Toyota Motor North America (TMNA) announced a revised leadership structure along with executive changes effective April 1.
Structural Changes
Chris Reynolds, current chief strategy officer, is set to retire May 30. On April 1, Toyota will eliminate his position, and he will transition into a senior advisor role to help guide the restructuring.
Toyota is distributing the position's workload amongst its leadership team to provide them an opportunity to gain more experience and growth. The four key functions will now include:
• Enterprise Resources (OneTech, Privacy & Governance, Corporate Shared Services and HR)
• Enterprise Strategy and Solutions
• Enterprise Integrity (Sustainable Development, Carbon Neutrality & Regulatory Affairs and Legal)
• R&D
Leadership Changes
Kim Cockrell, group vice president and chief human resources officer, TMNA, is promoted to senior vice president, chief administrative officer and chief human resources officer, TMNA. In this newly created position, Cockrell will oversee OneTech, Privacy & Governance, Corporate Shared Services, and will continue to oversee the Human Resources function. Cockrell will report to Ted Ogawa, president and CEO, TMNA.
Chris Yang, group vice president of Enterprise Strategy and Solutions (ES&S), and deputy general counsel of Legal, TMNA, will be promoted to senior vice president, ES&S, reporting to Ogawa. In this role, Yang will lead the ES&S function responsible for guiding strategy, new business and investments as Toyota continues to evolve into a mobility company.
Yang will also keep his newly acquired global responsibilities as deputy chief compliance officer and deputy chief risk officer, Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC), leading Global Compliance and Global Risk across Toyota’s operations in seven global regions for TMC.
With this change, Yang will transition to senior advisor, Toyota Connected North America (TCNA) and no longer serve as president and chief executive officer, TCNA.
Sandra Phillips, senior vice president, Enterprise Integrity, chief sustainability officer, chief legal officer, TMNA, will continue in her role and report directly to Ogawa.
Mike Sweers, executive vice president and chief technology officer, Research and Development, TMNA, will continue in his role, reporting directly to Ogawa.
“As Toyota’s transformation to a mobility company continues, we need to prepare our organization and workforce to meet the challenges ahead,” said Ogawa. “With these changes, our leadership team will gain more experience and growth, and working together across the organization, we will be able to execute our plans quickly to take better care of our customers now and in the future.”
