2021 Automotive News Canada All-Stars

As a general manager at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada in Cambridge, Ont., Erin Buchanan, 47, oversees all manufacturing operations in the north plant, which produces the RAV4 crossover. She is also the Lexus NX chief production manager, responsible for launching that vehicle on the assembly line. Buchanan is also an outspoken advocate for diversity and inclusion in the automotive industry.

“[The auto plant] is state of the art, fast-paced, exciting manufacturing, and it’s becoming much more inclusive,” she said. “I think we need to do a much better job of continuing to market that side of it.”

She joined Toyota in 2001 as an engineering specialist at the GM-Toyota joint venture New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. (NUMMI) Buchanan holds an honours bachelor degree in chemical engineering from Ontario’s University of Waterloo.