Fifty-three-year old Mohan Kumar, Head of Michelin India, passed away on May 10 of Covid. His whole family was infected and while his wife and mother recovered, tragically his father too passed away soon after him. He had joined Michelin after stints elsewhere as head of the passenger car tyre sales and rose to head the company he was devoted to. 

A mechanical engineering graduate of NIT (then REC), Tiruchi, he had a two-year stint with then Telco and joined IIMB for his MBA-- 1991-93 batch. A classmate recalls that there were so many Mohans in class that they gave him the moniker ‘Telco’ Mohan, which a friend says, he changed to Michelin Mohan, as he would always be in a Michelin t-shirt. 

Gregarious and good at sports such as badminton and cricket, Mohan loved his role as a marketer and even did a stint with badminton major Yonex’s distributor in Delhi. “He was a balanced, fun-loving guy,” recalls his IIMB classmate. 

He was very ethical and process-oriented and jelled well in the Michelin ethos and also served two years at the company HQ in South Carolina. A former employee, who worked closely with him, recalls him as a very inclusive manager and was a visionary in terms of the needs of the current market and the Indian auto industry. He had a vision of Michelin being number one in the digital space and offered them the best-in-class digital platforms. His dealers looked up to him as a friend and mentor. 

A batchmate, S. Prakash, recalls that sometime in 2007-8, he was planning to change tyres of his four-year-old Honda City and checked with Mohan where he should go. “He said to go to Siremull's tyrestore in Chennai. I have changed tyres two more times at the same store,” he says. 

“I called the owner to find out whether he knows Mohan passed away. It was a stupid question. The father who runs the shop, has been in the trade for 50 years. He says, "I have seen many people in my time. Company officials come and go. Mohan was different. He made a real impact on our business. He kept in touch and found ways for us to be better. This is a terrible loss not only to us but to the community. Even now, many people are calling...Mohan approved our new store and service centre recently," says Prakash. 

A Michelin employee is quite emotional when he says, “The passion and dedication that Mohan had for Michelin and for all of us, can never be matched by anyone. The entire Michelin team is extremely heart-broken and I have been calling so many of our team members to share their pain. Quite a few of the sales reps kept mentioning that Mohan was like a father figure to them and the loss felt no less. In the last one year I spent so much time with Mohan that the days seem totally empty now.” 

Mohan was gearing up to shift the Michelin HQ to Pune from NOIDA, when tragedy struck. His two sons, one who has started to work and other studying in the US will miss him dearly. A close friend quotes Ajinkya, Mohan's elder son saying, “Michelin as a company also is like papa, ethical, responsible, value long-term relationships and that’s why papa chose to work for it.” Mohan clearly. as a friend says, was a tyre man who never tired. He never failed to elevate the mood of any group he would join, recalls Siva Padmanabhan, another IIMB batchmate. 

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