Meet the Senior Team

Carter Keithley, President
Elizabeth Borrelli, Vice President, Corporate Social Responsibility and Issues Management
Marian Bossard, Vice President, Meetings & Events
Harris Brandt, Director of Branding and Communications
Jean Butler, Vice President, Membership / Executive Director, Toy Industry Foundation
Kimberly Carcone, Director of Trade Show & Event Marketing
Ed Desmond, Executive Vice President, External Affairs
Andy Hackman, Senior Director, State Government Affairs
Joan Lawrence, Vice President, Standards and Regulatory Affairs
Stacy Leistner, Vice President, Strategic Communications
Peter Sandel, Director, Government Affairs
Paul Vitale, Vice President, Finance & Administration
Jackson Wong, Director, Exhibit Accounts and Show Services
Joan Wyche, Director, Buyer Relations

Meet Carter Keithley
President
ckeithley@toyassociation.org
646-520-4841

Carter Keithley was appointed President of the Toy Industry Association effective May 1, 2006.

Mr. Keithley was President & CEO of the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association in Arlington, VA, for ten years. He has thirty years of experience in association management, beginning with a career at Smith, Bucklin & Associates, a trade association management firm in Washington, DC.

Mr. Keithley is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School and practiced law from 1971 to 1975. He has since served as chief executive for a number of industry associations and professional societies.

Mr. Keithley has been a volunteer director and chairman of several industry organizations, including the Associations Council of the National Association of Manufacturers and the National Council of the Housing Industry. Additionally, he was an appointee to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Air Act Advisory Committee (CAAAC). From 1996 – 2002, he was a trustee and Chairman of the Board of St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Potomac, MD.

Meet Elizabeth M. Borrelli
Vice President, Corporate Social Responsibility and Issues Management
eborrelli@toyassociation.org
646-454-5588

Elizabeth Borrelli is TIA’s Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility and Issues Management. In this role, she facilitates the work of the Association’s Environmental Sustainability, Responsible Marketing to Children, and International Trade Committees and provides leadership, strategy, and counsel to TIA staff and members on these and other issues including toy safety compliance practices and factory labor practices.  She returned to TIA in 2008 to serve as Executive Director of TIA's Toy Safety Certification Program. 

In the ten years between her positions with TIA, she led a team focused on issues, crisis and reputation management at Washington Mutual and led Corporate Social Responsibility and Public Affairs at Eddie Bauer. While at Eddie Bauer she developed and led the retailer’s comprehensive global factory labor compliance program and served on the Board of the Fair Labor Association. During her first tenure with TIA, Ms. Borrelli served as Director of Standards and Regulatory Affairs and Secretary of the International Council of Toy Industries from 1992 to 1998.

Meet Marian Bossard
Vice President, Meetings & Events
mbossard@toyassociation.org
646-520-4853

Marian Bossard joined the Toy Industry Association in August 1999 as Toy Fair Operations Manager and was appointed Vice President, Meetings & Events in July 2006.

Ms. Bossard is a 1977 graduate of Rutgers University. She joined Delta Air Lines in 1978 and remained there 16 years in Sales and Customer Service. After leaving Delta in 1994, she joined an exhibit design firm and then Miller Freeman/United Media as Trade Show Operations Manager in their General Merchandise division.

Ms. Bossard also serves on the volunteer advisory board for the 2011 World Police and Fire Games to be held in NYC, an Olympic style event with 15-20,000 firefighters and law enforcement personnel from 70 different countries competing in 65 sporting events.

Meet Harris Brandt
Director of Branding and Communications
hbrandt@toyassociation.org
646-520-4868

Harris Brandt joined the Toy Industry Association in July 2007 as Director of Branding and Communications.

Mr. Brandt has over 30 years of creative marketing experience as a results-driven copywriter, creative director, and strategic problem solver. Prior to joining TIA, he served in senior creative leadership positions at great companies and agencies such as Empire BlueCross BlueShield, Cablevision, Publishers Clearing House, and Young and Rubicam, among others. He also ran his own successful direct marketing agency for five years, working with such blue-chip clients as American Express, AT&T, Citibank, Time-Life and others.

Mr. Brandt is a proud graduate of Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, and holds a Master of Science degree in Communications from Florida State University.

Meet Jean Butler
Vice President, Membership
Executive Director, Toy Industry Foundation
jbutler@toyassociation.org
646-520-4865

Jean Butler joined the Toy Industry Association in December 2003. She currently holds dual executive positions as Vice President, Membership for the Toy Industry Association and Executive Director of the Toy Industry Foundation.

Under her leadership, TIA membership has increased by more than 51% and all TIA members have committed to ICTI CARE, the toy industry’s ethical manufacturing program. The Toy Industry Foundation has launched several national programs including Play Helps, to aid the children of New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Play Heals, a national partnership with Ronald McDonald House Charities, Play Comforts,a national program with Boys and Girls Clubs of America Military Services, and a signature national partnership with the My Stuff Bags Foundation to benefit abused and abandoned children.

Prior to joining the Toy Industry Association, Ms. Butler held several management positions within Time Warner Inc., including Director of Sales and Business Development for Time Life Inc. and Director of Partnership Marketing for Time Inc. Consumer Marketing. She was presented with the Award of Excellence for Outstanding Financial Contribution by Time Warner’s Executive Management.

Ms. Butler holds a BA in Economics from the College of the Holy Cross and a MBA in Marketing from the Fordham University Graduate School of Business.

Meet Kimberly Carcone
Director of Trade Show and Event Marketing
kcarcone@toyassociation.org
646-520-4869

Kimberly Carcone joined the Toy Industry Association in September 2007 as Director of Trade Show and Event Marketing.

With over twenty years of experience in non-profit and corporate event management, marketing and publishing, in both New York City and Washington, DC, Ms. Carcone has had a varied and successful career in numerous industries such as performing arts and cultural affairs, interior design and architecture, hospitality, travel, pharmaceuticals, and most recently the legal arena. Prior to coming to TIA, Ms. Carcone served in various leadership positions at ALM Events (a division of American Lawyer Media), E.W. Williams Publications, Miller Freeman, Inc., VNU Business Media, The American Society of Interior Designers and the Council on the Arts for the City of Long Beach.

Ms. Carcone studied Association Management at the George Washington University, and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the State University of New York College at Buffalo.

Meet Ed Desmond
Executive Vice President, External Affairs
edesmond@toyassociation.org
202-857-9608

Ed Desmond joined the Toy Industry Association in October 2008 from the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), where he was Senior Vice President, Government Affairs.

Headquartered in Washington, DC, Mr. Desmond's primary responsibility is to be the consistent voice and representative of the toy industry in the legislative and regulatory arenas. He organizes and oversees the TIA’s ongoing efforts to address legislative challenges at the state level, utilizing the resources of TIA’s seasoned Government Affairs staff as well as outside counsel.

A graduate of California Western School of Law in San Diego, Desmond began his career as legislative counsel for Rep. Henry Hyde, the former Republican Congressman representing the northern suburbs of Chicago. He subsequently served as Director, Government Affairs for several large corporations, including Ciba-Geigy and Hoffman-La Roche, before assuming his position at ESA in 2000.

Meet Andy Hackman
Senior Director, State Government Affairs
ahackman@toyassociation.org
646-520-4851

Andrew R. (Andy) Hackman joined TIA in August 2009 as Senior Director of State Government Affairs.  In this role, he will assist in managing TIA’s legislative and regulatory outreach in states around the country and will assist in coordinating grassroots and coalition activities at the state level.

From 2002 until 2009, Mr. Hackman served as Manager of State Affairs Programs and Director of State Affairs for the Consumer Specialty Products Association (CSPA) where he lobbied and provided testimony in over 25-state capitols on issues such as consumer protection, environmentally preferable procurement, ingredient safety, children’s health, and more.  Before joining CPSA, Mr. Hackman worked in congressional and provincial relations for the Canadian Embassy in Washington, DC.

Mr. Hackman received a Bachelors of Science in Public Affairs from Indiana University’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs in Bloomington, Indiana and a Masters of Business Administration from George Washington University, in Washington D.C.   

Meet Joan Lawrence
Vice President, Standards and Regulatory Affairs
jlawrence@toyassociation.org
646-520-4844

Joan Lawrence joined the Toy Industry Association in 1992 and became Director of Standards and Regulatory Affairs in 1998. She was promoted to Vice President in 2001.

In her current role, Ms. Lawrence manages the Association’s product safety and government affairs department. In this capacity, she manages TIA’s Toy Safety Assurance Program, including its educational seminars on toy safety, consumer information, standards development efforts, and industry advisory service.

Ms. Lawrence serves as Chairman of the ASTM Subcommittee on Toy Safety, which oversees the development of toy safety standard ASTM F963, and is past-President and Board Member of the International Consumer Product Health and Safety Organization (ICPHSO) and a member of the Consumer Interest Council of the American National Standards Institute. She also serves as Executive Administrator of the International Council of Toy Industries, Inc., an association of 21 national toy associations from around the world.

Ms. Lawrence lectures on toy safety to students in the undergraduate level Toy Design Program at Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, and has authored several articles on toy safety and standards.

Meet Stacy Leistner
Vice President, Strategic Communications
sleistner@toyassociation.org
646-520-4858

Stacy Leistner joined the Toy Industry Association in January 2009 as Vice President, Strategic Communications.

A 19-year veteran of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), Mr. Leistner has an extensive background in strategic and crisis communications, media relations and association management. During his tenure at ANSI, Mr. Leistner addressed a broad range of national and global priorities, including homeland security, nanotechnology, healthcare information technology, identity theft protection and identity management, alternative energies, and food safety. He also helped to build an awareness of standards, certification and accreditation by consumers, and leaders of industry and government.

Mr. Leistner became involved in the work of the toy industry during the summer of 2008 when TIA engaged ANSI to assist in the development of the Toy Safety Certification Program^SM.

Mr. Leistner holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Evansville in Indiana.

Meet Peter Sandel
Director, Government Affairs
psandel@toyassociation.org
646-454-5580

Peter B. Sandel joined TIA in August 2007.  As Director of Government Affairs he assists in managing TIA’s legislative and advocacy efforts with the Administration, U.S. Congress and federal agencies.  He also manages TIA’s grassroots and coalition efforts around the country. 

With nearly 10 years of political experience, Sandel joined TIA from The Financial Services Roundtable, a Washington based trade association representing 100 of the largest integrated financial services companies at the CEO level, where he lobbied on health care issues and worked on political and external government affairs for the association.  Prior to joining the Roundtable, Sandel worked in the corporate affairs department at US Airways focusing on government relations, consumer issues and strategic communication.

Previous to his private sector work, Sandel worked on Capitol Hill for Representative Henry Bonilla (TX-23) where he served as a Legislative Aide and Deputy Press Secretary.  Sandel has worked on a number of political campaigns at the city, state and federal levels, volunteered with the Texas State Society and held a position on the annual Taste of the South charitable committee for six years in Washington D.C.  He currently volunteers his time with Gilda’s Club New York City, providing support for those living with cancer.

Sandel received a dual Bachelors of Arts degree in American Studies and Public Relations from Baylor University.

Meet Paul Vitale
Vice President, Finance & Administration
pvitale@toyassociation.org
646-520-4847

Paul Vitale joined the Toy Industry Association as Vice President, Finance & Administration effective November 5, 2007.

Mr. Vitale is a Certified Public Accountant with over 25 years experience. He has held senior financial positions in both for profit and not-for-profit organizations and spent over 10 years in public accounting with Arthur Andersen. Prior to joining the Toy Industry Association, Mr. Vitale was Senior Director of Finance for the Greater New York Chapter of the American Red Cross for almost six years. 

Mr. Vitale graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor’s degree in accounting from St. John's University in New York. He is a member of the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and Financial Executive International.

Mr. Vitale has been a volunteer director since 1995 and treasurer of North Shore Child & Family Guidance Association, a not-for-profit provider of mental health services to children and their families based on Long Island, NY.

Meet Jackson Wong
Director, Exhibit Accounts and Show Services
jwong@toyassociation.org
646-520-4850

Jackson Wong joined the Toy Industry Association in July 1998 as Exhibitor Service Manager and was appointed Director, Exhibitor Accounts & Show Services in July 2006.

Mr. Wong attended the State University of New York at Stony Brook and earned a degree in Business Administration. Upon graduating, he joined Resolute Reinsurance Company and remained there for 11 years. When the business was sold, he became a PC consultant and worked as temporary staff for Toy Fair 1998 in the Event Operations area. He's been at TIA ever since.

Mr. Wong will be on volunteer staff for the 2011 World Police and Fire Games to be held in NYC, an Olympic style event with 15-20,000 firefighters and law enforcement personnel from 70 different countries competing in 65 sporting events.

Meet Joan Wyche
Director, Buyer Relations
jwyche@toyassociation.org
646-520-4855

Joan Wyche joined the Toy Industry Association in  March 2002 as Registration and Accounts Manager and was appointed Director, Buyer Relations in January 2010.

Ms. Wyche is an events management professional with more than 25 years experience in trade shows and seminars.  She started her journey as a trade show specialist at Starwood Hotels. Later, she moved on to Miller Freeman, where she was named director of conferences and events. In 1995 she launched her own event management firm, Meetings by JW, with TIA as one of her contract accounts.

Ms. Wyche holds a B.A. in Communications from Hunter College and a Certificate in Direct Marketing from New York University.