Background and career
Robert Alan Chapek (born August 21, 1960) is an American businessman and former media executive who was the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Walt Disney Company from 2020 to 2022. He joined Masimo's board of directors in 2024, resigning from the board in 2025. Before becoming CEO, Chapek had a 26-year career with The Walt Disney Company, beginning in the Home Entertainment division, and eventually rising to become Chairman of Parks & Resorts. Chapek, who had a controversial tenure as CEO, was dismissed from the position on November 20, 2022, and succeeded by his predecessor, Bob Iger.
Robert Chapek was born in 1960 in a Chicago suburb to Marie (Lofay), who worked at an East Chicago, Indiana insurance agency, and Bernard W. Chapek, an oil refinery machinist in Whiting, Indiana. He grew up living in Robertsdale, Indiana and was an altar boy at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Whiting . His father was a World War II veteran and the family went on annual trips to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Bob Chapek graduated from George Rogers Clark Jr./Sr. High School in 1977; his entire family have graduated from Clark. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in microbiology from Indiana University Bloomington and a Master of Business Administration degree from Michigan State University in East Lansing.
Chapek worked for the H. J. Heinz Company in brand management and in advertising for J. Walter Thompson before joining the Walt Disney Company in 1993 and working there until 2022. In January 2024 he joined the board of directors of Masimo, a medical technology company.
Chapek began his Disney career in 1993 as the marketing director for the company's Buena Vista Home Entertainment division, which at the time was focused on selling VHS films. CEO Michael Eisner said, "He was always an executive that you knew would be on the rise... He knew how to grow the business while adjusting to the changing marketplace, which was intense." Chapek is credited for bringing Disney's home entertainment division into the digital age, by focusing on releasing properties on DVD and later Blu-ray discs. In 2006, he became the president of Buena Vista Home Entertainment and in 2009, he became president of distribution for Walt Disney Studios. His career has been called "the home entertainment industry’s single biggest success story" ascending to the top of Disney while working in its home video division.
Chapek was appointed president of Disney Consumer Products in September 2011. After the acquisition of Lucasfilm, he integrated Star Wars merchandise into Disney's licensing program, ensuring that Disney became the world's largest licensor of intellectual property. In 2013, Chapek secured a deal with Hasbro, whereby the toy company paid Disney $80 million in royalties to extend the license for Marvel toys and an agreement for Hasbro to pay Disney up to $225 million for the rights to forthcoming Star Wars merchandise. In 2014, Chapek launched the Disney Imagicademy, which was a suite of numerous tablet and smart-phone apps designed to give children high quality learning games. That was Disney's first full foray into the learning-app market. Chapek said he spearheaded this initiative after numerous parents told his department that they found it difficult to find high quality learning apps out of the thousands that were available online.
On February 23, 2015, Chapek was named chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts effective that day to replace Thomas O. Staggs, who was promoted to Disney chief operating officer earlier in the month. Chapek immediately began working towards the completion and launch of Shanghai Disneyland in 2016, which hosted over 11 million guests in its first year of operation. The $5.5 billion theme park opened under Chapek's leadership after months of delays, establishing Chapek's strong reputation with Iger and Disney's board. Throughout this process, Iger accompanied Chapek on more than 10 trips to Shanghai, China, observing how Chapek navigated budget issues and construction hurdles. He supervised the completion and launch of Pandora – The World of Avatar at Disney's Animal Kingdom in 2017. Chapek directly managed the construction and opening of the Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge lands at Disneyland and Walt Disney World. Disney said of Galaxy's Edge, "It's the most immersive land we have ever built," citing the themed restaurants, shops and roaming interactive characters. Disney reportedly spent $1 billion on the sprawling 14-acre land in Disneyland in Anaheim, prompting CNN to comment that "Disney spared no expense." As chairman of Parks and Resorts, Chapek invested over $24 billion into the theme parks, attractions, hotels and cruise ships. The New York Times noted that Chapek's spending was more money than Disney spent in acquiring Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm combined. In the fall of 2017, after Parks and Resorts recorded at 14% increase in operating income, many in the media began to speculate that Chapek would likely succeed Bob Iger as the next Disney CEO. In March 2018, after a reorganization of divisions in order to prepare for the launch of Disney+, Chapek was given back the consumer products divisions (including the Disney Stores), in addition to his responsibilities for all of the parks and resorts and related experiences. Then, CEO Bob Iger said, "Bob [Chapek] comes to this new role with an impressive record of success at both parks and resorts and consumer products, and he is the perfect leader to run these combined teams." That furthered speculation that Chapek would be Iger's successor. In August 2019, Chapek announced that he had negotiated a retail collaboration to open 25 mini Disney Store shops within select Target department stores across the United States. Chapek said that people who purchase Disney products were already likely to shop at Target, and the deal gives Disney the opportunity to expand its own footprint beyond traditional shopping malls. The Disney mini-shops are an average of 750 square feet and are located near Target's kids clothing and toy departments. They have more than 450 items including 100+ products previously only available at Disney retail locations. On May 18, 2020, Chapek announced Josh D'Amaro as his successor to the position of chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products.
