Walt Disney Chief Financial Officer Christine McCarthy is stepping down from her position to take family medical leave and can help seek for a long-term successor, the corporate said Thursday.
Kevin Lansberry, currently chief financial officer for Disney’s parks, experiences and products division, will function the corporate’s interim CFO starting July 1.
McCarthy, a 23-year Disney veteran who became CFO in 2015, will proceed to function a strategic adviser to make sure a successful transition, Disney said in a press release. A source said McCarthy’s husband has been sick.
“Although I’m leaving the CFO role, I stay up for helping with the transition and can at all times be rooting for the success of my prolonged Disney family,” McCarthy said in a press release.
In a profile appearing in Smith College’s alumni publication, McCarthy talked about battling sexism and pay inequities early in her profession and juggling the demands of labor and raising two children. She also survived two bouts with breast cancer, in 2000 and in 2015, shortly after being named Disney’s CFO.
Christine McCarthy, a 23-year Disney veteran who became CFO in 2015, will proceed to function a strategic adviser to make sure a successful transitionREUTERS
CEO Bob Iger called McCarthy “one of the vital admired financial executives in America.”Getty Images for Disney
“I even have promised myself that I can and can get through anything,” McCarthy told the publication.
McCarthy, 67, helped set the stage for CEO Bob Iger’s return to Disney last November, when she expressed her insecurity in his predecessor, Bob Chapek, to members of Disney’s board.
On Thursday, Iger called McCarthy “one of the vital admired financial executives in America.”
“Christine has served as a key strategic anchor during a period of great transformation,” Iger added.
