Kristina Schake, who joined Disney a little more than a year ago as EVP and Chief Communications Officer, is getting a pay raise and a contract extension.
In an SEC filing, the company said it made the moves due to an “increase in her responsibilities,” though it did not elaborate. Disney said it had amended the original employment agreement it reached with Schake as of June 29, 2022. The original expiration of her contract has been extended to June 29, 2026, a year longer than the original deal. Her base salary has also been boosted to $780,000 as of April 9 of this year, with “future increases at the company’s discretion,” according to the filing.
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Schake’s target bonus award has also been increased to 150% of her base salary and her target long-term equity incentive annual award value upped to 350% of her base salary. A previous SEC filing said Schake’s initial salary was $725,000 and her total 2022 compensation reached $6.2 million including bonuses and stock awards.
The current circumstances faced by the company certainly require a deft touch in image management. Disney is in the midst of trimming 7,000 jobs in pursuit of $5.5 billion in cost savings, along with revamping its operations during a time of historic change in the media business and contending with the provocations of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Schake succeeded Geoff Morrell, who had a brief and bumpy tenure heading communications during the regime of former CEO Bob Chapek, as a series of strategic missteps resulted in internal upheaval at the company and DeSantis being able to publicly tag it as “Woke Disney.”
Bob Iger, who handed the CEO baton to Chapek in 2020, took it back last fall after Chapek’s ouster from the company. Zenia Mucha, the communications chief whose run at Disney was closely intertwined with Iger’s 14-year CEO stint, formally left at the end of 2021, along with Iger and several other top execs.
Schake brought significant political experience to her role, having spearheaded the Covid-19 vaccine campaign at the behest of President Joe Biden. She also previously led communications for First Lady Michelle Obama and was one of the top communications officials with Secretary Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. On the corporate front, her past positions include that of global communications director for Instagram.
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