Jakks Pacific has made a number of high-level appointments and promotions as part of a strategic reorganization to increase growth and create a more effective global framework.

Tara Hefter (pictured, left) was promoted to EVP and GM of the company’s costume division Disguise. Hefter has served as Jakks Pacific’s SVP of global licensing since 2010, and worked at Disney Consumer Products before that.

Dan Cooney Jr. has also been promoted to EVP of the international division at Jakks, with responsibility for the company’s global consumer products business. This new remit will be in addition to Cooney’s existing portfolio as SVP of sales for Toys “R” Us and Amazon. Before joining Jakks, he worked at MGA Entertainment and Mattel.

In the hire column, Virginia Reneau (pictured, right) is rejoining the toyco as VP of global licensing. She has previously held several roles at Jakks over the years, most recently serving as senior director of global licensing from 2015 to 2017. Before that, she worked at Mattel for 13 years.

Jakks Pacific will also say goodbye soon to international division president Carmine Russo and Disguise president Joe Anton, both of whom will retire at the end of 2019.

In Q3 2018, the company announced it would reduce its global workforce and consolidate operations after reporting net sales of US$236.7 million, a 10% drop compared to the same period in 2017. Jakks has attributed the sales slide to the liquidation of Toys “R” Us in the US and multiple global markets.