In addition to steering "operating infrastructure" at the Orlando and Anaheim, Calif., parks through Weiss, Disney said that its Walt Disney Imagineering unit would be reorganized into a single practice reporting to Bruce Vaughn, executive vice president and chief creative executive, and Craig Russell, executive vice president and chief design and project delivery executive.
The company also said it would establish a new "Global Business Development team" headed by Executive Vice President Nick Franklin, which will be charged with combining existing business and real-estate development functions. The unit be will responsible for focusing growth strategies at existing parks-and-resorts businesses and identifying new opportunities around the globe. Vaughn, Russell and Franklin are all based in California.
Disney said other departments will make "appropriate changes" in the coming weeks.
As an example of what it hopes to achieve through the streamlining, Disney pointed to the simultaneous development of Toy Story Mania! attractions at both Disney's Hollywood Studios in Orlando and Disney's California Adventure in Anaheim, which helped hold down design costs.
The corporate overhaul means fewer employees will now report directly to Meg Crofton, president of Walt Disney World, and Ed Grier, president of Disneyland. But the two executives will continue to oversee the functions at their respective parks that deal directly with customers, employees and the local communities.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/orl-bk-disney-reorg-021909,0,1094627.story