In the wake of Stan Clutton’s passing last December, Mattel has appointed Jennifer Bennett to assume part of the veteran Fisher-Price SVP’s remit. Bennett has joined Mattel brand Fisher-Price as director of licensing acquisitions, and will be overseeing inbound licensing for the preschool-oriented toy maker, reporting to Mattel VP of licensing acquisitions, Holly Stein.

In her new role, Bennett is headed to New York from Mattel’s El Segundo, California HQ. She will be permanently based at Fisher-Price’s NY offices as of March 26th. Her responsibilities include evaluating preschool entertainment properties for Fisher-Price’s licensing programs, but she will not be involved in inventor relations, which was a significant part of Clutton’s job.

Bennett hops over to Mattel/Fisher-Price from Toronto, Canada’s Entertainment One (eOne), where she was brought in to head up the production company’s North American L&M efforts as VP of licensing and merchandise in early 2011. One of her key priorities at eOne was overseeing the US rollout of the Peppa Pig licensing program, for which Fisher-Price holds master toy rights in North America.