Djuan Rivers

Djuan Rivers is the Vice President of Disney's Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World. He previously served as Vice President for Hotels and Business Solutions at Disneyland Paris after having been General Manager of the Disney Aulani Resort & Spa in Hawaii. He is one of the most senior African Americans in the Walt Disney Company.

Djuan Rivers
Born1965
Orlando, Florida
NationalityAmerican
EducationBA in Economics
Alma materEmory University
OccupationVice President, Disney's Animal Kingdom

Background

Djuan Rivers (born 1965) is an Orlando native and attended Emory University where he earned his Bachelor of Arts in Economics in 1987.

Career with the Walt Disney Company

Rivers is a 30-year veteran of the Walt Disney Company and one of the Executive Champions of the Disney VoluntEARS program. Having started at an entry level managerial position, he worked his way up to become the General Manager of Disney's Wilderness Lodge. Rivers has subsequently held a number of executive positions and helped lead the opening of six resorts in Florida and three resorts at Disneyland Paris. In 2005, he was named Vice President of Downtown Disney in Florida. In 2007, he was named the Vice President for New Business Development for Disney’s Parks and Resorts division.[1]

In 2008, he was made the Vice President of Disney’s Aulani Resort and Spa, making him one of the most senior African-Americans in the Walt Disney Company. In addition to overseeing the $800,000,000 construction project, Rivers was also charged with building ties with local communities and government officials along with learning about the native Hawaiian culture, in order to authentically integrate it into the resort.[2][3][4] Rivers also committed to incorporating environmentally friendly initiatives into the resort's design and construction.[5] In 2012, Rivers was appointed Vice President for Hotels and Business Solutions at Disneyland Paris.[6]

In 2014, Rivers was appointed to the position of Vice President of Disney's Animal Kingdom.[7] Rivers first launched Animal Kingdom's newer "after dark" attractions, including the "Rivers of Light" show[8] and evening lighting on the Kilimanjaro Safaris and the Tree of Life.[9] He then worked to complete and launched the popular Pandora–The World of Avatar area of the theme park in 2017,[10] which opened to excellent reviews and won awards for the visual effects. [11]

Personal

Rivers serves on the Board of Directors of the Child & Family Service charity of Hawaii and the Boys & Girls Club of Hawaii.[12]

He is known for being an avid sportsman, as he is attempting to climb the Seven Summits, the highest mountains on each continent.[13] In October 2008, Rivers was one of the first people to participate in a HALO skydive over Mount Everest, incidentally making him the first African-American to do so.[14]

In August of 2019, Rivers explained to the Orlando Sentinel how his travels to Nepal and his climbing of the real Mount Everest helped inspire his love of the Disney attraction Expedition Everest, which incorporates dozens of artifacts and designs from the real life adventure. [15]

In January of 2021, Rivers announced that he will be retiring from the Disney Company in May of that year. He said that he would be moving to Paris and that he hopes to spend his retirement traveling the world, which is his other great passion, having visited over 70 countries so far.[16][17]

References
  1. Orlando Sentinel: Disney Names Exec to Lead Hawaii Resort Archived October 20, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  2. "Disney Resort Taking Shape on Oahu; Expects to Invest $800 million, Employ 1,000 / October 2009". www.hotel-online.com. Retrieved 2019-04-16.
  3. "The Walt Disney Company". The Walt Disney Company. Retrieved 2019-04-16.
  4. "Yesterland Side Trip: Disney Ko Olina, Hawai'i: a Closer Look". www.yesterland.com. Retrieved 2019-04-16.
  5. Traveling Mom: Disney's Aulani for a Hawaiian Experience Archived 2011-07-17 at the Wayback Machine
  6. Djuan Rivers Bloomberg Profile
  7. "Djuan Rivers – Disney News Today". Retrieved 2019-04-16.
  8. Disney's Animal Kingdom to Explore Its After Dark Side
  9. How New Lighting on the Savannah Gave Animal Kingdom Nightlife.
  10. Tribou, Richard. "What we know about 'Avatar'-inspired Pandora coming to Disney's Animal Kingdom". OrlandoSentinel.com. Retrieved 2019-04-16.
  11. Orlando Business Journal: Walt Disney World's Newest Marquee Ride Gets Theme Park Industry Accolades
  12. "Child & Family Services of Hawaii: Board of Directors". Archived from the original on 2011-07-25. Retrieved 2010-08-22.
  13. Urban Land Institute: Djuan Rivers Biography Archived July 4, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  14. Skydive, Everest (2008-10-07). "First Everest Skydive 2008 - Updates - 7th October". Everest Skydive. Retrieved 2019-04-16.
  15. Orlando Sentinel: Disney’s Animal Kingdom VP and his Peak Performance
  16. Orlando Sentinel: Disney: Djuan Rivers, VP of Animal Kingdom, Retiring
  17. Spectrum News 13: Djuan Rivers, VP of Animal Kingdom, to Retire
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