Disney Board Chair Says Josh D’Amaro CEO Choice ‘Done Cleanly’

James Gorman has completed his first mission for Disney: CEO transition, take two.

Tuesday’s news of Josh D’Amaro’s elevation to CEO and Dana Walden’s ascent to the new post of president and chief creative officer marks a more considered process than the one that unfolded in February 2020, when Bob Chapek took the reins from Bob Iger. Chapek, a 30-year Disney executive, endured a rocky tenure that ended after less than three years with Iger’s return. The structure outlined this time around marks a victory for Gorman, the former Morgan Stanley chairman-CEO who joined Disney’s board in 2024, the year after he ended his run as CEO of the investment powerhouse.

Gorman’s assignment in coming to Disney was clear — manage the company’s CEO succession process. On Tuesday, Gorman spoke with Variety about the future of the media giant that he calls “incredibly undervalued.” By multiple accounts, Gorman is getting praise as a steady hand who steered the selection process with equanimity and a distance from the key players that gave him perspective on what Disney needed most. In total, Gorman said the board reviewed at least 100 external candidates before zooming in on four internal contenders: D’Amaro, Walden, Disney Entertainment co-chair Alan Bergman and ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro. The board voted unanimously 10-10 to hand Mickey’s famous sorcerer’s hat to D’Amaro.

A big day and big news for the Walt Disney Company. What were the key factors that led to the choice of Josh D’Amaro?

The board open ended this with a very open mind. We were not prejudging internal versus external any individual. We wanted to thoroughly examine and really find the right match for what this company’s challenges are. Some people, simplistically just assume, because you’ve come out of one business, you know, that’s the focus. That’s obviously silly. We had a lot of opportunity. We evaluated, I don’t know, probably over 100 external people we reviewed in some shape or form, spoke to a few of them. We evaluated four internal candidates and had multiple meetings with them, and we were looking for people who had not just run good businesses, which is what I call necessary but not sufficient, but had the ability to grow into what a CEO does, which is very different from running a business. And Josh demonstrated the curiosity, innovation, energy, passion for the brand, you know, and all the intrinsic qualities. But we were blessed. We had four great people. It was like an embarrassment of riches. They’re all terrific…They’re all very experienced, very successful executives.

There’s been a lot of commentary that this decision, leaning on Josh with his deep background in parks and experiences, that the Disney board sees the future growth as coming from Parks, Experiences, cruises. Is that accurate?

I would say that is the amateur’s narrative. My goodness, look at the entertainment businesses. We’ve got seven studios in the last two years under Alan’s leadership. They produced six billion-dollar movies. We have the ABC linear channel. We’ve got ESPN, a streaming platform that is now solidly profitable and continue to expand its margins. These are huge businesses — that’s half the company. Basically, entertainment plus ESPN together all together would be half the company. So no, this is the board saying that we were looking for the leader to run the whole company. But we love the businesses that make up this company. And I think for many years from now, you’ll see roughly 50-50 between parks and cruises and the rest of the company.

In this changing landscape, what do you think the key areas of focus for Dana in this new film and TV job should be? What do you think are the biggest pitfalls that you have to overcome in film, in television, in streaming?

I don’t want to presume. I will let Dana speak for herself when she gets settled in the job, it’s probably only fair. But obviously how AI is incorporated into movie production, how to continue to generate the kinds of margins that others in the industry have across streaming, ensuring that the storytelling that we do through our IP… Her job as Chief Creative Officer for the whole company, we’d like to ensure that that storytelling goes to all aspects of the company, through our merchandise, through our parks experiences, through our cruises, not just in theaters and and on streaming channels. So, I think she’ll be a great partner for Josh. I think Dana’s a fabulous executive. And it’s just reminding everybody that the heart and center of this company is the magical experiences that we create.

When did you settle on Josh as CEO and carving out this role for Dana in an important support function in an area where he does not have much experience. At what point would you say that you homed in on that structure?

He has some experience. I mean, he’s been sitting on Bob’s operating committee for several for several years. He’s participated in a number of the movie versions as they’ve gone through the various editing processes. He’s worked with directors in bringing like [James] Cameron and bringing the Avatar franchises into the park. So it’s not like he’s come out of nowhere. And as a board, you consider multiple options. We we finally came to a decision when we had the board discussion yesterday. We’ve been playing with various scenarios over a long period of time when, you know, it’s sort of, it gels as a group of people. There were 10 people, they voted, they voted unanimously, and it gelled and it gelled beautifully.

From your perch, James, what are the biggest issues? What are the biggest issues that Josh needs to focus on as he begins his tenure next month?

I think, lead the new team. Your first step is to demonstrate your leadership skills, to relate, as you will, to the 220,000-plus employees, the appropriate sort of brand, setting, culture markers, values statements. Leadership first, and values and strategy. And, you know, there are a lot of opportunities for him to pursue. I don’t want to prejudge the order he does it, but obviously the transformation that AI is having across the industry. Leveraging these incredible franchises that we have and building even more storytelling. New gates into some of the parks, building out the UAE park, which is an incredible initiative that Bob launched with Josh. So a lot for him to do, but right now, I think the world has been waiting for us to get this done and get it done cleanly, and it’s been done and it’s been done cleanly. Bob will transition at the annual meeting [on March 18], which I think is a very elegant time, and he will continue to work as senior advisor and board member through the end of the year. Josh will be up and running, and we’ll get shareholders back into the stock, which will be great. This is incredibly undervalued company. So I’m excited, and I’ll give him the chance to really lay out his plan for you all that fairness soon,

Did you meet in person yesterday, and if so, was it in Burbank?

I can’t talk about how and what we did as a board. I was with Josh and Dana after the meetings, and was there to congratulate them.

(Pictured: Disney board chair James Gorman, incoming CEO Josh D’Amaro, incoming president and chief creative officer Dana Walden and outgoing CEO Bob Iger)