Andrew Millstein & Clark Spencer Named To Walt Disney Animation Leadership Posts

Anthony D'Alessandro

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Today, Walt Disney Studios’ Chief Creative Officer and Co-Chairman Alan Horn and Co-Chairman Alan Bergman announced that Walt Disney Animation Studios President Andrew Millstein has been named Co-President of Blue Sky Studios. The news comes as the Burbank studio continues to bring the assets of Fox under its domain. Millstein will serve alongside Co-President Rob Baird.

Baird will oversee the creative direction while Millstein will steer the studio’s day-to-day business. Recently, Andrea Miloro departed from her role as Co-President of Blue Sky Studios.

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In addition, Clark Spencer has been promoted to President, Walt Disney Animation Studios, reporting to Bergman and working alongside WDAS Chief Creative Officer Jennifer Lee who continues to report to Horn and Bergman.

Millstein, a 22-year Disney vet, will report to Jim Morris, who will expand his duties with a supervisory role at Blue Sky outside of his role as President, Pixar Animation Studios.

“We are incredibly proud of the strength and depth of leadership in our animation studios, and Andrew, Clark, and Jim are all exemplars of that. The remarkable success of Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios over the past decade is due in large part to the respective leadership of Andrew and Jim and their ability to foster creativity, technology, and culture in equal parts, and we are thrilled that they will be lending their experience to the Blue Sky team along with Robert Baird’s creative guidance,” said Horn and Bergman in a statement. “Clark has been an invaluable leader and contributor at Disney Animation, combining exceptional creative and business instincts, and we’re so pleased he will be leading this historic studio in a key role alongside Jennifer Lee.”

Since 2014, Millstein served as President of Walt Disney Animation Studios and General Manager of WDAS since 2008. Under his leadership, the studio has racked up such animation billion-dollar hits as Frozen and Zootopia as well as Tangled, the Wreck-it-Ralph franchise, Big Hero 6 and Moana.

For close to 30 years, Spencer has been with Disney, producing five Oscar-nominated pics for Walt Disney Animation Studios. He received both an Oscar and a Producers Guild Award for Zootopia, as well as a PGA Award for Wreck-It Ralph, and is also the producer of hit films Lilo & Stitch, Bolt and Ralph Breaks the Internet. Spencer began his career at Disney in strategic planning and finance, later overseeing all production and operations at Florida-based Disney Feature Animation as Senior Vice President and General Manager. He earned his MBA in 1990 at Harvard Business School.

Morris has been with Pixar since 2005. As General Manager since 2008 and President since 2014, Morris has overseen a hugely successful and critically acclaimed slate of films that include Wall-E, which he produced, Up, Toy Story 3, Inside Out, Coco and most recently Toy Story 4, which stands on the precipice of crossing $1 billion. Prior to joining Pixar, he spent nearly 20 years in executive roles at Lucasfilm.

 

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