Matthew Cabe assumed the role of in October 2024 and is responsible for coordinating all activities of the company, which encompasses approximately 23,500 employees across Canada and the United States.

He is also responsible for all key customer-facing functions, including sales and marketing services and solutions, quality and supply chain units, as well as critical functions like corporate and business services, communications, finance, personnel, information technology, and legal.

Concurrent with assuming his leadership role at , which has its headquarters in Greenville County, Cabe was also appointed to the board of the U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association.

He joined Michelin in 2005 and has held various leadership roles in engineering, manufacturing, marketing and other commercial functions in North America and at the global level. From 2021 to 2024, Cabe served as senior vice president of the Michelin Group’s automotive regional brands business line based in Budapest, Hungary.

From 2017 to 2021, he served in a number of marketing-leadership positions for the North American passenger car and light truck business.

Cabe holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Clemson University, and a Master of business administration degree from the Darla Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina.

It is an honor and a privilege to return to Greenville with my family, which is where my career with Michelin started nearly 20 years ago.

South Carolina has played a significant role in Michelin’s history. Fifty percent of Michelin North America’s workforce is based here. In fact, just before I started in this role, Michelin celebrated 50 years of manufacturing in the state, and 35 years of our North American headquarters in Greenville.

To commemorate this occasion, we partnered with the University of South Carolina’s Darla Moore School of Business to publish an economic impact study on the company’s impact in South Carolina. We announced that Michelin has generated more than $266 billion in cumulative total economic impact and has supported an average of about 14,000 total jobs per year since 1975.

I am proud of Michelin’s legacy in this state and excited for our next 50 years in South Carolina.

At Michelin, we believe that South Carolina’s natural spaces should be conserved for our children and grandchildren. We want to ensure that we can pass down our outdoor spaces to future generations to enjoy.

Michelin is guided by our All-Sustainable Strategy, which is the impact of our responsibilities in three key areas: our commitment to people, our generation of profit for our shareholders and our respect for the planet. We call this “People x Profit x Planet.” The idea is that these three elements do not outweigh each other but instead rely on each other. At Michelin, we aim to not only make the best tires on the planet, but the best tires for the planet.

We want to be a good steward of the resources we share with the communities where we operate. To do this, Michelin focuses on conserving water, driving energy efficiency and protecting biodiversity at all of our sites. This includes our 15 facilities across South Carolina.

But it’s not just how we operate, it’s also important that we are making products that aim to reduce our overall environmental footprint. To do this we evaluate the total lifecycle of our products. Since the 1990s, the Michelin Americas Research Center in Greenville has continued to lead the market in the innovation of tires with low rolling resistance that increases fuel efficiency for passenger vehicles and heavy trucks.

We are always innovating to increase our use of renewable and recycled materials in manufacturing. While also engaging with partners to find new ways to repurpose tires after their useful life.

Michelin has been at the forefront of energy-friendly products for more than 30 years, since we started with the first fuel-efficient tire. Over the past decades, we have accompanied the growth of electric vehicles as a leading technological partner by developing cutting-edge technology to fuel this transition.

Because of the massive demands EVs place on tires, tires wear more quickly, reducing the service life by approximately 20% due to the car’s weight and torque. Michelin developed engineered solutions to reduce this impact without compromising other tire performances.

Some may believe you need a specific EV tire for an electric vehicle. However, Michelin’s tire portfolio is “EV-ready.” This means we can continue to provide consumers with the best performing tires no matter what vehicle they drive — traditional or electric. Today, eight out of 10 EV manufacturers in the U.S. use Michelin tires.

We’re proud of our heritage, and Michelin has been at the forefront of innovation and pioneering technologies in the tire industry for 135 years. This is what makes us the most-awarded tire brand in the U.S.

Q. Recruiting and retaining talent is another key issue for companies. Does Michelin’s heavy presence in the Southeast — one of North America’s fastest growing regions — give the company advantages in recruiting talent?

A. Michelin is a people-first company. I genuinely believe that we live by that, and it is a big reason I’ve stayed with the company for nearly 20 years.

It’s worth noting that Michelin is unique, because employees can grow and develop in different roles throughout the company. For example, through my personal career at Michelin, I have worked in engineering for industry, personnel, marketing and general management across the U.S., France and Hungary, not to mention all the places I’ve visited. The opportunities are endless.

Our culture ensures that every employee can develop themselves. I often say my role is to create an environment where all employees can thrive. We’re in the people-development business — building tires and life-changing composites is our tool to develop people.

People are at the core of what we do. We help them achieve their goals, and people drive Michelin’s success.

Q. What are the most exciting potential areas of growth for the company?

A. As a company, we are playing bigger by building Michelin as the world’s leading manufacturer of life-changing composites and experiences.

When we say composite, we mean the combination of two or more materials whose properties combine to form an even higher-performing product. We see the tire as the ultimate composite, with a combination of more than 200 high-tech materials. Over the years, Michelin has developed a unique expertise in high-tech materials. This know-how, combined with our capacity for innovation, is our signature.

Michelin has a portfolio of high-tech materials. For example, our materials can create hydrogen fuel cells that power fleets. Michelin composites are even found in the rubber flap where your money comes out at the ATM, as well as in many medical devices.

As for experiences, you may be familiar with the Michelin Guides for travel and cuisine. While we recommend where to travel, eat and stay, Michelin also wants travelers to get there safely. Because of that, the company gathers data that allows us to help anyone who uses public roadways to move about safely and efficiently.

Q. What are the biggest potential challenges to growth and success?

A. Earlier, I mentioned our all-sustainable strategy of “People x Profit x Planet.” This is an ongoing focus, as the work will never be done. We always must keep this top-of-mind in everything we do. Balancing these is what drives our success.

This is why we are not only committed to innovating the best tires on and for the planet, but it is also why we continue to increase investment beyond tires with life-changing composites and experiences that benefit our consumers on and off the road.

Like most other companies, we remain mindful of economic pressures, but our goals will always be rooted in maintaining the balance of our all-sustainable strategy. I’m starting in this role by listening to our people, our partners and our customers. From there, I will work with our team to best address how we continue to win in the marketplace and maintain this essential balance of “People x Profit x Planet” that inherently leads us toward the answers to these questions.