Christine McCarthy is an American businesswoman and the former

chief financial officer A chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization who is assigned the primary responsibility for making decisions for the company for projects and its finances; i.a.: financial planning, management of financial risks, ...

(CFO) of

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

Education

McCarthy graduated from

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts, United States. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smit ...

with a bachelor's degree in

biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

. She also earned an MBA in marketing and management from the Anderson School of Management at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

Career

Before joining Disney, McCarthy worked in the banking industry. From 1981 to 1996, McCarthy worked at First Interstate Bancorp in several finance and planning positions. She served as CFO and an executive vice president for Imperial Bancorp from 1997 to 2000. In 2000, she became treasurer of Disney. On June 30, 2015, McCarthy was appointed as the CFO of The Walt Disney Company replacing Jay Rasulo under a four-year contract with a base salary of $1.25 million with a potential 200% performance based bonuses and 250% long term incentive award. On December 21, 2021, Disney announced they had renewed McCarthy's contract as CFO through 2024. On June 15, 2023, Disney announced that McCarthy will be "stepping down from her CFO role" due to family concerns and named Kevin Lansberry as her interim replacement. McCarthy will stay on as a Strategic Advisor after stepping down as CFO on June 30."

Controversies

In 2021, she faced controversy when she suggested cutting food portion sizes at Disney's theme parks would benefit overweight Disney guests. In 2022, the Disney board unexpectedly dismissed CEO Bob Chapek, replacing him with his predecessor

Bob Iger Robert Alan Iger (; born February 10, 1951) is an American media executive who is chief executive officer (CEO) of the Walt Disney Company. He previously was the president of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) between 1994 and 1995 and p ...

on an interim basis. The ''Wall Street Journal'' reported that McCarthy played a key role in the dismissal by raising concerns with the board. News reports later identified her as a likely successor to Iger, though she later stepped down from the company.

Philanthropy

McCarthy is a trustee for the

Westridge School (Pasadena) Westridge School is a highly-ranked independent day school for girls in grades 4-12, with three divisions: Lower (grades 4-6), Middle (grades 7-8) and Upper (grades 9-12). Founded in 1913 by architect and educator Mary Lowther Ranney, Westridge is ...

. She is also a mentor for the

National Math and Science Initiative The National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI) is a non-profit organization based in Dallas, Texas, that launched in 2007. Its mission is to improve student performance in the subjects of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) in the ...

Awards

In 2015, McCarthy received the Woman of the Year Award from Treasury Today.

References

External links

Profile page
at The Walt Disney Company {{DEFAULTSORT:McCarthy, Christine Disney executives Living people American chief financial officers UCLA Anderson School of Management alumni Smith College alumni Women chief financial officers Year of birth missing (living people)