When W. Rippetoe started out as a volunteer firefighter, his assistant fire chief told him, “Keep your eyes open, your ears open and your mouth shut!” Since then, Rippetoe has followed his advice and he says he learns something new every time he trains.
From fires to tires, Rippetoe has been working in the tire industry for 15 years, starting as a CAD engineer. He was responsible for a portion of the design work for TPMS sensors and the fitment studies for the North American market. Now, he travels across the nation educating dealers about the importance of TPMS. When he’s in the office he creates presentations, verifies vehicle coverage with TPMS, arranges vehicles for testing, and tests vehicles.
Rippetoe believes that he makes an impact in the company when he makes sure that the industry understands “the importance of having a properly working TPMS system and the knowledge of fully servicing the system.”
He feels most accomplished, however, when his trainees are able to walk away from his training session with at least one piece of information that they can use when they go back to the shop.
FUN FACT: On Rippetoe’s bucket list:
1. Visit all 50 states (he has just Alaska and Hawaii to go)
2. Fly in a fighter jet
3. See the Detroit Lions win a Super Bowl
This article originally appeared on tirereview.com.
