Francis Byrne

Francis Byrne is an accomplished professional with a proven track record in quality management, continuous improvement, and leadership. From 2016 to 2020, Francis focused on developing an expanded strategy to drive the Bridgestone Quality Mission by leveraging the diverse product portfolio. This strategy emphasized best practices, education, sustainable systems, and processes. Noteworthy achievements in 2019 include overseeing 30 external audits with no major findings, conducting regular meetings for effective communication, reporting KPIs to executives for driving improvements, and establishing a Sharepoint site for information sharing and tracking. Francis was honored with the Transformational Champion Award for Smart Simplicity related to ISO9000 IATF 16949 certification.

In the period of 2009 to 2015, Francis served as a Manager of Continuous Improvement, where he provided leadership in quality certification, analytics, and voice of customer initiatives. Additionally, he developed several IT systems for enterprise-wide implementation. Francis holds several accolades, including completing the Scarlett Leadership Institute's program at Belmont University, receiving the Bridgestone CEO Award, being part of the Bridgestone High Potential Class at Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management, and earning a Black Belt in 6 Sigma. His innovative contributions are underscored by holding 19 US patents. Throughout his career, Francis has held various roles such as Product Design, Technical Service, Tire Engineer, Process Engineer, and Plant Engineer. His expertise spans across working in Europe and the USA, engaging with diverse interfaces in Japan and Asia.