Mattel’s President Resigning to Take Same Post at Rival

Three months after being passed over for the top job at Mattel Inc., Thomas J. Kalinske resigned as president on Friday to become president of a competing toy company, Universal Matchbox Group.

John W. Amerman, Mattel chairman and chief executive, assumes the additional post of president.

Amerman, 55, was named chairman in February when Mattel broke up a three-man executive committee that had been running the company. As part of the reorganization, the other two committee members--Kalinske, 42, and executive vice president and chief financial officer Ray Ferris, 45--reported to Amerman.

Rick Anguilla, editor of Toy & Hobby World, said, “Kalinske was the rising star at Mattel about a year ago and was probably disappointed when Amerman was named chairman.” Amerman headed Mattel’s international division, which Anguilla said has “done exceptionally well in the last three years.”

Noting that Mattel has had a difficult year, Anguilla said Kalinske’s departure is “not a surprising move. . . . I guess he realized that if he was going to move up, there wasn’t a whole lot of move up at Mattel.”

Will Head Operations

He added that it was well-known within the industry that Universal Matchbox, the nation’s eighth-largest toy maker, was looking for a new leader for the past couple of months. The Hong Kong company is famous for its collectible little dye-cast metal cars and its Rubik’s Magic puzzle, which had strong sales last Christmas.

In addition to being president, Kalinske will be chief operating officer of Universal Matchbox, which has U.S. headquarters in Moonachie, N.J.

Neither Kalinske nor officials of Universal Matchbox could be reached Friday afternoon.

Kalinske joined Mattel in 1972 as a product manager, rose through the marketing ranks and became president of Mattel USA in 1985. Later that year, he was promoted to president of Hawthorne-based Mattel, named a company director and made a member of the office of chief executive. In 1986, the three-member executive committee was created.