EXEC RETURNS TO LAMBERTS POINT TO REFLECT ON RISE AT TOYOTA

Wil James grew up on the smallest street in Norfolk's Lamberts Point - Campbell Avenue. It ran one block long, between West 26th and 27th streets, and "there were two houses - our house and the neighbors' next door."

Forty years later, his domain has grown considerably. Wilbert James Jr., 55, is president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing in Georgetown, Ky., the car company's largest plant in North America, the second largest plant in the world

His success, he said in his old neighborhood Friday, was partly built on decisions he made on that tiny street.

"Sometimes the boys were going to hang out and do this," James told nearly 50 people at Lamberts Point Community Center. "I really wanted to do that, but I knew I always needed to finish this lesson or that job, and I chose to focus on the one to bring value to my life."

James was the first in a series of speakers that Old Dominion University plans to bring to the neighborhood south of the campus to inspire residents. James graduated from ODU in 1978 with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering technology and received a Distinguished Alumni Award from the school's alumni association on Friday night.

James is the son of a licensed practical nurse and a truck driver who became the owner of a charter bus company. He has three sisters, including Cynthia Watson, the former principal of Booker T. Washington High School.

He served in leadership positions at other Toyota plants and returned last year to become the president of the Kentucky plant. It employs 7,300, he said, and manufactures 500,000 vehicles annually. It makes the Avalons, Camrys, Camry hybrids and Venzas sold in North America, he said.

He encouraged the younger members of his audience to attend college and dream big.

"We can do anything that we set our minds to. We really can."