Toyota Announced Three Exec Retirements for 2010

The American branch of the Japanese carmaker Toyota announced today that three of their executives will retire in early 2010, with the reassignments of their responsibilities to be announced in the coming weeks. Irv Miller, Dave Danzer and Steve Sturm are all group vice presidents in charge with some of the most important divisions within the group.

The first one to leave the company will be Steve Sturm, group vice president of America's strategic research and planning and corporate communications for Toyota Motor North America, on assignment from TMS. He will retire effective January 1, 2010.

Since April 1981, the first time he joined the group, Sturm has held several management positions with the TMS organization including product development manager, market and price planning manager, national manager, distribution, logistics and sales planning, corporate distribution manager, corporate manager, Lexus marketing, vice president, new era business projects, vice president TMS, marketing, vice president and general manager, Toyota logistics services (TLS) and vice president, north America planning.

Both Irv Miller, group vice president, environmental and public affairs, as well as Dave Danzer, group vice president, strategic and product planning, will retire effective February 1, 2010.

Since beginning his extensive career at Toyota in June of 1980, Miller has held a variety of key field-office and corporate headquarter managerial positions with both Toyota and Lexus divisions. Miller was corporate manager, market representation in both the Toyota and Lexus divisions and advertising/ merchandising in the Toyota division, vice president, field operations, sales and dealer development in the Lexus division and vice president, office of the web.

Danzer joined TMS in October 1985 as national advertising programs manager and since then he has held an array of management and executive positions, including national advertising manager, national merchandising manager, corporate manager, Toyota marketing, corporate manager, product planning, corporate manager, Lexus marketing, vice president, Toyota customer relations, vice president, strategic and product planning.