• by Karl Greenberg , June 1, 2007

Toyota has gone wide and deep with a reorganization of marketing personnel that ranges from corporate executives and divisional marketing chiefs down to regional managers. The changes are unprecedented--even for Toyota, which routinely keeps marketers on the move as part of its meritocracy system.

The omnibus changes--not a string of upward shifts precipitated by an executive departure, as such changes often are--involve some 23 executives, including a new Toyota vice president/marketing, Randy Pflughaupt, currently vice president/distribution operations, who will replace Jim Farley, who has been moved over to group vice president and general manager of the Lexus Division.

Pflughaupt will report to Bob Carter, group vice president and general manager of Toyota division. Replacing Pflughaupt is George Christoff, vice president and general manager of the Cincinnati region. Christoff will report to Al Cabito, group vice president/sales administration.

Bill Fay, vice president and general manager, Los Angeles region, is appointed vice president/sales--replacing Dave Fleming, who was recently appointed vice president and general manager of the New York region.

Also, Nancy Davies, vice president/retail market development, becomes vice president/North American planning. That position had been held until recently by Steve Sturm, who was transferred to Toyota Motor North America in New York, Toyota's corporate office. Sturm is now responsible for corporate branding and communications strategy. Davies will report to Bob Daly, group vice president/North American planning.

Ernest Bastien, vice president/vehicle operations group, is appointed vice president/retail market development, replacing Nancy Davies. Bastien will report to Cabito.

Toyota Motor Sales spokesperson Xavier Dominicis says the personnel changes--regionally and at the U.S. marketing arm in Torrance, Calif.--are comprehensive but not unusual for the company, whose corporate culture tends to keep employees on their toes.

"I think that Toyota values the generalist in each of us, and it's important that our executives understand the Toyota culture ... Toyota encourages executives to move from position to position and to broaden their experience," he says.

He says the strategy also keeps executives stimulated and less prone to flee because the succession system rewards on merit. "When you are looking at someone in the same discipline for 20 years, that could grow tiresome."

He says moving executives around frequently benefits the company because there's backup. "It readies us for the challenge of the market because if any one single person is out for any reason, there are other folks who have had experience in that area who can pick up the slack."

Among managers filling new roles reporting to Pflughaupt: Tim Morrison, general manager of the Boston region, will be in the new post of corporate manager/marketing for cars and vans; Doug Murtha, corporate manager/product planning, will be in the new job of corporate manager/marketing operations, handling Toyota Division initiatives and incentives, cross-vehicle-line marketing and market intelligence. Brian Smith, corporate manager/truck, will now be corporate manager/marketing, truck and SUV.

Former general manager for the New York region, Ed Laukes, has been moved over to the newly created post of corporate manager/marketing, motorsports. Steve Haag, corporate manager/Scion, is appointed corporate manager/private distributors, replacing Jack Hollis. Haag will report to Fay. Toyota is also shifting Lexus and Toyota divisional managers in Los Angeles, Portland, Ore., Cincinnati, Boston, and Toyota's western, south, eastern and southern regions.

Jim Sanfilippo, executive vice president at Team Detroit, Ford Motor's agency group, says Toyota's succession strategy isn't unprecedented in an industry whose complexity makes for a difficult emigration from other industries, so it tends to keep its own.

But Sanfilippo, a former Kia marketing executive, says the number of people involved is unusual.

"What struck me is how deep they are going with this," he says. "This was a very comprehensive move. Either they felt things were stagnating a bit and, despite their terrific amount of growth, they really hadn't kept up in terms of the meritocracy and management development. Or they are developing these folks for a future and are probably looking at projected growth and need more leaders and are developing that on as large a scale as they can handle and at the same time, remind everyone that it's meritocracy."