Wil James

Wilbert W. (Wil) James is president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky, Inc. (TMMK) located in Georgetown.  TMMK is the home of the Avalon, Camry, Camry Hybrid and Venza vehicles directly employing over 7,000 team members.

Prior to this role, he served as senior vice president at Toyota’s vehicle assembly plant in Princeton, Indiana, where he was responsible for manufacturing and quality. 

Mr. James’ career at Toyota began in 1987 encompassing several roles at TMMK.  He was named vice president of manufacturing in January 2003, responsible for overseeing all vehicle manufacturing operations as well as production control.  He was also general manager of assembly, responsible for engineering, maintenance, production and internal parts conveyance for TMMK’s two assembly lines, along with the plastics organization.  In addition, he was general manager of production administration responsible for the coordination of production support, facilities, environmental, planning and project management.

After nearly a 20 year career at TMMK, Mr. James joined TABC in Long Beach, California in January 2006 as senior vice president of operations. TABC is a parts component operation and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Toyota.  He was later promoted to president in January 2007. 

Prior to joining Toyota, Mr. James held positions in production, maintenance, project engineering at Olin Corporation. 

Mr. James has served on various community boards including: The Urban League of Louisville, The Kentucky Humanities Council, The Partnership for Youth Organizations, Georgetown’s Municipal Water and Sewer Service (board chairman), Toyota’s Federal Credit Union and North Carolina’s A&T School of Engineering.  He currently serves on the boards for the National Society of Black Engineers, Kentucky State University as well as Academic UpRise.  In addition, he was named Toyota’s diversity champion for Toyota’s North American manufacturing headquarters and is an active member of the Executive Leadership Conference and Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity.

Mr. James received a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering technology and an associate degree in applied sciences from Old Dominion University.