ABOUT US

Global Toy Experts is your entryway to the people and information you need to grow your business. Founded by industry leaders Richard Gottlieb and Steve Velte, the company was built on decades of trusted relationships, deep industry insight, and an unmatched understanding of toys, play, and popular media. Richard, a globally recognized authority on the toy industry, passed away in 2023, but his legacy of thought leadership, media influence, and strategic vision continues to shape the company’s foundation. Today, Steve Velte proudly carries that legacy forward, serving the toy industry with the same integrity, expertise, and forward-thinking approach that defined their partnership.

Global Toy Experts provides cutting-edge analysis and strategies to domestic toy manufacturers as well as international providers seeking to raise their profile in the United States and around the world. Services include support for inventors—covering licensing, manufacturing, and more—as well as M&A services for companies looking to acquire or be acquired in the toy space. The consultancy also offers unique observations and commentary at global speaking engagements and conferences and publishes Global Toy News, a web-based magazine covering industry news and providing a variety of resource links: www.globaltoynews.com. By leveraging decades of experience, strategic relationships, and industry credibility, Global Toy Experts helps raise your company’s profile with key decision makers and thought leaders—driving productivity, profitability, and long-term growth.

OUR TEAM

Richard Gottlieb
Principal and Founder - Global Toy Group

Richard Gottlieb was the highly regarded Founder and CEO of Global Toy Experts, the globally recognized consultancy to toy industry leaders, and Publisher of Global Toy News, the toy industry’s independent voice. Although Richard passed away in 2023, his vision, expertise, and decades of knowledge continue to shape and inform the work of Global Toy Experts today.

Richard was frequently interviewed by media worldwide, including ABC News, CNN, MSNBC, the New York Times, Newsweek, and many others. Considered a leading authority on the toy industry, he was often invited to speak at conferences and serve on executive panels, leaving a lasting legacy that remains central to the company’s mission. Today, Steve Velte, co-founder and longtime industry veteran, carries that legacy forward—continuing to guide Global Toy Experts with the same integrity, insight, and forward-thinking approach that Richard helped establish, ensuring the consultancy remains a trusted partner to toy industry leaders worldwide.

Steve Velte
President - Global Toy Experts

Steve Velte is a product guy. He personally owns all or part of a dozen US patents and received his Electrical Engineering degree from Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1984. Steve started his long successful career almost three decades ago with Hewlett-Packard, prior to joining the company’s spinoff Agilent Technologies. During his career his technical achievements included providing first customer market placement and design input for a variety of technologies including state-of-the-art Remote Fiber Test Systems deployed in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, PC- based instrumentation and Hewlett-Packard's “acceSS7” system. With Steve as a key team leader, “acceSS7” system sales grew from zero to over $1 billion of installed base.

After leaving Agilent, Steve became CTO and then President of a publicly traded company -OnScreen Technologies. He raised over 8 million dollars for the company and spearheaded the development of two ground breaking next generation Light Emitting Diode (LED) display products:

RediAlert™ Rapid Dispatch Emergency Sign

Living Window™

After joining GTE, Steve formed an M&A division for the company and is licensed to provide these services for both buyers and sellers of companies and product lines. Here are some additional product development that Steve matured from concept to retail shelves:

Legendary “Cowboy Cactus™” – a three dimensional accessory for car antennas the Cowboy Cactus sported a cowboy hat, sunglasses, a handkerchief and sold over 2.5 million pieces. We established vendor numbers with Walgreens and Walmart among the large customer base.
Antenna Riders™ - Mr. Velte invented a series of two dimensional products that slide onto an antenna and appear to hold on for dear life as a car drives down the road. Licenses with Garfield and Dilbert were secured and creations such as the notable characters of “Carzilla” and the “Outsider” were sold.
“Ellisse” line of touch control dimmers - this a line of touch only light dimmers that are incredibly easy to use and aesthetically different than anything on the market. The holding company, Radiant Controls, was awarded European, Japanese and US patents and received an ADEX Platinum Design Award.
Jishaku™ - Launched in June of 2008, over 250,00 games were sold as RSV’s first flagship product in the game industry and has been sold in over twenty countries. Jishaku was named one of the top 10 games of 2009 by the Chicago Tribune, named Game of the Year by Learning Express and received dozens of additional industry awards.
The SCRUBLE Cube™ - A cross between Scrabble and the Rubiks Cube the Scruble Cube was sold at Toys’R’Us and Barnes & Noble, produced in five different languages and distributed internationally by Brio.
Photoloco™ - A great drawing game that incorporated unique features that made foe a fun and fast paced game. Photoloco was licensed to Giochi Preziosi & University Games and sold throughout the US

So if you are entering a new market, introducing a new product, want to sell your company (or buy one) or simply need prduct development input chances are Steve can help.

Christian Braun
Hobbies & Collectibles - Global Toy Experts

Christian found his way to collecting early. At the age of 15, he started his first business buying and selling old inventory from independent toy stores all over Germany. In 1987, he assisted his older brother in writing a guide to Siku Models and then went on to finance his studies including his MBA by buying and selling collectible toys.

After graduating from the London Business School, his career took many different paths including being a Partner at an M&A boutique in Russia, consulting with Bain & Co in Ukraine, running the largest German radio station, joining an Enterprise software company as Senior Vice President for Business Development, becoming a Partner at a transatlantic M&A boutique for tech businesses and running a Private Equity team for General Electric.

Then in 2000, he returned to the collectibles industry by building the biggest European eBay business with $40 million GMV. He then went on to create the largest network of collectible-related forums with 600,000 members. In 2013 he embarked on his most ambitious project yet by launching hobbyDB - a database that will one day have every collectible ever made. hobbyDB now has 580,000 members and 2,500 volunteers that are all working towards the goal of documenting 100 Billion Collectibles, eventually. Christian also served on the board of Auto-Archives, is an advisor to the Nicola Bulgari Center for American Automotive Heritage, and the Chair of both the Model Car Hall of Fame and the Pop Culture Hall of Fame.

Wendy Levey
Global Toy Experts

Wendy Levey founded and directed Epiphany Community Nursery School, ECNS ETC and STEAM-E Summer Days camp. The school was founded in 1975, the activity center called ECNS ETC was originally called Rhythm and Glues and was founded in 1990 and STEAM-E Summer Days camp was founded in 1996.

Educated at Wheelock College, Bank St. graduate School and Teacher’s College, Wendy decided to start her own school. As the school grew from 5 children at inception to as many as 150 children, she began developing an educational foundation based on 3 blocks: 2s need to learn how to share and separate, 3s need to learn how to be independent and 4s need to be active learners. Each one of the steps builds on the former step. The school was highly multi-cultural celebrating many holidays through food and music.

No institution survives being stagnant, so Wendy added classes in Emergent Reading and Emergent Math for the 4s and Sequencing the Body, Sequencing the Mind for 3-year old children. Because she knows children need educational fluidity, it made sense to have classes and camp available to the children as well. She added Sunrise Movement before school started in the morning, so they can have a gym activity first thing and be ready to learn more capably when they enter the classroom. Healthy body, healthy mind is always important.

Wendy has served on the Boards of two independent schools, a college and a rehabilitation center, helping her to stay current with educational and societal trends. She has also been part of several films about getting into school: Nursery University directed by Mark Simon and Getting Into Kindergarten directed by Pam French.

Wendy Levey now consults full-time on all things education, helping families from all over the world with children from pre-school through high school with their educational journeys in New York City, Westchester and Connecticut. This runs the gamut from child assessments, to parent information sessions individually or to corporations and companies, to interview skill work for middle school, high school or college, to suggestions on classes, books or enrichment specialists, to advocating at the schools applied to. Her close ties to the schools over the years, her respected honesty in dealing with the admissions teams, her true understanding of the strategy in school placement, her belief in fit not brand and her on-site visits for current knowledge of programming and changes are hallmarks of what “all things education” means.

Miguel Ortuno
IT & Design - Global Toy Experts

Miguel has worked in various creative fields for more than 17 years and is thrilled to contribute his talents and experience to the Global Toy Experts team. Having worked as Creative Director for a Chicagoland PR Agency for years, Miguel joins Global Toy Experts to help expand the brand in a bold, bright, fun and professional way. Although having a degree in design, Miguel continues to explore additional education and design opportunities to keep up with this ever-changing industry.