Disney Names Carol Choi as Asia-Pacific President to Succeed Luke Kang

Disney has picked its next chief for Asia Pacific.

Carol Choi will become president of The Walt Disney Company Asia Pacific on Dec. 1. She will replace Luke Kang, who is stepping down after 16 years at Disney, Variety reported. The news was reported on Oct. 20, about six weeks before the start date.

Choi is already inside the building. She currently serves as executive vice-president of Disney APAC, in effect the deputy to the regional president. She has spent 20 years with Disney.

Her career has moved across the region's largest local markets. She previously worked as managing director of Disney's Japan and Korea businesses, a role that means running day-to-day operations country by country, from staffing to partnerships to releases. She has also held senior posts in Greater China.

Kang's Disney career began in one of those same markets. He joined the company in 2011 as managing director of its Korea operation. He later took charge of Disney's operations in Greater China and North Asia, widening his remit from a single country to a cluster of markets with different languages, audiences and business rules.

As president, Choi will oversee the studios business, streaming and original content across Asia Pacific, according to The Hollywood Reporter. For a general viewer, that breaks down simply. Studios covers films intended for cinemas. Streaming covers series and films delivered online. Original content covers local shows commissioned in Asia for audiences there and around the world.

A regional president does not write scripts or direct episodes. The job is people and slots. It sets budgets, approves commissions, hires local leaders and agrees deals for where a show or film appears first and where it goes next.

What makes this stand out is continuity. Disney has promoted a 20-year executive to succeed a 16-year executive, with a clear start date and no interim period. Internal promotions of this kind are common in global television, where knowledge of local teams and audiences carries weight. For the crews of up to a few hundred people who staff a large drama, and for the writers' rooms behind them, that kind of planned handover matters. Work in progress keeps going. Decisions about what is ordered next come later.