Edward Arthur Grier (born February 15, 1955) is the dean of the Santa Clara University Leavey School of Business. Before coming to SCU, he was the dean at VCU, and before that he was an executive at

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 and early career

He has a bachelor's degree in accounting from Duquesne University in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

. A certified public accountant, Grier worked for

Ernst & Young EY, previously known as Ernst & Young, is a multinational corporation, multinational professional services partnership, network based in London, United Kingdom. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and PwC, it is one of the Big Four accounting firms, Big F ...

Career at Disney

Before transitioning to higher ed, Grier spent 29 years with the Walt Disney Company. He joined

in 1981 as senior auditor at Walt Disney World in Florida. Grier held executive positions at the

Walt Disney World Resort The Walt Disney World Resort is an entertainment resort complex located about southwest of Orlando, Florida, United States. Opened on October 1, 1971, the resort is operated by Disney Experiences, a division of the Walt Disney Company. ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

and At the Florida resort, he served as general manager for the operation lines of business at the Epcot and Disney-MGM Studios theme parks. In the early 1990s, Grier served as a member of an expatriate team that was assigned to Disneyland Resort Paris in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

for one year. While there, Grier was establishing the resort's marketing division and developing Pan-European marketing strategies. Grier served as executive managing director of Walt Disney Attractions Japan, where he supervised Disney operations for the Tokyo Disney Resort and the day-to-day relationship with the Oriental Land Company, which owns the property. Grier joined Disneyland Resort in July 2006 (replacing Matt Ouimet). He reported to Al Weiss, president of operations for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. As president of

Disneyland Resort The Disneyland Resort is an entertainment resort in Anaheim, California, United States. It is owned and operated by the Walt Disney Company through its Disney Experiences, Experiences division and is home to two theme parks (Disneyland and Dis ...

Anaheim, California Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, United States, part of the Greater Los Angeles area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orang ...

, properties under his purview included:

Disneyland Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. It was the first theme park opened by the Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney, ...

and Disney California Adventure Park theme parks, the Disneyland Hotel, Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel, and the Downtown Disney retail, dining and entertainment district. Grier announced his retirement from the company on October 5, 2009.

Career at VCU Business School

Grier was named dean of the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Business on February 8, 2010. On May 2, 2017, he took on an interim role as university’s "vice president for development and alumni relations.". He would serve in that role until the hiring of the new vice president, which was expected in the Summer of 2017. On April 6, 2021, Grier announced that he would be leaving VCU in June of 2021 to become the new dean of the business school at Santa Clara University.

References

External links

Walt Disney Company profile of Ed Grier
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grier, Ed Disneyland Resort Living people Duquesne University alumni Walt Disney Parks and Resorts people Disney executives 1955 births Ernst & Young people