Dick Cook
Chairman – The Walt Disney Company Studios

As chairman of The Walt Disney Company Studios, Richard Cook oversees all aspects of the development, distribution, and marketing for all live-action and animated films released under the Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone Pictures, Hollywood Pictures, and Miramax banners worldwide. He is also responsible for Disney’s worldwide home entertainment operations under Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Buena Vista Home Entertainment International, as well as Buena Vista Music Group, Buena Vista Television International, the Studio’s legal and business affairs and all areas of new technology.

A 35-year Disney veteran, Mr. Cook began his career in 1970 at Disneyland in Anaheim as a ride operator on the park’s steam locomotives and monorail. Within a year he became a representative in the Disneyland sales department and three years later was promoted to department manager. In 1977, Mr. Cook moved to Disney Studios in Burbank and quickly moved through the ranks with executive positions in sales, marketing, and distribution to his current position of chairman.

A graduate of the University of Southern California with a degree in political science, Mr. Cook has been a USC trustee and has served as president of the USC Alumni Association. He is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, was president of The Chandler School Board of Trustees and past chairman of the Flintridge Preparatory School Board of Trustee, and sits on the board of directors for the Will Rogers Foundation and the Foundation of Motion Picture Pioneers. In 1976, the Freedoms Foundation of Valley Forge awarded him with the prestigious George Washington Medal of Freedom. In 2004, Mr. Cook was honored with the Motion Picture Showmanship Award by the publicists of the International Cinematographers guild. Other prestigious past recipients include Jack L. Warner, Joanne Woodward, Paul Newman, Alfred Hitchcock, Lew Wasserman, Steven Spielberg, and Tom Hanks among others. Most recently, Mr. Cook was honored with “The Walt Disney Man of the Year Award” by Big Brothers Big Sisters.