Matt Ouimet, the executive who oversaw Disneyland’s 50th anniversary marketing push and its biggest surge in attendance since 2000, is leaving as president of Walt Disney Co.’s Anaheim theme parks, hotels and shops.
Ouimet is leaving to become president of the hotels group at White Plains, N.Y.-based Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc. Ouimet is set to oversee hotel operations worldwide for the Starwood’s nine hotel brands in the newly created position.
Ed Grier, head of Disney’s Tokyo theme park and a 25-year veteran of the company, has been named as Ouimet’s replacement.
Grier is set to report to Al Weiss, president of operations for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. Weiss reports to parks and resorts Chairman Jay Rasulo.
“I look forward to working with the Disneyland management team and partnering with the Orange County community to ensure that our future is just as strong and bright as our past,” Grier said.
Grier is set to oversee the county’s largest private employer with about 20,000 workers at the Disneyland Resort. The operation includes two theme parks, three hotels and the Downtown Disney shopping center.
Ouimet became a prominent local fixture during his three years. He played a leading role in the two-plus years of marketing for Disneyland’s anniversary in 2005.
The executive has enjoyed a tourism boom at Disney after the tough years following the 2001 terrorist attacks and initial slow going for Disney’s California Adventure theme park, the company’s second in Anaheim.
