Josh D’Amaro: the theme park guru taking over Disney

Disney will soon have a new boss. Josh D’Amaro has been named the next CEO of The Walt Disney Company, replacing the outgoing Bob Iger. A longtime fixture at the Mouse House and rumored successor to Iger, D’Amaro has worked for the organization for nearly three decades and has been instrumental in developing the brand’s theme park expansion. 

Disney beginnings

D’Amaro, 54, grew up in Medfield, Massachusetts, a short drive outside of Boston, said The Hollywood Reporter. He played multiple sports as a child before graduating from Georgetown University. His first job in business came when he “started his professional career in Boston as a financial analyst for Gillette.”

His path to the Mouse House was a lucky one. In 1998, D’Amaro “applied cold for a strategy job at Disney and got it,” said The New York Times. D’Amaro “spent more than two decades moving through roles across finance, marketing, strategy and operations before he went on to lead both the Disneyland Resort and the Walt Disney World Resort,” said NBC News. In 2020, he was named chairman of Disney Experiences, which oversees the company’s global theme park and resort operations, as well as Disney Cruise Line and Disney’s consumer products.

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Steering the company’s ‘beloved IP’

There are several questions looming as D’Amaro prepares to take control of Disney, namely how he will “lead one of Hollywood’s most dominant entertainment companies,” said Vulture. Despite having significant experience at the company, D’Amaro has “never made a show or movie himself,” and many in the industry are wondering where he will “steer the company’s beloved IP.” Analysts also wonder how he will collaborate with Dana Walden, another Disney executive who was just named president and chief creative officer.

D’Amaro is “intimately familiar with Disney’s highly lucrative parks business,” but in other aspects of the company, he will need to win over the “power brokers and A-list stars who make the franchises that keep Mickey Mouse in cheddar,” said Variety. He will need to embark on a “charm offensive among the company’s senior leadership and rank-and-file.”

But D’Amaro was likely tapped by Disney’s board more for his experience with theme parks than film and TV. His appointment “brings to the fore Disney’s storied history in park-going at a time of massive growth for the division,” said CNBC. The company has committed to investing $60 billion in parks over the next decade. D’Amaro has overseen this growth, as “revenue in the division has grown nearly 40%, from $26.2 billion in fiscal 2019 to $36.2 billion in fiscal 2025,” including $10 billion in profit in 2025. Theme parks accounted for 40% of Disney’s total annual revenue last year.

Despite this growth, D’Amaro is also taking over the company at a “time of colossal industry upheaval, from the collapse of traditional TV to the rise of generative artificial intelligence,” said the Times. Still, D’Amaro seems to be ready for the challenge. He is “known for his affection for Disney’s distinct brand of wholesome family entertainment.” He “genuinely loves Disney,” said Roy P. Disney, Walt Disney’s grandnephew, to the Times. “And I love him for that.”