After a year of rumors, speculation and palace intrigue, the horse race has ended and white smoke is emanating from the Casey’s Corner chimney at Walt Disney World, as the company has officially announced that Parks & Resorts Chair Josh D’Amaro will be the next Disney CEO, replacing current CEO Bob Iger. Here are the official details and TWDC’s full press release, followed by our commentary.
The Walt Disney Company Board of Directors announced today that, in a unanimous vote held on Monday, it elected Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D’Amaro to become Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company, effective at the upcoming Annual Meeting on March 18, 2026, when he will succeed longtime Disney CEO Robert A. Iger.
The Board also intends to appoint D’Amaro as a director immediately following that meeting. As head of the company’s largest business segment with $36 billion in annual revenue in FY2025 and 185,000 Cast Members and employees worldwide, D’Amaro, a 28-year Disney veteran, is the architect of the largest global expansion in Disney Experiences history, and has led the segment to new heights financially, creatively, and in guest satisfaction.
“Josh D’Amaro possesses that rare combination of inspiring leadership and innovation, a keen eye for strategic growth opportunities, and a deep passion for the Disney brand and its people – all of which make him the right person to take the helm as Disney’s next CEO,” said James Gorman, Chairman of The Walt Disney Company Board of Directors.
“Throughout this search process, Josh has demonstrated a strong vision for the company’s future and a deep understanding of the creative spirit that makes Disney unique in an ever-changing marketplace. He has an outstanding record of business achievement, collaborating with some of the biggest names in entertainment to bring their stories to life in our parks, showcasing the power of combining Disney storytelling with cutting-edge technology. The Board believes he is exceptionally well prepared to guide this global company forward to serve our consumers around the world and create long-term value for shareholders.”
“Josh D’Amaro is an exceptional leader and the right person to become our next CEO,” said Robert A. Iger, CEO, The Walt Disney Company. “He has an instinctive appreciation of the Disney brand, and a deep understanding of what resonates with our audiences, paired with the rigor and attention to detail required to deliver some of our most ambitious projects. His ability to combine creativity with operational excellence is exemplary and I am thrilled for Josh and the company.”
Concurrent with D’Amaro’s appointment, Dana Walden, Co-Chairman of Disney Entertainment, has been named President and Chief Creative Officer of The Walt Disney Company, also effective March 18. As Co-Chairman of Disney Entertainment, Walden has led Disney’s world-renowned, award-winning entertainment media, news, and content businesses globally, including Disney’s streaming businesses.
In this new role – a historic first for the enterprise – Walden will report directly to D’Amaro and will ensure that storytelling and creative expression across every audience touchpoint consistently reflect the brand, engage audiences at scale, and advance core business objectives, while driving enterprise-wide initiatives and translating vision into action.
“Dana Walden is an excellent leader who commands tremendous respect from the creative community,” continued Iger. “Given that creativity is at the heart of everything Disney does, she is a wonderful choice to serve in this new leadership role. In the years since Dana joined Disney, she has accumulated great knowledge about the many facets of our businesses and brands, and is very well prepared to be President and Chief Creative Officer.”
Bob Iger has provided extensive mentorship to the internal candidates throughout the succession planning process, and upon transition will continue to serve as Senior Advisor and a member of the Disney Board until his retirement from the company on December 31, 2026.
Iger has led Disney to unprecedented creative and business success during his nearly two decades leading the company. Since his return in 2022, he has spearheaded a strategic transformation of the company, guiding Disney through a period of significant industry disruption and positioning it for long-term growth in this new era of entertainment.
As part of this transformation, Iger moved quickly to restructure the organization, empower creative leaders, and restore financial discipline, establishing four strategic priorities: strengthening the quality and economic output of the film studios, delivering sustained profitability in streaming, positioning ESPN as the premier digital destination for sports fans, and turbocharging growth across Disney Experiences. Today, Disney is more agile and more resilient, and D’Amaro will take the helm of a company that is in a vastly stronger position than it was three years ago.
“I am immensely grateful to the Board for entrusting me with leading a company that means so much to me and millions around the world,” said Josh D’Amaro, incoming CEO of The Walt Disney Company. “Disney’s strength has always come from our people and the creative excellence that defines our stories and experiences. There is no limit to what Disney can achieve, and I am excited to work with our teams across the company and brilliant creative partners to honor Disney’s remarkable legacy while continuing to innovate, grow, and deliver exceptional value for our consumers and shareholders. I also want to express my gratitude to Bob Iger for his generous mentorship, his friendship, and the profound impact of his leadership.”
“On behalf of the entire Board, we extend our deepest gratitude to Bob Iger for his extraordinary leadership and dedication to The Walt Disney Company,” continued Gorman. “The Board asked Bob to return as CEO in 2022 for two critical reasons. First, to lead the company through a challenging transition and ensure Disney was fit for purpose for the future. Second, to strengthen the leadership bench and to help develop candidates for the CEO transition. Bob has delivered on both priorities, while also guiding Disney through a transformative period with an ambitious strategy that has further strengthened its position as the world’s premier entertainment company. After nearly two decades leading Disney, the Iger era has been defined by enormous growth, an unyielding commitment to excellence in creativity and innovation, and exemplary stewardship of this iconic institution.”
About New Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro
Josh D’Amaro, 54, has served as Chairman of the Disney Experiences segment since 2020, and prior to that was President of Walt Disney World Resort. He joined the company in 1998 at Disneyland Resort.
As Chairman of Disney Experiences, D’Amaro oversees 12 theme parks and 57 resort hotels worldwide, with plans for a new park in Abu Dhabi. His responsibilities include Disney Signature Experiences, including Disney Cruise Line, Disney Vacation Club, Adventures by Disney, Disney Institute, and Storyliving by Disney, as well as overseeing Walt Disney Imagineering. He also manages digital ventures, including the collaboration with Epic Games to create a Disney universe within Fortnite, and Disney Consumer Products.
D’Amaro has been instrumental in expanding Disney’s iconic franchises through the creation of immersive, story-driven experiences at Disney’s theme parks, such as Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, the Marvel-themed Avengers Campus, Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, and World of Frozen.
Building on this momentum, upcoming projects include the development of a Monsters, Inc.-themed land at Disney Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World Resort, a new Avatar destination at the Disneyland Resort, and expansive new areas inspired by Cars and Disney Villains as part of the largest-ever expansion of the Magic Kingdom.
Over his nearly three-decade career at Disney, he has held leadership roles across the company both in the U.S. and internationally, including in finance, business strategy, marketing, creative development and operations. His past positions include President of Disneyland Resort and President of Walt Disney World Resort.
D’Amaro earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Georgetown University.
“I am incredibly proud to step away at a moment when Disney’s future has never been brighter,” continued Iger. “I’m confident Disney will continue to innovate and put the spirit of Walt at the heart of everything it does – from its new park in Abu Dhabi to the groundbreaking partnerships just announced with OpenAI and the NFL, to the countless upcoming creative projects that will enthrall audiences around the world. Disney has shaped who I am as a leader, and I will always be grateful to this extraordinary company and for the opportunity to lead it over all these years.”
Disney’s Succession Planning Committee
D’Amaro’s election as CEO caps a thorough and extensive succession planning process. In January 2023, the Board of Directors formed a special Succession Planning Committee to support the Board in planning for a transition of leadership that aligns with the company’s long-term strategic goals.
At the direction of the Board, the Committee and the full Board undertook a deliberate, multi-year succession planning process, meeting regularly to evaluate internal and external candidates, transition structures, organizational frameworks, and planning for potential impacts of succession decisions across the company.
The Committee is led by Gorman as Chair since 2024, with directors Mary T. Barra, Jeremy Darroch, and Calvin R. McDonald also currently serving as members – all of whom have direct experience in CEO and senior leadership succession planning for Fortune 500 companies. D’Amaro and Walden underwent a rigorous preparation process, including extensive mentorship from Iger, external coaching, and direct engagement with all directors.
Disney’s Experienced Executives
D’Amaro will be supported by a team of senior executives who have worked seamlessly together for several years at Disney to expertly advance Iger and the Board’s creative, financial, and reputational goals. The company’s senior leadership team brings decades of experience with a proven ability to navigate periods of change while delivering strong business outcomes.
The company is fortunate to have Disney Entertainment Co-Chairman Alan Bergman and ESPN Chairman James Pitaro continuing in their critical leadership roles working with D’Amaro and Walden. Additionally, supporting the new CEO is an exceptional team of executive officers. These leaders have overseen major strategic transformations, expanded key franchises, and driven performance across multiple business cycles.
Their deep institutional knowledge, operational discipline, and collaborative culture provide a strong foundation for continued momentum, promoting continuity, stability, and clear execution as the company enters its next chapter under D’Amaro’s leadership.
Our Commentary
We’ll be back with more commentary later this week about why Josh D’Amaro is the right pick for Walt Disney World and Disneyland fans, so stay tuned for that. For now, here are our first impressions of the news…
In our view, this arrangement was the best-case outcome of the realistic possibilities. It’s honestly shocking just how smooth this process has gone and how little palace intrigue has emerged via leaks from within the company. Now that makes sense, as the Disney has created an ‘everyone wins’ arrangement.
It’s very common in succession processes for the losing candidate to leave the company in question, which is something that happened at Disney on a couple of occasions during, ahem, unsuccessful or abandoned successful attempts. Here, the company gets to have its cake and eat it too by retaining its core senior leadership team–not just Walden and D’Amaro, but also Disney Entertainment Co-Chairman Alan Bergman and ESPN Chairman James Pitaro.
Industry insiders had speculated for months that this might end up being the arrangement, with the Disney board possibly being hesitant to give D’Amaro the keys to the kingdom on his own after the Bob Chapek debacle. Even though the two are dramatically different and D’Amaro is more like Iger than Chapek, D’Amaro is still a relative unknown in Hollywood.
There has also been speculation of a co-CEO arrangement, which is trendy thanks to the success of that arrangement at Netflix. I’m thankful that Disney averted that potential disaster by establishing a clear hierarchy. It may work at other companies, but Disney has had, ahem, “issues” with palace intrigue and in-fighting in the past. Even if the dynamic is a collaborative one of co-equals where everyone gets along and consensus is common–and hopefully it is–there needs to be a defined power structure.
As you can see from the above profiles, there’s very little overlap in the experiences of D’Amaro and Walden. He’s never worked in Hollywood, and she’s never worked in theme parks. These gaps in product knowledge and expertise mean that either one would necessarily be a fish out of water when it comes to a significant portion of Disney’s biggest divisions.
The company has attempted to remedy this by immersing all candidates in business units with which they’re unfamiliar, but there have been no role swaps to further that process. The rationale for this arrangement is exactly what we discussed above–familiarity, or lack thereof, with the disparate business units.
The Walt Disney Company is a massive, multi-faceted organism that’s actually more like several different companies in one. It’s known as a legacy media company, but has evolved into a theme park (and cruise line) operation, plus sports, streaming, and several side hustles. It’s difficult to impossible for one person to be fully versed in everything. Even Bob Iger had blind spots.
In our selfish view as theme park fans, the D’Amaro and Walden arrangement is optimal because it means D’Amaro won’t be stretched too thin as CEO and will be able to focus more on the important things: theme parks. D’Amaro is reported to be good at delegation, putting together a capable team he trusts and empowering them to execute, so here’s hoping this is a continuation of that.
I won’t pretend to know much about Dana Walden. She seems to be reasonably well-liked within Hollywood and is good at what she does. However, my knowledge of her is entirely superficial.
Walden makes sense given the paramount importance of content to Disney. This has likely been amplified by Chapek’s disastrous handling of the Hollywood side of the business, from alienating talent to approving a pipeline of shows and films that managed the impressive feat of being both expensive and awful. I would’ve guessed that greenlighting a bunch of sequels and mediocre live action remakes would be easy stuff that anyone could get right. Apparently not.
But it doesn’t take knowing anything about Walden to understand that studios and theme parks are vastly different businesses. Hollywood and Disneyland might be an hour away from one another by car (give or take depending upon traffic), but they are worlds apart. Having a Hollywood veteran near the top is a huge win for that side of Disney’s business.
It’s not surprising that this ‘everyone wins’ compromise is the outcome. Part of the reason James Gorman was highly-coveted to lead the Succession Planning Committee was because of the way he pulled off the three-way contest to replace him as Morgan Stanley CEO.
Instead of the losers walking to c-suite positions elsewhere, Morgan Stanley offered them fancy job titles and threw a lot of money at them in the form of one-time bonuses. Barring potential future fallout, Gorman seems to have worked his magic again, and executed another seamless succession search. Kudos to him and the committee.
Of course, Disney is no stranger to such a collaborative c-suite relationship itself. There’s the obvious example of Roy and Walt Disney, building the foundation for the company in its early days. More recently, the modern blueprint was created by the two-man team of Michael Eisner and Frank Wells, who grew Disney into the empire it is today during the Disney Decade of the 1990s.
Wells served as President and Chief Operating Officer, while Eisner was Chairman and CEO. They enjoyed tremendous success up until Wells’ death in 1994. But you already know this if you’ve read DisneyWar. And if you haven’t read DisneyWar, well, read DisneyWar!
Our sincere hope is that D’Amaro and Walden can replicate that relationship, and achieve the same level of success. If they’re even half as good as the halcyon days of the Eisner-Wells days, fans are in for a treat. Of course, they will need to overstaying their welcome–hopefully some positive lessons have been learned there, and from Iger.
There is little doubt that many Disney fans will be disappointed by this news. Short of bringing back Michael Eisner (the good version, not the bad one) or the second-coming of Walt himself, they wouldn’t have been satisfied by the incoming CEO.
As we noted at the top, we view this as the best-case outcome of the realistic possibilities. (Emphasis added for clarity.) Sure, I would favor some fictional scenario where Disney coaxes back Matt Ouimet and names him CEO with Pete Docter as President and Chief Creative Officer. But that was never actually in the cards.
About a decade ago when this process was first playing out, fans hoped that John Lasseter would be CEO; once he left, Kevin Feige became the preferred candidate. I’m not sure who that fan-favorite CEO would be today. My original ‘dream scenario’ was an arrangement like this with Tom Staggs and Kevin Mayer, but I’ll readily concede even that was a romanticized version of both leaders, based on a yearning for a different time at Disney.
Regardless, whatever we fans want is a fantasy. When contemplating an idealized candidate, we often do not consider the hard realities of doing the job of Chief Executive Officer in the year 2026. We have a rose-colored glasses on, and daydream of boundless possibilities that are detached from real world constraints, and have little chance of ever becoming reality.
It’s kind of like how celebrities poll incredibly highly for political office based on their likability and people projecting their own beliefs and preferences onto them. But once they have to open their mouths to espouse policy positions, polling inevitably plummets. It has to, because the dream is dead.
When it comes to leading the Walt Disney Company, fans understandably yearn for a return to the days of Roy and Walt or Michael and Frank, and want to see people elevated with the right mix of creativity, leadership, and passion for the product. In another era, that might’ve been how the succession process would’ve played out. For better or worse, the world has changed since the 1950s or even 1990s. Wall Street demands differently, and companies are much more focused on the financials than back in the day.
Some fans want to see foundational changes in the way the Walt Disney Company operates; a complete paradigm shift. They point out that Josh D’Amaro isn’t that different from Bob Iger, and that priorities, philosophy and overall direction will remain unchanged. That’s precisely the point, though.
The same could’ve been said with Bob Chapek, quite honestly, when that change was announced back in February 2020. And yet, there were massive differences in leadership style and execution. Frankly, I’ve seen far too many claims that Chapek, Iger, and D’Amaro are all one-in-the-same. That’s absolute nonsense; revisionist history at best, displaying a startling lack of nuance.
Ultimately, this is to say that the specifics of leadership do matter. We view Josh D’Amaro as a great pick to be the next Disney CEO when operating within the bounds of reality. His background coming up through the theme parks, as opposed to Hollywood or Consumer Products, should be a tremendous asset and big win for fans of Walt Disney World and Disneyland first and foremost.
The team of he and Dana Walden at the top is not going to radically overhaul the Walt Disney Company, but no serious candidate was. What this new leadership arrangement ensures is continuity, and building off the foundation and fixes made in the last few years during the post-Chapek era. Personally, I’m excited–as that involves investing at least $60 billion on theme parks, and those expansion plans being overseen at the top by a parks person.
The Succession Planning Committee managing to thread the needle and retain other top talent is fantastic news, which ensures that the disparate divisions of Disney will be able to focus on their respective priorities. Hopefully, this fresh blood and renewed focus at the top is the start of a new Disney Decade!
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OUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of Parks Chair Josh D’Amaro becoming Disney CEO, effective on March 18, 2026? Excited for an actual parks person to finally succeed Disney CEO Bob Iger? Disappointed by this news? Who should it have been? Pleased that Dana Walden is sticking around and has been elevated? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!