Akio Toyoda

Akio Toyoda was born May 3, 1956. He earned a degree in law from Keio University in 1979 and a master's degree in business administration from Babson College in the United States, in 1982. He joined Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) in 1984. Mr. Toyoda's career has included postings in every phase of automotive operations, including production, marketing and product development, both in Japan and internationally. Outside Japan, he served as an executive vice president and board member at Toyota's production joint venture with General Motors in California, New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc. (NUMMI), starting in April 1998. In January 2000, he returned to Japan and was named to TMC's Board of Directors in June of that year. In that capacity he took on the creation and supervision of gazoo.com, a website that contains dozens of virtual shops for consumer goods and services and also provides information about new and used vehicles. Also during this time, he supervised domestic marketing operations, operations for the Americas and production management consulting. In June 2001, Mr. Toyoda became the chief officer of the Asia & China Operations Center, and in June 2002, he assumed the position of managing director. In June 2003, Mr. Toyoda was made a senior managing director, and, in January 2005, he became chief officer of both the China Operations Group and the Asia, Oceania & Middle East Operations Group. In June 2005, he became an executive vice president and a representative director, in which capacity he was responsible for IT & ITS, quality, product management, purchasing, Japan and overseas sales, and overseas operations. In June 2009, Mr. Toyoda became president of TMC.