As expected, Disney’s board has named director James P. Gorman to chair its Succession Planning Committee as the search for an executive to follow Bob Iger as CEO starts to heat up.
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Gorman joined the Disney Board earlier this year after having overseen a recent succession process at Morgan Stanley, where he serves as executive chairman following several years as the financial giant’s chairman and CEO. Given that background, it was pretty clear that he would be tapped at Disney to do the same.
“James is a highly respected leader, and we’ve asked him to serve as the new Chair of the Succession Planning Committee given his deep succession planning experience and long-term strategic mentality,” said Mark Parker, chairman of the Disney board who was previously head of the Succession Committee. “Succession planning is a top priority of the Board, and I am eager to continue collaborating with James on the Committee as we advance the important work we have already been doing to identify and prepare the next CEO of The Walt Disney Company,” Parker added.
In addition to Gorman and Parker, directors Mary T. Barra and Calvin R. McDonald will continue to serve on the Committee. All members of the Committee have direct experience in CEO and senior leadership succession planning for Fortune 500 companies.
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“I look forward to working alongside Mark and my other fellow Committee members in advising the Board as we continue to press forward expeditiously with this work,” said Gorman.
Disney offered a bit of background on succession, which is always a hot-button issue at any company but especially so here after Iger and the board were unsuccessful in their choice the last time around. That resulted in the former CEO rather speedily returning to the helm, and offered a major bludgeon for an activist investor to hit the company with.
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Disney said that since early 2023 the Board has intensified and expanded its approach to CEO succession planning, setting up the committee to advise the board and plan for a transition of leadership that it says will align with the company’s long-term strategic goals.
“At the direction of the Board, the Committee and the full Board continue to undertake a deliberate succession planning process, including evaluation of transition structures and organizational frameworks, and planning for potential impacts of succession decisions across the Company.”
The Committee has met six times to date in fiscal 2024, “consistently engaging with the full Board on the substance of the decisions to be made. The Board has discussed succession planning at each of its regularly scheduled meetings in fiscal 2024.”
The Committee and Board are reviewing internal candidates and external candidates. As Disney has previously noted, internal candidates are going through a preparation process that includes mentorship from Disney CEO Robert A. Iger, external coaching, and engagement with all Board directors.
Gorman is exiting as chairman of Morgan Stanley in December. He joined the firm in 2006 and rose to chairman-CEO. He previously held executive positions at Merrill Lynch and was a senior partner at McKinsey & Co. He serves as a Director of the Council on Foreign Relations and is a member of the Business Council. He formerly served as a Director of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and President of the Federal Advisory Council to the U.S. Federal Reserve Board. Gorman joined the Disney board earlier this year.
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