Johnson Controls exec joins Cooper Tire's board

Findlay, Ohio — Cooper Tire & Rubber Co.’s board of directors has named Susan Davis a company director, effective immediately.

Davis is executive vice president of the Asia-Pacific Region for Johnson Controls, a global diversified technology and industrial firm with customers in more than 150 countries. She is based in Shanghai, China, where she is the lead company officer in the region, representing all operating units in China and throughout Asia-Pacific. Davis also is responsible for planning, organising and mobilising talent for a second Johnson Controls corporate headquarters in Shanghai scheduled to be opened in 2017.

For more than three decades, she has served in positions of increasing responsibility within Johnson Controls, according to Cooper. Davis was named vice president of organizational development in 1993, then the following year was appointed corporate vice president of human resources, and was named executive vice president of human resources in 2005. She joined the company in 1985 following its acquisition of Hoover Universal, where she began her career in 1983 as a strategic planner for the automotive seating and plastics machinery business.

Cooper Chairman, CEO and President Roy Armes called Davis “a highly accomplished executive with specific global expertise that will be of tremendous value as we continue to pursue Cooper’s strategic plans for worldwide growth.

“The focus of her career has been on developing people as a critical asset and linking human resources directly to business goals. This experience will be vital to helping Cooper enhance our organizational capabilities, which is one of our three strategic priorities.”

Davis holds a master of business administration (MBA) degree from the University of Michigan. She graduated magna cum laude with a master of arts degree and magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts, both from Beloit College. She also currently serves as director of Quanex Corp. and vice chair of the Human Resources Policy Association.