According to Variety, Geoff Morrell will be replacing Zenia Mucha as the chief communications officer for The Walt Disney Company. Morrell will also reportedly take over government relations, which is part of Alan Braverman’s duties as chief counsel and senior executive vice president.
Both Mucha and Braverman are stepping down at the end of this year at the same time as Bob Iger.
Deadline reports that Morrell will have the newly created role of Chief Corporate Affairs Officer. He will report directly to CEO Bob Chapek.
Morrell is currently the executive vice president of communications and advocacy at BP, for which he ran PR to rebuild the company’s reputation after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Before this, he was chief spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Defense under George W. Bush and Barack Obama’s administrations. He also previously worked as a White House journalist for ABC.
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BP and deep water horizon affairs? An I to assume Disney’s reputation may also be under water?
He’s going to wish he was dealing with an oil spill once I get to him
I think this guy’s job may me to be a public buffer between Chapel and the public. Like having Clark Kent the public affairs officer to President Lex Luther. To use a DC simile
If you are part of Iger’s crew, you’re being shown the door. This is so apparent at the parks, and as a shareholder. Chapek is the absolute worst person for the job. He is the antithesis of Walt Disney. Look at his Avenger’s Campus – with the Legoland Ninja Go ride – the cheapest ride tech in the business. The Campus is basically an outdoor mall with a kiddie ride worse than any of it’s predecessors in Bugs Land. What Chapek stripped from the Galaxy’s Edge, he has put into the SW hotel – i.e. Gaia, who’s songs you hear playing in GE. My Christmas wish is that Chapek is forced to resign soon. We need one of Iger’s team to step up as CEO.
This is both hilarious and sad. What a mess Bob has put the company in.
So basically he is Disney’s version of Jen Psaki. After the debacle of the Star Wars hotel press release and Genie+ thrashing on social media , I knew they would make a move like this.