Jim Lentz is president and chief executive officer of Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), U.S.A., Inc. as well as a member of the company’s board of directors. He is also senior vice president of Toyota Motor North America, Inc. (TMA), the holding company for Toyota's North American sales, engineering and manufacturing operating units. Additionally, Lentz serves in a global advisory capacity as managing officer for the parent company Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) in Japan.

In these roles, Lentz oversees all North American sales, marketing, product planning, corporate planning and corporate affairs as well as distribution for Toyota, Scion and Lexus products in the United States.

In 1982, Lentz joined Toyota as the merchandising manager for its Portland Region, where he later became the distribution manager and field operations manager. He held several positions at TMS headquarters in Torrance, Calif., including field training manager, sales administration manager and truck sales team member. He also served as vice president of marketing services for the Central Atlantic Toyota Region, located in Maryland.

In 1995, Lentz was promoted to general manager for Toyota's San Francisco Region, and later became general manager of the Los Angeles Region. He was also vice president of Scion, responsible for the initial launch of a new line of vehicles for the next generation of new-car buyers. He served as group vice president of marketing, Toyota Division, and held the position of general manager of TMS' Toyota Division, where he oversaw all sales logistics and marketing activities for Toyota, Scion and Central Atlantic Toyota Distributors.

Most recently, Lentz was chief operating officer of TMS and prior to that served as executive vice president of TMS.

He is the chairman of the Auto Alliance, serves as secretary on the board of directors for The Global Automakers and is a member of the executive advisory board for Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver, his alma mater.

Lentz earned a bachelor's degree in marketing and economics and a Masters in Business Administration – Finance from the University of Denver.

Business,