Robert A. Eckert (born 1954) is an American businessman, chairman and CEO of

Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company headquartered in El Segundo, California. Founded in Los Angeles by Harold Matson and the husband-and-wife duo of Ruth Handler, ...

from 2000 to 2011, CEO of

Kraft Foods Kraft Foods Group, Inc. was an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate (company), conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. on October 1, 2012, and was headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz on July ...

from 1997 to 2000, and an operating partner with the

private equity firm A private equity firm or private equity company (often described as a financial sponsor) is an investment management company that provides financial backing and makes investments in the private equity of a Startup company, startup or of an existin ...

Friedman Fleischer & Lowe FFL Partners, LLC, previously known as Friedman Fleischer & Lowe, is an American private equity firm, founded in 1997 by Tully Friedman, Spencer Fleischer, David Lowe, and Christopher Masto. The firm makes investments primarily through leveraged ...

Early life

Eckert was born in 1954 in

Elmhurst, Illinois Elmhurst is a city in DuPage County, Illinois, DuPage and Cook County, Illinois, Cook counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is a western suburb of Chicago. The population was 45,786 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. History M ...

. He received a bachelor's degree in business administration from the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

in 1976, and an MBA in marketing and finance from

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

in 1977.

Career

Eckert started a 23-year career with

in 1977, rising to president and chief executive officer (CEO) in October 1997. In 2000, Eckert joined

as chairman and CEO, and remained as CEO until December 2011. He retired at the end of 2011, and was succeeded by Bryan G. Stockton who had been chief operating officer and chairman until December 2012. In 2004, under Eckert's leadership, Mattel began a seven-year legal war against tiny, California-based

MGA Entertainment MGA Entertainment Inc. (short for Micro-Games America Entertainment; sometimes referred to as MGA) is a manufacturer of children's toys and entertainment products founded in 1979. Its products include Bratz, Num Noms, Lalaloopsy, and Rainbow High ...

. In a surprise defeat, a jury decided that MGA Entertainment was the rightful owner of the once-billion dollar line of

Bratz Bratz is an American fashion doll and media franchise created by former Mattel employee Carter Bryant for MGA Entertainment, which debuted in 2001. The four original 10-inch (25 cm) dolls were released on May 21, 2001 — Yasmin (Latina), ...

dolls. A

BMO Capital Markets BMO Capital Markets is the investment banking subsidiary of Canadian Bank of Montreal. The company offers corporate, institutional and government clients access to a range of financial services. These include equity and debt underwriting, corp ...

analyst said the failure to settle will go down as a “tremendously bad decision” by Mattel management. “It means they wasted $400 million or so of shareholder money to get zero return,” he said. In 2014, Eckert joined the

private equity Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public; instead it is offered to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the co ...

firm

as an operating partner. He is a non-executive director of

Levi Strauss Levi Strauss ( ; born Löb Strauß, ; February 26, 1829 – September 26, 1902) was a German-born American businessman who founded the first company to manufacture blue jeans. His firm of Levi Strauss & Co. (Levi's) began in 1853 in San Franci ...

and

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...

since 2003,

Amgen Amgen Inc. (formerly Applied Molecular Genetics Inc.) is an American multinational biopharmaceutical Corporation, company headquartered in Thousand Oaks, California. As one of the world's largest independent biotechnology companies, Amgen has a ...

since 2012, and

Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. is an American multinational transportation company that provides Ridesharing company, ride-hailing services, courier services, food delivery, and freight transport. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California, a ...

since 2020. Since May 2021, he is the board chair of Levi Strauss.

Personal life

Eckert was married to Kathie, and they had four children. In June 2017, Eckert and his wife sold their Park Tower condominium for a little over $2.92 million. On June 1, 2019, Eckert married Lisa Marie Bongiovanni, a former Mattel communications executive.

References

1954 births 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesspeople American chairpersons of corporations American chief executives of food industry companies American chief executives of manufacturing companies Businesspeople from Illinois Directors of Uber Kraft Foods people Levi Strauss & Co. people Living people Mattel people Northwestern University alumni People from Elmhurst, Illinois University of Arizona alumni {{US-business-bio-1950s-stub