by Chris Lucas
Guest Column
DisneyBizJournal.com
February 13, 2022
This month marks the second anniversary of Bob Chapek being named as the seventh CEO of the Walt Disney Company.
Unfortunately for Chapek, the promotion came just a few weeks before Disney faced their greatest outside crisis since World War II, the Covid pandemic that shut down most of their revenue streams around the world.
Even so, Bob Chapek has successfully managed to guide Disney through the rough waters, keeping them solvent while competitors struggled. Former CEO Bob Iger, Chapek’s immediate predecessor, stayed on until December 2021 to assist Chapek.
Here are some things you might not know about Bob Chapek:
• He grew up in Hammond, Indiana, in the 1960s and early 70s. His parents were middle class and both worked outside of the home. Each year starting in 1972, the family would drive to Walt Disney World from Indiana for summer vacation.
• Chapek is a lifelong Disney fan who dreamed of one day working for the company. After graduating Indiana University with a degree in biology, he went to Michigan State for an MBA so he could work in the business world with the goal of a job at Disney.
• Chapek’s first job out of college was for an advertising agency (J. Walter Thompson) then he went to work for Heinz in Pittsburgh as a brand manager. After a few years, he moved to California in 1993 to take an internship with Disney.
• After two years as an intern, Chapek started moving up the Disney corporate ladder in the home entertainment division. Eventually, he became head of the department.
• Chapek utilized one of Walt’s key strategies by creating the “Vault” for Disney Home Video, pulling certain classic titles from circulation, making them hard to find, and then releasing them again every few years for a new generation, just as Walt did with theatrical releases on a seven year (or so) cycle.
• In 2012, Chapek was put in charge of the consumer products division, where he helped to streamline Disney’s licensed merchandise into franchises (Princesses, Villains, Super Heroes, classic characters, dogs, cats, etc.) to make them easier to display and sell on store shelves. That accounted for a three billion dollar lift in merchandise sales in one year.
• In 2015, Chapek was made the head of the parks and experiences division, where he oversaw the largest expansion of the Disney parks, resorts and cruise lines in their history. Attendance also rose to record levels.
• Bob Chapek’s annual salary of $2.5 million is on the low end for CEOs of major international corporations. Each year, he can qualify for contractual performance bonuses based on goals set by his bosses - Disney’s Board of Directors - but that number fluctuates up and down.
• In addition to being Disney CEO, Chapek is on the national board of Make-A-Wish, a charity he has been involved with for decades.
• Bob Chapek is quieter, more reserved and private than past Disney CEOs like Bob Iger and Michael Eisner. He is, admittedly, more of an organizational person than a creative one, but he has made it a point to have meetings with his creative teams at least once a week to develop strategy and hear ideas/complaints.
• The Disney of 2022 is unlike the company that Walt - who died in 1966 - created in 1923. That company was a smaller Hollywood studio that eventually had one theme park and a distribution arm for films and other media. Chapek’s Disney is a complex, interconnected multi-billion dollar global corporation with hundreds of divisions, involved in many industries and with almost 200,000 employees worldwide.
• As such, Chapek has created a blueprint with three pillars, based on Walt’s own philosophy of business, to lead Disney into its next 100 years. Those pillars for Disney are:
1) Storytelling Excellence
2) Innovation
3) Focus on Future Audiences
So far, Chapek and his executive staff have lived up to Walt’s vision – keeping Disney the number one name in family entertainment. They’ve grown Disney far beyond what Walt could have even hoped for and will continue to reach even greater heights as the years go on.
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Chris Lucas is the author of Top Disney: 100 Top Ten Lists of the Best of Disney, from the Man to the Mouse and Beyond.
On the PRESS CLUB C Podcast, enjoy Ray’s discussion with Chris Lucas about his career as an actor, author and Disney expert. Tune in right here!
https://disneybizjournal.blogspot.com/2020/05/star-wars-day-george-lucas-and-walt.html
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