Ellen Farrell is group vice president and chief legal, compliance and administrative officer of Toyota Financial Services (TFS). In this capacity, Farrell oversees the company’s legal department and enterprise compliance department, providing guidance to support TFS business objectives. She also leads the TFS strategy, enterprise enablement, and change management functions, directing the organization’s strategic planning activities to provide actionable insights for the company’s senior leadership team. The indirect procurement team for TFS and Toyota Motor North America (TMNA) plus the TFS environmental, social, and governance reporting function report to Farrell, as does the TFS Academy which provides a wide range of educational solutions to build employee capabilities.

As chief respect for people officer for TMNA, Farrell is responsible for leading Toyota’s efforts to advance activities centering around professional development, mentoring, volunteering, and other ways that drive team member engagement and the business. 

Farrell serves on the Toyota Financial Services International Corporation management committee, as well as the board of directors of Toyota Financial Savings Bank. Farrell also chairs the global compliance functional committee at Toyota Financial Services Corporation (TFSC) in Japan and advises TFSC senior management on global compliance and legal trends.

Before her current role, Farrell served as vice president of social innovation for Toyota Motor North America (TMNA), as well as executive advisor to TMNA Legal. In that capacity, she was strategic advisor to both TMNA’s chief legal officer and its social innovation division, which leads the company’s diversity & inclusion, philanthropy/community relations, environmental sustainability, and workforce readiness efforts.

Previously, Farrell was head of product law and head of legal operations, responsible for overall management of the defense of product liability- and warranty-related claims and lawsuits involving Toyota, Lexus, and Scion vehicles in North America. She partnered with various client business units to mitigate operational and product-related risks, and to promote customer satisfaction. In addition, Farrell oversaw the TMNA law department’s technology and business operations functions, including its Partnering Program, of which a key goal is to promote diversity & inclusion among the counsel who represent Toyota.

Prior to joining Toyota in 1999, Farrell was with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP in Los Angeles, California.

Farrell is a member of the board of directors of WiNGS, a Dallas-area non-profit whose mission is to empower women, fight poverty, and impact generations; as well as a member and president-elect of the board of directors of Resource Center, the primary LGBTQ+ and HIV/AIDS service organization in North Texas. She also serves on the Dallas leadership committee for Lambda Legal, and the board of advisors for the Robert B. Rowling Center for Business Law & Leadership at Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law.

Farrell earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Managerial Studies from Rice University in Houston, Texas, and her Juris Doctor degree from Loyola Law School of Los Angeles.

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