Bill Taylor

William "Bill" Taylor (born c. 1950) is the executive director of the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama and the former CEO of Mercedes-Benz US International in Tuscaloosa County.

Before joining Mercedes-Benz, Taylor was an executive for the Ford Motor Company (1969 - 1987) and vice president of manufacturing for Toyota Motors of Canada (1987 - 1993)

Taylor led development of the production system at Mercedes' Tuscaloosa plant and was vice-president for operations when he was named CEO to succeed Andreas Renschler, who was promoted to head of global executive management development for DaimlerChrysler in 1999. As president and CEO, Taylor oversaw a $600 million plant expansion and the introduction of a redesigned M-class, an R-class, and a GL-class luxury SUV to the factory's production lines. As CEO he was also active in the West Alabama Rural Action Commission.

Taylor retired from Mercedes effective June 1, 2009 and accepted the invitation of Alabama Power CEO Charles McCrary to succeed the late Jim Hayes as director of the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama. Ola Kaellenius was named to take over the Mercedes plant.

As head of EDPA, Taylor hopes to continue efforts to recruit new businesses, but also to focus on sustaining existing businesses through its competencies in research, planning, networking and technology and workforce development. He hopes that the major companies that are partners in the organization will contribute their skills, rather than just their monetary dues, to the partnership.

References

• Tomberlin, Michael (April 5, 2009) "Bill Taylor has big plans for the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama." The Birmingham News