Simon Waters

About Simon

Simon excels at driving growth by synthesizing challenges and opportunities into energizing and actionable growth plans. A deeply curious, creative entrepreneur and insights advocate, he leads high performance teams for well-known and growing global consumer brands. Simon combines his expertise for creative brand 'story-telling’ to his expertise accelerating profitable returns, using it with clients as an essential sales & marketing tool to align their organizations for rapid growth. As a senior leader, he partners with boards, C suites and global leadership teams, crafting effective & action-oriented sales & marketing presentations to diverse customer audiences.

How Simon has Helped Businesses Grow

• Drove 7 consecutive years of record results, tripling operating profit, doubling revenue and leading Hasbro from No.12 Global Brand Licensor, to No.5.
• Scaled Hasbro Consumer Products by opening 23 offices around the world, developing a top talent bench and leading a highly visible turn-around in culture & engagement.
• Established Hasbro’s Location Based Entertainment Division, leading the team to over 100 deals, including Hasbro’s first branded Hotel.
• Added 1 million subscribers to the Power Rangers You Tube channel within the first 12 months, leading the $522 million acquisition of Power Rangers, driving growth across all aspects of the brand.
• Propelled Hasbro into highly creative collaborations with hundreds of lifestyle brands and celebrities, including Nike, Bathing Ape and Moschino, by establishing a new “Hot House” division.
• Created and launched a new $600 million consumer-facing division within Disney, called Disney Infant, using key mom & parent insights.
• Accelerated growth in consumer products across all categories and retail channels leading the turn-around of Mickey Mouse as a powerful brand icon.

Executive Marketing Experience

• CEO, Suitcase Entertainment
• President, World Builder Brand Consultancy
• SVP & Global GM, Brand Management, Hasbro
• SVP & Global GM, Hasbro Consumer Products & Entertainment
• VP Global Brand Management, Disney Consumer Products
• Director, UK Apparel, Disney UK
• Director, Sales & Marketing, Disney Apparel, Europe
• Head Of Sales & Marketing, BMG UK

Education

• Politics, Economics, History, University of Nottingham
• Harvard Business School, Digital Marketing
   
• Harvard Business School, Strategic Marketing Management
   
• Dartmouth School of Business, Executive Leadership
   
• Ashridge School of Business, Master of Negotiation

References

Simon and I worked together at Hasbro for over 10 years during which time we helped transform the company from a traditional toy and game manufacturer to a global branded play and entertainment company that developed, launched and managed several highly successful brand franchises. Simon was the chief architect of our rapidly growing Consumer Products licensing business, and also managed several of our global brands. Simon is a highly creative, passionate and engaging leader who has an excellent understanding of how to build global brands and enduring consumer franchises. Throughout his tenure at Hasbro, Simon demonstrated keen intellect and curiosity, as well as a creative, entrepreneurial spirit. He has the maturity of a seasoned executive combined with a seemingly endless energy and passion for creating new business opportunities. 

John Frascotti, Retired President, Chief Operating Officer & Board Member, Hasbro Inc.

 

I have known Simon for more than twenty years. He is a natural, lateral thinker with strongly developed executive ability and experience. This lateral thinking capacity means he sees opportunity in multiple situations and has a unique skill-set for applying these insights to commercial solutions, with expertise in marketing and branding. His leadership and team management skills are a powerful component of this management expertise. The commercial side of his character is complemented by considerable creative skill, as well as his devotion to coaching and charitable fund raising. I can commend Simon Waters to you without reservation.

Sir Stephen O’Brien, Chairman Barts Health Trust, Chairman Mental Health In Society & President of Proshanti

 

“Simon and I worked closely together at Hasbro for nearly a decade, across the entertainment, franchise, brand and consumer products divisions. As an outstanding leader and partner, Simon’s understanding of consumer behavior, brand building and activation led the divisions we had responsibility for to financial outperformance consistently year over year. As an inspiring creative as well as commercial executive, Simon garnered respect and admiration throughout all divisions of the Organization. Leading by example, Simon’s Team enthusiastically followed him “into battle” to tackle every challenge with gusto, integrity, and with driven purpose at the highest levels of execution. During our tenure at Hasbro, the market cap of the Company grew 3x. Simon was a significant contributor to this impressive growth. Finally, Simon is just an all around, really good guy”. 

Stephen Davis, Former EVP, Chief Content Officer and Global Head of the Entertainment and Licensing Segment, Hasbro Inc. 

Download Simon's Resume Here