Meg Gilbert Crofton (born Mary Elizabeth Gilbert in 1953) is an American businesswoman, who served as president of

Walt Disney Parks & Resorts Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, Inc., formerly Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Worldwide, Inc. and informally known as Disney Parks, is one of The Walt Disney Company's five major business segments and a subsidiary. It was founded on Apri ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. She was named to the position on August 7, 2006, replacing Al Weiss, who had been promoted to president of worldwide operations for

Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, Inc., formerly Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Worldwide, Inc. and informally known as Disney Parks, is one of The Walt Disney Company's five major business segments and a subsidiary. It was founded on Apri ...

in November 2005. Crofton served as a member of the University of Central Florida Board of Trustees, after being appointed by the

Florida Board of Governors The Florida Board of Governors is a 17-member governing board that serves as the governing body for the State University System of Florida, which includes all public universities in the state of Florida. After its predecessor, the Florida Board of ...

for a five-year term in 2011. In 2008, ''The Orlando Sentinel'' named her among the top 25 most powerful people in Central Florida.

Early life and education

Born in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United Stat ...

, Crofton moved to Florida with her family as a 6-year-old when her father, Charles "Chuck" Gilbert, was relocated there in his work with the aerospace services division of Pan American, a contractor to

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

. She attended Rollins College before transferring to Florida State University, where she earned a bachelor's degree in marketing and an MBA. Married to Rich Crofton since 1981, she and her husband have lived in

Winter Park, Florida Winter Park is a city in Orange County, Florida, United States. The population was 30,183 according to the 2022 census population estimate. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. Winter Park was f ...

Career

Crofton joined Disney in 1977 as a marketing manager with

Vista-United Telecommunications Vista-United Telecommunications was the telecommunications company created to service all Disney resorts in Florida and Disney-planned communities such as Celebration, Florida and the Disney Vacation Clubs in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina an ...

, a company subsidiary that provided telecommunication services to the Florida resort. After a brief period away from the organization, she re-joined Vista-United in 1981 as operations manager. In 1984, she became manager of The Golf Resort (later called The Disney Inn), a hotel that is now

Shades of Green Varieties of the color green may differ in hue, chroma (also called saturation or intensity) or lightness (or value, tone, or brightness), or in two or three of these qualities. Variations in value are also called tints and shades, a tint b ...

, a military resort operated by the

U.S. Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secur ...

Walt Disney World Resort The Walt Disney World Resort, also called Walt Disney World or Disney World, is an entertainment resort complex in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, United States, near the cities of Orlando and Kissimmee. Opened on October 1, 1971, ...

. Crofton later became the resort's vice president of human resources and spent five years as senior vice president of human resources and organizational improvement. In 2002 she was promoted to executive vice president of human resources for

, the division of

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Disney Stud ...

that operates its theme parks, resort hotels, cruise line and other vacation businesses worldwide. Crofton was promoted to her last position, which includes oversight of Disneyland and Disneyland Paris, in wake of the retirement of Al Weiss, president of worldwide operations for all of Disney parks and resorts. She is getting part of his duties. Crofton’s promotion was announced on July 5 by the Orlando Sentinel. Previously, she was the president of Walt Disney World. She was succeeded by George Kalogridis. It was announced January 9, 2013, Crofton would be stepping down from her post to become president of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Operations, U.S. and France. On December 9, 2014, it was announced that Crofton would be retiring on June 1, 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crofton, Meg 1953 births Living people Rollins College alumni Florida State University alumni Walt Disney Parks and Resorts people Disney executives Businesspeople from San Diego People from Winter Park, Florida University of Central Florida Trustees