Disney Board Names Josh D’Amaro as Next CEO, Elevates Dana Walden to New Chief Creative Role

Crowds lining up outside Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at Walt Disney World this winter may not have known it, but the executive who spent years obsessing over ride throughput and guest satisfaction at the parks is about to run the entire company.

The Walt Disney Co. board of directors has selected Josh D’Amaro, chairman of Disney Experiences, as the company’s next chief executive officer, ending years of speculation over who would follow Robert A. Iger and reshaping the balance of power inside one of the world’s most closely watched media conglomerates.

CEO transition set for March 18

In a unanimous vote on Monday, Feb. 2, the board elected D’Amaro, 54, to succeed Iger as CEO effective March 18, the date of Disney’s annual meeting of shareholders. The company announced the decision publicly the next day. At that meeting, Iger is scheduled to step down from the top job and transition into a newly defined role as senior advisor to the board through the end of 2026.

The board also created a new corporate post, naming Dana Walden president and chief creative officer of The Walt Disney Co., with responsibility for overseeing storytelling and creative strategy across the company’s film, television, streaming and experiences businesses. Walden, currently co-chair of Disney Entertainment, will report to D’Amaro when the changes take effect.

“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,” James P. Gorman, Disney’s board chair and head of its succession planning committee, said in a statement announcing the move.

A parks veteran inherits Disney’s profit engine

D’Amaro, a 28-year company veteran who started in 1998 at Disneyland Resort, currently oversees Disney Experiences, the segment that includes 12 theme parks, 57 resort hotels, Disney Cruise Line, Disney Vacation Club, consumer products and Walt Disney Imagineering. The unit has become Disney’s profit engine in recent years, generating $36 billion in revenue in fiscal 2025 and accounting for the majority of the company’s segment operating income.

Disney said Experiences produced record full-year operating income of about $10 billion in fiscal 2025, up from the prior year, even as the broader company grappled with soft advertising markets and the long-term decline of traditional cable networks.

“The strength of Disney’s future has never been more evident than it is today,” D’Amaro said in the announcement. “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.”

Under D’Amaro’s leadership, Disney has committed to invest $60 billion over 10 years into parks and cruise expansion and has rolled out high-profile projects including Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, Avengers Campus, World of Frozen at Hong Kong Disneyland and the Fantasy Springs expansion at Tokyo DisneySea. He also has overseen Disney’s push into new “experiences-adjacent” ventures, such as a planned persistent Disney universe inside the online game Fortnite through a deal with Epic Games.

Iger endorses D’Amaro and Walden

Iger, 74, who returned as CEO in November 2022 after the ouster of his handpicked successor Bob Chapek, endorsed the choice of D’Amaro and Walden.

“Josh D’Amaro is an exceptional leader and the right person to become our next CEO,” Iger said in a statement. “He has an instinctive appreciation of the Disney brand and an ability to combine creativity with operational excellence.”

Of Walden, he said she “commands tremendous respect from the creative community” and is “a wonderful choice to serve in this new leadership role.”

Walden’s promotion both clarifies and codifies a division of labor that in earlier eras at Disney largely resided in the CEO’s office. As president and chief creative officer, she will be responsible for ensuring that “storytelling and creative expression across every audience touchpoint” reflects the Disney brand and engages global audiences, the company said. The role is described as a “historic first” for the enterprise.

For Walden, a veteran of 21st Century Fox who joined Disney in 2019, the move is also a turning point in a long-running parlor game in Hollywood and on Wall Street. She has frequently been mentioned as a leading contender to become Disney’s first female CEO. The board instead chose a parks and operations executive to run the company while giving Walden sweeping authority over creative output and a long-term contract.

Succession questions linger after the Chapek era

The leadership changes come after Disney’s board and Iger faced sustained criticism for how prior succession efforts were handled.

In 2016, then–chief operating officer Tom Staggs, widely viewed as Iger’s likely heir, unexpectedly left the company after the board declined to formally designate him as successor. In 2020, Chapek, another executive with deep experience in the parks and consumer products businesses, was elevated to CEO just before the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered theme parks and halted film production.

Chapek’s tenure was marred by internal tensions and high-profile missteps, including a bruising political fight in Florida over the company’s response to state legislation on classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity. In 2022, just months after the board had extended his contract, Chapek was removed and Iger was brought back, prompting proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services to describe Disney’s succession process as “critically flawed” and a “single-issue indictment” of the board’s oversight.

In early 2023, the board created a formal succession planning committee and, in 2024, named Gorman, the former chief executive of Morgan Stanley, as its chair. Disney has emphasized that D’Amaro’s elevation follows a “thorough and extensive succession planning process” in which internal candidates received mentorship from Iger, outside coaching and “direct engagement with all directors.”

The company’s disclosures also appear designed to address concerns about Iger’s continued influence. Under an amended employment agreement, Iger will serve as senior advisor beginning March 18 and report exclusively to the board of directors, not to D’Amaro. He will remain a director through Dec. 31, 2026, subject to shareholder approval at this year’s annual meeting, and will step down from the board’s executive committee after the March vote.

Some critics remain skeptical. Investor Nelson Peltz, whose hedge fund Trian Partners waged a proxy fight for board seats in 2024 focused largely on succession and capital allocation, has accused Iger of “rigging” the process to maintain sway behind the scenes. Peltz, who no longer holds a significant stake in Disney, claimed in recent interviews that the structure could allow Iger to overshadow his successor, as he argues happened during Chapek’s tenure.

Disney has rejected that characterization and presented the senior advisor role as a defined, time-limited position meant to smooth the transition and draw on Iger’s experience as the company navigates ongoing shifts in streaming, sports and technology.

Mixed signals on Disney’s outlook

D’Amaro steps into the CEO role at a moment of mixed signals for Disney’s finances. For the year ended in September 2025, Disney reported revenue of $94.4 billion, up 3% from the prior year, and total segment operating income of $17.55 billion, up 12%. Earnings per share more than doubled year over year, helped in part by cost-cutting and the rebound in Experiences.

At the same time, the company has faced weaker results at its linear television networks and a still-competitive streaming landscape. Disney said its combined Disney+ and Hulu offerings reached 196 million subscribers by late 2025 and achieved quarterly profitability, a marked improvement from multi-billion-dollar streaming losses three years earlier. But its stock price has lagged the broader market, and analysts continue to question the long-term economics of sports rights and general entertainment streaming.

In early trading following the leadership announcement, Disney shares slipped modestly, reflecting what analysts described as a muted but watchful reaction from investors pleased to see clarity on succession but aware of the challenges ahead.

Internally, initial reaction has been more upbeat. Current and former employees said D’Amaro is widely regarded as a visible, hands-on leader in the parks, known for walking properties and engaging with front-line workers — whom Disney calls “cast members” — as well as with annual passholders and vacationers.

He will now be responsible not only for those 185,000 workers in Experiences, but also for steering Disney’s strategy in streaming, film studios, ESPN and emerging areas such as artificial intelligence. The company has announced plans to deepen its use of technology in both content and experiences, including collaborations with Epic Games and agreements intended to allow the creation of video featuring Disney characters under controlled conditions.

If the transition unfolds as announced, Iger’s two-decade run as the dominant figure at Disney will formally end on Dec. 31, 2026, when his advisory role and board service conclude. By then, D’Amaro and Walden will have had nearly two years to prove whether a parks operator and a centralized creative chief can together guide Disney through one of the most uncertain periods in modern media — and finally close the book on the company’s long-running succession debate.