Staggs promoted to COO

[erstwo]

Now Staggs will bring his "Operational Efficiencies" to TWDC as a whole.

And what else would a good COO do?

 

[doctornick]

I'd take his staged moments over Iger, who'd clearly rather be anywhere but the parks. At least an effort is made, staged or not. And who's to say he didn't enjoy doing it?

And honestly some people just aren't "photogenic" when it comes to doing that stuff in front of a crowd/when you know you are being taped.

I'm not saying Staggs would be a good CEO, but I don't think him being stiff in a staged video means that he doesn't like the parks or won't invest in them.

 

[vinnya1726]

Im actually quite happy with the promotion of Staggs. And hopefully he becomes the next CEO. He knows this company inside and out from the early 90s. It would be hard to name a better candidate in my opinion. I know people may scream out loud for John Lasseter but honestly would he even be that good as CEO? The CEO oversees everything, yes John would be great overseeing the Studio and perhaps even the parks but people often forget that the current Walt Disney Co. is more than just those 2 divisions (as much as we may not like it). Staggs is the best choice in my opinion for the next CEO and a great hire as a COO.

Could not have said it any better myself.

 

[Ranch Dressing]

Hopefully this is just Iger being proactive with having something of a succession plan in place because Staggs being Iger's heir to the throne would be a complete joke.

The rumor is Iger does not want to retire after his contract is up and I seriously hope he stays in charge for the long term.

 

[tirian]

Lasseter's fatal flaw in my mind is his complete blindness when it comes to his own IP. For someone who's such a huge fan of Disneyland, he has no problem pushing proposals that break the theme as long as they feature his Pixar IP. And he thinks everyone in the world is wrong about Cars 2 and that it was an amazing movie. And he loves Planes. Like - come on dude. It's okay, we all have clunkers. He genuinely doesn't see them, which is disconcerting.

This can't be strongly stated enough.

Lasseter is hardly the second coming of Walt, and his laser-focus on personal IPs and boyhood nostalgia don't bode well for anyone except Pixar and Disneyland.

 

[Nubs70]

And what else would a good COO do?

Not forget about quality.

 

[BrerJon]

Staggs has done more than that for contributions of the Company inside the theme parks themselves at WDW, but New Fantasy Land is only thing done when talking about WDW. Staggs was in Charge of the Disney Parks and Resorts when some of the DVCS were being built like what is happening right now with Disney's Polynesian and the Grand Floridian. Staggs also was in charge when new Disney Cruise line boats were being built.

He is responsible for Avatar to AK. I am not sure about Frozen going to Epcot. I don't know how much of the recent stuff overseas Staggs is responsible for such as Iron Man Experience for Hong Kong Disneyland, and Ratatouille for Disney Studios Park.

The amount of stuff Staggs has done in terms of theme parks is limited since Staggs really wasn't responsible for DCA makeover, and the new lands for Hong Kong Disneyland.

That list of 'achievements' doesn't really inspire much confidence for the future.

 

[BrerJon]

Remember his 2011 D23 presentation? I do. Painful.

Yup, I waited four hours in line for that so I remember it well! The previous one had seen the announcement of Cars Land, New Fantasyland... but what did we get announced in 2011? A few hula dancers advertising a poorly selling timeshare resort, and a princess meet-and-greet for Disneyland.

Slow, slow clap.

 

[Matt_Black]

This can't be strongly stated enough.

Lasseter is hardly the second coming of Walt, and his laser-focus on personal IPs and boyhood nostalgia don't bode well for anyone except Pixar and Disneyland.

Indeed. This is the guy who put the kibosh on DisneyToon sequels to animated films because they might "dilute the brand", then went ahead and greenlit Cars 2, Planes, Planes: Fire & Rescue, and Cars 3.

 

[fngoofy]

Maybe he's a relatively regular guy. No one in his position is a regular guy. I've just seen my share of "hey look, our executives are people too videos" to roll my eyes when they pretend to spend time doing what the rank and file employees do.

I do think fans vastly overestimate him based on the fact he saved us all from catching "princess cooties". Other than righting an obvious mistake, what's he got going for him?

Remember his 2011 D23 presentation? I do. Painful.

Well, I'd quote his bio to you.

"Staggs was born in Illinois and received a B.S. in business from the University of Minnesota and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He began his career as an investment banker for Morgan Stanley & Co. before joining Disney in 1990."

Midwestern school, 25 yrs with the company, wife and kids, sounds like a really normal guy to me.

 

[BrerJon]

This was a speech by Roy Disney at the 2004 Disney Shareholder meeting. Directed as Eisner and Iger, it still rings very true to day.

It's so sad that more than a decade later Roy's words are as appropriate as they've ever been. At the time animation was the main focus of concern, and that has been turned around no doubt, but it's such a shame that those in charge of the parks didn't listen.

 

[RSoxNo1]

I seem to recall seeing the Oryx last trip (dec 2014) - they are pretty shy I usually ride the Safari 3-4 times on days when I'm at AK and usually only see them once around midday.

The last photos I have of them are from January 2013.

 

[drew81]

I was just about to post the same question. Will be very interesting to see.

I heard @asianway is in the running.

 

[asianway]

I heard @asianway is in the running.

Sounds too much like work.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I actually think a Lasseter/Staggs combo would be a great executive team. Lasseter in Walt's role and Staggs in Roy's role.

Walt was a brilliant creative person and Roy was great at managing the financials, that successful partnership was why the Disney company was so successful. I'd love to see Lasseter in charge, everything he's done with Pixar has been brilliant and he is one of us (huge Disney park fan), but in a multi billion dollar company with 100,000 employees you have to have a business/margin guy alongside your creative guy to protect the company and it's employees.

NOTHING about Stagg's career indicates he would ever operate in a Roy O. capacity.

 

[HMF]

Like Lucas didn't trash existing EU when he made the prequels.

Not to the extent Iger did.

 

[note2001]

Well, I'd quote his bio to you.

"Staggs was born in Illinois and received a B.S. in business from the University of Minnesota and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He began his career as an investment banker for Morgan Stanley & Co. before joining Disney in 1990."

Midwestern school, 25 yrs with the company, wife and kids, sounds like a really normal guy to me.

May I add that he went to a public high school: Graduate of Minnetonka High School 1978, Minnesota (according to the wiki)
From what I can tell, Bob Iger also went to a public High school: Oceanside High School, Oceanside, NY.

I'm very impressed by both and it shows we don't need kids "groomed" by private schools to be leaders in multi-billion $ corporations as the stuck-up CEO of one of my former companies once told me (he was having a hard time choosing the private school for his son, because, in his words, the wrong school would let his son make the wrong sort of friends and ruin his son's future) ... Okay, I'm off to ask my oldest how he's doing taking over his company.

 

[TP2000]

Midwestern school, 25 yrs with the company, wife and kids, sounds like a really normal guy to me.

He's also on a strict gluten-free, organic, vegetables kissed by unicorns diet. The dude has like 8% bodyfat, so at least it's working for him. He also doesn't visit the parks without a VIP Guide to whisk him and his kids up the exit of rides. So he ain't that normal.

Miceage also reported last year that Tom's extended family from the Midwest was visiting him at Christmas, and they also got the VIP Guide treatment at Disneyland during the busiest week of the year, even though Staggs wasn't with them and anonymous people from Minnesota posed no security or logistical threat without a VIP Guide.

Walt used to tell "his guys" to get out into Disneyland and mix with the guests, find out what they are saying and doing, wait in line and see how the park runs. As much fun as it would be to have a VIP Guide whisk you in the exit of any ride you wanted all day, and have hostesses serve you hot cocoa from a reserved terrace to watch the Christmas parade, then have a private dining room waiting for you at Napa Rose or Carthay Circle for a fabulous dinner served by the best hand-picked waiters... that type of behavior from Disney executives is just off-putting and disappointing to me.

And then guys like Tom Staggs will have the nerve to stand in front of audiences at stuff like D23 Expo and talk about "the guest experience" as if they even know what it's like to plan a day around FP times and wait in Standby and split up your family in Single Rider just to squeeze in an E Ticket. Puhleaze.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

NOTHING about Stagg's career indicates he would ever operate in a Roy O. capacity.

I'm not overly familiar with Staggs but am basing my assumption on his BS in Business, his MBA, and the fact he was the CFO of Disney, you would think someone with those qualifications would know a thing or 2 about finances.

 

[doctornick]

I'm not overly familiar with Staggs but am basing my assumption on his BS in Business, his MBA, and the fact he was the CFO of Disney, you would think someone with those qualifications would know a thing or 2 about finances.

Which makes me wonder: prior to working for Disney, what kind of business was Staggs involved in? Does he have any experience in the media industry before joining Disney?