The Walt Disney Company Names Dana Walden as Chairman of Disney General Entertainment Content
June 09 2022 - 11:29AM
Business Wire
The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) has named Dana Walden as
Chairman, Disney General Entertainment Content, it was announced
today by Bob Chapek, Chief Executive Officer, The Walt Disney
Company. In this role, Walden will lead the company’s general
entertainment content engine that creates original entertainment
and news programming for Disney’s streaming platforms and its cable
and broadcast networks. She will have oversight of ABC
Entertainment, ABC News, Disney Branded Television, Disney
Television Studios, Freeform, FX, Hulu Originals, National
Geographic Content and Onyx Collective. Walden previously served as
Chairman, Entertainment, Walt Disney Television and succeeds Peter
Rice, who is leaving the company. Her appointment is effective
immediately, and she will report directly to Chapek.
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Dana Walden (Photo: Business Wire)
“Dana is a dynamic, collaborative leader and cultural force who
in just three years has transformed our television business into a
content powerhouse that consistently delivers the entertainment
audiences crave,” Chapek said. “Her well-earned reputation for
championing creative talent and developing programming that truly
captures the cultural zeitgeist has resulted in hit after hit, from
ABC’s Abbott Elementary and Onyx Collective’s Academy Award-winning
Summer of Soul, to Hulu Originals like Only Murders in the
Building, Dopesick, The Dropout and The Kardashians. She and Peter
have worked closely together for years to create the best
programming in the industry, and I can think of no one better than
Dana to lead Disney General Entertainment to even greater
heights.”
“It is an incredible honor to be asked to lead this amazingly
talented team—they are truly the absolute best in every respect—and
I am grateful to Bob for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,”
Walden said. “Disney General Entertainment’s culture of creative
excellence and originality has made us home to many of the most
talented creators in the business. I am humbled to lead this team,
and I am confident that together, we will continue to build on the
foundation of culture-defining entertainment we have achieved so
far.”
Walden joined Disney in 2019 with the company’s acquisition of
21st Century Fox, and in her role leading Entertainment for Walt
Disney Television, she oversaw Disney Television Studios (20th
Television, ABC Signature, 20th Television Animation and Walt
Disney Television Alternative), the original entertainment slates
and content marketing for ABC, Freeform, Hulu Originals and Onyx
Collective.
Under Walden’s leadership, ABC has been the No. 1 entertainment
network for three consecutive seasons—the first time that has
happened in 25 years. And since assuming leadership of the Hulu
Originals slate of series in 2019, the streamer has seen record
viewership for the aforementioned hits, as well as The Handmaid’s
Tale, Little Fires Everywhere and Nine Perfect Strangers.
At Disney Television Studios, Walden has overseen the production
of such iconic and hit series as Grey’s Anatomy, The Simpsons,
Family Guy, Bob’s Burgers and 9-1-1. The areas under her oversight
have collectively earned an impressive 270 Emmy® nominations and 23
wins since she joined Disney.
Walden previously served as chairman and CEO of Fox Television
Group, which included Fox Broadcasting Company, 20th Century Fox
Television, Fox 21 Television Studios, Fox Consumer Products and
the syndication supplier, 20th Television. In the four years she
oversaw Fox Broadcasting Company, she took the network from fourth
place to first.
During her 25 years at 21st Century Fox, the studios overseen by
Walden amassed 184 Emmy® wins, 29 Golden Globes®, 17 Screen Actors
Guild Awards and 24 Peabody Awards and Humanitas Prizes.
Additionally, Walden was responsible for numerous No. 1 broadcast
hits like This Is Us, Empire and Glee, to multiple Emmy Award
winners Modern Family, Homeland, Ally McBeal, Arrested Development,
The Practice and Boston Legal. Other landmark series overseen by
Walden include 24, How I Met Your Mother, New Girl and Buffy the
Vampire Slayer. She has also overseen along with John Landgraf the
long and successful partnership between 20th Television and FX and
FX Productions, resulting in The Americans, Sons of Anarchy, Pose,
American Horror Story and the American Crime Story franchise.
In 2021, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Harvard
Undergraduate Women in Business. She has received the National
Association of Television Program Executive’s Brandon Tartikoff
Legacy Award and was named MIPCOM’s Personality of the Year. In
2013, she was inducted into Broadcasting & Cable’s Television
Hall of Fame. She has been named Showman of the Year by Variety,
Television Showman of the Year by the Publicists of the
International Cinematographers Guild, and Executive of the Year in
2019 by The Hollywood Reporter.
Walden began her career at the public relations firm Bender,
Goldman & Helper. At Fox, she rose through the ranks in roles
that ranged from communications to programming, ultimately serving
as executive vice president of Drama before being named head of the
studio in 1999. She sits on the board of directors for Live Nation
Entertainment and UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Additionally, she is a member of USC’s President’s Leadership
Council and the President’s Circle of the NAACP.
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Kristina Schake Global Communications (818) 560-5300
kristina.schake@disney.com
David Jefferson Corporate Communications (818) 560-4832
david.j.jefferson@disney.com
Naomi Bulochnikov Publicity (310) 433-9960
naomi.bulochnikov@disney.com
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