Disney Bolsters Adtech and Product Leadership With New Hires

Following layoffs hitting Disney’s product and tech workforce in June, the corporate is now bolstering the division with senior management.Right this moment, Adam Smith, the chief product and know-how officer for Disney Leisure and ESPN, introduced internally that he’s bringing in two new evps to his management workforce, ADWEEK has realized.Tony Donohoe joins the corporate as evp, advert platforms, main the adtech workforce and improvement. In the meantime, Erin Teague joins Disney in September, taking the position of evp, product administration.“A part of what makes Disney distinctive is the mixture of creativity and know-how. As Product & Know-how at Disney and ESPN proceed to pursue our imaginative and prescient, we’re driving new concepts, remodeling our merchandise,” Smith stated in a press release. “I’m thrilled so as to add two new, distinctive leaders—Tony Donohoe and Erin Teague—to a workforce that’s doing a ton of nice issues.”Smith famous that Donohoe and Teague carry “technical firepower, deep experience, and dynamic imaginative and prescient” to the corporate, as Disney seems to be to carry extra innovation and user-centric merchandise.Donohoe, who has round three a long time within the business, beforehand held management roles at JPMorgan Chase, served as CTO for Expedia and SoFi, and just lately was svp of know-how at Walmart. Teague, who has experience in sports activities, AI, and personalization, has held management roles at firms resembling Google, Yahoo, and YouTube.Erin Teague (L) and Tony Donohoe (R).Smith’s division was beforehand hit with layoffs in June, as Disney was “rebalancing and refocusing” its product and know-how workforce investments, based on a supply acquainted with the matter. That spherical of layoffs affected “underneath 2% of the group.” Nonetheless, the workforce was nonetheless making hires and seeking to develop on the time.The information of the hires arrives shortly forward of Disney launching its new ESPN streamer, which is debuting within the coming days. In the meantime, Disney CEO Bob Iger additionally just lately revealed the corporate is seeking to absolutely combine Hulu into Disney+ to create a extra seamless one-app expertise. Following the information of Hulu folding into Disney+ in 2026, the corporate additionally reorganized its advertising management.