Susan E. Arnold (born March 8, 1954) is an American

business executive A business executive is a person responsible for running an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization. Executives run companies or government agencies. They create plans to help their organizations gr ...

who formerly served as the chairman 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 ...

Early life and education

Arnold graduated from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree, and from the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

with a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular ...

degree.

Career

Susan Arnold began her career as a brand assistant for the Dawn/Ivory Snow Group at Proctor Gamble in 1980. In 1999, she assumed global responsibility for Procter & Gamble's beauty business, thereby becoming the first woman to reach a president-level position in the company. She retired from Procter & Gamble on September 1, 2009. Between 2013 and 2021, Arnold served as an operating executive of

The Carlyle Group The Carlyle Group Inc. is an American multinational company with operations in private equity, alternative asset management and financial services. As of 2023, the company had $426 billion of assets under management. Carlyle specializes in ...

. She is based in New York. Arnold has served on the

board of directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

since 2007, as well as the Carlyle portfolio investments company NBTY, The Nature's Bounty Co. She has also been a member of the Board of Directors of McDonald's Co. since 2008. In 2004 she became Vice Chairman of

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/con ...

and President of the company in 2007. On December 1, 2021, Arnold was appointed to replace

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 ...

as chair of the board at

and became the first woman to be appointed to this position in the 98-year history of Disney. She was elected chair on December 31, 2021. On January 11, 2023, Disney announced that Arnold would no longer serve as the board's chair after the next annual shareholder meeting and would be replaced by former Nike CEO

Mark Parker Mark Parker (born October 21, 1955) is an American businessman. He is the executive chairman of Nike, Inc. He was named the third CEO of the company in 2006 and was president and CEO until January 13, 2020. From 2023 to 2025, he was the chairman ...

Personal life

Arnold is openly lesbian. Since 2002, she has been listed on ''Fortune'' magazine's 50 Most Powerful Women in Business as #7 in 2008. In 2004 and 2005, she was listed on the

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

's 50 Women to Watch. She was listed multiple times on the Forbes list of The World's Most Powerful Women and in 2005 she was #16 on ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

The World's 100 Most Powerful Women Since 2004, ''Forbes'', an American business magazine, has published an annual list of its ranking of the 100 most powerful women in the world. Edited by prominent ''Forbes'' journalists, including Moira Forbes, the list is compiled using variou ...

list. She served for several years on the executive committee of

Catalyst Catalysis () is the increase in rate of a chemical reaction due to an added substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed by the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst recycles quick ...

, a nonprofit organization working toward the advancement of women in business. In June 2022, she was recognized by the International Hospitality Institute on the Global 100 in Hospitality as one of the 100 Most Powerful People in Global Hospitality.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arnold, Susan Living people Procter & Gamble people McDonald's people Directors of The Walt Disney Company Wharton School alumni Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business alumni 1954 births 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American businesswomen American LGBTQ businesspeople Lesbian businesswomen 21st-century American businesswomen 21st-century American businesspeople American women corporate directors Chairmen of The Walt Disney Company The Carlyle Group people LGBTQ people from Pennsylvania