By Anne D'Innocenzio, Retail Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --Toy and entertainment company Hasbro Inc. has announced that Brian D. Goldner is taking a medical leave of absence from his CEO role, effective immediately.
The move, announced Sunday, follows Goldner's disclosure in August 2020 that he was undergoing continued medical treatment for cancer since 2014.
Goldner has served as the CEO of Hasbro, Inc. since 2008, and has served as the chairman since May 2015.
Rich Stoddart, most recently the lead independent director of Hasbro's board, has been appointed as interim CEO and will begin immediately.
Hasbro says Stoddart brings extensive leadership experience and expertise in global brand-building, advertising and marketing, and supply chain management. He was previously CEO at InnerWorkings, Inc., the largest global marketing execution company, and Leo Burnett Worldwide. He has served on Hasbro's board since 2014.
In conjunction with appointing Stoddart as interim CEO, Hasbro's board has reappointed Edward M. Philip as lead independent director, and Tracy A. Leinbach as chair of the nominating, governance and social responsibility committee of the board.
Philip has more than 30 years of business and management experience, including as both an operating executive and chief financial officer of multinational corporations. Leinbach served as the executive vice president and chief financial officer for Ryder System, Inc., a global logistics and transportation and supply chain solutions provider from 2003 until 2006.
"Brian has been an inspiring and visionary leader who has set Hasbro on an incredible path towards the future. All of us at Hasbro are thinking of him while he focuses on his health, "said Philp in a statement.
Hasbro's headquarters are in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
Vatican, Microsoft Create AI-Generated St. Peter’s Basilica–For In-Person and Virtual Visitors
The Vatican and Microsoft on Monday unveiled a digital twin of St. Peter's Basilica that uses artificial intelligence to explore one of the world's most important monument's while helping the Holy See manage visitor flows and identify conservation problems. Using 400,000 high-resolution digital photographs, taken with drones, cameras and lasers over four weeks when no one was in the basilica, the digital replica is going online alongside two new on-site exhibits to provide visitors -- real and virtual -- with an interactive experience. "It is literally one of the most technologically advanced and sophisticated projects of its kind that has ever been pursued," Microsoft's president Brad Smith told a Vatican press conference. The project has been launched ahead of the Vatican's 2025 Jubilee, a holy year in which more than 30 million pilgrims are expected to pass through the basilica's Holy Door, on top of the 50,000 who visit on a normal day. "Everyone, really everyone should feel welcome in this great house," Pope Francis told Smith and members of the project's development teams at an audience Monday. The digital platform allows visitors to reserve entry times to the basilica, a novelty for one of the world's most visited monuments that regularly has an hours-long line of tourists waiting to get in. But the heart of the project is the creation of a digital twin of St. Peter's Basilica through advanced photogrammetry and artificial intelligence that allows anyone to "visit" the church and learn about its history. The ultra-precise 3D replica, developed in collaboration with digital preservation company Iconem, incorporates 22 petabytes of data — enough to fill five million DVDs — Smith said. The images have already identified structural... Read More