PLANO, Texas, July 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Toyota Motor North
America (TMNA) announced executive changes to its Social Innovation
and Toyota de Mexico
operations.
Effective September 1, 2020,
Sean Suggs, president of Toyota
Motor Manufacturing, Mississippi
(TMMMS), will be assigned as group vice president, chief social
innovation officer, TMNA. Suggs will take on a dual-capped role,
keeping his TMMMS responsibilities until further notice.
In his new role, Suggs is responsible for TMNA's philanthropic
efforts, the Toyota USA
Foundation, and the corporate diversity and inclusion strategy. He
will report to Sandra Phillips
Rogers, group vice president, general counsel, chief legal
officer and chief diversity officer, TMNA.
As president of TMMMS, Suggs will continue to report to
Brian Krinock, senior vice
president, vehicle plants, TMNA.
Suggs is replacing Albert (Al) Smith,
Jr., group vice president, chief social innovation officer,
TMNA, who is retiring after 30 years with the company. Smith
was instrumental in shaping the company's Social Innovation team
and its direction. Under his leadership, Toyota has been recognized
by numerous organizations for its commitment to improving the
communities where we operate and for its diversity and inclusion
initiatives, resulting in Toyota's rise in the rankings to
10th place on DiversityInc's 2020 Top 50
Companies for Diversity®.
"Strong community engagement and inclusiveness have become more
prevalent in our daily lives," said Phillips Rogers. "We thank Al for all he has
done for our company, and Sean will continue to uphold Toyota's
commitment for Respect for All, while helping to create future
initiatives that will make a lasting, positive impact on our
workplace, marketplace and society."
In addition, effective August 3,
2020, Luis Lozano, external
affairs senior director, general counsel and compliance, Toyota
Motor Sales de México (TMEX) will be assigned as president of
Toyota de Mexico (TdM). Lozano
will replace Mike Bafan, current president of TdM.
Lozano, who joined the company in 2005, will be responsible for
public affairs, including Legal and Compliance, Government and
Regulatory Affairs, Communications and Corporate Social
Responsibility, and Customs and Trade Compliance for Toyota in
Mexico. He will report to
Chris Reynolds, chief administrative
officer, manufacturing and corporate resources, TMNA.
Bafan remains chairman of Toyota Manufacturing de Baja California (TMMBC) and Toyota Motor
Manufacturing de Guanajuato
(TMMGT) and group vice president, Manufacturing Project Innovation
Center (MPIC), TMNA, based in Plano,
Texas.
Tom Sullivan remains president of
TMEX responsible for sales and working with Toyota's dealer network
in Mexico.
Additionally, Jun Umemura, who
served as group vice president of Mexico Affairs, TMNA, will be
retiring after more than 50 years of service with Toyota.
During Umemura's 50-year career with Toyota, he has helped the
company establish its U.S. manufacturing operations in 1984 and was
involved with the planning and start-up of the company's first
wholly-owned vehicle manufacturing facilities in Kentucky and Ontario, Canada. He was also responsible
for the start-up of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Baja California
(TMMBC), Toyota's first plant in Mexico, established in 2002. In 2016, he
became group vice president of TMNA, responsible for Mexico operations, as well as Board member and
executive advising officer for TMEX, TMMBC and Toyota Motor
Manufacturing Guanajuato (TMMGT).
"Jun's Toyota career spans five decades and helped lay the
groundwork for our manufacturing footprint, represented today by 14
plants in North America," said
Reynolds. "At the same time, Al's career spanned three decades
and his contributions to the organizations' shared impact strategy,
corporate planning, sales and service operations are unparalleled.
We thank Jun and Al for their dedicated service to Toyota and our
customers, and welcome Sean and Luis, both of whom are proven
leaders, well-respected within the industry and passionate about
our company."
About Toyota:
Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of
the cultural fabric in the U.S. and North
America for more than 60 years, and is committed to
advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota
and Lexus brands. During that time, Toyota has created a
tremendous value chain as our teams have contributed to world-class
design, engineering, and assembly of more than 40 million cars and
trucks in North America, where we
have 14 manufacturing plants, 15 including our joint venture in
Alabama (10 in the U.S.), and
directly employ more than 47,000 people (over 36,000 in the
U.S.). Our 1,800 North American dealerships (nearly 1,500 in
the U.S.) sold nearly 2.8 million cars and trucks (nearly 2.4
million in the U.S.) in 2019.
Through the Start Your Impossible campaign, Toyota highlights
the way it partners with community, civic, academic and
governmental organizations to address our society's most pressing
mobility challenges. We believe that when people are free to move,
anything is possible. For more information about Toyota,
visit www.toyotanewsroom.com.
Contact: Victor Vanov 469.292.1318
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SOURCE Toyota Motor North America