsterdam. After working in the paints and coatings industry for six year in roles ranging from R&D to sustainability management (Scope 3 carbon footprint reduction strategy), he joined Synthomer in 2025 in the role of sustainability director for the adhesive solutions division.

Pilar Bernal Ortega holds a degree in chemical engineering and an MSc in high specialization in plastics and rubber. In 2015, she received a government grant to pursue a PhD in rubber technology, completing her thesis on sulfur-modified carbon nanotubes for tire tread compounds in 2020. She joined the University of Twente's Elastomer Technology and Engineering department in 2019 as a postdoctoral researcher and became an assistant professor in 2022.

Dennis Preick has been working at Troester since 2008 in the development department of rubber machines. In addition, he takes on project management tasks. In his position as senior engineer, rubber process tire extrusion, he deals with development topics in the field of rubber extrusion and tire production. He is in continuous contact with leading tire manufacturers worldwide. As a project manager, he is responsible for the coordination, installation and commissioning of extrusion lines in selected projects in Germany and abroad. He has been involved in the tire industry since 2002 and has experience in automotive.

Dr Shinya Nakano received his PhD in applied chemistry from Tohoku University in Japan in 2013. Since then, he has been working at Sumitomo Rubber Industries, where he has contributed to the development of tire wear prediction technologies. He is currently a member of the materials department and is responsible for analyzing rubber wear mechanisms.

Anders Maki graduated from Michigan Technological University with a BSc in mechanical engineering and now has over 25 years of experience working at MTS Systems on a variety of vehicle dynamics related systems. He primarily supports methodologies to improve indoor testing of vehicle subsystems and validation of virtual models.

Dr. Ron Kennedy served as the Managing Director of the Center for Tire Research (CenTiRe), an industry/university consortium involving Virginia Tech, The University of Akron, and tire and tire-related companies. Before joining CenTiRe, he worked for 37 years in the tire industry at Firestone, Bridgestone/Firestone, and Hankook Tire performing tire finite element methods development and software programming, simulation systems development, advanced tire design, and tire factory uniformity studies. His work has covered the range of tire performance areas, manufacturing, and design. Dr. Kennedy is currently an Associate Editor of the Journal of Tire Science and Technology. He has numerous technical publications and presentations and has been awarded the Arch T. Colwell Merit Award from SAE, the Tire Society Superior Paper Award and an Honorable Mention Award, the CEO Award and President’s Award from Bridgestone/Firestone. Dr. Kennedy was the Plenary Speaker at the 2017 Tire Society Conference and gave the Keynote Address at the 2018 ACS Rubber Division Meeting. Ronald Kennedy received his BS and MS degrees in Engineering Mechanics from the University of Wisconsin, and his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Akron.

Annette Lechtenböhmer, a citizen of Germany, finished her studies of chemistry at Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Germany, with a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry in 1981. After two post doctorates, she was employed at the Goodyear Innovation Center in Luxemburg, she filled positions within compounding and compound testing. She achieved the title of Senior Research Associate of Material Science. During her 35 years of experience in the rubber industry, she has accumulated profound knowledge of compound development, compound testing and test principles, viscoelasticity, compound processing, testing for material modelling and structure of tires, quality control and production. Her positions required close cooperation with other steps of tire development, production, tire design, construction, raw material suppliers, and scientific institutes and universities. In addition to her industry experience, she taught at Universität Hannover on “Tire Technology” for many years and lectured on “Elastomer Technology” at Luxemburg University. She holds several Patents and Trade Secrets. She is a member of Tire Society, German Chemical Society and German Rubber Society. She retired from Goodyear in 2020 but maintains her dedication to promote rubber and tire science. She continues teaching and serving as an Associate-editor of the Tire Science and Technology Journal. In June 2022, she was presented an award from the German Rubber Society at the International Rubber Conference for her special performances in research, technology, and economy.

Paul Falguerolles is responsible for business development of resins intended for reinforcing textiles for various rubber goods applications, such as tires, belts, conveyor belts and nonwovens. The main objective is to replace – at an industrial scale – the historically used resorcinol/formaldehyde resins by a non-toxic resin. Before joining Michelin ResiCare, Paul Falguerolles worked as business developer for tire industry.

Victor Messias is a mechanical engineer with over a decade of experience advancing R&D capabilities in off-road (OTR) tire development across the US and Brazil. Messias is currently pursuing an MSc in engineering management at Iowa State University. As a research engineer at Titan Tires, Messias specializes in simulation-driven design, virtual and physical prototyping and innovation management. Messias is a recognized leader in integrating R&D workflows, implementing new calculation methods and implementing Abaqus and 3DX Simulia platforms.

Marek Gardavsky is highly experienced professional with over 35 years of extensive experience in project development and consulting. His expertise lies in the managment of product development, industrialization and process improvement focusing on raw chemical materials, resins and fillers. Through his career, Gardavsky has successfully led numerous projects showcasing his ability to drive innovation and operational excellence. He is known for his strategic vision and technical acumen and advocates for sustainable practises within the rubber industry.

Guido Lehne is a research assistant at the Institute for Particle Technology at the Technical University of Braunschweig under Professor Schilde. As part of his doctoral studies, he is working on the measurement and analysis of particulate emissions from road traffic, in particular from tire and brake wear. His focus is on the development of innovative measurement methods for time-resolved and distributed recording of particle emissions.