David Neustein became CEO of Jazwares on March 23, 2026, succeeding Judd Zebersky, who departed the role three days earlier. Neustein had served as the company’s Chief Operating Officer for 14 years before taking the top position. The transition concluded a tenure that began in the late 1990s, when Zebersky left a law practice to try his hand at making toys, and ended with Jazwares employing roughly 1,400 people and selling products in more than 100 countries.
China, Factories, and a New Career
The beginning of Jazwares was not a boardroom decision. Judd Zebersky held a JD from the University of Miami School of Law and had been running his own firm when he decided to redirect his career. In 1997, he flew to China without manufacturing experience and spent months on factory floors, learning by watching and doing. He studied injection molding, blow molding, and rotocasting. He worked through design processes and engineering specifications. “I visited toy factories throughout the south of China,” he told Miami Law in 2014, “and immersed myself in the manufacturing, design, and engineering of toys.”
Jazwares built its foundational business on licensed entertainment products, forming partnerships tied to Minecraft, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Fortnite. Acquisitions widened the portfolio: Wicked Cool Toys in 2019, followed by Kellytoy in 2020, which carried Squishmallows and a Pokémon license.
A Brand That Defined the Company
Squishmallows turned into a cultural phenomenon through TikTok, drawing fans including Lady Gaga and Kim Kardashian and selling more than 100 million units in a single year. Individual units retailed between $5 and $30. Jazwares appeared on TIME’s Most Influential Companies list and received workplace honors from Fast Company and Fortune. Judd Zebersky received the South Florida Business Journal’s Ultimate CEOs award in 2024 and appeared on The Business Report’s Top 50 Entrepreneurs list in 2023. Jazwares Cares, the company’s charitable arm founded at the company’s launch, donated millions of toys to children’s hospitals and nonprofits over the years. Refer to this article to learn more.
More about Judd Zebersky on https://news.miami.edu/law/stories/2024/10/judd-and-laura-zebersky-toymakers-extraordinaire.html