Mattel Inc. on Wednesday said that it had appointed a top division executive to be its first-ever chief operating officer and that the president of another division would be leaving this spring.

The El Segundo toymaker said that Bryan Stockton, president of the company’s international business, will take over the newly created COO position immediately to oversee day-to-day operations.

Stockton, who joined Mattel in 2000, has run the international division for about seven years. The company credited him with increasing from 36 percent to nearly 50 percent the contribution of international business to total sales.

“I am confident that the appointment of Bryan as COO will help drive innovation, sustainable growth across brands and countries, and further leverage our scale and global structure as the world’s largest toy company,” Chief Executive Robert A. Eckert said in a statement.

The company also said that Neil Friedman, Mattel brands president, will leave the company in March. Friedman has been brand president since 2005, when the company combined its Mattel and Fisher Price brands into one division. No reason was given for his departure.

Mattel shares were up 6 cents, or less than a percent, to $25.34 in midday trading on the Nasdaq.