Welcome to RIMScast. Your host is Justin Smulison, Business Content Manager at RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society.

 

Justin interviews John Baldwin of Discount Tire. Justin and John explore risk management topics, including Tire Safety Month, tire safety education of customers, and the tire selection tool he developed, Treadwell. John shares information about ongoing projects at Discount Tire and also his work on the board of the Tire Recycling Foundation.

Listen to gain awareness of how tire selection can be a safety factor in your ERM program.

 

Key Takeaways:

[:01] About RIMS and RIMScast.

[:17] About this episode of RIMScast. Our guest is John Baldwin of Discount Tire. He’s joining us for National Safety Month and National Tire Safety Month here in June 2025. We’re going to learn about the risk tool that he developed at Discount Tire.

[:49] RIMS-CRMP Workshops! The next RIMS-CRMP Exam Prep Workshop will be presented in conjunction with NAIT on June 10th and 11th. Register by June 9th. That course will be led by former RIMS President, Nowell Seaman.

[1:11 ] Links to these courses can be found on the Certification Page of RIMS.org and through this episode’s show notes.

[1:18 ] Virtual Workshops! On June 12th, Pat Saporito will host “Managing Data for ERM”, and she will return on June 26th to present the very popular new course, “Generative AI for Risk Management”.

[1:35 ] A link to the full schedule of virtual workshops can be found on the RIMS.org/education and RIMS.org/education/online-learning pages. A link is also in this episode’s show notes.

[1:47 ] We have a special new 12-week virtual workshop course, The Advanced Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) Certificate Program, instructed by James Lam, one of the most famous Chief Risk Officers in the world!

[2:04 ] He will lead an intensive 12-week program, beginning July 16th, bi-weekly until September 2025. Registration closes on July 7th.

[2:17 ] James will join us next week to discuss this program and his ERM philosophy. Check out the link in this episode’s show notes and the Education page of RIMS.org. Register today before we reach virtual capacity!

[2:33 ] On with the show! It’s our first episode of June 2025. That means that it is National Safety Month here in the U.S. and also Tire Safety Month. I was delighted to book today’s guest, John Baldwin, PhD. He is the Chief Product and Technical Officer of Discount Tire.

[2:56 ] He developed a risk tool for Discount Tire called Treadwell. This is the company’s personalized tire recommendation tool.

[3:05 ] Treadwell utilizes extensive real-world testing data, including nearly a million tread depth measurements annually and evaluations of dozens of new tire models each year.

[3:17 ] John is also a member of the Enterprise Risk Committee at Discount Tire, so we will also learn about his risk philosophies and his efforts to bolster sustainability when it comes to tires, tire manufacturing, and tire recycling.

[3:33 ] Interview! John Baldwin, welcome to RIMScast!

[3:52 ] John says risk management is like safety. You incorporate it in every decision you make. It’s good to make it part of the daily oxygen.

[4:10 ] John started consulting with Discount Tire in 2007 and became full-time in 2012.

[4:25 ] John is a Senior Vice President and Chief Product and Technical Strategist. He’s responsible for the fitment guide on the website. Discount Tire measures each vehicle it can and puts that in the fitment guide.

[4:56 ] They consider product quality and performance. They test tires, wheels, and lug nuts, before offering them for sale. John’s background is technical.

[5:10 ] John is also in charge of sustainability and government affairs.

[5:24 ] John has a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and a PhD in polymer science, the study of plastics and rubber. He was at 3M for a lot of years working on filter media for filter masks, which had a resurgence 25 years after he left.

[5:49 ] John went to automotive working in adhesives. He was hired by Ford. He was at Ford when the Ford Firestone recall happened. He got drafted onto the Root Cause Team, to find out what was going on with the tires because of his background.

[6:08 ] John worked in advanced manufacturing on a cross-functional team.

[6:22 ] John’s advice to folks coming up in a company is “Saying No is career-limiting.” He had said No a lot, at the beginning of his career. When he started saying Yes, things changed.

[6:38 ] Coming from the larger companies where he had worked, John says the vibe at family-owned Discount Tire is an entrepreneurial spirit. There’s a lot less bureaucracy. You go talk to people to get things done. It’s very comfortable for John.

[6:58 ] John says Discount Tire is for everyone but the people who thrive here are more self-starting, think it out, and occasionally color outside the lines. It’s nice. You learn a lot.

[7:13 ] John has a small group of about 25 people. They are cohorts of the risk group. The risk group collects and manages thought processes and information. The people who own the risks have to take care of them. The risk group shares a framework for them to manage risks.

[8:23 ] John is on the Enterprise Risk Committee. It’s a group of the different functional areas, Technical Fitment, Real Estate, IT, Cybersecurity, Store Management, Product Quality, Legal, HR, and other areas from around the corporation represented.

[8:52 ] The Enterprise Risk Committee is one level below the Steering Committee. They use a tool called Riskonnect. They analyze and bring the risks to the Steering Committee. Justin and John first connected through the last Riskonnect webinar!

[9:46 ] There are technical issues in managing the stores, including customer safety. Customer safety is a founding philosophy at Discount Tire. Customer safety is the first consideration.

[10:21 ] When John first came on board at Discount Tire, it was after the Firestone Tire recall and Discount Tire focused on tire quality. Everyone at Purchasing hated him for being “Dr. No.” He told them: Let’s put a process together where we validate whom we’re buying from.

[10:51 ] He said, we validate the quality of the tires and wheels that we’re buying and that frees you up. We could entertain buying from people we would never have entertained buying from because they meet our criteria. Suddenly, it goes from closing the box to expanding the box.

[11:07 ] That’s how we have to get people thinking. Once you have the process down, it unburdens you. It allows you to take more risks because you have a way of assessing what the risk is and doing something about it.

[11:34 ] June is Tire Safety Month, promoted by the NHTSA. John is planning on a visit there next week. Tire Safety Month is an opportunity to engage and ask customers: Have you looked at your tires? Do you know what your air pressure is? Discount Tire does free air checks and fills.

[12:20 ] One of the number one things for safety is making sure you have plenty of air in your tires. Most people don’t think about it or check it. Talk with customers about tire tread depth and why there are treads.

[12:54 ] Tire Safety Month is June because school is over and people will be taking road trips. Be aware of your tires. Check your air pressure and tread depth. The tread is essential for driving in rain or snow so you don’t hydroplane and you can brake properly. Get your tires checked.

[13:47 ] These things matter. There’s a reason tires are designed the way they are. The public generally doesn’t know. When John started working in tires he had no idea they came in different sizes. Everybody has a first day at work.

[14:26 ] People generally don’t change tires on their own, because you need a machine.

[14:34 ] Plug Time! RIMS Webinars! On June 5th, Zywave joins us to discuss “Today’s Escalating Risk Trajectory: What’s the Cause and What’s the Solution?”.

[14:49 ] On June 17th, Origami Risk returns to present “Strategic Risk Financing in an Unstable Economy: Leveraging Technology for Efficiency and Cost Reduction”.

[15:00 ] More webinars will be announced soon and added to the RIMS.org/Webinars page. Go there to register. Registration is complimentary for RIMS members.

[15:11 ] A