The Walt Disney Co. has appointed Emily Feingold executive vice president of communications, placing a longtime Netflix communications leader in a central corporate role that spans media relations, financial and technology communications, enterprise editorial, executive messaging and brand messaging.
Feingold reports to Paul Roeder, Disney’s senior executive vice president and chief communications officer. The appointment follows Feingold’s departure from Netflix five months earlier, after nine years with the streaming company.
She succeeds David Jefferson, a senior Disney corporate communications executive who has accepted the company’s voluntary early retirement offer. Jefferson will remain with Disney through the end of the month for the transition.
What Feingold’s role covers
Communications titles can sound broad because they are broad: this remit connects the company’s public-facing explanation of its business across several very different audiences. Media relations concerns the company’s interaction with journalists and coverage of corporate developments. Financial communications concerns the clear presentation of business information and company priorities to financial audiences. Technology communications centers on how the company frames its technical work and technology-related direction.
Enterprise editorial, meanwhile, generally refers to coordinated content produced across a company’s own channels. Executive messaging is the work of ensuring senior leaders communicate clearly and consistently. Brand messaging concerns the language and ideas used to present the Disney identity and its wider business to the public.
Those areas do not operate in isolation. A single major corporate development can require media outreach, an executive statement, internal information, financial context and a consistent explanation across company channels. Feingold’s portfolio makes her a key coordinator in that process rather than a communications specialist assigned to only one division.
For audiences following Disney from outside the company, the practical effect is not necessarily a new product, show or service. It is a change in the executive leadership responsible for the way Disney explains major developments, fields press attention and aligns high-level corporate messaging. That work is especially visible when a company is discussing business strategy, technology, leadership changes or significant news affecting multiple parts of its operation.
A streaming-era communications background
Feingold arrives after a nine-year tenure at Netflix, a period described as part of the streaming company’s major rise. Her experience there gives Disney a communications executive whose background includes navigating an entertainment business shaped by streaming, rapid shifts in audience habits and constant scrutiny of companies operating at global scale.
Her career also includes positions outside streaming. Before Netflix, Feingold was senior vice president of corporate strategy and communications at private investment firm Andell Inc. She was previously vice president of corporate communications at Ralph Lauren, and began her career at the White House.
That combination matters because Disney’s assignment is explicitly enterprise-wide. Experience in corporate strategy and communications can be useful when messaging must reflect both an organization’s public identity and its larger business aims. Experience at a major consumer brand is relevant to brand messaging, while a White House start adds a public-affairs foundation to a career now centered on large institutions.
Roeder said Feingold brings “sharp instincts, broad experience and the trust and respect of colleagues and journalists alike.” He added that she has led communications during transformative periods in the industry and will be an asset as Disney enters what he called an exciting chapter.
Reporting structure after Disney’s leadership changes
Feingold will report to Roeder, who became senior executive vice president and chief communications officer in March. Roeder’s elevation came after Josh D’Amaro was selected as Disney’s new CEO.
The reporting line is significant because communications leadership works best when responsibility is clear: Feingold is taking on a large operating portfolio under the company’s top communications executive. That setup distinguishes overall communications leadership from day-to-day oversight of the multiple disciplines named in Feingold’s new role.
It also makes the appointment part of a wider senior-leadership sequence at Disney, rather than a standalone personnel move. There is no indication here of a change to Disney’s underlying communications responsibilities; instead, the company is placing a new executive over those responsibilities as Jefferson exits.
The broader entertainment and technology landscape has repeatedly shown why such positions are consequential. Companies do not merely need to make decisions; they need to describe them accurately, consistently and in a way suited to different groups. Similar questions about how business models are presented to audiences and stakeholders also arise in games, as seen in the debate around free-to-play access and loot-box business models. The underlying industries differ, but clear communication remains part of how companies establish expectations around major business choices.
Jefferson’s Disney tenure and transition
Jefferson leaves after 15 years as a senior Disney corporate communications executive. His relationship with the company began in 2009, when he joined the public-relations operation at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. He departed at the end of 2010, then returned in January 2013 in a corporate communications position.
Most recently, Jefferson was promoted to executive vice president of corporate communications in March 2025. His continuing presence through the end of the current month provides a defined handover period as Feingold assumes the position.
A transition period can be important in a senior corporate communications change because it allows institutional context to carry over. That is an explanation of the structure of the handoff, not a claim about any undisclosed Disney initiatives: the confirmed fact is that Jefferson remains on board through month-end while Feingold begins her new job.
Before Disney, Jefferson spent 14 years at the Wall Street Journal, including service as deputy Los Angeles bureau chief. He also worked as a senior editor at Newsweek for eight years, and later returned to work with Newsweek and the Daily Beast after leaving Disney in 2010.
That newsroom background is notable in a corporate communications career. Journalistic experience can provide familiarity with how reporting is developed, what information reporters need and how news is evaluated. It does not make corporate communication identical to journalism—the purposes are distinct—but it can inform the relationship between a company and the press.
Roeder called Jefferson a “trusted voice and steady hand” through consequential periods in Disney’s history. He also thanked Jefferson for his counsel, friendship and service to the company.
What is confirmed—and what is not
The confirmed change is straightforward: Feingold has joined Disney as executive vice president of communications; her responsibilities include media relations, financial and technology communications, enterprise editorial, executive messaging and brand messaging; and she reports to Roeder. Jefferson is taking voluntary early retirement and will assist with the transition through the end of the month.
It would be premature to infer a particular communications strategy, upcoming initiative or operational shift beyond those facts. The appointment establishes who will lead a substantial set of corporate communications functions, but no specific campaign, technology plan, financial action or entertainment slate decision is identified as part of the move.
For now, the clearest takeaway is a leadership handoff: Disney has selected a veteran communications executive with experience at Netflix, corporate strategy, consumer branding and public service to lead a wide-ranging communications portfolio, while Jefferson concludes a long Disney tenure after a month-end transition.
