Thomas O. Staggs
Thomas Owen Staggs is an American businessman. He is the co-founder and co-CEO of Candle Media as well as a Partner at Smash Capital. He formerly worked at the Walt Disney Company for nearly 27 years, beginning in 1990, working in finance and later becoming the chief financial officer, then as chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Worldwide and finally as chief operating officer. He also holds directorships on various company boards, including Spotify.
Education and early life
Staggs was born in Illinois and grew up in Minnesota. He graduated from Minnetonka High School in 1978, and received a B.S. in business from the University of Minnesota and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.Career
Staggs began his career as an investment banker for Dain Bosworth, then Morgan Stanley before joining Disney in 1990.Disney
After joining Disney in 1990, Staggs rose from his role as a manager of strategic planning to senior vice president of strategic planning and development in 1995. Staggs became executive vice president and chief financial officer in 1998, and became Senior Executive Vice President and CFO in January 2000. As CFO, Staggs was instrumental in purchasing Pixar for $7.4 billion in 2006 as well as acquiring Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion in 2009.On January 1, 2010, Staggs became Chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, where he "more than doubled operating profits, to $2.66 billion", while overseeing the company's roughly 140,000 cast members, theme parks, two cruise lines, and hotel and resort businesses. Staggs led the development of the MyMagic Plus technology suite and the creation of an Avatar theme land in Disney's Animal Kingdom park. Disney CEO Bob Iger credited Staggs with leading "unprecedented growth and expansion, including the construction of Shanghai Disney", its $5.5 billion resort.
On February 5, 2015, Staggs was named chief operating officer of The Walt Disney Company. Despite "Disney’s rocky history of succession", Staggs was then widely reported as heir apparent to Bob Iger as the Disney CEO.
On April 4, 2016, Disney announced that Staggs and the company had agreed to mutually part ways. Staggs stepped down as COO, effective May 6, 2016, remaining with the company as a "Special Advisor to the CEO" Bob Iger through the end of the fiscal year. Iger extended his contract as Disney's chairman and CEO to remain chairman through 2021. Following his departure from Disney, and prior to its August 2019 merger with Viacom, Staggs was in consideration to succeed Les Moonves as CEO of CBS.
In July 2023, Staggs along with another previous executive Kevin Mayer, returned to Disney in an advisory role at the behest of CEO Bob Iger.