Robert A. "Bob" Eckert (born 1954) is an American businessman, chairman and CEO of

Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company founded in January 1945 and headquartered in El Segundo, California. The company has presence in 35 countries and territories and sells products in more ...

from 2000 to 2011, CEO of

Kraft Foods The second incarnation of Kraft Foods is an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. in 2012 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz in 2015. A merger with Heinz, arra ...

from 1997 to 2000, and an operating partner with the

private equity firm A private equity firm is an investment management company that provides financial backing and makes investments in the private equity of startup or operating companies through a variety of loosely affiliated investment strategies including leve ...

Friedman Fleischer & Lowe FFL Partners, LLC, previously known as Friedman Fleischer & Lowe, is an American private equity firm, founded in 1997 by Tully Friedman, Spencer Fleischer, David Lowe, and Christopher Masto. The firm makes investments primarily through leveraged ...

Early life

Eckert received a bachelor's degree in business administration from the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

in 1976, and an MBA in marketing and finance from

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

in 1977.

Career

Eckert started a 23-year career with

in 1977, rising to president and chief executive officer (CEO) in October 1997. In 2000, Eckert joined

as chairman and CEO, and remained as CEO until December 2011. He retired at the end of 2011, and was succeeded by Bryan G. Stockton who had been chief operating officer and chairman until December 2012. In 2004, under Eckert's leadership, Mattel began a seven-year legal war against tiny, California-based

MGA Entertainment MGA Entertainment Inc. (short for Micro-Games America Entertainment; sometimes referred to as MGA) is a manufacturer of children's toys and entertainment products founded in 1979. Its products include, Bratz, L.O.L. Surprise!, Num Noms and Rainbow ...

. In a surprise defeat, a jury decided that MGA Entertainment was the rightful owner of the once-billion dollar line of

Bratz Bratz is an American fashion doll and media franchise created by former Mattel employee Carter Bryant for MGA Entertainment which debuted in 2001. The four original 10-inch (25 cm) dolls were released on May 21, 2001 — Yasmin, Cloe, Jade ...

dolls. A

BMO Capital Markets BMO Capital Markets is the investment banking subsidiary of Canadian Bank of Montreal. The company offers corporate, institutional and government clients access to a range of financial services. These include equity and debt underwriting, c ...

analyst said the failure to settle will go down as a “tremendously bad decision” by Mattel management. “It means they wasted $400 million or so of shareholder money to get zero return,” he said. In 2014, Eckert joined the

private equity In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a ty ...

firm

as an operating partner. He is a non-executive director of

Levi Strauss Levi Strauss (; born Löb Strauß ; February 26, 1829 – September 26, 1902) was a German-born American businessman who founded the first company to manufacture blue jeans. His firm of Levi Strauss & Co. (Levi's) began in 1853 in San Francisco ...

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...

since 2003, and

Amgen Amgen Inc. (formerly Applied Molecular Genetics Inc.) is an American multinational biopharmaceutical Corporation, company headquartered in Thousand Oaks, California. One of the world's largest independent biotechnology companies, Amgen was esta ...

since 2012.

Personal life

Eckert was married to Kathie, and they had four children. In June 2017, Eckert and his wife sold their Park Tower condominium for a little over $2.92 million. On June 1, 2019, Eckert married Lisa Marie Bongiovanni, a former Mattel communications executive.

References

1954 births 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesspeople American chief executives Kraft Foods people Living people Mattel people Northwestern University alumni University of Arizona alumni {{US-business-bio-1950s-stub