Toyota Motor North America is elevating one of its top human resources executives to become its new chief HR officer and creating a position for the former chief HR officer to lead business revolution and transformation.
The automaker said Friday that Cheryl Hughes, who has been chief HR officer since January 2016, including having a key role on the small committee that oversaw the automaker’s move from California to Texas, will now be in a newly created position: group vice president for business revolution and transformation. Toyota says that in the new role, Hughes “will be responsible for creating and steering initiatives that will help reshape TMNA’s business, culture and workforce.”
To replace Hughes, Toyota has elevated Craig Gruzca to chief human resources officer from his previous post as group vice president for corporate shared services and human resources. Toyota said Gruzca will perform both functions simultaneously.
The changes take effect Monday, Toyota said.
The automaker is reevaluating how it interacts with employees, especially white-collar workers, and whether the COVID-19 pandemic has proved that they can be in diverse locations and not concentrated at the Plano, Texas, headquarters, which would open up talent acquisition to a broader spectrum of applicants, according to Chris Reynolds, chief administration officer for manufacturing and corporate resources.
