Brian Goldner, chief executive of Hasbro Inc. (NYSE: HAS), today was named MarketWatch Inc.’s 2008 CEO of the Year.

Even before Goldner took over in May from outgoing CEO Alfred J. Verrecchia...he had been leading the toymaker’s expansion into the television, movie and electronic gaming markets. It was back in 2003 that he made the first overtures to producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura about what eventually would become the blockbuster G.I. Joe movie, MarketWatch’s Andria Cheng reported. Goldner even served as executive producer on the “G.I. Joe” and “Transformers” TV shows and feature films, plus two related documentaries.

He also led negotiations with Electronic Arts Inc. (Nasdaq: ERTS), which this fall unveiled games, for Nintendo Co.’s popular Wii systems, that are based on Hasbro’s Monopoly and Nerf brands. 

Full Story: Hasbro’s Goldner is best CEO, MarketWatch says Source: Providence Business News, December 4th, 2008 Author: PBN Staff Added on December 4th, 2008 at 1:32 pm, by Matt Mikula