Susan Elkington

  • President
    Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky

As president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky (Toyota Kentucky) since 2018, Elkington oversees an $8.5 billion operation, which employs nearly 9,500 people, and in a year, can produce as many as 550,000 vehicles and more than 600,000 engines. Toyota Kentucky is Toyota’s largest production facility globally, producing the Camry, Lexus ES 350 (including hybrid versions of both), and RAV4 Hybrid; plus, four-cylinder and V6 engines, in Georgetown, Kentucky.

Elkington joined Toyota Kentucky in January 2017 as senior vice president, overseeing the plant’s manufacturing and administrative functions. Prior to this role, she served as general manager, production control division at Toyota Motor Corporation’s (TMC) global headquarters in Toyota City, Japan, supporting Toyota’s 53 manufacturing plants worldwide.

Elkington began her career with Toyota in 1998 in Princeton, Indiana, as an assembly engineering specialist. By 2013, she held the position of manufacturing vice president at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana.

She currently serves on numerous charitable and corporate boards, including the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, is a member of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce board and its executive committee, and a member of the board of trustees of the University of Evansville. She is also a non-executive member of Toyota Motor Corporation Australia’s Executive Management Committee.

Throughout her career, Elkington has been recognized as a leader in the automotive industry. She was included in Automotive News’ 100 Leading Women in the North American Auto Industry (2020), is an inaugural inductee into the Women in Manufacturing Hall of Fame (2020), a STEP Ahead Honoree (2014), and an ATHENA of Southwest Indiana Award Finalist (2013).

Elkington earned her mechanical engineering degree from the University of Evansville in Evansville, Indiana.

Favorite quote: “I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to you and 90% of how I react to it.”  Charles R. Swindoll

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