Disney Imagineering’s Bob Weis Stepping Down After 42 Years At The Company
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Forty-two years after first joining Disney Imagineering Bob Weis, the current Global Imagineering Ambassador and former President of Walt Disney Imagineering, announced today that he will retire at the end of the year.
“I will always be proud to have led Imagineering from 2016-2021, and to be your Global Ambassador in 2022,” Weis wrote in an email sent today to colleagues. “I am proud to have been an Imagineer, a collaborator, and someone who loves to do impossible things with impossibly talented people.”
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There was a company statement posted on the official Imagineering Instagram page that recognized the scope of Weis’ contribution.
“Forty-two years after first joining Imagineering, Bob Weis has announced his retirement,” it read. “Serving most recently as Global Imagineering Ambassador and before that as president of the organization, Bob cemented his legacy as a leader and creative force – helping to bring to fruition countless attractions, lands, resort hotels, cruise ships, and theme parks around the globe.”
Weis also posted a missive on his Instagram page with details about his plans going forward.
“For me this is a very exciting next chapter,” the post reads. “I’ll continue writing my book for Disney Publishing on the Marty Sklar Archives, and I am developing a screenplay for Walt Disney Studios.”
Weis joined Walt Disney Imagineering in 1980. Within eight months he had relocated to Japan as part of the team creating Tokyo Disneyland.
Subsequent assignments included creative leadership on Disney’s Hollywood Studios (at the time, Disney-MGM Studios), Tokyo DisneySea, and the reimagining of Disney California Adventure. In recent years, he led the creative team for the development, design, and construction of Shanghai Disney Resort. After the resort opened in China in 2016, Weis was named president of WDI, a position he held for six years. During his time as president, more than 200 distinct projects were delivered, despite the challenges of the Covid pandemic.
This year, Weis took on the Global Imagineering Ambassador role which was once held by a mentor of his, Disney Legend and former Imagineering president Marty Sklar.
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