Walter J. (Wally) Palen

Assistant General Manager

Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky, Inc.

In January 2012, Wally Palen joined the executive team at TMMK responsible for the body operations department. As such, he leads Toyota’s largest stamping facility in North America, while also championing cross-functional stamping initiatives for Toyota’s North American manufacturing operations.
Palen is one of the few corporate executives to be tapped to join Toyota’s Kentucky plant, which manufactures the Camry, America’s best-selling car, and was recently named the new home of the first U.S.-produced Lexus.
Mr. Palen’s career with Toyota began in 1997 as a specialist in the logistics department. He has since served in multiple leadership roles within Toyota’s network of manufacturing operations across the United States, including chief production engineer of the North American Camry and prior to that from 2005-2007, program manager of adding production capacity at Subaru Indiana Automotive which produces Toyota Camry. From 2003 to 2006, Mr. Palen served as Manager, Supply Chain Strategy at Toyota Engineering and Manufacturing NA, after having been promoted multiple times following his career start nearly a decade earlier.

Mr. Palen recently was named the Executive Advisor of TMMK’s newest business partnering group Spectrum, which supports TMMK’s GLBT demographic. Mr. Palen’s passion and energy has been a driving force in the recent resurgence of class-leading safety and quality in the Stamping area. Mr. Palen’s focus on making great people greater and doing whatever is needed to provide the proper tools, training and environment is no doubt making TMMK a better place. A native of Warren, Ohio, Palen received his Bachelors of Science degree in Business Administration from The Ohio State University in 1996.