Chairman: Patrick S. Feely
Since his retirement from Radica Games Ltd. in 2006, Pat Feely has continued to advise toy companies and is a member of the Board of Directors for Sprig Toys.  He was the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Toy Industry Foundation from 2002 to 2004 and continues to be a trustee of the Foundation.  He was also Chairman of the Board for the Toy Industry Association from 2000 to 2002 and acted as an advisor to the Association until 2008.  Feely was the President and Chief Executive Officer of Radica Games Ltd. from April 1999 to October 2006 when Mattel, Inc. acquired Radica.  He joined the Company as President and Chief Operating Officer in July 1997.  Prior to joining Radica, he was President and CEO of Spectrum HoloByte, Inc. from 1993 to 1995; President of Bandai America, Inc. from 1991 to 1992; and founder and President of Toy Soldiers, Inc. (which was acquired by Bandai America in 1991) from 1988 to 1991.  Mr. Feely was an executive at Tonka, Inc. from 1982 to 1988, where he served as President of the Tonka Products Division of Tonka, Inc. He began his career in the toy industry at Mattel Toys in 1977 having previously worked at RCA Corporation.  He has a BA from Duke University and an MBA from the University of Michigan.

Ellen H. Block
Ms. Block joined the Toy Industry Foundation Board of Trustees in May 2005.  As a member of the organization's governing body, Mrs. Block has an opportunity to contribute her vast history, knowledge and expertise related to the health and well-being of children, as she continues her life-long passion to serve children the world over.

Mrs. Block is chair of the Hasbro Children's Foundation, and a trustee of the University of Chicago Hospitals and Health System, serving on its Patient Care and Children's Hospital Committees.  She is an overseer of the School of Nutrition at Tufts University and of the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University.

As board member of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, Mrs. Block serves as chair of the Children's Initiative, co-chair of the Brookdale Institute, and chair of Brookdale's Engleberg Children's Center.  She has received numerous awards including the National Hannah Solomon Award (1992) and the Charles Loring Brace Award (1994), and was named one of Today's Chicago Woman's 100 Women Making A Difference (2000).

Jay Foreman, Founder & President, The Bridge Direct and Acorn Management Group
Jay Foreman currently leads Acorn Management Group, a joint venture with Oaktree Capital Management, one of the world’s largest private equity firms, for the purpose of identifying and acquiring all or shares in children’s consumer products companies for the purpose of building a large corporate platform in this industry.  Mr. Foreman previously served as the Co-President of Play Along, which is now a division of JAKKS Pacific (NASDAQ: JAKK), and he was one of the Company’s founders in 1999. Mr. Foreman managed all aspects of marketing, product development and sourcing for Play Along. Product lines he developed include Hannah Montana, Cabbage Patch Kids, Doodle Bear, Care Bears and Britney Spears fashion dolls and accessories. Mr. Foreman served as Senior Vice President of Galoob Toys where he acquired the rights for and developed the toy line based on the world famous Spice Girls, in association with Simon Fuller, President of 19 Entertainment and creator of American Idol. The Spice Girls toy line was one of the most successful celebrity- based doll lines of all time.

Mr. Foreman began his career at the age of 18 while working in the amusement industry in Wildwood, N.J. He got his first job in the toy business several years later with the largest domestic manufacturer of plush toys at the time, Fable Toys, based in Brooklyn, NY. From 1990 to 1996, Mr. Foreman was the general manager and a founding partner of Play-By-Play Toys and Novelties, which was a major player in the plush toy business and the largest distributor of toys and novelties to the amusement and theme park industries.  Mr. Foreman has worked with every major entertainment content providers including Warner Bros., Disney, Sony, Fox and Viacom. In addition, he’s worked with many well-known corporate brand owners such as Coca Cola and Harley-Davidson, creating the famous Coca Cola plush polar bear collections and the popular "Harley Hog" plush toy lines. Mr. Foreman also created the multi-million dollar selling Playfaces pillow, and he has produced over forty TV commercials that promoted Play Along's toy lines selling over $1B worth of toys at wholesale to such retailers as Wal-Mart, Target and Toys R Us.

Neil Friedman, President, Mattel Brands
An icon of the toy industry who helped first popularize the pairing of technology and toys, Neil Friedman is president of the Mattel Brands division at Mattel, Inc.  Friedman – a Toy Industry Hall of Famer and International Licensing Industry Merchandisers Association’s (LIMA) Hall of Famer – oversees all of Mattel, Fisher-Price and Radica:® brands such as Barbie®, Hot Wheels® and Mattel Games, as well as toys licensed by the industry’s leading entertainment properties, such as Disney/Pixar’s CARS, Dora the Explorer™ and Sesame Workshop®.

As president of Fisher-Price Brands from 1999-2005, he oversaw the introduction of electronic learning toys that significantly grew the core Fisher-Price business.  Today, Mr. Friedman continues to ensure that every Mattel toy is “magical” and delivers a “wow” to kids of all ages.  Mr. Friedman joined Mattel in March 1997, following the merger between Tyco Toys, Inc. and Mattel.  Prior to joining Tyco Preschool in 1995, he served as president of MCA/Universal Merchandising; senior vice president, marketing and operations, Just Toys; general manager, baby care division, Gerber Products; president, Aviva/Hasbro, Hasbro’s import division; and executive vice president and chief operating officer of Lionel Leisure/Kiddie City.

Mr. Friedman currently serves on the Toy Industry Foundation (TIF) Board of Trustees, the charitable arm of the TIA, where he also serves as an advisory member to the organization’s board of directors.

Mr. Friedman attended Rider University in Lawrenceville, N.J., where he majored in finance.  He serves on the boards of several charitable organizations, including Save the Children and its Survive to Five Council, the executive advisory board of Children Affected by AIDS Foundation (CAAF), and the Northside Center for Child Development (New York, NY).

Stephan Gass, President, Every Baby Company
From about the second grade on, Stephen Gass wanted to be a doctor.  Somewhere during college, his interest turned to becoming an elementary school teacher. After a few years in the classroom, the doctor calling returned. But, with just a dissertation to go to complete a PhD in child development, his inner-Geppeto was released by a job at Sesame Street.  Stephen’s spent the last 30 years creating and marketing a wide range of children’s products including toys, books, games and TV for kids between the ages of 6 months to 12 years.  From launching an educational toy group at Coleco, to leading the creative efforts at Scholastic’s and Nickelodeon’s first software divisions, to serving as President of Sesame Workshop, Online, Gass has been an innovator throughout his career. He is a member of the Education Committee of the board of trustees at PBS-affiliate, WNET/ Thirteen.  Currently he serves as the president of the Every Baby Company, an organization he co-founded to create products and programs designed to help parents and their babies transform every day play, the first of which is the multi-award winning series, eebee’s adventures.

Daniel Grossman, CEO and Co-Founder, Wild Planet Toys
Mr. Grossman is the CEO and Co-Founder of Wild Planet Toys. He started Wild Planet in 1993. Prior to founding Wild Planet, Daniel was the Director of International Sales for Aviva Sports from 1991 – 1993, during which Aviva was acquired by Mattel Toys. In 1992, he joined the senior management team of Mattel International. Prior to joining Aviva Sports, Daniel earned his M.B.A. from Stanford University. He joined the program after serving seven years in the U.S. Foreign Service, as a diplomat both overseas and at the Department of State. He received his B.A. in Russian and East European Studies from Yale University in 1980.

Daniel currently serves on the following Boards: Toy Industry Foundation, Toy Industry Association, the Rosenberg Foundation, the Business Alliance for the San Francisco Unified School District and the Jewish Community Federation. He formerly served on the Boards of: Friends for Youth; The Social Venture Network; Students for Responsible Business; Jewish Community Relations Council; Private Industry Council of San Francisco, the Stanford Center on Ethics, Stand for Youth, the Joshua Venture; and Children's Television and Resource Education Center.

Denielle Pemberton-Heard, Group Counsel Program Business Affairs for Public Broadcasting System (PBS)
Ms. Pemberton-Heard is responsible for negotiating content acquisition deals for the national PBS broadcast schedule and PBS.org. Prior to joining PBS, Pemberton-Heard held in-house legal positions with Time Inc. and Discovery Communications, Inc. parent of Discovery Channel and The Learning Channel. Pemberton-Heard began her Legal career in private practice as an associate at Connecticut’s Wiggin and Dana and later moved on to the New York firm of Cowan Liebowitz and Latman where she worked on commercial litigation and trademark matters and contributed with D. Goldberg, et al., to “Recent Developments in Copyright” Selected and Annotated Cases, Journal of the Copyright Society (1992); and A. Greenbaum and J. Ginsberg, “1991 Letter Update”  Trademark and Unfair Competition Law, Cases and Materials, The Michie Company (1990).

Ms. Pemberton-Heard holds a B.A. from Tufts University and a Juris Doctorate from Case Western Reserve University School of Law and is a candidate for a CIBE from Columbia University Graduate School of Business. Pemberton-Heard has served as a Co-Chair of Walker Memorial Dinner Gala in Washington DC benefiting Africare, on the Programming Committee of the Washington Episcopal School and is currently mentoring at risk students through the I Have a Dream Foundation as one of the founding members of Level 8.

Genna Rosenberg, Senior Vice President, Communications, Investor Relations & Philanthropy, JAKKS Pacific, Inc.
Genna Rosenberg joined the Toy Industry Foundation Board of Trustees in February 2010.  She is Senior Vice President, Communications, Investor Relations & Philanthropy for JAKKS Pacific, the 4th largest publicly traded U.S.-based toy company.  As a key member of JAKKS’ executive team, she has integrated 15 acquisitions into JAKKS’ infrastructure and formalized JAKKS Cares™, under which she maximizes partnerships to position JAKKS as a leader in Corporate Social Responsibility.  She has directed donations which have totaled over $40 million worth of toys and school supplies to children around the world over the past 10 years.  In 2009, JAKKS was recognized by the Los Angeles Business Journal as one of the “Top 20 Corporate Philanthropists in Los Angeles,” and as a PowerPlayer by the Toy Industry Foundation. 

Genna is an active Committee member of the Toy Industry Association, a member and featured speaker for Women in Toys, and a member of the Los Angeles Community Leaders. She was also a PR News 2003 PR Professional of the Year Finalist; LA Business Journal 2009 Women Making a Difference Award for Executive of the Year Finalist and The Women in Toys 2010 Wonder Woman in Toys ‘Woman to Watch’ Winner. 

Arnie Rubin, Chairman & CEO, Funrise, Inc.
Arnie Rubin has been active in the toy industry for over forty years. Rubin, a Los Angeles native, began his first job working in the toy industry at Chemical Sundries west coast plant as a “bubble” mixer before graduating from Fairfax High School in 1965.  Only four years later, in 1969, he co-founded Imperial Toy Company.  In 1987 Rubin formed Funrise Toy Corporation, with offices in Los Angeles, New York, France, the U.K. and Hong Kong.  In 2003, Rubin returned to his roots with the introduction of the “One and Only” Gazillion® Bubbles line, which has become the #1 Bubble Brand in the Nation (per NPD).

Rubin is the past Chairman of the Toy Industry Foundation (TIF) and Toy Industry Association (TIA). In 2009, he was named to the Toy Safety Certification Program’s Oversight Council and nominated for the presidency of the International Council of Toy Industries. He is currently the CEO of Funrise Toys Ltd and Vice Chairman of Matrix Holdings, Funrise’s parent company. 

Bryan G. Stockton, President, International, Mattel, Inc.
Bryan Stockton joined the Toy Industry Foundation Board of Trustees in February 2010.  As president of International for Mattel, Inc., he is responsible for leading Mattel’s business outside the United States.  Stockton joined Mattel in November 2000 as executive vice president of Business Planning and Development, and was responsible for identifying and developing strategic opportunities for the company, as well as managing all merger and acquisition activity.  Mattel, Inc. is the worldwide leader in the design, manufacture and marketing of toys with approximately $5 billion in annual sales. The company’s rich portfolio of brands are known to generations of children around the world, and include Barbie®, Fisher-Price®, Hot Wheels® and American Girl®.  With headquarters in El Segundo, California, Mattel has offices and facilities in 42 countries and sells its products in more than 150 nations throughout the world.

Stockton received a Bachelor of Science with honors in business from Indiana University in 1975 and a Masters of Business Administration degree from the Indiana University Graduate School of Business in 1976.  He currently serves on the Board of Bob Evans Farms, Inc., is a member of the Board of Trustees at Otis College of Art & Design, is a member of the Board of the Mattel Children’s Hospital at UCLA, and is the current Chair of the Toy Industry Association (TIA) Board of Directors.

Al Verrecchia, President and Chief Executive Officer, Hasbro, Inc.
Al Verrecchia, Hasbro’s President and Chief Executive Officer since 2003, has held several senior executive positions over the years at Hasbro, Inc. including President and Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer; President, Hasbro Manufacturing Services; and Executive Vice President, Global Operations, among other key roles. Born in Providence, Rhode Island, Mr. Verrecchia joined Hasbro in 1965 as a junior accountant.

A graduate of the University of Rhode Island, Mr. Verrecchia, now a resident of Warwick, Rhode Island, is married to his wife Gerrie, and has four children, Michael, Michele, Melissa and Lisa, as well as three grandchildren. He received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from URI. Mr. Verrecchia also received an Honorary Doctor of Business Administration from Johnson & Wales University in 1991 and an Honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Rhode Island in 2004. In addition to serving on Hasbro’s Board of Directors, Mr. Verrecchia is Chairman of the Board of Lifespan, an integrated health care system that provides a comprehensive array of services to Rhode Island and Southern New England residents. He also serves on the board of FM Global, the world’s largest commercial and industrial property insurance company focusing on risk management and specializing in engineering-driven property, and is a Director of Foster Grant International.  He remains on the Board of Old Stone Corporation.