Zenia Mucha (born 1957) is an American businesswoman who was the Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Communications Officer of

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

Early life and education

Mucha was born in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

to Ukrainian parents who spent time in work camps in

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. She immigrated to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

at age 9. Mucha graduated from the lower East side St. George Ukrainian Catholic School. Mucha studied political science at

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus. Being New York City's first publ ...

Career

Mucha began her professional career in politics, serving as communications director and campaign manager for

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

Al D'Amato. She took leaves to work on the campaigns of

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

and

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...

. She later worked as the director of communications and as an influential senior policy advisor to

Governor of New York The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has ...

George Pataki. Mucha joined the Walt Disney Company in 2001, as Senior Vice President of Communications for the ABC Broadcast Group and the

American Broadcasting Company The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American commercial broadcast television network. It is the flagship property of the ABC Entertainment Group division of The Walt Disney Company. The network is headquartered in Burbank, Cali ...

. Since 2002, Mucha has led communications for all of Disney’s strategic business initiatives including the acquisitions of Pixar, Marvel and

Lucasfilm Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC is an American film and television production company and a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is a business segment of The Walt Disney Company. The studio is best known for creating and producing the ''Star Wars'' and ' ...

. Under Mucha's leadership, Disney launched D23, the first-ever official Disney fan club, with members in 50 U.S. states and 35 countries. In July 2021 it was announced that Mucha opted not to renew her $4.9 million contract with Disney, and she left the company in early 2022 after nearly 20 years.

Awards

In 2012, Mucha received the Matrix Award from New York Women in Communications. In 2017, she was inducted into the PRWeek Hall of Fame.

References

External links

The Walt Disney Company Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mucha, Zenia 1957 births Polish emigrants to the United States New York (state) Republicans Disney executives Disney people Living people Brooklyn College alumni