Disney marketing president’s exit confirmed in internal emails

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One day after it was widely reported in the press that embattled Walt Disney Studios’ worldwide marketing president, MT Carney, was leaving, her departure has been announced internally via a pair of memos to the staff at the Burbank entertainment giant.

One was sent by the studio’s chairman, Rich Ross, who hired the Hollywood outsider in April 2010:

I want to share with you that MT Carney has made the decision to leave the company and return to New York to be with her children. Under her leadership, our marketing organization has put together some of the most wide-reaching campaigns we have ever launched. I am incredibly grateful and thank MT for all of her insight and expertise, but I fully respect her decision and wish her all the best.

We have, in my opinion, the best marketing team in the business and the work I’ve seen over the past two years has been nothing short of extraordinary.

I realize there is much work at hand on our upcoming projects and I appreciate your dedication as always.

Rich

The other was sent by Carney herself:

After much consideration, I have decided to leave the Disney family to return to my own. It is terribly hard to leave, but I have been constantly torn between my kids and my job, and like all good Hollywood movies, the kids have to win.

This has been a challenging and exciting job, and I have learned a great deal in my time with all of you. I am truly lucky to have had the chance to lead this incredible team on so many wonderful projects. I’m particularly proud of the amazing and creative work that came out of our global hits like Tangled, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,Cars 2, and The Help, as well as The Muppets and War Horse, and John Carter and The Avengers to come.

I want to thank you all for your understanding and support. This has been a remarkable journey and I look forward to seeing your continued brilliance everywhere. But now it is time to get back to winter in New York and my amazing kids.

All my best, always,
MT

Several senior executives at Disney had not been informed of Disney and Carney’s decision to part ways as recently as Sunday night.

Her 19-month tenure at Disney was a rocky one during which a number of the studio’s biggest releases were overseen by consultants or other executives and Disney experienced several high-profile flops including ‘Prom’ and ‘Mars Needs Moms.’ Carney, who prior to Disney worked at the New York-based marketing strategy company Naked Communications, came to the Disney job with no movie experience.

The studio has not yet announced a replacement for Carney. When former president of marketing Jim Gallagher left in November 2009, Ross did not hire Carney to replace him until April of the following year.

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