James Pitaro (also known as Jimmy Pitaro) is an American media executive and attorney. On March 5, 2018,

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 ...

announced he would become president of

ESPN Inc. ESPN Inc. is an American multinational sports media conglomerate majority-owned by the Walt Disney Company, with Hearst Communications as an equity stakeholder. Founded by Bill Rasmussen in 1979, it owns and operates local and global cable and ...

Early life and education

Pitaro graduated in 1987 from Edgemont High School in Edgemont, New York. In 1991, Pitaro graduated from Cornell's College of Human Ecology with a Bachelor of Science degree in Consumer Economics And Housing. He was a player on the

Cornell Big Red football The Cornell Big Red football team represents Cornell University in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I Division I (NCAA)#Football Championship Subdivision, Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) college fo ...

team. Pitaro earned his Juris Doctor from St. John's University Law School in 1994.

Career

He previously worked for

Yahoo Yahoo (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web portal that provides the search engine Yahoo Search and related services including My Yahoo, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo News, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports, y!entertainment, yahoo!life, an ...

's Media division, Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker and

Disney Interactive Disney Interactive is an American video game and internet company that oversees various websites and interactive media owned by The Walt Disney Company. History 1995–1996: Formation and beginnings In December 1994, Disney announced that it w ...

. On October 12, 2020, he was named Chairman, ESPN and Sports Content. In February 2023 he was named Chairman, ESPN. Pitaro uses the principle of "Discuss. Debate. Decide. Align." in leading his teams.

Personal life

Since 1997, he has been married to actress

Jean Louisa Kelly Jean Louisa Kelly (born March 9, 1972) is an American actress and singer. After making her film debut as Tia Russell in '' Uncle Buck'' (1989) alongside John Candy, she appeared in a wide range of other films including ''The Fantasticks'' (1995 ...

. They have two children.

References

Living people Cornell Big Red football players Presidents of ESPN St. John's University School of Law alumni American business executives Cornell University College of Human Ecology alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Edgemont Junior – Senior High School alumni {{US-business-bio-stub