As The Walt Disney Company’s newly appointed CEO, Josh D’Amaro, dominates media headlines this week, another newly promoted leader is equally important in defining Disney’s post–Bob Iger chapter. Dana Walden, co-chair of Disney’s entertainment arm, is poised to step in as president and chief creative officer next month, reporting directly to D’Amaro. Walden, 61, will be the first creative chief in Disney’s 102-year history and the first woman to serve as president of the company.
While Disney has historically had chief creative officers for its animation studios (Walt Disney himself served in this capacity in its early years), the company has never named a creative chief since becoming a sprawling media conglomerate. Walden will be the first person to oversee Disney’s film studios, cable channels, streaming services and broader creative development under a single mandate.
Walden, the former television chief at 21st Century Fox, joined Disney in 2019 after the company acquired her former employer, becoming head of Walt Disney Television. Under her leadership, Disney’s television and streaming content garnered critical acclaim and industry honors, winning 60 Emmys in 2024 for shows like The Bear and Shōgun (FX and Hulu) and Jeopardy! (ABC). She was widely seen as a top contender for the CEO job as Bob Iger prepares to retire at the end of this year. Iger has praised her as commanding “tremendous respect from the creative community.”
Since 2022, Walden has co-led Disney’s entertainment division alongside Alan Bergman. In her new role, Walden will lead everything from Hulu and Disney Branded Television to ABC News and National Geographic content. While she hasn’t previously led film initiatives—that has been and will remain Bergman’s domain—her new position will give her strategic influence over key decisions about Disney’s flagship assets, including Star Wars, Marvel and Pixar.
The most closely watched area under Walden’s leadership will be streaming. Disney’s streaming business, which includes Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+, began turning profits recently and is growing quickly, with operating profit up 72 percent year-over-year in the latest quarter ended Dec. 27, reaching $450 million. However, it still lags behind more established rivals like Netflix, which brings in nearly $3 billion in operating profit per quarter. Disney also lost billions in the early years of Disney+ due to high launch costs, and recent profits are far from offsetting cumulative losses over the lifetime of the business.
Analysts and industry insiders are optimistic that Disney’s early-mover advantage and Walden’s track record of driving streaming growth outside the U.S. will help it find its footing in the streaming wars.
“Walden’s front seat over this time has no doubt given her a competitive advantage to help Disney become a frontrunner when many entertainment companies were still debating whether to enter the streaming race,” Erica Mountain, a screenwriter and story analyst for Universal Pictures, told Observer.
“She has a superpower to change the global streaming market,” Walter Nicoletti, founder & CEO of Italian film studio Voce Spettacolo, told Observer. “Her new role could become the beginning of a new era for streaming led by a woman’s vision.”
