Dave Illingworth
SESSION DESCRIPTIONDave Illingworth was the first General Manager of Lexus. He was tasked with launching a new Japanese Luxury Division in the US nearly 30 years ago. Join Dave as he shares some “inside stories” of the challenges and the decisions they faced. Many of those decisions altered and forever shaped how “customer service” is viewed in the automotive retail market.
Dave will then speak about his transition into automotive retail and the challenges he sees today. He will share his insights on how he- and you – can still use the lessons of 30 years ago to overcome and succeed in today’s competitive automotive market.
Dave Illingworth
J. Davis (Dave) Illingworth, Jr. is the President of Toyota Warsaw where he has been the dealer for the last 10 years. Dave is also a Board Member of Toyota Material Handling, N.A. that manufactures Toyota and Raymond forklifts in North America.
Formerly Dave was the Senior Vice –President Chief Planning and Administrative Officer for Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. In this position he was responsible for Finance, Corporate Services, Business Planning, Human Resources, Information Systems, Strategic and Product Planning, Advanced Product Strategy, Legal Department, Telematics, The University of Toyota and Motorsports.
He was with Lexus from the division’s inception in 1987 through 1992, and as Vice President and General Manager of the division was instrumental in making Lexus an industry leader customer satisfaction, sales and quality. In recognition of his work Dave was named Automotive “Man of the Year” in 1992 by Automobile magazine.
Dave was Senior Vice-President General Manager of the Toyota Division from 1992 through 1997. In 1997 the Toyota Camry became the number #1 selling car in America and for his efforts in accomplishing this Dave was recognized by Automotive News as a “Top 10 Newsmaker”.
Dave is the author of the book God of Hope, and is President of God of Hope, Inc. that has a website, godofhope.net and a social/digital media effort dedicated to telling stories about Jesus in a gentle and respectful manner.
Dave is a graduate of Ohio University in Athens, Ohio and he and his wife Cynthia have five children and six grandchildren.
