Senior Vice President of Brand Merchandising and Product Design within the Parks, Experiences and Products Division of The Walt Disney Company

 

 Ann Buckingham has successfully set the strategic direction and led high performing teams within some of the biggest brands and companies, including The Walt Disney Company, 20th Century Fox, and DreamWorks. She has implemented the organizational brand, creative and product development process on a global scale in support of partners, agents, and third-party stakeholders.

Ann is a global, bilingual, strategic, and trusted executive leader with repeated success guiding sizable, global cross-functional, and performance-driven teams. She has proven expertise in global consumer products, brand development, licensing, omni-channel, sales, merchandising, product development, and creative. Ann is savvy negotiator using instincts, insights, judgement, and timing to succeed no matter how tough the deal. She drives high-level operational initiatives, including infrastructure design, process re-engineering, turnaround management, P&L management and budget forecasting.

She is known for overcoming complex global business challenges and making high-stakes decisions from combining experienced-backed judgement, strong work ethic, and irreproachable integrity. Ann consistently delivered mission-critical results from innovation, revenue-building, and strategies. She can rapidly increase market penetration and revenue growth through a hands-on leadership style with a talent for building global teams.

Currently, Ann is the Senior Vice President of Brand Merchandising and Product Design within the Parks, Experiences and Products division of The Walt Disney Company. She has led the global brand & product strategy, product design, and line development for 20th Century Fox, National Geographic, and ESPN brands, where she has delivered market-leading innovation, drove revenue, and captured market share globally.

Ann currently serves as board advisor for the Marquette University for Women’s Leadership council. She also holds the following positions, Board of Governors, for MECCA, member of Women in Toys, Licensing & Entertainment, the Association of Croatian Professionals and the Croatian Women’s Network.

Ann is a dual citizen of United States of America and the Republic of Croatia.