Photo of Kate Oddo, Toyota Financial Services and Angela Berry.

Kate Oddo is an inspiring leader and has a major role to play in how Toyota Financial Services is funded. Her main achievements are highlighted by her commitment to diversity. She is also recognised as Judges’ Choice for the Diversity and Inclusion Bond programme. Our judges also wanted to recognise her as the Highly Commended Winner in the Woman of the Year category.

Kate Oddo is the Director, Debt Capital Markets at Toyota Financial Services, responsible for term funding programmes and investor relations, helping to develop and expand both unsecured and secured platforms. She received an MBA from USC’s Marshall School of Business and a BS from the University of Richmond.

Kate Oddo’s career is dotted with notable accomplishments and a commitment to diversity. She has been responsible for creating new markets to diversify Toyota Financial Services’ funding, including developing the industry’s first Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) Bond. She has also expanded the company’s investor relations efforts and bank relationship management, broadening outreach with many diversity firms. These accomplishments in promoting diversity and inclusion have been recognised throughout the financial services industry. The details of this programme can be found opposite, as Kate was also recognised as this year’s Judges’ Choice.

“Rarely do you come across a business professional that clearly embodies the core values established by the company they work for. Kate demonstrates how aligning business results with responsible business practices can yield world class results,” says Jonathan Cowan, Director – Rates & Derivatives, Toyota Financial Services.

Other key responsibilities include, but are no means limited to:

• Developing and executing funding plans in order to raise approximately $25bn annually in global unsecured and secured bond markets. This includes monitoring liquidity risk metrics to achieve corporate and rating agency targets while ensuring continuous access to liquidity at the most cost effective level.
• Managing bank relationships, maintaining strong relationships across more than 30 key credit facility banks while also developing and expanding new relationships across more than 20 minority and women owned firms.
• Expanding the ABS platform through identification and development of new deal structures and counterparties, including the auto industry’s first ABS green bond, attracting new investors while enhancing Toyota’s already extensive green commitment.
• Presenting to senior management, Japanese executives and global affiliates as subject matter expert for debt capital markets, aligning objectives, gaining support for new initiatives and driving change.
• Participating in industry conferences and roundtables to share best practices.
• Co-managing Debt & Derivatives team, currently consisting of four managers and four senior analysts. Providing training and support to ensure flawless execution while empowering team members to achieve to their fullest potential.

Kate is a highly successful financial leader with experience in building and leading teams and driving innovation and organisational change. Being a trusted treasury expert responsible for coordination and sourcing of liquidity from global debt capital markets, Kate has also become a talented spokesperson.

Toyota has a number of voluntary, employee-led business partnering groups (BPGs) that foster a diverse and inclusive workplace. Kate is an active member of TORQUE!, a BPG that strives to be a catalyst to advance the personal and professional development of women at Toyota.

Kate was quickly identified as an innovative leader in the organisation and in the autumn of 2014, Kate was invited to participate in Toyota’s North America Women’s Conference. She was also invited to attend the Women in Leadership Institute hosted by Linkage. There she collaborated with other high-performing women leaders across numerous industries. She then presented to Toyota’s senior management on how to keep the company committed to supporting, creating and sustaining inclusive leadership practices.

Throughout her career at TFS, Kate has been steadfast in her commitment to innovation through diversity. Her success is testament to core values aligned with Toyota culture that believes respect for all people and recognition of diverse backgrounds and insights will help the company to grow and become even more successful in the future.

Here is what some of her colleagues had to say:

“I’ve worked with Kate for over ten years. She has been able to accomplish many projects while maintaining a healthy work/life balance; family is very important to her. Leading by example, she’s extremely organised and efficient. Working in the capital markets, where information is rampant and sentiment can change quickly, she is able to identify the key drivers and recommend a course of action,” says Bill Pang, Manager, Debt Capital Markets.

“Kate has led some of the most challenging and innovative initiatives in the treasury organisation, including the ground-breaking D&I bond funding platform and the build-out of the company’s lease securitisation capabilities. She is adept at building consensus and involving others in decision-making without compromising the integrity or speed of the projects she is leading. She excels as a mentor and coach for women across the company and, for everyone, men and women alike, who are fortunate to be her colleagues on Toyota’s treasury team,” says Adam Stam, National Manager, Secured Funding.

Whether it is overseeing the development of the automotive industry’s first asset-backed green bond or diversifying Toyota’s funding and bank relationship management, Kate has never lost sight of the fact that the long-term success of the organisation depends on growing the capabilities, diversity of thought and engagement levels of those around her. As such, our judges felt Kate was Treasury Today’s well-deserved Highly Commended Winner of Woman of the Year.