Mattel names Condé Nast chief Roger Lynch as next CEO
Mattel has a new boss on the way. Roger Lynch will become the company's next chairman and chief executive, succeeding Ynon Kreiz, in a handover announced on September 30, 2026, as reported by Variety. Kreiz will step down as chairman and chief executive effective Oct. 2.
Lynch takes the chairman role effective Oct. 2. He will assume the chief executive role on or before Nov. 2. The timetable gives Mattel about a month to complete the switch at the top.
A chairman leads the board, the group that oversees the company. A chief executive runs day-to-day operations. Lynch will end up holding both jobs.
The news came from El Segundo, Calif., where Mattel issued its announcement, according to Mattel. The company trades on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol MAT. That ticker is the short code investors use to find its shares.
Kreiz is moving on. He is leaving Mattel to take a senior leadership position at another public company. No further details on that role were given in the announcement.
Lynch arrives with a media background. He has served as chief executive of Condé Nast since 2019. Mike Perlis, Condé Nast's lead independent director, will step in as interim chief executive following Lynch's departure. An interim chief executive is a temporary stand-in while a longer-term plan is settled.
What makes this stand out is familiarity. Lynch is not walking in cold. He knows the room. He was a Mattel board member and independent lead director at the time of his appointment as chairman and chief executive.
He first joined that board in August 2018, when he was president and chief executive of Pandora Media, and he was elected alongside Adriana Cisneros, as reported by PR Newswire. Mattel has pointed to his leadership, media, technology and internet experience as strengths he brought to the boardroom.
He has also put his own money behind the company before. In February 2019, director Lynch bought 8,000 Mattel shares for $108,000, at an average price of $13.50 per share.
For people who follow the business, the dates matter now. Watch Oct. 2 for the chairman change. Watch on or before Nov. 2 for Lynch to formally take the chief executive post and start the next chapter.
