pbarton21@nul.org

A strategic and creative problem solver, Paige Barton brings passion, positivity, and progressive leadership that achieves results. Paige opens the line of communication between clients, customers, and businesses to get projects done. With a track record for improving key performance indicators in every role throughout her career, she possesses a unique roll-up-yoursleeves approach to team management and an acumen for leading change and bringing out the best in others.

Paige earned her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice with a minor in psychology from Wiley College, an HBCU in East Texas, and served in the US Army as a member of the Army Corps of Engineers and as a paralegal within the Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps before transitioning to the automotive industry. Paige also holds a leadership and management certification from Harvard Extension School.

A native of Los Angeles, Paige began her career with Toyota Motor North America (TMNA) in 2006 and has worked in numerous divisions across the organization, including distribution operations, transportation and logistics, legal, diversity and inclusion, and social innovation. Paige built a strong foundation of operational proficiency and process improvement during her eight-year tenure in supply chain management. Her authentic leadership style and expertise in change management was instrumental in significantly transforming the safety performance of the largest parts distribution center in the Toyota network. Utilizing her unique ability to not only see problems but innovate solutions, she successfully reduced freight costs via route optimizations, led dealer re-alignment projects to improve lead-time and on-time delivery and created performance management tracking tools on the logistics side of the business.

In 2018, Paige moved to the social innovation space as Analyst of Multicultural Business Alliance & Strategy followed by a promotion to Chief of Staff to TMNA’s Office of Chief Legal Officer and Chief Diversity Officer, roles that capitalized on her ability to collaborate and bring people together for a common goal through teamwork and strategic thinking. In 2020, she became Manager of Multicultural Dealer Relations and Strategy for TMNA, where she continues to leverage her leadership skills and team approach to grow and support diverse dealers and build brand awareness in the multicultural space.

Embracing Toyota’s core values of respect for people and continuous improvement, Paige strives to promote and encourage others to succeed through service and leadership. Fueled by her awareness that opportunities are not always accessible to all communities and a passion for developing others, Paige spends her free time mentoring high school students in leadership and social responsibility, and tutoring teen girls in math to prepare them for STEM careers. An avid traveler, Paige is happiest when she’s exploring new places, languages and cultures. Paige typically travels abroad two to three times each year. Her favorite places to visit are Italy and Spain.