Disney’s new CEO will have to do something harder than run the company. He’ll have to be the face of it

For the past six years, Josh D’Amaro has overseen experiences, such as theme parks and cruises, at the Walt Disney Company. Starting March 18, he’ll add the rest of the company to his responsibilities.

Disney has tapped D’Amaro as its new chief executive officer, taking the reins from Bob Iger and becoming just the ninth person to run the century-old entertainment giant.

D’Amaro won a highly competitive race for the job, fending off Disney’s entertainment co-chairman, Dana Walden. Walden will remain with the company in the newly created position of president and chief creative officer.

In becoming CEO, D’Amaro also becomes the public face of Disney, a role that’s more than ceremonial. Since Walt Disney first created the company, the CEO has been a highly visible presence not only in Hollywood and on Wall Street, but in pop culture.

Previous CEOs, including Iger and Michael Eisner, were nearly as famous as the stars in Disney’s films.

Ready for his close-up?

D’Amaro has been assuming an increasingly public presence in the past several years, with media appearances and high-profile events, such as overseeing the recent christening of the Disney Destiny cruise ship.

He has also been closely involved in some of the company’s biggest projects, including the $60 billion expansion of the parks and experiences division and the recently announced forthcoming Abu Dhabi park.

“About a year ago,” D’Amaro said during a conversation with Fast Company and other media in 2024, “I found myself in Bob’s office and we were talking about the last 100 years and everything that had happened in our products around the world. And we talked about the number of stories we hadn’t been able to tell yet and the number of acres we have available that we can exercise and the number of fans out there which would want to participate in that. Bob looked at me and said, ‘Go.’”

A long history

D’Amaro joined Disney in 1998, working at various leadership positions at Disneyland.

He eventually worked his way to president of Walt Disney World and in 2020 was named chairman of Disney Experiences, where he oversees all 12 theme parks and the company’s 57 hotels, as well as the cruise lines, Disney Consumer Products, and, perhaps critically, the company’s Imagineering unit.

Among the theme park rides that have been built under his watch are Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, the Marvel-themed Avengers Campus, and Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway.

He helped lead the company’s $1.5 billion investment in Epic Games last year and could make video games a bigger part of the company’s focus in the coming years.

D’Amaro was also responsible for guiding Disney parks through the pandemic, a job that seemed almost impossible in 2020. When the decision was made to reopen the parks, he oversaw the changes that let the company regain a critical revenue source, but kept visitors safe.

“We knew we would have to change, but the one thing we would not compromise on was our storytelling, making sure that any guest who walks through those gates feels the same Disney they’ve always felt,” says D’Amaro.

To do that, Disney had to shake things up. Parades were out, since having people crowded along a parade route was a hazard. But character cavalcades—smaller processions that saw Disney characters walking, riding in vehicles, on mini floats, or even on horseback through the park—took their place at a frequency that was much greater than the old parade schedule.

Other characters showed up in new locations. (Goofy, for example, was sometimes seen fishing off the wharf at California Adventure.) That time period also saw the launch of the company’s virtual queue system.

The parks have since become an even bigger financial powerhouse for the company.

In its most recent earnings, released Monday, Disney announced the experiences division crossed $10 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time. Theme parks in the U.S. alone brought in $6.91 billion in revenue, despite softness with international visitors.

“Josh D’Amaro is an exceptional leader and the right person to become our next CEO,” Iger said in a statement Tuesday. “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.”

Shares of the Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) were down about 1.61% in late-morning trading on Tuesday after the announcement. The stock is likewise down more than 8% year to date.

When the boss won’t quit

D’Amaro is the second person to succeed Iger as CEO. In 2020, Bob Chapek, who had been in charge of Disney Parks and Experiences, was named CEO, but the transition was anything but smooth.

Wall Street was surprised that the company had chosen someone from the parks side and not from the company’s streaming unit. Chapek’s management style came under fire and caused some political tensions.

In 2022, as the company’s share price began to fall, the board replaced him, bringing Iger back.

James Gorman, chairman of the Disney board, who led the search for the company’s new leader, said on CNBC Tuesday that the situation won’t repeat itself with D’Amaro’s selection.

“We won’t have the drama we had last time. That I can assure you,” he said.

D’Amaro, in a statement, underscored his good relationship with Iger, thanking him for his friendship and mentorship, while outlining his vision for Disney’s future.

“There is no limit to what Disney can achieve,” he said, “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.”