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PAWTUCKET, R.I. (MarketWatch) -- Breaking into the movie business is never easy. Doing it with a 1980s-vintage action figure is the ultimate outsider challenge. But for Hasbro Inc. CEO Brian Goldner, the pitch for Transformers turned into a Hollywood robots-to-riches story.

With no hands-on film experience but a passion to energize the No. 2 toymaker's classic brand names, from Mr. Potato Head to G.I. Joe, Goldner, then head of Hasbro's toy group, sought out movie producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura in 2003 after reading in a trade publication that di Bonaventura was considering a film project about military technology.

Di Bonaventura, who had been involved with movies such as "The Matrix," said he essentially received a cold call from Goldner, who wanted the producer to consider turning his military film into a G.I. Joe movie.

That conversation not only led to the upcoming release, in 2009, of the G.I. Joe film but also to di Bonaventura's producing "Transformers," which generated more than $700 million in 2007 box office and has a sequel coming next year. Goldner, listed as the movie's executive producer, also helped bring together Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks along with Steven Spielberg, also credited as an executive producer.

"From one conversation to the next, we hit it off," di Bonaventura said. "In normal times, it could take months of conversation to move forward. Brian and I did it in two or three times. He has that gut instinct and a dynamic vision for what 'Transformers' could be and the willingness to jump into it. His contribution was invaluable."

. It helped to keep the 85-year-old company relevant, transforming it beyond a toymaker to an intellectual-property-owning powerhouse. In 2008 that has translated into a modest stock-price gain of 3% in the face of an overall market and toy-sector decline of about 40%, a nearly 10% profit gain year to date, and a forecast that sales for the entire year will hit a record atop $4.1 billion.

At the same time, Goldner has expanded the Transformers brand into children's television, brought online and interactive versions of popular games such as Monopoly to market, rebuilt strained relationships with retailers, given employees the training and authority to tackle new challenges, and implemented a "flash" reporting system to the board of directors, all of which have led to Goldner's being named the 2008 MarketWatch CEO of the Year.

"For many years, Hasbro was very happy to own a piece of the playroom floor or the kitchen table," said Goldner, 45, who became chief executive in May after predecessor and retiring CEO Al Verrecchia recommended him to the board. "A brand can create these immense experiences. It all integrates together and creates this huge enterprise that we've never had before. Our ambitions are big."

As his Hollywood chutzpah shows, Goldner's aim is high: to turn Hasbro's top nameplates into global power brands that consumers can experience in any way and format at any time they want, including movies, video games and even a theme-park attraction.

"He's able to get the company to visualize the outcome with the big picture he paints," said Thomas Russo of Gardner Russo & Gardner, which owned more than 2 million Hasbro shares as of September. "He was the person who's willing to make the hard choices to deliver the outcome and focusing the organization on what's right early in the game."

Source:
http://www.marketwatch.com/ceooftheyear/2008/