Dana Walden may defy critics and make historical past

In 1994, a captain of the media and leisure trade noticed one thing in Dana Walden that made him assume she was able to a much bigger function.

Thirty years later, which will occur once more.

That first time, the manager was Peter Chernin, then president of twentieth Century Fox Filmed Leisure and later president and chief working officer of Rupert Murdoch’s Information Corp. Chernin plucked Walden from Fox’s company communications division and gave her a job in TV.

In 2024, the manager is Bob Iger, Disney’s CEO, and the place he is contemplating Walden for is that of his successor, in response to individuals conversant in the method. The appointment would make Walden the primary feminine CEO of the Walt Disney Co. in its 100-year historical past.

Only a yr into her early profession at twentieth Century Fox, working in publicity, Walden delivered a presentation at an organization retreat in Santa Barbara, California. She was decided to go away an enduring impression on Chernin, now chairman and CEO of funding agency The Chernin Group, after a number of encounters wherein he’d by no means remembered her.

To get his consideration, Walden determined to be daring. She advised Fox executives, together with Chernin, that they weren’t being aggressive sufficient to safe prime expertise. Fox wanted to take greater swings to generate relationships and land exhibits that would make it to syndication, Walden argued. A spokesperson for Walden confirmed the main points of the presentation.

When the retreat ended, Chernin referred to as Peter Roth, then president of twentieth Century Fox Tv, who later ran Warner Bros.’ TV division.

“The subsequent day she was in my workplace, and we gave her a job in programming,” Roth mentioned in an interview.

That set Walden on a profession course correction that is led her to the doorstep of turning into Iger’s successor.

Walden, co-chair of Disney Leisure, is competing internally with Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D’Amaro, ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro, and Alan Bergman, who’s Leisure co-chair with Walden, to be named the following CEO of Disney, mentioned the individuals acquainted, who requested to not be named as a result of the discussions are personal.

Iger plans to call a successor after which stick round at Disney to show that particular person the job earlier than departing on the finish of 2026, CNBC reported in September. He is combating to take care of management of Disney’s future in opposition to a risk from Trian Companions’ Nelson Peltz.

Peltz has argued he ought to help spearhead a successor search, contemplating Iger has pushed again his retirement 5 instances and returned to the job after Bob Chapek, named CEO in 2020, was fired in 2022. Peltz has claimed the Disney board cannot be trusted to deal with succession. Disney shareholders will vote on Peltz’s candidacy to the board at its annual assembly Wednesday.

A number of executives at Disney privately advised CNBC they consider Walden, 59, is the favourite to land the highest job, although they don’t have any inside information of the method, and their proximity to Walden could skew their notion. Her relationship with Iger (she lives simply blocks from his home in Brentwood, California), her observe file of success as a TV government, her belief amongst Disney board members, and the symbolism about what it could imply to have a feminine government all work in her favor.

“She’s the one finest expertise exec to come back out of TV within the final 20 years,” Chernin mentioned in an interview.

“She can be an impressive CEO,” Roth added. “Completely excellent.”

Walden declined to remark for this story. Greater than 20 colleagues and associates spoke with CNBC about her strengths, faults and the perceived chance she is going to take over for Iger.

Allies of Walden’s advised CNBC she will not even focus on succession with them (although many mentioned they tease her about it), selecting to deal with the job of operating Disney Leisure with Bergman that she’s tasked with at this time.

She faces stiff competitors within the different Disney division heads. Walden has spent the final three a long time centered on producing TV hits. She hasn’t had the identical vary of tasks as Pitaro, who has run the corporate’s sports activities media empire since 2018. And he or she has no expertise operating parks and resorts, which Iger and the board could resolve is extra important to Disney’s future than a TV enterprise with hazy monetary prospects within the streaming period.

Six former colleagues — all of whom labored carefully with Walden — privately questioned her enterprise acumen in interviews with CNBC.

“There are individuals which might be in artistic positions that rise to a stage of administration who work out what a P&L [profit and loss] assertion is, what a stability sheet is, what quarterly earnings are,” mentioned one of many individuals, who requested to stay nameless to talk candidly. “Dana does not actually trouble with any of that.”

A second former coworker mentioned Walden’s profile merely does not translate to turning into the Disney CEO — a job that entails shut investor interplay, geopolitical offers for parks and resorts, and strategic pondering round acquisition and funding.

“She’ll be eaten up by actual buyers,” mentioned the particular person, who likewise requested anonymity. “Does she have the required depth of enterprise information? She will be able to study, however you possibly can’t have somebody educate you a long time of finance, enterprise and ways in a yr or two.”

Walden supporters dismissed these considerations as both merely incorrect or an instance of persistent stereotypes in opposition to feminine executives. Walden has met with many institutional buyers by means of her years at Disney, in response to individuals conversant in the matter.

“There’s one thing about taking a look at feminine execs the place questions are requested that may by no means be requested of males,” mentioned Jennifer Salke, the top of Amazon Studios and a former colleague of Walden’s. “Can they scale? Can a artistic particular person be a enterprise chief? I discover that to be an enormous bugaboo. She’s in command of billions of {dollars} of belongings, however she’s not able to being a enterprise chief?”

Walden defenders brush off criticism from ex-Disney colleagues because the remnants of a grudge in opposition to Fox staff who came to visit as a part of Disney’s $71 billion acquisition of Fox’s leisure belongings in 2019, or maybe as a part of an ulterior motive to decrease her CEO prospects in favor of their very own most popular candidates.

“Sooner or later, everybody operating something was one thing earlier than that,” Chernin mentioned. “Anyone they select could have by no means been the Disney CEO previous to that.”

Walden’s mother and father made connections within the leisure trade from their time residing in Las Vegas, the place her mom was a background dancer who carried out with George Burns, amongst different artists. Her father grew to become a member of The Friars Membership, well-known for its Dean Martin celebrity roasts, and established friendships with entertainers together with Martin and Buddy Hackett. Walden spent her childhood years with celebrities as household associates, attending dinner events and sometimes celebrating holidays at their houses. She went on to marry a member of the leisure trade, producer Matt Walden, in 1995; they’ve two daughters, now of their 20s.

After graduating from the College of Southern California, Walden took a job working for public relations agency Bender, Goldman & Helper, beginning out as a receptionist and an assistant. Inside 4 years, she’d develop into a vice chairman.

At Bender, she represented “The Arsenio Corridor Present” on behalf of her shopper Paramount. The present poached Walden to come back work as head of selling for Corridor’s manufacturing firm. Lower than a yr later, Lucie Sulhany, president of Paramount Home Tv, took a job as a high-ranking Fox TV government. She requested Walden to come back alongside and work in publicity, and Walden joined her with an eye fixed towards ultimately making TV exhibits.

Disney’s acquisition of Fox moved Walden to a brand new firm with a brand new tradition. Iger referred to as Walden on the day of the deal’s announcement in December 2017 to let her know he wished her to come back to Disney, in response to individuals conversant in the matter. Newman deliberate to remain at Fox; he in the end exited the company in 2018.

Walden hoped she’d run Disney’s TV unit as a direct report back to Iger, in response to individuals conversant in her pondering on the time. However Iger wished Peter Rice, Walden’s boss at Fox, for the highest job. Handed over, Walden thought of strolling away from each Disney and the studio she helped construct for different alternatives, the individuals mentioned.

Nonetheless, she had a robust relationship with Rice, who in the end persuaded her to remain regardless of her disappointment. Walden ultimately took Rice’s job when Disney fired him in 2022 after Chapek and a few members of the Disney board concluded he wasn’t a crew participant, particularly noting that he’d privately criticized the company’s messaging round Florida’s controversial “Do not Say Homosexual” laws, in response to individuals conversant in the matter. Chapek advised Rice he wasn’t a tradition match regardless of years of Rice receiving optimistic suggestions, the individuals mentioned. A Disney spokesman and Rice declined to remark.

“The conversations round promoting a collection — licensing charges, revenue participation, residuals — or discussions about budgets, and what number of visitor stars we are able to signal, or which platform a collection ought to air on … all of that I’ve carried out instantly with Dana,” mentioned Wealthy Appel, the manager producer and co-showrunner of “Household Man.” “No disrespect to Gary [Newman], however for the previous few years, it is solely been Dana.”

At Disney, Walden has hit a number of house runs, together with FX’s “The Bear,” Hulu’s “The Dropout” and “Solely Murders within the Constructing,” and ABC’s “Abbott Elementary.” She has closely invested in advertising kids’s present “Bluey,” which in 2024 has frolicked as the most-watched show on all streaming providers. She has additionally centered on increase Disney+’s household programming with originals together with “Percy Jackson and the Olympians,” “Spidey and His Wonderful Mates” and “Goosebumps.”

Nonetheless, critics say it is simple to cherry-pick the successes and ignore the failures. One Disney insider mentioned that grading Walden’s efficiency actually would require a sturdy evaluation of all of the exhibits she’s greenlit.

The final time Iger selected a successor, it did not go nicely. As outlined by CNBC in 2023, the connection between Chapek and Iger, who remained Disney’s government chairman till the top of 2021, fell aside, and the Disney board in the end fired Chapek and introduced Iger again lower than three years later.

Iger returned as CEO partly to proper the fallacious he believed he made by deciding on Chapek as his successor, in response to individuals conversant in his pondering. If he is on the lookout for the anti-Chapek candidate, Walden suits the outline.

Chapek climbed the company ladder at Disney for 30 years by showcasing his enterprise and finance chops. He studied microbiology at Indiana College and received his MBA from Michigan State College. He developed experience within the minute particulars of Disney’s parks and resorts, equivalent to how particular resort reductions may have an effect on park attendance and the value elasticity of seasonal ticket fee changes.

However he had nearly no Hollywood relationships. With out a basis of belief, “The City,” as Hollywood is understood, turned on Chapek. Brokers, producers and showrunners blamed him for Disney’s forceful public rebuke of A-list star Scarlett Johansson in a Covid pandemic-related contract dispute and for bungling the corporate’s response to “Do not Say Homosexual,” as CNBC reported in 2023.

Walden’s resume units her up as Chapek’s inverse: a Disney outsider whose Hollywood ties are among the many finest within the trade. Within the latter months of Chapek’s tenure as CEO, as CNBC reported, Disney communications head Kristina Schake started establishing conferences for Chapek with Hollywood’s energy gamers — at Walden’s home.

A possible handover from Iger to Walden would additionally look very completely different from the Iger-Chapek transition, predicted United Expertise Company Vice Chairman Jay Sures, an in depth buddy of Walden’s. Chapek noticed Iger as a risk to his energy, in response to individuals conversant in his pondering on the time. Walden would keep near Iger for so long as potential, Sures mentioned.

“When Bob Chapek received the job, he could not look forward to Bob Iger to go away. If Dana ever received the job, she’s gonna dread the day Bob Iger leaves,” Sures mentioned. “She values the talent and management he brings. She is aware of a great factor when she sees it.”

“I watched ‘Barbie,'” mentioned Salke, referencing the Greta Gerwig-created hit 2023 film that skewers components of recent patriarchy. “That speech from America Ferrera’s character [Gloria], it is true. It’s a must to be likable however not too likable. If you happen to’re too likable, that is seen as threatening to males.”

Whereas Walden has crossed a bridge to develop into shut associates with a variety of her skilled colleagues (she’s the godmother of Murphy’s kids), she is attuned to her picture in methods male executives do not have to fret about, in response to individuals conversant in her character.

Even when the eye is nonthreatening, Walden is conscious that her look could also be judged as readily as her enterprise efficiency, the individuals mentioned.

“After I first met her, the writers would see Dana stroll by now and again, and we used to name her ‘Why Miss Jones,'” Levitan mentioned. “As a result of she’d put on these glasses. So it was like in outdated Hollywood motion pictures, when an actress would take off her glasses and one of many characters would say, ‘Why, Miss Jones! You are stunning!'”

Levitan later grew to become shut associates with Walden and praised her professionalism. Of observe, he cited final yr’s cancellation of “Reboot,” a present he created for Hulu.

“I do not agree with the choice that was made there, and I do not agree that it received a good shake,” Levitan mentioned. “However Dana and I talked about it. She took me by means of her causes. And it is a real dialog. There is a motive persons are fairly effusive about the best way Dana handles herself. It is as a result of she genuinely goes out of her option to deal with individuals with decency.”

Walden and her crew have a popularity for sending birthday presents to Hollywood’s movers and shakers and bottles of champagne to them when their exhibits premiere. Supporters view it as relationship-building. Critics mentioned her actions typically border on company largesse.

Walden herself has joked that she was “raised by wolves” at Fox, and that she’s needed to consciously regulate to the extra toned-down Disney tradition during the last 5 years, in response to individuals conversant in her pondering.

She’s additionally needed to toe a line between stereotype and profitable government. Of the 20 individuals interviewed for this story, practically each certainly one of them referred to as Walden “direct” and “demanding.”

“Sharp elbows, proper?” Salke mentioned, anticipating the hackneyed criticism of feminine leaders. “So many instances Dana and I’ve been the one ladies within the room. Can she be demanding and maintain individuals to a excessive bar? Sure. However males come on in, and the very first thing they do is hearth individuals, and nobody bats an eye fixed.”

Walden’s champions famous that each profitable government is demanding of excellence, and mentioned her directness is a significant energy that separates her from many different TV executives.

“She will be ‘enterprise’ powerful,” mentioned WME’s Rosen. “No person likes to ship dangerous information. A present is canceled, or it is over funds, or this mission did not work. However she’s not harsh. You are feeling like she’s coming from a spot of optimism — let’s work out the place we go from right here.”

“The significance of the succession course of can’t be overstated, and because the Board continues to judge a extremely certified slate of inside and exterior candidates, I stay intensely centered on a profitable transition,” Iger said in a statement in 2023 when he renewed his contract as CEO to the top of 2026.

Even when Iger agrees with a few of Walden’s critics about whether or not her strengths will particularly match the highest job at Disney, it is potential his recollection of his personal expertise being chosen as CEO in 2005 may affect his resolution. 

“Return and have a look at the articles that had been written about Bob Iger,” Sures mentioned. “I used to be associates with Bob then. It was a whole lot of ’empty swimsuit’ — a handsome, tall man who by no means had any expertise within the film enterprise and by no means did something in M&A [mergers and acquisitions] earlier than in his life. Nineteen years later, he is one of many best, if not the best CEO the leisure enterprise has ever seen.”

“The identical issues are being mentioned about Dana now,” Sures mentioned.

Iger and the board’s choice for a successor could in the end come all the way down to the course they envision for Disney.

D’Amaro might be the selection in the event that they resolve the parks are a very powerful a part of the corporate’s future. Pitaro appears logical if ESPN and its upcoming digital transformation are seen as a necessary a part of Disney’s future, versus its previous. Both Walden or Bergman might be the selection if artistic style and relationships trump all, although Bergman’s recent troubles with Disney’s film division could also be a knock in opposition to them.

Nonetheless, Chernin mentioned it is a mistake to view Disney so merely. The magic of the corporate is how all of the elements work together with one another, somewhat than emphasizing one unit over all others, he mentioned.

“The enterprise is altering so quickly. That firm goes to vary a lot,” Chernin mentioned. “Somebody goes to need to think about what a media firm of the longer term seems like. Bob [Iger] goes by means of that proper now. He is actively spending day by day pondering that by means of. An important a part of that firm is ongoing relationships with prospects.”

WATCH: Disney board member James Gorman talks succession, upcoming annual assembly vote