Wizards of the Coast president and chief operations officer, Chris Cocks, will be taking the reins of Hasbro as CEO.

Wizards of the Coast president and chief operations officer, Chris Cocks, will be taking the reins of Hasbro as CEO on February 25 as he takes over for interim Rich Stoddart.

Stoddart took over as CEO temporarily after the sudden passing of the toy company's previous CEO, Brian Goldner.

"Having known Chris for years and working more closely with him these last several months, I have no doubt that he will be an extraordinary leader for the next phase of Hasbro’s journey," says Stoddart.  "A storyteller and gamer at heart, Chris innately understands how to create and nurture brands to drive fan and consumer connection across channels.  He is a highly strategic leader, with the vision, skills and experience to unlock our Brand Blueprint for supercharged growth.”

Prior to joining Wizards of the Coast in 2016, Cocks was serving as vice president, OEM technical sales at Microsoft Corporation, where he led a global sales and technical engagement team.  Prior to his eight-year tenure with Microsoft, Chris served as Vice President of Educational Games at LeapFrog, where he led a cross-discipline team to drive hardware planning, software design and development, marketing and channel management.

"Hasbro has amazing brands, gifted storytellers and unique entertainment assets, and I am humbled to step into the position of CEO at this important time and to build on the strong foundation Brian created," comments Cocks.  "Our consumer products, gaming and entertainment teams are the best and most creative in the business and have shown such incredible resilience.  I look forward to working with our highly-experienced senior management team as we continue to reimagine play and entertainment and deliver experiences to families and fans, of all ages, around the world.”

As for Wizards of the Coast, Hasbro hopes to name a new president in the coming weeks.