Disney's Kareem Daniel rise from intern to Streaming Executive.

This week, Walt Disney Co. revealed its plans to restructure the company. Walt Disney's recently created Media and Entertainment division will concentrate all its efforts on developing and producing original content for all the streaming services and legacy platforms for the company. The company also revealed its plans for the group to be led by Kareem Daniel as Chairman of the group. The native of the South Side of Chicago will oversee pricing, marketing, and how consumers will engage with the streaming platform, Disney+,  as the company veers its attention towards streamlining more content. Former President of consumer products, games, and publishing, Kareem Daniel has been with Disney for 14 years. 

He owes his growth in the company to Disney's recent Chief Executive Officer, Bob Chapek, who revealed that he first hired Daniel as an intern 14 years ago when he was a graduate student. Kareem Daniel as a child would have fantasies about Walt Disney which has been deemed a place where "dreams come true."  He is now living those dreams as one of the top executives at the world's largest and most popular entertainment company. In an interview with Bloomberg, Chapek said, " He is a brilliant executive who has unbelievable objectivity when it comes to fact-based decision making. It perfectly positions him to be the right guy to make decisions. Not because there's a legacy of the business but because it is right for today." 

Daniel expressed his enthusiasm at his new role in his statement where he said, " I'm honored to be able to lead this new organization during such a pivotal and exciting time for our company and I'm grateful to Chapek for giving me the opportunity." An alumnus of Stanford University, Daniel had worked for Goldman Sachs Group Inc. for three years before joining Disney's strategic planning team in 2007. He had previously worked as senior vice president of strategy and business development for Disney consumer products and interactive media and also the vice president of distribution strategy at Walt Disney Studios, Newsweek reports. In 2017, he took over Imagineers, the theme-park designers who create Disney's fantastic rides and glamor.

 Kareem Daniel also assisted in supervising the construction of a Marvel-themed land slated to open in California as well as the Company's deal with Marvel. This aided the comic book studio in birthing one of the world's most successful movie franchises. Kareem Daniel told Morgan Park Academy in an interview that, "A highlight of my career was being a member of the team that worked on the acquisition of Marvel in 2009 and being able to tell my mom about it and better explains what I did for a living." During his 14-year term, Daniel has developed to be one of the most successful Black executives at Disney, whose senior leadership color diversity has hardly changed and is only exhibiting a sprinkle of color in recent times. He is the first Balck division head who reports directly to the chief executive at Disney.