Jim Lewis Fired from WDWCo

[doconeill]

Just got the email - Claire Bilby is the top DVC exec, under the title of "[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Senior Vice President". Like Lewis she comes from the Marketing section of DPR.

[/FONT]

 

[lawgs]

Just got the email - Claire Bilby is the top DVC exec, under the title of "[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Senior Vice President". Like Lewis she comes from the Marketing section of DPR.

[/FONT]

Global Sales Leader Claire Bilby Named to Top Disney Vacation Club Role

Disney Vacation Club is pleased to welcome seasoned Disney leader Claire Bilby as its new Senior Vice President, with responsibility for all aspects of the business.

Claire succeeds Jim Lewis, who left the company after serving as its president since 2006.

Claire has a distinguished history with Disney, starting in marketing at Walt Disney World Resort in 1988 and taking increasing levels of executive responsibility with the company in Florida, California and around the globe.

She recently served as Senior Vice President of Distribution Marketing and Asia Pacific Sales for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. Among her responsibilities were leading all sales channel marketing for Walt Disney World Resort, Disneyland Resort, Disney Cruise Line, Walt Disney Travel Company, Adventures by Disney and Disney Institute. She also served as the top sales leader for Disney Destinations' Asia Pacific Region, with responsibilities for Hong Kong Disneyland, Disney's regional sales office in Tokyo and sales offices in Australia and China. Most recently, Claire led the sales organization at Disneyland Resort Paris on a temporary assignment.

"Claire brings to Disney Vacation Club an impressive track record in global sales, as well as an inspirational leadership style and innovative thinking," said Karl L. Holz, President of New Vacation Operations and Disney Cruise Line, and whose responsibilities include Disney Vacation Club.

Claire's many accomplishments include helping to launch several Disney theme parks and serving as a key leader in the milestone 50th anniversary celebration for Disneyland Resort.

 

[DMKEDM]

Wondering about the significance (if any) of the new person (Claire Bilby) having the title "senior vice president" as compared to Jim Lewis having been president of DVC?

Does this mean a "downgrade" to DVC in the pantheon of Disney businesses?

 

[Mister Incredible]

Nice sales background, wonder how she is with Customer Service??

 

[anniet]

Nice sales background, wonder how she is with Customer Service??

My sources say she is a wonderful lady and this announcement should make us members VERY happy!

 

[GatorMomInNC]

No severance package per Orlando Sentinel

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/the-...y-time-share-trouble-20110815,0,4646293.story

Assuming it is true, could you imagine the severance? I bet it is more than most of us make in a yr.

 

[Muushka]

My sources say she is a wonderful lady and this announcement should make us members VERY happy!

Great news! Hi Annie, good to see you.

 

[tjkraz]

Wondering about the significance (if any) of the new person (Claire Bilby) having the title "senior vice president" as compared to Jim Lewis having been president of DVC?

Does this mean a "downgrade" to DVC in the pantheon of Disney businesses?

I am almost certain that Lewis had a VP position when he was first placed with DVC. Don't think DVC ever had a President before him.

In retrospect, the President title looks like more of a pat on the back from the days when he was a rising star in the company.

I don't view it as any sort of downgrade for DVC.

 

[WDWLVR]

Wondering about the significance (if any) of the new person (Claire Bilby) having the title "senior vice president" as compared to Jim Lewis having been president of DVC?

Does this mean a "downgrade" to DVC in the pantheon of Disney businesses?

Jim Lewis started as Vice President (or maybe Senior Vice President) and it was a number of years (3-4) before he was made President. I could see the same thing happening here.

 

[fdwang]

Interesting post.



Disney halts sales and fires executives amid financial issues with Hawaiian resort
By Jason Garcia, Orlando Sentinel

8:38 PM EDT, August 15, 2011

Financial issues with a new Walt Disney Co. resort scheduled to open this month in Hawaii prompted the company to suspend all time-share sales for the project and force out three executives, including the president of its Celebration-based time-share business, according to several people familiar with the events.

Disney on Friday fired Jim Lewis, president of Disney Vacation Club, the company's time-share division. The company also dismissed Jim Heaney, senior vice president and chief financial officer of Disney Cruise Line and travel operations, and Lawrence Smith, a former director of finance for Disney Vacation Club who was most recently with food-and-beverage operations for Walt Disney World.

The dismissals followed an internal investigation into problems surrounding Aulani, an estimated $850 million hotel and time share scheduled to open Aug. 29 on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. Plans call for the resort to have 460 Disney Vacation Club time shares and 359 conventional hotel rooms.

Disney said Monday evening it had appointed Claire Bilby, a 23-year company veteran who had most recently been senior vice president of distribution marketing and Asia Pacific sales, to run its time-share business. Bilby's title will be senior vice president of Disney Vacation Club.

According to the people familiar with details of the investigation, it focused on the annual dues that Disney Vacation Club plans to charge buyers of Aulani time shares. Those yearly fees are used to cover ongoing expenses such as the resort's maintenance and repairs.

Those people said Disney concluded that Vacation Club executives had calculated dues amounts so low that they would not generate enough money to cover the cost of maintaining Aulani. The inadequate dues amounts were included in legal-disclosure documents submitted to the Hawaiian government.

Disney said Aulani's operating costs were underestimated, leading to the inadequate annual dues. It said the mistake was unintentional.

The low fees prompted concerns within the company that Aulani would eventually face a significant operating shortfall, the people familiar with the investigation said. The company also feared the possibility of a brand-damaging backlash from Hawaiian regulators or consumers should Disney attempt to significantly raise Aulani's annual dues in future years to plug any deficit.

All of the people familiar with the events spoke only on the condition that they not be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Disney suspended Aulani sales on July 9, a little more than one year after it started selling the project to consumers. The company says it is accepting "deposit reservations" in the interim from buyers who wish to lock in current Aulani prices, though there is no penalty for consumers who cancel such reservations.

Rena Langley, a spokeswoman for Disney, said the company is now in the process of changing the registration materials submitted to the Hawaiian government and that it expects to file the updated documents this week. She said the changes involve "adjustments to our annual dues forecast for Aulani."

Disney's initial sales materials stated that the 2011 annual dues for Aulani would be $4.31 for every "point" purchased, or $689.60 a year based on 160 points, which Disney says is the minimum amount for new Vacation Club members. (Disney Vacation Club sells points, rather than specific time periods, which allows buyers to redeem them at various times and destinations.)

Langley said buyers who have already purchased points in Aulani will get a credit toward their annual dues equal to the difference between the original quoted amount and whatever higher price Disney sets now. She declined to say how many people have bought into Aulani so far.

All time-share developers face pressure to keep maintenance fees as low as possible in order to drive sales. While such fees may seem a trifling issue when compared with the upfront sticker price of a time share — which can cost $50,000 or more — they can nonetheless be a significant deterrent for buyers.

A 2009 survey for the American Resort Development Association, the time-share industry trade group, found that one in four recent time-share buyers cited annual maintenance fees as a top reason they had been hesitant about purchasing a time share.

Tammie Kaufman, a professor in the University of Central Florida's Rosen College of Hospitality Management, said many buyers are wary because dues are a recurring expense that can increase from year to year.

"It's because of the unknown. People have heard horror stories" about dues, Kaufman said.

Aulani's performance is being closely watched by Disney investors. The project is the first test of the company's strategy to build standalone hotels and niche parks in secondary markets away from its massive theme-park resorts in Orlando and Anaheim, Calif., as Disney's parks division searches for new sources of growth in North America.

None of the three executives fired Friday received a severance package, according to a person who spoke with one of the men.

The dismissal marks a shocking fall for Jim Lewis, once considered a rising star within Disney's executive ranks and a leading candidate to become president of Walt Disney World, the company's biggest and most profitable theme-park operation.

Lewis joined Disney in 1996 from PepsiCo as a director of planning and finance for Disney's sales unit. He was tapped to oversee Disney Vacation Club in 2003, and under his watch the unit became the fastest-growing business within Disney's global theme-park division. At its peak before the global recession, Disney Vacation Club generated an estimated $190 million a year in operating income.

Lewis did not return phone messages Monday.

Disney's decision to force Heaney out in addition to Lewis stunned several company followers. The finance executive was highly regarded both inside and outside of Disney; he had earned the nickname "The Brain" from some fellow executives.

"I am very proud of my accomplishments and how I conducted business during my 16-plus years with Disney," Heaney said. "Given this track record, I am bewildered by the company's decision."

Smith could not be reached for comment.

The Aulani paralysis has frustrated some Disney customers. William Montgomery, a 37-year-old business owner from Dallas, said he called Disney on July 27 planning to buy into Aulani — only to be told by the sales agent that he couldn't.

"And so I said, 'What's the deal?' He got real cryptic, real fast. … All he would say is there was something wrong in the documentation and that the Disney lawyers had stopped everything," said Montgomery, who also owns an interest in a Disney time share in Orlando. "It's the damndest thing. I mean, Disney won't take your money."

 

[podsnel]

My sources say she is a wonderful lady and this announcement should make us members VERY happy!

Thanks for this post- it is making this member VERY happy!

No severance package per Orlando Sentinel

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/the-...y-time-share-trouble-20110815,0,4646293.story

You really have to think there is a LOT more to the Jim Lewis story than we know....no severance? That really says soooo much....

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

Interesting post.



Disney halts sales and fires executives amid financial issues with Hawaiian resort
By Jason Garcia, Orlando Sentinel

8:38 PM EDT, August 15, 2011

According to the people familiar with details of the investigation, it focused on the annual dues that Disney Vacation Club plans to charge buyers of Aulani time shares. Those yearly fees are used to cover ongoing expenses such as the resort's maintenance and repairs.

Those people said Disney concluded that Vacation Club executives had calculated dues amounts so low that they would not generate enough money to cover the cost of maintaining Aulani. The inadequate dues amounts were included in legal-disclosure documents submitted to the Hawaiian government.

Disney said Aulani's operating costs were underestimated, leading to the inadequate annual dues. It said the mistake was unintentional. Yeah Right!!

The low fees prompted concerns within the company that Aulani would eventually face a significant operating shortfall, the people familiar with the investigation said. The company also feared the possibility of a brand-damaging backlash from Hawaiian regulators or consumers should Disney attempt to significantly raise Aulani's annual dues in future years to plug any deficit.

Disney's initial sales materials stated that the 2011 annual dues for Aulani would be $4.31 for every "point" purchased, or $689.60 a year based on 160 points, which Disney says is the minimum amount for new Vacation Club members. (Disney Vacation Club sells points, rather than specific time periods, which allows buyers to redeem them at various times and destinations.)

All time-share developers face pressure to keep maintenance fees as low as possible in order to drive sales. While such fees may seem a trifling issue when compared with the upfront sticker price of a time share — which can cost $50,000 or more — they can nonetheless be a significant deterrent for buyers.

It makes you wonder just how bad things were eventually going to get under the guidance of Jim Lewis. IMHO, these problems in Hawaii are just symptomatic to the overall problems seen by current members. Too low of dues means less housekeeping, less maintenance, less of everything.

Were we going to see those big 1 time assessments we hear horror stories about so that they could re-do the shoddy craftsmanship. Is it possible that some of those assessments will come down the pike because JL already set the wheels in motion, and its too late to completely stop!

I think we've only heard the beginning of what happened.

To me, it sounds like JL was doing a crappy job in terms of maintenance and upkeep of the resorts, and that no matter how much the DISSERS complained...nothing happened. It took the State of Hawaii telling Disney management what many here already knew.

When it came down to JL jeopardizing a project in the hundreds of millions of dollars, COMBINED with the overall mismanagement of DVC did him in.

It may be the other way around...but it sounds like he took the bean counters down with him.

 

[disneynutz]

I have often questioned the low dues at BLT and now you have to ask did Lewis do the same thing to BLT and will the owners be faced with a dues increase. The other executives fired seemed to have moved on to other jobs, when did they work with Lewis, prior to BLT being built?

Bill

 

[podsnel]

I have often questioned the low dues at BLT and now you have to ask did Lewis do the same thing to BLT and will the owners be faced with a dues increase. The other executives fired seemed to have moved on to other jobs, when did they work with Lewis, prior to BLT being built?

Bill

That's what I just said 2 minutes ago to my husband....

 

[Laurabearz]

Got this email tonight...

Global Sales Leader Claire Bilby Named to Top Disney Vacation Club Role

Disney Vacation Club is pleased to welcome seasoned Disney leader Claire Bilby as its new Senior Vice President, with responsibility for all aspects of the business.

Claire succeeds Jim Lewis, who left the company after serving as its president since 2006.

Claire has a distinguished history with Disney, starting in marketing at Walt Disney World Resort in 1988 and taking increasing levels of executive responsibility with the company in Florida, California and around the globe.

She recently served as Senior Vice President of Distribution Marketing and Asia Pacific Sales for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. Among her responsibilities were leading all sales channel marketing for Walt Disney World Resort, Disneyland Resort, Disney Cruise Line, Walt Disney Travel Company, Adventures by Disney and Disney Institute. She also served as the top sales leader for Disney Destinations' Asia Pacific Region, with responsibilities for Hong Kong Disneyland, Disney's regional sales office in Tokyo and sales offices in Australia and China. Most recently, Claire led the sales organization at Disneyland Resort Paris on a temporary assignment.

"Claire brings to Disney Vacation Club an impressive track record in global sales, as well as an inspirational leadership style and innovative thinking," said Karl L. Holz, President of New Vacation Operations and Disney Cruise Line, and whose responsibilities include Disney Vacation Club.

Claire's many accomplishments include helping to launch several Disney theme parks and serving as a key leader in the milestone 50th anniversary celebration for Disneyland Resort.

 

[Brandis]

I don't like it too much that she's coming from Marketing, but at least she has been with the Company for a long time, hopefully she know by now what Disney is about.

As for Karl Holz, I'm pretty happy with him. I met him a few time at shareholders meetings at Disneyland Paris and he always seemed genuinely interested in peoples concerns.

Since DVC is now part of the cruise divisin, can we hope for a DVC cruiseship resort? Just kidding of course!

 

[Longhairbear]

We think it is odd a DCL exec was also fired. Perhaps something to do with smaller blocks of cruise cabins available on points? Or even the no cruise option for new resale owners?
No severance package for those fired, sounds like there might be more to this than Aulani.
I don't want to think this way, but perhaps all the DVC resorts built under Lewis's reign? Could all those resorts have been sold with under estimated annual dues?

 

[Biggreen19]

As many have stated, I suspect JL was fired more for his "body of work", the Aulani issue was the straw that broke the camel's back. Bean counters playing the shell game for favorable quarterly numbers, with nothing supporting those numbers LONG TERM will eventually collapse under their own weight.............

 

[Ramsfan28]

No severance for Jim Lewis points to something very bad that must have happened.

While I do agree it could have been several things building up over time, there maybe was something else that we have not hear about yet.

I can't stress enough the no severance thing is big and also perhaps a bit of a message to DVC owners that the company was not happy and heard the complaints from the owners.

 

[Dizny Dad]

I agree. No severance for Jim Lewis is a very serious move for Disney. My first thoughts were that they had enough difficulties with performance that they could weather the storm of attorneys that may be launched their way. Generally a severance package comes with contractual agreements of no further action on either side. Of course keeping any possible severance compensation is one way to offset the legal costs that would inevitably be incurred by the bank of lawyers Disney employs. Time will tell.

Let the games begin . . . .