Barbara Bouza leads Imagineering into new frontiers Introducing Walt Disney Imagineering President Barbara Bouza by Joe Kleiman
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arbara Bouza joined Walt Disney Imagineering in June 2020 as President, Business Operations Design and Delivery, rising in March 2021 to work alongside Bob Weis as Imagineering’s co-President. In fall 2019, when she had her first conversation with Weis, she could have no idea that these major shifts would take place in the middle of a pandemic. She was all the more impressed by the versatility and capability of Disney and Imagineering given these unprecedented challenges. “We were all working remotely,” she says. “Only our Hong Kong and Shanghai parks had just reopened. I was already impressed with Imagineering because of what I had seen them accomplish before I joined the company. The scale of Disney allows it to reimagine, pivot, challenge dogma and embrace new ideas. Imagineers always talk about taking anything that’s impossible and making it possible. I really had the opportunity to see that firsthand during the pandemic.” When Bouza officially became sole President of Walt Disney Imagineering on November 30, 2021, she became the first woman and person of color to hold that position in the division’s almost 70-year history. As she transitions into her new job, Weis moves into his: Global Imagineering Ambassador, a position originated by his mentor, the late Marty Sklar.
Finding a niche Bouza and Weis are both architecture program graduates of the Cal Poly Pomona College of Environmental Design. Weis graduated five years before Bouza. She naturally gravitated toward the field, taking her first architecture class in high school. “I’ve always loved the idea of creating these physical environments for people,” she says. As a professional, Bouza has held positions at some of the top architecture firms, including Morphosis, RBB and Gensler, where she worked for nearly two decades. “Gensler is where I was before I joined Disney,” she says, “and where, working with a couple of the partners, we established their health and wellness practice. I saw an opportunity there where we could leverage our expertise in other fields — whether in hospitality, retail, education, sports and even workplace design — to really bring a different perspective to the world of healthcare.” Under Bouza’s leadership at Gensler, the narrative for health and welfare architecture shifted from a purely clinical approach to a more welcoming one centered around the concept of guest experience. During this period,
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Barbara Bouza at Avengers Campus, Disney California Adventure All images courtesy Walt Disney Imagineering.
Bouza co-facilitated a study exploring whether holistic design strategies could improve health and healing. Among its findings, the study concluded that by providing connections to nature, intuitive navigation, and spaces that support activity and engagement, creating an emotional connection, and allowing for personal reflection, an individual’s wellbeing can be greatly improved. Bouza finds that the concept of wellness design is an ideal fit within Disney. “At Disney and Imagineering, it’s about experience design — the guest experience and the consumer experience. Wellness design is about physical sustainability and the responsibilities associated with it, but it’s also about mental health and mental wellbeing, which has really been challenged over these last couple of years during the pandemic.”
Wellness in the parks and the workplace When Disney first reached out to Bouza in 2019, it came with a surprise. “The first person I spoke to said, ‘We’re really intrigued with your background around wellbeing.’ That wasn’t what you’d typically expect. That’s something I highly value, and I was pleased that Disney recognized the importance of wellbeing design. With Imagineering creating different types of experiences, one thing I’m really excited about is where we’re looking now at experiences that are inclusive for families with a variety of needs.”
