Goodyear's Asia-Pacific president Pierre Cohade is tapping into the explosive growth in the mainland's car industry
THE KEY PERIOD in the life of Pierre Cohade came in 1979 when as a student he served a four-month internship in Tokyo with Marubeni Corp, one of Japan's giant trading houses.
'I came from a France that was enclosed on itself. The internship helped me to discover the world and convinced me to leave France and work on the international stage. I decided to study in the United States,' he said.
After receiving his degree in business management from the Ceram School of Business in Sophia-Antipolis in France in 1984, Mr Cohade took an MBA at Pennsylvania State University, where he graduated top of his class.
Since leaving his motherland in 1984, Mr Cohade has spent the rest of his life abroad, except for an 18-month stint at Groupe Danone. He is now president of the Asia-Pacific region for Goodyear Tire and Rubber.
After he took the job in October 2004, Mr Cohade decided to move his division from the company headquarters in Akron, Ohio, to Shanghai.
Each morning, from his office on the 32nd floor of the Centre, he surveys a landscape of gleaming skyscrapers set among pre-war homes with trees and gardens in the former French concession.