Mark Reich

Mark Reich brings 23 years of experience inside Toyota to his coaching work with executives and enterprise transformations. He joined Toyota in 1988 and spent his first six years in Japan in the Overseas Planning Division, where he was responsible for product planning and collaborated with Chief Engineers to define vehicle specifications for overseas markets — during the pivotal period when Toyota introduced Lexus to the world. 

Returning to the United States in 1994, Mark joined the Toyota Supplier Support Center (TSSC), the nonprofit Toyota established in North America to support the practical application of the Toyota Production System in manufacturing. During his TSSC tenure, he helped extend TPS beyond the factory into healthcare and nonprofit organizations — work that remains a core part of TSSC’s mission today. 

In 2001, Mark moved to Toyota’s North American Corporate Strategy group, where, as Assistant General Manager, he managed Toyota’s North American hoshin kanri (strategy deployment) process. This was a period of extraordinary growth — Toyota nearly doubled North American sales and production over the following decade — and hoshin kanri was critical to keeping the organization aligned. 

Mark joined the Lean Enterprise Institute in 2011 and has served in several leadership roles, including Chief Operating Officer; since 2018 he has been Senior Coach and Chief Engineer, Strategy. He has led lean transformations and coached senior executives in hoshin kanri across a wide range of industries. Based on this experience, Mark authored Managing on Purpose (Lean Enterprise Institute, 2025), a workbook that guides leaders in executing strategy through hoshin kanri — aligning the organization around what matters most while developing people’s capability to solve problems. 

Mark is an in-demand speaker who has presented internationally — in Brazil, Hungary, Turkey, the Netherlands, Poland, and many other countries — on lean thinking and lean management systems, including strategy execution and problem solving. 

Representative Clients 

Cleveland Clinic  •  Turner Construction •  GE Appliances  •  Michigan Medicine  •  Nucleus Software  •  Yamaha Motor Corporation  •  Jensen Infrastructure 

Areas of Expertise 

• Hoshin kanri / strategy development and execution 
• Executive coaching and lean leadership development 
• Enterprise lean transformation across manufacturing, healthcare, and services 
• Toyota Production System — 10 years at TSSC include 3 years as General Manager 

Education 

Bachelor’s degree, Ohio Wesleyan University; specialized Japanese studies, Nanzan University (Japan). Fluent in written and spoken Japanese.