Disney’s new Chief Communications Officer, Paul Roeder, has put together his team that will be leading communications for The Walt Disney Company. The leadership for the communications team that he installed was shared via a memo to all of those who report to him. With the new leadership structure, Roeder will have four direct reports. This includes:

• David Jefferson, EVP, Communications
• April Carretta, EVP, Communications
• Carrie Brown, SVP, Internal Communications
• Mariana Vaca, Director, Communications

The new leadership structure sees April Carretta getting a promotion. Previously, she led communications for Direct-to-Consumer. In this capacity, she worked for DTC Joe Early, who was recently named co-President of the division. Her new role will see her continuing on with her previous duties while also adding the responsibilities of leading Dana Walden’s communications. She will also take on responsibility for Games. This comes after Dana Walden was recently promoted to President and Chief Creative Officer for The Walt Disney Company.

Below is the new leadership structure for Communications under Roeder.

Corporate Teams Reporting to Me

David Jefferson, EVP, Communications, will continue leading day-to-day corporate communications efforts including Public Affairs, Media Relations, and CSR. He will also now lead our international communications teams, working closely with our regional comms leads to drive greater collaboration and alignment. Belina Tan (APAC), Amy Holland (EMEA) and Felicitas Castrillon (LATAM) will continue to report to their respective regional presidents and now also to David.

April Carretta has been promoted to EVP, Communications. In her new role, April will continue leading communications for Direct-to-Consumer and our tech & product team (DEEPT) while also adding the responsibility for Games. She will also be the day-to-day comms lead for Dana in her new role as President and Chief Creative Officer. Please join me in congratulating April on this well-deserved promotion.
– Mimi Fong, VP, Communications, will be joining April’s team to support our International Content comms, working closely with Eric Schrier and Joe Earley.

Carrie Brown, SVP, Internal Communications, will now report directly to me and will continue leading our enterprise-wide employee communications and engagement efforts, as well as providing internal comms support to our corporate functions.

Mariana Vaca has joined my team as Director, Communications. She will work across all our teams to ensure we stay connected, aligned, and informed of our priorities and progress.

Segment Communications Leads

Alannah Hall-Smith, EVP, Communications & Public Affairs, DX, will continue leading comms for DX, dual reporting to Thomas Mazloum and me.

Josh Krulewitz, EVP, ESPN Communications, will continue to dual report to Jimmy Pitaro and me.

Naomi Bulochnikov, EVP, Communications, Disney Entertainment, will continue leading comms for DET, including Advertising. She will dual report to Debra OConnell and me.

Bridget Osterhaus, VP, Communications, will continue leading comms for our Platform Distribution organization and will now dual report to Naomi and Josh.

Erin Barrier, SVP, Communications, Studios, was recently promoted to this role leading comms for all of DE Studios, and will dual report to Alan Bergman and me.