O'Toole leads the legal function at the newly established company in Canada
When global company Daimler announced last year that it would separate its truck and car businesses into two separate public companies, John O’Toole jumped at the chance to run the legal function for the newly formed Daimler Truck Financial Services Canada Corporation. Having spent five years in the legal department at Mercedes-Benz Financial Services Canada Corporation, the move was an easy transition for O’Toole when DTFS started business in seven countries – including Canada – on December 1, 2021.
As general counsel – and the sole lawyer at the newly established financial services company – O’Toole’s responsibilities include everything from licensing and regulatory matters to compliance, employment law and privacy. He is also a member of the executive team which is currently focused on improving the culture at the new organization.
The loudest message coming from the local executive team – and on a global scale – is ensuring that DTFS is a great place to work, and that employees feel valued, O’Toole says.
“The culture at MBSF was great, but as a smaller group now with our own teams and our own budgets, we really have an opportunity to solidify the culture,” says O’Toole. “We’ve got a lot more foundation than your typical start-up, but there is some uncertainty for the employees, so we really want to make sure that we’re focusing on the culture and making sure it doesn’t get lost in all the other things we have to do.”
The focus on culture at DTFS includes the launch of a new office space in Mississauga, Ont. which was designed by a group of employees and soft launched in December, although most employees are currently working from home due to the ongoing pandemic. Together with the rest of the leadership team, O’Toole is currently examining ways to make the working week more flexible for all employees in terms of scheduling and a balance of office and remote work.
“We’re working with our employees to make them as comfortable as possible and it’s paying dividends. I’ve heard from them already that it’s bringing back the passion that they’ve had in the past, and that shows in the results that we’re getting,” he says. O’Toole hopes the culture will become a longstanding part of the new company’s identity, which will help them to attract and retain top talent.
O’Toole started his career in private practice but a secondment at a local company led to his interest in moving to an in-house role, so he made the leap to MBFS in 2016.
“Working with a whole host of clients wasn’t quite as fulfilling as having one client and getting to understand what they need and being able to contribute to that,” he says.
Establishing a new legal department at DTFS is a “lift and shift” approach for O’Toole because he comes from a well-established legal team at MBFS. The challenges lie in determining which systems to keep and which to let go, in order to ensure that the most efficient systems are in place for the new business which offers leasing, financing and insurance products to truck and bus customers.
O’Toole is also preparing for legal matters surrounding technology issues this year, as DTFS strives to keep up with competitors in terms of ensuring that the experience customers are having with their physical products matches the financial services solutions they receive.
“There are a lot of ideas about the customer journey and how they interact with us – like self-service tools and things like that – that we really want to explore and get to market,” says O’Toole. “Some of those are similar to stuff we were doing at Mercedes, and some of them are very different. New ideas are coming across our desks on a daily basis so I need to make sure that I’m ahead of the curve in understanding what’s coming and what the legal implications are.”
