Brian David Goldner (April 21, 1963 – October 11, 2021) was an American business chief executive and film producer. He was the

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of the American toy and media company

Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment holding company founded on December 6, 1923 by Henry, Hillel and Herma ...

from 2008 until his death.

Early life

Goldner was born on April 21, 1963, in

Huntington, New York Huntington is one of ten Administrative divisions of New York#Town, towns in Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County, New York (state), New York, United States. The town's population was 204,127 at the time of the 2020 census, making it the 11 ...

, the son of Marjorie (Meyer), an investment adviser, and Norman Goldner, who worked at a power management company, Eaton. He attended Huntington High School and

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

Hanover, New Hampshire Hanover is a New England town, town located along the Connecticut River in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 11,870. The town is home to the Ivy League university ...

, where he majored in politics. There he practiced public speaking and was also a radio

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music fes ...

Career

Goldner began his career as a marketing assistant at a healthcare firm in

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

in 1985. In 1997, Goldner was set to head the entertainment accountant division of advertisement holding company JWT, but he was lured away by Bandai America. While president of Bandai America from 1997 to 2000, he befriended ''

Power Rangers ''Power Rangers'' is an American media franchise created by Haim Saban, Shuki Levy and Shotaro Ishinomori built around a live-action superhero television series, based on the Japanese tokusatsu franchise ''Super Sentai''. It is currently ow ...

'' creator

Haim Saban Haim Saban (; ; born October 15, 1944) is an Israeli and American media proprietor, investor, musical composer and producer of records, film, and television. A businessman with interests in financial services, entertainment, and media, and an ...

. Goldner was working at

Tiger Electronics Tiger Electronics Ltd. (also known as Tiger and Tiger Toys) is an American toy manufacturer best known for its handheld electronic games, the Furby, the Talkboy, Giga Pets, the 2-XL robot, and audio games such as '' Brain Warp'' and the ...

unit in 2000, after the company had lost 5,000 jobs. By 2003, the company recovered on the stock market, and in 2008 Goldner became Hasbro's

chief operating officer A chief operating officer (COO), also called chief operations officer, is an executive in charge of the daily operations of an organization (i.e. personnel, resources, and logistics). COOs are usually second-in-command immediately after the C ...

and in 2015 he was appointed chairman of the board. He served as

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the production of media. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). In film ...

on the successful 2007 ''

Transformers ''Transformers'' is a media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Tomy, Takara Tomy. It primarily follows the heroic Autobots and the villainous Decepticons, two Extraterrestrials in fiction, alien robot fac ...

'' film adaptation, which was credited with broadening Hasbro into a character-based multimedia company. He continued this role on the 2009 films '' Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'' and '' G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra''. Goldner was responsible for making Hasbro a licensee of Disney's Marvel Universe characters. Goldner compared the move of these characters to cinema during his tenure to the way they had expanded from mere adverts to television series in the 1980s. In 2012, Goldner's pay package was estimated to be around $9.68 million. In 2008, the year of his promotion, Goldner was named CEO of the year by

MarketWatch ''MarketWatch'' is a website that provides financial information, business news, analysis, and stock market data. It is a subsidiary of Dow Jones & Company, a property of News Corp, along with ''The Wall Street Journal'' and '' Barron's.'' ...

. In 2018, Goldner drew on his friendship with Saban to acquire first the master toy license for ''Power Rangers,'' then several months later the franchise and other properties from Saban Brands for $522 million. In season 4, episode 8 of '' The Rookie'', titled "Hit and Run", was dedicated to his memory. Executive Producer * ''

'' (2007) * '' Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'' (2009) * '' Transformers: Dark of the Moon'' (2011) * '' Taylor Swift: Journey to Fearless'' (2011) * ''Clue'' (TV, 2011–2012) * '' Transformers: Age of Extinction'' (2014) * ''

Ouija The Ouija ( , ), also known as a Ouija board, spirit board, talking board, or witch board, is a flat board marked with the letters of the Latin alphabet, the numbers 0–9, the words "yes", "no", and occasionally "hello" and "goodbye", along ...

'' (2014) * '' Transformers: The Last Knight'' (2017) * '' Hanazuki: Full of Treasures'' (2017) * ''

Bumblebee A bumblebee (or bumble bee, bumble-bee, or humble-bee) is any of over 250 species in the genus ''Bombus'', part of Apidae, one of the bee families. This genus is the only Extant taxon, extant group in the tribe Bombini, though a few extinct r ...

'' (2018) * ''

Power Rangers Beast Morphers ''Power Rangers Beast Morphers'' is the twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh seasons of the American television program ''Power Rangers''. The first season premiered on Nickelodeon on March 2, 2019, while the second season premiered on February 22, 2 ...

'' (TV, 2019) * '' Power Rangers Dino Fury'' (TV, 2021) * '' My Little Pony: A New Generation'' (2021) * '' Transformers: Rise of the Beasts'' (2023) (posthumous release) Producer * '' G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra'' (2009) * ''

Battleship A battleship is a large, heavily naval armour, armored warship with a main battery consisting of large naval gun, guns, designed to serve as a capital ship. From their advent in the late 1880s, battleships were among the largest and most form ...

'' (2012) * '' G.I. Joe: Retaliation'' (2013) * '' Jem and the Holograms'' (2015) * '' Ouija: Origin of Evil'' (2016) * '' My Little Pony: The Movie'' (2017) * '' Snake Eyes'' (2021) * '' Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves'' (2023) (posthumous release)

Personal life

Goldner married Barbara, a social worker. The couple had a daughter, Brooke, and a son, Brandon, who died in 2015. In 2017, a park playground in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Rhode Island, most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The county seat of Providence County, Rhode Island, Providence County, it is o ...

, was renamed "Brandon's Beach". In August 2020, Goldner disclosed that he had

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is the neoplasm, uncontrolled growth of cells in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system below the bladder. Abnormal growth of the prostate tissue is usually detected through Screening (medicine), screening tests, ...

and had been receiving treatment for this condition since 2014. He took an immediate leave of absence as CEO of Hasbro for medical reasons on October 10, 2021, and died a day later, at his home in

Barrington, Rhode Island Barrington is a suburban, residential town in Bristol County, Rhode Island, United States, approximately southeast of Providence. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 17,153. Barrington was founded by Congregationalist separ ...

, at age 58.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Goldner, Brian 1963 births 2021 deaths 20th-century American Jews 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American businesspeople American chief executives of manufacturing companies American chief operating officers Dartmouth College alumni Deaths from cancer in Rhode Island Deaths from prostate cancer in the United States Film producers from New York (state) People from Barrington, Rhode Island People from Huntington, New York Hasbro people