TITLE: Head of Sales and Marketing
COMPANY: Toyota Europe
BASED: Brussels, Belgium
AGE: 52
NATIONALITY: British

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

Harrison joined Toyota in 1990 from Ford and since then has made a steady climb up the executive ladder, switching between ever-more senior UK and European roles before landing the top sales and marketing position in Europe in 2015. He was promoted from Toyota Europe vice president to executive vice president last year.

REASON FOR WINNING

Since Harrison joined Toyota Europe, the automaker’s sales in the region have risen to more than a million in 2019 from 873,844 in 2015. During that time, its hybrid share has more than doubled to 53 percent last year, putting Toyota Europe in a strong position in terms of meeting the EU’s tougher CO2 target. Price discipline means Toyota Europe has remained profitable while rivals have struggled, giving the automaker more freedom to develop models better suited to the European market, such as the C-HR compact SUV and the coming Yaris Cross small SUV.