Alan Frederick Horn (born February 28, 1943) is an American entertainment industry executive. Horn became President and

COO COO or coo may refer to: Business * Certificate of origin, used in international trade * Chief operating officer or chief operations officer, high-ranking corporate official * Concept of operations, used in Systems Engineering Management Process ...

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

from 1999 to 2012. Horn next served as the chairman of Walt Disney Studios from 2012 to 2020. During his tenure at Disney, Horn also served as the

chief creative officer A chief creative officer (CCO) is the highest ranking position of the creative team within a company. Depending on the type of company, this position may be responsible for the overall look and feel of marketing, media, and branding associated wit ...

from 2019 to 2021. Horn agreed to depart from Disney, effective December 31, 2021. In July 2022, Horn re-joined Warner Bros., having assumed a new position as a consultant with

Warner Bros. Discovery Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (WBD) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at 230 Park Avenue South in New York City. It was formed after the spin-off of WarnerMedia by AT&T, and its merger with Di ...

Personal life

Horn was raised on Long Island, New York, in Riverhead. He graduated from

Union College Union College is a private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the state of New York, after Columbia Co ...

in Schenectady, New York, in 1964. In 1971, he received an MBA from Harvard Business School. He was a captain in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

. Horn currently lives in the East Gate Bel Air section of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, with his wife, Cindy Harrell, a former model. They have two daughters, actress

Cody Cody may refer to: People *Cody (given name) *Cody (surname) * Cody (wrestler), a ring name of Cody Runnels Places Canada * Cody, British Columbia United States * Cody, Florida * Cody (Duluth), Minnesota * Cody, Missouri * Cody, Nebraska *Cody, ...

, and Cassidy.

Career

Horn worked at Norman Lear's television production companies,

Tandem Productions Tandem Productions, Inc. (a.k.a. Tandem Enterprises, Inc.) was a film and television production company that was founded in 1958 by television director Bud Yorkin and television writer/producer Norman Lear. History Tandem Productions In the ...

and

Embassy Communications ELP Communications (formerly known as T.A.T. Communications Company, Embassy Television, Embassy Telecommunications, and Embassy Communications) was an American television production company that originally began in 1974. History Beginning EL ...

, the latter of which he was chairman before becoming president of

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

in October 1986 soon after it was acquired by

Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including ...

. He was one of the founders of

Castle Rock Entertainment Castle Rock Entertainment is an American film and television production company founded in 1987 by Martin Shafer, director Rob Reiner, Andrew Scheinman, Glenn Padnick and Alan Horn. It is a label of Warner Bros. Entertainment, itself a subsidia ...

in 1987. There, he oversaw films including ''

A Few Good Men ''A Few Good Men'' is a 1992 American legal drama film based on Aaron Sorkin's 1989 play. It was written by Sorkin, directed by Rob Reiner, and produced by Reiner, David Brown and Andrew Scheinman. It stars an ensemble cast including Tom C ...

'' (1992), '' The Green Mile'' (1999), ''

When Harry Met Sally ''When Harry Met Sally...'' is a 1989 American romantic comedy-drama film written by Nora Ephron and directed by Rob Reiner. It stars Billy Crystal as Harry and Meg Ryan as Sally. The story follows the title characters from the time they m ...

'' (1989), and the TV sitcom '' Seinfeld'' (1989–1998). Horn became President and COO of

in 1999, where he ran the studio in partnership with Chairman and CEO

Barry Meyer Barry M. Meyer (born November 28, 1946) is an American television producer who served as Chairman of Warner Bros. Entertainment. Early life Born to a Jewish family in New York City, the son of Perry Meyer and Lillian Katz Meyer. Meyer holds a ba ...

for 12 years. Under Horn's leadership, Warner Bros. had many hits, including the ''Harry Potter'' series (2001–2011) and

Christopher Nolan Christopher Edward Nolan (born 30 July 1970) is a British-American filmmaker. Known for his lucrative Hollywood blockbusters with complex storytelling, Nolan is considered a leading filmmaker of the 21st century. His films have grossed $5&nb ...

's ''

The Dark Knight Trilogy The fictional superhero Batman, who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics, has appeared in various films since his inception. Created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger, the character first starred in two serial films in the 1940 ...

'' (2005–2012). He was also the executive producer on all three films in '' The Hobbit Trilogy''. At age 68, Horn was forced to retire as President and COO of Warner Bros., at the behest of Time Warner Chairman and CEO

Jeffrey Bewkes Jeffrey Lawrence Bewkes (born May 25, 1952) is an American media executive. He was CEO of Time Warner from January 1, 2008 to June 14, 2018, President from December 2005 to June 2018, and Chairman of the Board from January 1, 2009 to 2018. Early ...

who wanted to groom younger talent to take over at the studio, with Meyer relinquishing his role as studio CEO in March 2013 to be succeeded by

Kevin Tsujihara Kevin Ken Tsujihara (born October 25, 1964) is an American businessman, and former chairman and CEO of Warner Bros Entertainment. He succeeded Barry Meyer as CEO in March 2013, and as chairman in December 2013, having previously served as presid ...

. In 2012, at the urging of

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Disney Stud ...

chairman and CEO Bob Iger, Horn was lured out of retirement to become the chairman of Walt Disney Studios, replacing Rich Ross who had been dismissed from the position after having conflicts with

Pixar Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californ ...

executives. Horn established a successful working relationship with Pixar, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, and 20th Century Studios which operated with great autonomy under Disney's overall ownership, while also overseeing strong box office releases from

Walt Disney Pictures Walt Disney Pictures is an American film production company and subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is owned by The Walt Disney Company. The studio is the flagship producer of live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Studios unit ...

and

Walt Disney Animation Studios Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that creates animated features and short films for The Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a scene fro ...

. In 2017, he said of his past professional success:

I have this ... theory that whoever is working in a job deserves to stay ... unless they prove that they don't deserve to be in the job.

On May 1, 2019, Horn was given the added title of chief creative officer (CCO) of Walt Disney Studios. In December 2020, it was announced that effective January 1, 2021, Alan Bergman would become the new chairman of the Walt Disney Studios while Horn would remain as the studios' chief creative officer. In October 2021, it was announced that Horn would be retiring for a second time at the end of the year, and his position would likely not be filled. In July 2022, it was reported that Horn would assume a new position with

. Starting August 1, 2022, Horn began serving as a consultant to the company during its transitionary period following the acquisition of Warner Bros. by

Discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discover ...

References

External links

Corporate Bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Horn, Alan F. American chief executives in the media industry American media executives Living people Union College (New York) alumni Disney executives American film studio executives Chairmen of The Walt Disney Company 20th Century Studios people Warner Bros. people People from Long Island 20th-century American Jews Harvard Business School alumni Businesspeople from New York City 21st-century American businesspeople 20th-century American businesspeople 1943 births American independent film production company founders 21st-century American Jews