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We shoot for the stars and often times we capture them! Since the inception of the Toy of the Year (TOTY) awards in 2000 thru 2018, Spin Master teams brought in a staggering total of 28 trophies and 96 nominations! We are also tied with Mattel and Leapfrog for most wins of the big overall "Toy of the Year" award (3)! Notably, we have been nominated 13 times for Innovative Toy of the Year – more than any of our competitors – and in 2017 we won for the third time in four years, for Hatchimals. Being renowned as masters of innovation means we have a reputation to live up to. With the entire team’s daily joint effort, we’re knocking it out of the park year after year. Additionally we have won thousands of awards and other accolades from retailers, parenting organizations, magazines, and others. We are a Platinum winner of Canada’s Best Managed Companies, having earned that honour for over seven straight years.
Learn about our executive leadership team who lead us to be the best we can be.
We’re a flatter culture than most, so you can expect to interact with these folks fairly regularly.
To give you a deeper understanding of our company, we'll shine the spotlight on some of the key people that have brought us to this moment.
Co-Chief Executive Officer, Co-Founder & Chair
Still waters run deep. Ronnen is all about Spin Master's Vision. He keeps the company moving in the right direction.
Co-Chief Executive Officer, Co-Founder & Board Director
Anton has a passion for finding and developing our people. He brings an animated enthusiasm to his pursuit of business that fuels Spin Master's engine. In our first decade, Anton championed all Sales globally and helped to set up what is now a network of international offices.
Executive Vice-President, Chief Creative Officer, Co-Founder & Board Director
Ben V is our toy maker wunderkind who inexplicably intuits what every kid wants. Ben strives to ensure Spin Master toys remain coveted.
Global President, Chief Operating Officer & Board Director
Ben G is our newest leader, adding became the fourth wheel to our race car. He ensures everything is working smoothly, enabling Spin Master to speed into the future in prime condition.
Executive Vice-President Global Licensing & Business Affairs
Adam has grown up right alongside Spin Master, having worked here since 1997 when the company was only a couple of years old and he was fresh out of university. He has since developed the Licensing department from the ground up into a thriving arm of our business.
Executive Vice-President Operations & Chief Information Officer
Since joining our team in 2013 after almost two decades at Newell Rubbermaid, Bill has been strengthening the foundations of our many Operations and IT functions so we can continue to build Spin Master bigger and better.
Executive Vice-President Global Sales
Joining Spin Master in 2000, we have benefitted greatly from Chris’s Sales expertise as we have expanded to markets across the world under his watch.
Executive Vice-President & General Counsel
Chris has been our General Counsel since 2004, leading our Legal department, and is now also Corporate Secretary of our Board of Directors.
Chief Financial Officer
Mark served as our first CFO from 2001-2011, returning to the fold in 2015 to help take us public and beyond.
Chief Marketing Officer
Nancy is our CMO, responsible for brand building and all marketing activities, including product strategy, packaging, advertising, media, content development, research and communications.
From a single product and $10,000, Spin Master grew into a billion dollar children’s entertainment corporation with over 1,000 dedicated Team Members. However, to fully appreciate our journey, you need to understand both our tremendous record for success and our resilience in the face of downfalls.
Strategic risk-takers from the get go
1994-1996
Straight out of college, our 3 partners cut their business teeth on two successive novelty products: grass-head Earth Buddy & twirling Devil Sticks.
Identifying their individual strengths and acknowledging their weaknesses, the three clicked as partners because their capabilities complemented each other. Ronnen excelled at operations, Anton was passionate about people and sales, and Ben was a creative dynamo.
Together they decided to focus on the development of original toys… unbeknownst to them, the industry in Canada was shrinking at that time, to become more of a distribution outpost for American products.
The outliers settle in for the long haul
1996-2007
The fact that Anton, Ronnen, and Ben knew nothing about running a toy company didn’t stop them!
The three burgeoning entrepreneurs put ego aside and soaked up knowledge by asking questions of those who had come before them. They built and finessed robust relationships with every retailer, vendor, licensor, inventor, and other partners they encountered, inciting a desire in everyone to see plucky little Spin Master succeed.
After a risky and expensive two-year development process, Air Hogs Sky Shark was released and SOARED to become the #3 selling toy of the year. This launched the Air Hogs brand, one of our most popular product lines to this day.
During this decade we went on to grow our licensing partnerships from one-off successes like the McDonald’s McFlurry Maker and Hershey Kiss Maker to global master licenses for The Wiggles and Yo Gabba Gabba. We also developed a strategy for creating a frenzy among kids for collectibles such as Tech Deck, Flick Trix, and Mighty Beanz.
Surprising even themselves, the trio had turned out to be a great success! As Spin Master grew bigger and bigger, the partners recognized the need to invest in smart people in order for us to flourish. Our business began to attract diverse talent, growing to over 200 people and adding offices in China, France, Japan, United States, United Kingdom (and later Mexico, Germany, Slovakia, Netherlands, Italy, and Vietnam, but who’s counting?)
Catching a dragon by the tail
2008-2010
Even the most optimistic forecasters couldn’t have predicted the immense success of the juggernaut that was Bakugan! The #1 selling toy around the world, Bakugan generated many eager kids and emptied store shelves.
Bakugan was also a hugely successful television cartoon (co-created by us) and licensed property. The experience of Bakugan spawned our Entertainment division and further solidified our reputation as serious contenders across the entire spectrum of children’s entertainment.
Weathering the storm
2011-2013
The reality of this industry is that children’s tastes are fickle and difficult to predict. When Bakugan’s popularity inevitably waned, we weren’t able to immediately replace its massive success with equally sought-after products. These were challenging times for Spin Master and difficult decisions had to be made to turn the company around and ensure its survival.
To successfully move forward, Ben Gadbois was tapped as Global President for his business acumen. Working closely with the partners and our senior team, he introduced some much needed corporate structure and discipline to Spin Master while retaining our essential creative energy.
The sun rises again
2014-present
We tightened our belts and pulled up our boot straps! The Spin Master ship was turned around in record time, going public on the Toronto Stock Exchange on July 30, 2015. We acquired several companies and brands including Meccano, Cardinal Games, Editrice Giochi, Etch A Sketch, Toca Boca & Sago Mini, Swimways, and Marbles. Spin Master continued to attain new heights of success with our licensing partnerships, including new big winners such as Monsters U, Powerpuff Girls, and Star Wars.
We entered new segments including robotics and construction, and released further successful entertainment properties such as PAW Patrol, Little Charmers, and Rusty Rivets. Our business now has a broader foundation of success to further build upon and an exciting new global HQ in Toronto’s Entertainment district.
Spin Master is now a Global Top 10 Entity in the toy industry, celebrated for our integrity and ingenuity and our unmistakable entrepreneurial spirit which continues to sprout from those seeds of grass over two decades ago.
Want to hear the story told by the actual players?
Check out our 20th anniversary documentary “Spin Master: The Great Canadian Toy Story!” A fun and emotional rollercoaster of a tale, it will provide you with a great overview of how the company got to this point. We've also posted a few mini-docs to give you a better feel for what we're all about (just click the link and select Documentaries).
Click through to our online timeline, concisely summarizing the company’s history.
Our book “Spin Master: The First 20 Years” [2014] will fill in the blanks for you.
–BEN GADBOIS, GLOBAL PRESIDENT & COO, SPIN MASTER
