Mattel Names Chief

Mattel Inc., Hawthorne, said it has named John W. Amerman to the posts of chairman and chief executive. Amerman, 55, had been president of Mattel’s highly successful international division.

The appointment of Amerman marks the dissolution of Mattel’s three-man executive committee, which was announced in October in preparation for the Dec. 31 retirement of Chairman Arthur S. Spear.

At the time, Mattel said its board was sticking with the “balanced management” concept of a multimember “office of the chief executive.” The chairman and chief executive positions were not filled when Speer retired.

In addition to Amerman, the executive committee was composed of Mattel Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Ray Ferris, 45, and Mattel President Thomas Kalinske, 42. Kalinske previously had been part of a two-member executive committee with Speer. Kalinske and Ferris will now report to Amerman, a Mattel spokesman said.

Amerman is being replaced as president of the international division by Lindsey Williams.

Williams, 50, was executive vice president of Mattel’s European, Middle Eastern and African operations.