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News Details

Sands Leadership Lecture Series Featuring Mattel Chairman and C.E.O. Robert A. Eckert

Author:Charla Kucko

Release Date: Mar 30, 2009

EVENT:Sands Leadership Lecture Series Featuring Mattel Chairman and C.E.O. Robert A. Eckert

TIME, DATE, AND PLACE:12:40 p.m.─1:20 p.m.; Wednesday, April 1, 2009, Simon Graduate School of Business, University of Rochester River Campus, Schlegel Hall, Room 207

Rochester, N.Y.—March 30, 2009—Robert A. Eckert, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Mattel, Inc., will deliver the third Sands Leadership Lecture at the Simon Graduate School of Business, University of Rochester, on April 1, 2009. Mattel is the worldwide leader in the design, manufacture and marketing of toys with approximately $6 billion in annual sales.

Eckert joined Mattel in May 2000 from Kraft Foods Inc., the largest U.S.-based packaged food company in the world. A 23-year veteran of Kraft, he most recently served as its president and chief executive officer, a position he had held since October 1997. In that role, he was responsible for overseeing all of Kraft’s business units and for leading the company’s policy decision-making board, the Operating Committee. Eckert previously served as group vice president of Kraft Foods Inc. and was responsible for the company’s Oscar Mayer Foods and North American Foodservice Division, along with oversight of operations, sales and customer service, technology, marketing services, and business development. Eckert also held the position of president of Oscar Mayer Foods and significantly accelerated its performance with steady improvements in market share. He also managed the introduction of new varieties of Oscar Mayer LunchablesLunch Combinations, which consistently delivered double-digit volume growth.

The Sands Leadership Lecture Series is made possible through the generosity of Richard Sands, chairman of Constellation Brands, the world’s largest wine producer. The intent of the Sands Leadership Lecture Series is to advance the science and teaching of leadership at the Simon School. By stimulating thought, the goal is to build on the Simon School’s reputation as a business school that teaches people how to think about real-world problems in creative, penetrating and impactful ways.

The event is free and open to the public. Registration is requested by e-mail at Nathan.kadar@simon.rochester.edu or by phone at (585) 275-8163.

09-07

The Simon School prides itself as the place Where Thinkers Become Leaders™ and is currently ranked among the leading graduate business schools in the world in rankings published by the popular press, including BusinessWeek, U.S. News & World Report, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times and Forbes. For example, the Financial Times recently rated the School 2nd in the world for finance and 5th in the world for managerial economics. More information about the Simon School is available on the World Wide Web at www.simon.rochester.edu.