Rajkovic Joins Goodyear as Vice President, Finance, North American Tire

AKRON, Ohio, Aug. 28, 2003 -- The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has named Michael M. Rajkovic vice president of finance for its North American Tire business unit.

Rajkovic, 42, currently director of exterior products manufacturing and direct ship operations for Visteon Corp., will join Goodyear September 1. He will report to Robert W. Tieken, executive vice president and chief financial officer, and to Jonathan D. Rich, president, North American Tire.

Rajkovic, who has nearly 20 years of financial management experience in the automotive industry, replaces Richard J. Kramer, who was named senior vice president, strategic planning & restructuring by the company.

"Mike's operational, manufacturing and financial background, as well as his experience in several turnaround situations will be valuable as we return North American Tire to profitability," said Tieken.

Rajkovic joined Visteon in 2000 when the parts maker was spun-off from Ford Motor Co. At Visteon, he also served as director, finance and business for energy transformation systems; controller, global manufacturing finance and business operations; and director, exterior products manufacturing.

He joined Ford in 1984 as a financial analyst and held financial planning and product planning positions before moving, in 1990, to successive financial management positions on the automaker's compact truck, multi-purpose vehicle, Ranger, F-Series and Expedition truck teams. Rajkovic was named controller of Ford's Buffalo, N.Y., stamping operations in 1993 and controller, Explorer and Maverick Vehicle Lines in 1994.

In 1995, he moved to Portugal as finance director of the company's Autoeuropa Automoveis joint venture. Rajkovic returned to the United States in 1997 as controller, Ford Credit North America and was named controller, product and business strategy in 1999.

A native of Yugoslavia, Rajkovic has a bachelor of science degree in industrial management from Purdue University and a master of business administration degree in finance and corporate strategy from the University of Michigan.

Goodyear is the world's largest tire company. Headquartered in Akron, Ohio, the company manufactures tires, engineered rubber products and chemicals in more than 85 facilities in 28 countries. It has marketing operations in almost every country around the world. Goodyear employs about 92,000 people worldwide.