Quick Facts
Biography
Thomas O. Staggs (born 1961) is the former Chief Operating Officer (COO) of The Walt Disney Company.
Career
Joining Disney in 1990, Staggs rose from his role as a manager of strategic planning to senior vice president of strategic planning and development in 1995. Staggs became executive vice president and chief financial officer in 1998, and became Senior Executive Vice President and CFO in January 2000. As CFO, Staggs was instrumental in purchasing Pixar for $7.4 billion in 2006 as well as acquiring Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion in 2009.
On January 1, 2010, Staggs became Chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, overseeing the company's theme parks, cruise lines, and the vacation-ownership program along with roughly 130,000 employees.
On February 5, 2015, Staggs was named chief operating officer of The Walt Disney Company. Many news outlets began calling Staggs the heir apparent to Bob Iger as the Disney CEO.
On April 4, 2016, Disney announced that Staggs and the company had agreed to mutually part ways. Staggs stepped down as COO, effective May 6, 2016. Staggs will remain with the company as a "Special Advisor to the CEO", Bob Iger, through the end of the fiscal year.
Education and early career
Staggs was born in Illinois. He graduated from Minnetonka High School in 1978, and received a B.S. in business from the University of Minnesota and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He began his career as an investment banker for Morgan Stanley & Co. before joining Disney in 1990.