Corporate

Executive Management

Anton Rabie

Anton Rabie, Chairman, Co-Founder and Co-Chief Executive Officer

Anton Rabie, is the Co-Founder and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Spin Master and a member of the company’s board of directors. After graduating with an Honours in Business Administration from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario, Anton partnered with friends Ronnen and Ben to create Spin Master, now a global leader in children’s toy and entertainment. Spin Master is renowned for its innovation and pushing the boundaries of play, a philosophy shared and fostered actively by Anton.

Anton’s fearless entrepreneurial mindset was instrumental in the early years of Spin Master, helping to create a culture of risk-taking and acceptance of failure. During the first decade with the company, Anton led many functions including sales, marketing and human resources, where he attracted and developed talent, and created and managed relationships with domestic and international retailers. In recent years, Anton has spearheaded the company’s global expansion with the establishment of international offices in more than 20 countries. He plays a foundational role in Spin Master acquisitions, with close to 20 completed to date, including Tech Deck, Cardinal, Meccano and most recently GUND. Anton is also focused on business development and building international subsidiaries for worldwide marketing and distribution. His passion and leadership of the games category has helped to establish and expand the company’s position within this area.

Described as an “energy force” by his colleagues, Anton is passionate about people, promoting the company’s culture and inspiring employees. He embodies Spin Master’s values and is relentlessly committed to finding, developing and acquiring world-class talent. His current focus is Project Inspire, aimed at creating a best-in-class workplace that empowers employees to achieve their best, while also attracting top talent to build a foundation for Spin Master’s long-term success.

Over the course of his career, Anton has received numerous accolades, including being recognized by the Globe and Mail’s Report on Business magazine as a Top 40 Under 40. He generously shares his knowledge and time by engaging in a wide range of community organizations and charitable causes. Outside of work, Anton is extremely passionate about spending time with his family and living a healthy lifestyle. His love of tennis, instilled in him as a child, has incited an interest to study the science of human psychology. He is obsessed with continuous learning and keeping an open mind set. Anton has combined insights from his business, sports and psychology to create a new video series, Mindstones™, to help coach and inspire others.


Ronnen Harary

Ronnen Harary, Director, Co-Founder and Co-Chief Executive Officer

Ronnen Harary is the Co-Founder and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Spin Master and a member of the company’s board of directors. Since the inception of the company in 1994, together with his two business partners, Ronnen has led and helped to establish Spin Master as a global leader in the toy, media and entertainment space.

Ronnen’s expertise and passion for children’s entertainment have led to the creation of award-winning programming and franchises including PAW Patrol, Bakugan, Rusty Rivets and Little Charmers, which have touched the lives of children in more than 160 countries. These wildly-popular series transcend cultural boundaries with universal characters and storylines that have travelled the globe, capturing the imagination and play of millions of kids around the world.

As the leader of Spin Master’s entertainment division, Ronnen plays an integral role in developing new entertainment properties, forging industry partnerships and building relationships with domestic and international broadcasters to bring the magic of Spin Master to kids through a variety of media channels. His latest venture is the company’s first foray into feature film.

In addition to overseeing the company’s entertainment division, licensing and digital studios, Ronnen is focused on unlocking ideas and fostering innovation throughout the organization, empowering employees to reach their full potential. He pushes boundaries and challenges teams to innovate and garners executive alignment to move the business forward. His commitment to developing people extends beyond Spin Master. Building on his own legacy of innovation and entrepreneurship, Ronnen lends his time and support to organizations like Futurepreneur, a national non-profit organization that provides financing, mentoring and support tools to aspiring business owners.

Ronnen has a strong sense of social responsibility and is passionate about giving back to enrich the lives of children. In 2013, he founded the Toy Movement, a global initiative that provides toys to children in need, giving them the opportunity to experience the joy of play. Since its inception, Spin Master has led missions to over 10 countries, including Iraq, Israel, Mexico and South Africa, delivering more than 350,000 toys to disadvantaged or displaced children.

Ronnen is a graduate of the University of Western Ontario, with a BA in Political Science.


Ben Varadi

Ben Varadi, Director, Executive Vice President and Chief Creative Officer

Ben Varadi is a co-founder of Spin Master and is currently Executive Vice President, Chief Creative Officer and a member of the company’s board of directors. He, along with his co-founders, was a recipient of Canada’s Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year in 1999 in the Emerging Entrepreneur Category and has been featured as a Top 40 under 40 executive for his achievements in Canada and the global marketplace. He plays an active role in product design and development and his creative approach remains influential to Spin Master’s product selection.

Ben earned an Honours Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the Richard Ivey School of Business at The University of Western Ontario in 1994.


Mark L. Segal

Mark L. Segal, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Mark Segal was Spin Master’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) from 2001 to 2011 and rejoined the Company as Executive Vice President and CFO in 2015. He has over 28 years of experience in financial management in both public and private companies, where he held a number of management level and board of director positions. Prior to re-joining Spin Master, from 2013 to 2015, Mark was Vice President Finance and Chief Financial Officer at Husky Injection Molding Systems, a supplier of injection molding equipment and services to the plastics industry. From 2011 to 2013, he was Chief Operating Officer at Canada Goose Inc., a producer of extreme weather outerwear.

Mark graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa with a Bachelor of Commerce degree, Bachelor of Accountancy degree and a Master in Business Administration degree (cum laude).


Chris Beardall

Chris Beardall, Executive Vice President of Global Sales

Chris Beardall was appointed Executive Vice President of Global Sales of Spin Master in 2009. Chris started his career at Spin Master as Vice President of Product Development in 2000 and was promoted to Senior Vice President Sales, North America in 2005.

Prior to joining Spin Master, he spent 17 years in several management positions in operations and buying for discount retailers such as Woolco Department Stores and Wal-Mart. Chris graduated from Wilfrid Laurier University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics in 1983.


Christopher Harrs

Christopher Harrs, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Corporate Secretary

Chris Harrs was appointed General Counsel of Spin Master in 2004. In addition to leading the legal department, he serves as the Corporate Secretary for the board of directors. With over 20 years of senior-level legal experience, Chris has held both legal and business roles within the entertainment and technology industries. He started his legal career in 1990 as a corporate law associate at the national law firm of McCarthy Tetrault LLP. Thereafter, he served as Vice President Business and Legal Affairs at Universal Studios Canada Ltd., a company which creates and distributes film entertainment, and as Vice-President Strategic Development and General Counsel at Webhelp Inc., a CRM technology company.

Chris graduated from The University of Western Ontario with an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree and LLB and is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada.


Tara Deakin

Tara Deakin, Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer

Tara Deakin was appointed as Spin Master’s Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer in January 2020. She first joined Spin Master in June 2019 as the Senior Vice President of Talent Development. In her current role, Tara oversees all global human resources functions including talent development, total rewards, human capital planning as well as the company’s corporate philanthropic strategy. Tara has a diverse background and deep understanding of organizational development and learning and is passionate about cultivating exceptional talent and work environments.

Prior to Spin Master, Tara was the Chief Talent Officer at TD Bank, where her mission was to grow the power of TD’s 95,000 employees and attract new colleagues, to ensure the bank’s future growth and ongoing delivery of legendary customer experiences. In addition to her bank responsibilities, Tara also served as Board Chair for the Association of Talent Development. From 2011-2015, Tara served as the Chief Learning Officer for the Consumer Bank at Citi Group, where she was accountable for employee onboarding and development. Prior to joining Citi Group, Tara worked at Rogers Communications, leading development of the organization’s learning and organizational effectiveness capability.

Tara is also an active member in the community, serving as Vice Chair, Providence Healthcare Foundation (Unity Health Network).

A graduate from the University of Western Ontario, Tara has completed post graduate work at Central Michigan University in Adult Education and Organizational Development.


Laura Henderson

Laura Henderson, Executive Vice President, Marketing and Ecommerce

Laura Henderson was appointed as Executive Vice President, Marketing and Ecommerce in May 2019. Laura is a modern marketer with a wide scope of experience building large-scale global packaged goods brands and fast-growing digital lifestyle brands.  Her experience extends from brand management, to creative planning and media, to content and media monetization, and most recently leading marketing within a digital media company.  Throughout her career, she’s been focused on using technology and innovation to better understand people and build brands that connect with them.

Prior to joining Spin Master, Laura was Head of Marketing at BuzzFeed, where she led brand marketing, business marketing, brand experience, design and brand planning. During her time at Buzzfeed, she elevated brands like Tasty, Nifty and Goodful and created an internal agency model of advertising-focused strategic planners and creative directors. Laura also worked at Mondelez International for close to a decade, both in Canada and the US in a variety of local, regional and global roles. During her time with Mondelez, Laura pioneered a new media monetization model, generating revenue for branded content.

Laura is a graduate of Queen’s University where she earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree and she is a recipient of a number of awards, including Business Insider World’s Most Innovative CMO’s in 2017 and Advertising Women of New York Changing the Game Award in 2015.


Jennifer Dodge

Jennifer Dodge, Executive Vice President, Spin Master Entertainment

As Executive Vice President of Spin Master Entertainment, Jennifer Dodge leads the company’s entertainment group in developing evergreen global entertainment properties and overseeing the current production slate, including, PAW Patrol, while focusing on creative strategies that position Spin Master for additional growth and success within the entertainment business.

Previously, Jennifer held the position of Senior Vice President, Development for Nickelodeon Preschool, where she spearheaded the development of all original content for programming and the development of in-house talent, in tandem with discovering and nurturing new artists and writers. Prior to joining Nickelodeon, Jennifer served as Vice President and Executive Producer for Spin Master Entertainment from 2009 to 2015. During that time, she oversaw more than 200 episodes of animation including PAW Patrol and Little Charmers. Before joining Spin Master, she served as Vice President Distribution and Sales Operations for Cookie Jar Entertainment (now part of DHX Media) and Director, Production and Development for Decode Entertainment (DHX Media).

Jennifer graduated from Memorial University of Newfoundland, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Linguistics and Psychology.


Adam Beder

Adam Beder, Executive Vice President Strategic Partnership and Franchise Development

Adam Beder was appointed Executive Vice President Strategic Partnership and Franchise Development of Spin Master in Oct 2018. He has been instrumental in bringing Spin Master to the forefront of the licensing industry with an innovative approach to partnerships, growing the overall business through a multi-pronged licensing strategy. During his tenure with Spin Master, he has established and developed numerous transformational partnerships for entertainment, including Bakugan with Cartoon Network, PAW Patrol with Nickelodeon and licensing, including Monster Jam with FELD and most recently DC with Warner Bros.

Currently, Adam is focusing much of his energy on building Spin Master’s wholly owned IP into global franchises through innovative rights management in various key markets for the company. Prior to his present position, Adam held a number of senior management roles in his 20-plus-year career at Spin Master, helping catapult the company from its start-up beginnings to the global leader it is today.

Adam completed a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of British Columbia in 1996 and a doctorate in hard-knocks from ’Corporate America’ over the past two decades.


Paul Blom

Paul Blom, Executive Vice President Global Operations and Technology

Paul Blom was appointed as Spin Master’s Executive Vice President, Global Operations and Technology in February 2020. In his current role, Paul leads Spin Master’s operations, supply chain, procurement and IT teams throughout Asia, Canada, the United States, Europe and Mexico. Paul is an agile and collaborative leader who brings strong operational expertise to Spin Master. He is committed to building world-class supply chains to deliver innovative solutions with speed and flexibility.

Prior to Spin Master, Paul held senior roles in global supply chain and operations over the past thirty years for a number of companies including Celestica, SMTC Corporation, CFM Corporation and IBM.

A graduate from the University of Toronto in Mechanical Engineering, Paul also holds a Masters’ of Business Administration from the Rotman School of Business at the University of Toronto.


Paul Blom

Fredrik Loving, Executive Vice President, Digital Studios

Fredrik Loving joined Spin Master in May 2020 as the Executive Vice President of Digital Studios leading the company’s expanding digital toys and gaming offerings. Fredrik is responsible for evolving Spin Master’s digital strategy and overseeing the global digital studio footprint in Los Angeles, Toronto, Stockholm and San Francisco.

A gaming industry veteran, Fredrik has worked in interactive entertainment for 15 years, leading, building and growing both game development studios and blockbuster games, including the critically acclaimed Battlefield franchise. Most recently, he has focused his efforts on establishing and assisting entertainment companies leading a new wave of fresh, interactive storytelling for games, film, television and beyond.

A graduate from Griffith University in Information Technology, Fredrik also holds a Master’s Degree in E-Commerce and Project Management from Griffith University.


Ben Dermer

Ben Dermer, Senior Vice President, Creative Development

Benjamin Dermer is the Senior Vice President of Creative Development and serves as Spin Master’s Deputy Creative Officer. An 18-year veteran of the company, Ben oversees the areas of innovation, new product development, and inventor relations, managing the sourcing, acquisition and development of new toy ideas. He has a special connection to product, having had over 100,000 toy inventions presented to him in his career, and works very closely with the internal innovation teams and outside partners to select and direct some of the company’s most technically ambitious development projects, such as Luvabella, Bakugan, Hatchimals and Zoomer.

Together with Ben Varadi, he helps guide the company’s creative vision in the areas of product selection, brand direction, positioning, play pattern, and advanced technical product development, across all brands.

Ben holds a BFA from York University’s Faculty of Fine Arts, Winters College.

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