Margo Georgiadis to Become Mattel’s New CEO

EL SEGUNDO: Margaret “Margo” H. Georgiadis has been appointed as the new CEO of Mattel, effective February 8.

Georgiadis will succeed Christopher A. Sinclair, who has been Mattel’s chairman and CEO since early 2015 and will now serve as executive chairman of the board. Georgiadis is also joining the company’s board of directors. She most recently held the title of president for the Americas at Google.

Earlier in her career, Georgiadis was COO of Groupon, and executive VP of card products and chief marketing officer at Discover Financial Services.

Sinclair commented: “Over the last two years, with the help of all of our colleagues around the world, we have dramatically transformed Mattel—reenergizing our creative culture, restoring excitement to our iconic brand portfolio and delivering on our vision to make Mattel the recognized leader in play, learning and development worldwide. I could not be more proud of the organization and what it has accomplished, or more excited about the company’s future with Margo Georgiadis as our CEO. Margo is a proven and extraordinarily talented executive with a deep understanding of how to build and scale brands on a global basis, and expertise in effectively engaging consumers and retail partners in a rapidly evolving digital world. She has successfully led efforts to deliver above market growth and profitability by creating transformational partnerships across content, media and technology providers and through innovation in product development and customer engagement.”

Sinclair continued: “As executive chairman, I will work with Margo, [President and COO] Richard Dickson and the rest of the executive team on the smoothest possible transition.”

Michael J. Dolan, Mattel’s independent lead director, noted: “Mattel has seen a tremendous turnaround under Chris’s leadership and the company is well-positioned for the future. On behalf of the board, I want to thank Chris, his management team and all Mattel employees for their efforts. We are delighted that Margo has agreed to lead the team as CEO. Her leadership experience at Google and elsewhere, coupled with her proven ability to foster innovation and build partnerships on a global scale, makes her ideally suited to accelerate Mattel’s growth in the coming years.”

Georgiadis added: “Inspiring children through play and creativity is crucial to early development and no company has done more in that space over many generations than Mattel. As a parent, I have seen this firsthand and am honored to be joining the company at this exciting time of renewed focus. I look forward to working with the incredibly talented people at Mattel as we build on recent momentum, leverage the unique creativity and passion that exists within Mattel to inspire future generations of children, and deliver on our promises to shareholders.”