Disney Promotes 3 of Its Veteran Employees : Management: Disneyland to have its own president. Insiders say the decision was triggered by plans for another theme park.
Abraham Lincoln is no longer the only president that resides at Disneyland.
Walt Disney Co., owner of the famed amusement park that draws about 13 million tourists a year, Monday named Jack B. Lindquist, a 35-year company veteran, to the newly created post of Disneyland president.
The company also said Ronald K. Dominguez, vice president of Disneyland, will become the company’s executive vice president for Walt Disney Attractions/West Coast, and Norm Doerges, vice president of Epcot Center Operations, will fill Dominguez’s old post.
Lindquist, 63, will take over direct management of Disneyland from Dick Nunis, president of Walt Disney Attractions. Lindquist will report to Nunis.
While no official reason was given for the moves, company insiders said the restructuring was designed to help deal with the transition as Disney develops a new theme park in Southern California, either in Long Beach or Anaheim.
The promotions also come at a time that Disneyland is also undergoing a long-term renovation and expansion. The company is considering adding new attractions and closing others. It recently backed down from killing its “Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln” exhibit when some frequent customers complained.
Lindquist said he wants to get the company’s attention back to its original theme park. Disney has devoted much of its best resources toward the building of new theme parks in Florida, Japan and Europe over the past few years.
“One of my first objectives is to get a bigger part of the attention . . . focused on Disneyland,” he said. He called the 35-year-old theme park “so key and so important” to the company.
Lindquist joined Disneyland a month after it opened in 1955 as its first advertising manager. Most recently, he held the position of executive vice president for creative marketing concepts in the Walt Disney Attractions subsidiary.
While he hopes to be involved in the development of a “second gate” theme park, he said he believes in maintaining high levels of service and quality at Disneyland.
“The biggest challenge is to continue to operate this park with the same quality in the things we’re noted for--courtesy and the way we handle guests,” Lindquist said. “The next biggest challenge is to deliver the kind of attractions and the entertainment and shows that will keep making Disneyland something that guests want to (keep returning to visit).”
Lindquist is chairman of the Walt Disney Travel Co. and president of Vista Advertising and the company’s Magic Kingdom Club. Over the years, he has worked to establish special events ranging from Grad Night for high school seniors to the Disney Pigskin Classic, a college football matchup last August. A Chicago native, he lives in Villa Park with his wife, Isabelle.
Dominguez, who has worked at the park for 35 years, reportedly grew up on the Anaheim property on which Disneyland would later be built. After starting as a ticket taker and ride operator, he worked his way through the company’s operations division and became an assistant director.
He was named director of operations in 1970 and then vice president of the Disneyland Division.
Doerges is a 23-year Disney veteran who is presently vice president in charge of Epcot Center Operations in Florida. Epcot Center is an internationally themed, second-gate amusement park next to Walt Disney World.
Doerges, 48, joined Disney in 1967 as pool manager at the Celebrity Sports Center in Denver. He moved to Disneyland in 1970 as an assistant area supervisor and a year later was transferred to Walt Disney World in Florida. He started there as an area supervisor and eventually was promoted to the position of manager in 1973.
He became involved in coordinating and installing new projects and was the Florida vice president of Walt Disney Imagineering, the company’s California-based design and engineering firm. He later took over his position at Epcot Center. A Denver native, Doerges is married and the father of two.
