Geoff Morrell Is Out After Less Than Six Months as Chief Corporate Affairs Officer With Disney
There’s been a bit of an executive shake-up over at Disney HQ this afternoon with the news that after less than six months Geoff Morrell will no longer be Chief Corporate Affairs Officer for the company.
According to a recent post on DEADLINE, Disney head Bob Chapek sent a memo out to executives today to announce that Morrell is out. The memo reads, “I am writing to share the news that Geoff Morrell, our Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, is leaving the company to pursue other opportunities.” Though the memo doesn’t state what’s next for Morrell, Chapek did announce that he will be splitting up Morrell’s role with Kristina Schake coming in to oversee communication while General Counsel Horacio Gutierrez will take over Government Relations and Global Public Policy.
We’re also told that EVP of Corporate Social Responsibility Jenny Cohen will now be reporting directly to Chapek.
Prior to joining Disney as Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Mr. Morrell served as Executive Vice President of Communications & Advocacy at bp which he had been with since 2011.
Before then, Morrell served as Pentagon Press Secretary and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs. Before that he served as chief spokesman for Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and the U.S. military. He was appointed by former President George W. Bush and continued to serve under President Barack Obama.
So what’s the reason for Morrell’s departure after less than a year in the job? DEADLINE attributes this partially to some missteps that the Walt Disney Company has made over Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill which resulted in Governor Ron DeSantis removing Disney’s self-governing status at Disney World. With the bad press Disney has been getting especially in the right wing media, it is hoped that the revamping the department will allow Disney to get out from underneath the current situation.
This is a story that we here at MickeyBlog will continue to follow closely. Readers are encouraged to keep following along with MickeyBlog for further Disney news and updates.
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Source: DEADLINE