Josh D’Amaro

Josh D'Amaro, once the president of Walt Disney World, will become the CEO of Walt Disney Co., replacing Bob Iger, the company announced Tuesday.

D'Amaro, 54, has been chairman of Disney Experiences worldwide since May 2020. He was leader of WDW from November 2019 to May 2020.

The Walt Disney Co. board of directors announced their unanimous pick of D'Amaro, a 28-year Disney veteran, on Monday. His new role will be effective March 18.

As chairman of Disney Experiences, D'Amaro has been responsible for 12 theme parks and 57 resort hotels worldwide. He also has been overseeing Disney Cruise Line, Disney Vacation Club, Adventures by Disney, Disney Consumer Products and Walt Disney Imagineering.

D'Amaro was considered a frontrunner for the CEO job by industry watchers.

Other Disney-owned entities include its movie studios, ABC network, sports programming and the Disney+ streaming service. The company also has announced plans to build a theme park in Abu Dhabi.

According to Walt Disney Co. filings with the SEC, D'Amaro's annual base salary will be $2.5 million. An annual bonus is targeted for 250% his base, according to the filing. He will receive a "one-time long-term incentive award" of $9.7 million, and there's another long-term incentive award listed with a target value of more than $26 million.

Under D'Amaro, expansion projects have gotten underway at Walt Disney World, including two "Cars" attractions and a villains land for Magic Kingdom plus a Tropical Americas land with "Encanto" and "Indiana Jones" attractions at Disney's Animal Kingdom. D'Amaro also was Animal Kingdom's vice president and the VP for resort and transportation operations, plus he was president of Disneyland in California in 2018 and 2019.

On Monday, Walt Disney Co. announced that its Experiences division had a record $10 billion in revenue for the quarter that ended in December.

In other executive moves, Dana Walden, co-chairman of Disney Entertainment, has been named president and chief creative officer of Walt Disney Co., also effective March 18. No successor was named for D'Amaro's position.

Iger, 74, will be senior adviser and a member of the Disney board until his second retirement from the company Dec. 31. He was CEO from 2005 to 2020, then executive chairman through 2021. Bob Chapek was named Disney's CEO in February 2020, and D'Amaro became his successor in the Experiences role. In November 2022, the Disney board, citing financial struggles, dismissed Chapek and re-hired Iger.

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