New DVC President

[disneynutz]

Anthony Connelly is the new president over DVC, DCL, Aulani, Golden Oak and ABD. I wonder how long it will be before he makes changes to the DVC? With each management change we see changes made to the DVC, some good and some not so good.

Bill

 

[twinsouvenirs]

Anthony Connelly is the new president over DVC, DCL, Aulani, Golden Oak and ABD. I wonder how long it will be before he makes changes to the DVC? With each management change we see changes made to the DVC, some good and some not so good.

Bill

No more Potrock?!?

I (obviously) hope they keep up the perks. And I know this is not a super popular opinion but I hope they keep up the expansion. Especially offsite.

 

[erionm]

No more Potrock?!?

Anthony Connelly replaced Karl Holtz. Ken Potrock now reports to Anthony Connelly.

 

[twinsouvenirs]

Anthony Connelly replaced Karl Holtz. Ken Potrock now reports to Anthony Connelly.

Oh, got it. Thank you for the clarity I don't keep up with the corporate structure as much as I should! (And I mean that, I'm a shareholder)

 

[Bellecruiser]

Anthony Connelly is the new president over DVC, DCL, Aulani, Golden Oak and ABD. I wonder how long it will be before he makes changes to the DVC? With each management change we see changes made to the DVC, some good and some not so good.

Bill

Bill,

Interesting! Do you know anything about Connelly? Like where he has been in the company; what his background is; any of his achievements that could give us a clue? I am not surprised about Holtz, as he seemed near retirement age.

 

[erionm]

Bill,

Interesting! Do you know anything about Connelly? Like where he has been in the company; what his background is; any of his achievements that could give us a clue? I am not surprised about Holtz, as he seemed near retirement age.

Official Disney Bio: https://aboutdisneyparks.com/about/leadership-team/anthony-connelly

 

[drusba]

My inderstanding is that there are no performance issues involved in the change of the president and this is actually old news. Karl Holtz told Disney more than 7 months ago, he was going to retire effective February 2018. And in April, Connelly was chosen as the successor, to become effective Oct 1 with Holtz still remaining in a transition/consulting position uniil Feb. Connelly might propose some changes for DVC but he has not been brought in with the expectation by Disney that will occur.

 

[disneynutz]

My inderstanding is that there are no performance issues involved in the change of the president and this is actually old news. Karl Holtz told Disney more than 7 months ago, he was going to retire effective February 2018. And in April, Connelly was chosen as the successor, to become effective Oct 1 with Holtz still remaining in a transition/consulting position uniil Feb. Connelly might propose some changes for DVC but he has not been brought in with the expectation by Disney that will occur.

I'm not saying that he was brought in due to a performance issue, I'm saying that they all tend to make changes to make the business unit their own and to prove to their boss that he made the right choice giving him the job. They do expect him to increase revenue so something will happen, I am just wondering what and when. We had Lewis and his way of running the DVC, then Bilby and her way and now Potrock and his changes. Now Potrock's boss will probably want some changes too.

Bill

 

[alldiz]

I hope they keep the perks up and also give extra fastpasses.
Kerri

 

[Bellecruiser]

I think Bill is pretty accurate. Connolly is under the gun to make (more) money and make his mark. We will see change from this move at some point. Good or bad, from our perspective, who knows .

 

[disneynutz]

I think Bill is pretty accurate. Connolly is under the gun to make (more) money and make his mark. We will see change from this move at some point. Good or bad, from our perspective, who knows .

His bio lists that he was a former CFO for Disney Parks US, a finance guy. Why don't they ever hire a customer satisfaction or magic person?

Bill

 

[CraigInPA]

Financial guys often end up as presidents or group presidents. There is a perception among those higher up that they understand the business better than people in customer service or operations, primarily because the financial guys are often asked to do presentations to those higher up to explain the current financial state of affairs. And, you'll find a lot more MBA's in the finance department than operations or customer service.

In my experience, financial guys running companies are typically "growing" their business using cost controls. When you have a marketing guy running the company, it's usually being grown by growing market share. So, expect that the new President will look over every perk we receive very carefully. I expect we'll be seeing the end of the Epcot lounge when the contract with Disney ends. We may also see some "blue card" discounts disappear, especially if the economy stays strong. With the construction of the Riviera, you can be sure the new guy will be looking at every penny going out and making sure everything stays at or under budget, one way or another.