Longtime Mattel Exec Is Named President
Mattel Inc. on Thursday promoted longtime company executive Ned Mansour to president. The position had been vacant since October 1997, when Jill E. Barad was promoted to chairman and chief executive.
Mansour, 50, had served as president of corporate operations since 1996, when he also joined Mattel’s board of directors. He joined Mattel in 1978 as a senior attorney and more recently served as president of Mattel USA, general counsel and senior vice president.
The promotion marks the latest in a flurry of activity at Mattel, which has been struggling to bolster revenue and profit.
In April, Mattel, which is headquartered in El Segundo, announced it would cut 3,000 jobs and close some plants. The company also said it would pump $50 million into a new e-commerce Internet venture.
In March, two high-level executives left Mattel during a reorganization. Mattel Worldwide President and Chief Operating Officer Bruce Stein, who had been viewed as a possible heir to Barad, resigned, and his job was eliminated. Gary Baughman, president of Mattel’s Fisher-Price line, also left.
Mansour is well-regarded on Wall Street, according to David Leibowitz, a managing director with New York-based Burnham Securities.
Although some industry observers had expected Mattel to bolster its management by looking outside the company, Leibowitz said that “it’s possible inside one organization to get many varied opinions, thought processes and slants on business matters.”
Mansour will be responsible for administrative functions, legal affairs, manufacturing and international operations. A Mattel spokesman said he was on vacation Thursday and not available for comment.
Mattel finished down 19 cents at $24.75 Thursday in New York Stock Exchange trading. The company’s shares hit a 52-week high of $44.50 last summer.
* Premier Laser Systems Inc., which has encountered a series of setbacks since receiving regulatory approval for a laser that allows dentists to repair teeth without a drill, will launch a search for a new chief executive and two other top officials. Founder Colette Cozean will retain the chairman and chief technology officer positions at the Irvine-based company. Premier is also hiring a head of marketing and sales and a director of research and development. Premier has been losing money since 1994, and in the last two years alone the company lost more than $67 million. Its stock fell 13 cents to close at $4.13 Thursday on Nasdaq.
