Robert A. Iger

Age: 56

WHAT HE DOES
Head Mouseketeer. Ruler of the Magic Kingdom. Or in business terms, Bob Iger is chief executive of Disney, the world’s second-largest media-and-entertainment conglomerate.

WHERE HE’S FROM
An ABC lifer who helped smooth the network’s 1996 merger with Disney, Iger has proved that slow and steady can still win the race.

Iger had media on the brain from the beginning. He served as sports editor for his high-school newspaper in Oceanside, New York, and while attending Ithaca College, he dabbled in broadcast journalism at the school’s public-access television station. His first job following graduation was as a TV weatherman.

Iger’s steady ascension through company ranks at ABC began in 1974, thanks to the beneficence of his mentor, network legend Roone Arledge. Iger started as a studio supervisor for daytime television and by 1985 had crossed into senior management as vice president of programming and development for ABC Sports. Later, as president of ABC Entertainment, a position he assumed in 1994, he was known for his skillful handling of the prime-time schedule. Among his accomplishments was his bringing the hit game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire to the network.

In 1999, three years after the merger with Disney, Iger relinquished his position at ABC to run Disney’s international operations. Then-C.E.O. Michael Eisner hinted that the move to new turf was part of a process to groom Iger as a potential successor. The following year Iger was appointed president and C.O.O., and in 2005 he succeeded Eisner as C.E.O.

WHAT HE’S KNOWN FOR
Iger inherited a daunting situation from Eisner, Disney’s demanding and domineering leader for more than 20 years. Eisner formed one faction of a civil war that raged within the company for almost a decade. He had a reputation for micromanaging, ousting personal enemies, and thumbing his nose at suggestions from underlings, and by the time Eisner resigned, his relationships with Disney’s board members, shareholders, and business partners were damaged.

After sliding into the driver’s seat, Iger faced all that and more. Major shareholders (and Eisner detractors) Roy Disney and Stanley Gold complained that the C.E.O. search had been halfhearted. The company was dealing with difficult industry conditions, less-than-stellar box-office receipts, and slumping DVD sales. Iger not only had to quickly restore peace and order to the Magic Kingdom, but he also had to forge ahead and improve the company’s lagging performance.

Roy Disney and Gold are just two of Eisner’s former antagonists who have warmed to Iger, perhaps because he has turned out to be short on ego and is well liked by creative types. He is frequently described as amiable and dependable -- the Honda of C.E.O.’s.

Iger has managed to soothe shareholders, and he restored enough of Disney’s coproduction relationship with Pixar to broker a $7.4 billion acquisition of the animation studio in 2006. The company’s deteriorating relations with Miramax founders Bob and Harvey Weinstein, Eisner’s adversaries in another of his well-publicized feuds, proved unsalvageable, but as president of Disney, Iger helped engineer a relatively amicable departure for the brothers in 2005, just before he assumed the mantle of C.E.O.

WHAT’S NEXT
With the Weinsteins satisfied and Pixar now part of the House of Mouse, Iger has been able to stop putting out fires and shift his attention to moving Disney forward. He has already voiced three clear priorities for the company: international expansion, technological innovation, and a renewed focus on animation. He’s enthusiastic about China; although Disney has not been a strong force there so far, Iger sees a potential gold mine in theme parks and merchandising opportunities. With Iger’s ambitious goals and long history at Disney and ABC, odds are he’ll stay on the Magic Kingdom’s throne for a long time to come. —Liz Gunnison