John Rood is a marketing consultant with more than 25 years of entertainment experience, including The Walt Disney Company and Warner Bros. His clients now range from corporations to agencies to startups to non-profits worldwide.

From 2015-20, Rood was senior vice president, marketing for Disney Channels. His responsibilities included guiding the global strategy, engagement and creative for three television brands – Disney Channel, Disney Junior and Disney XD. He led a department of 100 U.S. employees focused on brand strategy, engagement (social and paid media), creative, production and partnerships. They partnered on the successful 2019 Disney+ app launch, working with the Disney direct-to-consumer team on kids and family marketing. Rood was also a corporate innovator in diversity and inclusion, serving as executive advisor for The Bond, Disney’s groundbreaking corporatewide Black and African-American employee resource group.

In 2014, he returned to The Walt Disney Company and the Disney/ABC Television Group, as consultant to Disney Channels developing a comprehensive strategy and reorganization toward the areas of short-form content and social media.

From 2010-14, he served as the executive vice president of sales, marketing and business development for DC Entertainment (DCE) at Warner Bros. DCE works with several WB divisions to unleash its superhero publishing properties (including Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman) across all media - film, television, consumer products, home entertainment, interactive games, etc. His team’s responsibilities also included publishing P&L, digital, publicity, merchandising and franchise management.

From 2000-10, Rood worked at Disney in the Disney/ABC Television Group, concluding as senior vice president, head of marketing for ABC Family. There, he led ABC Family’s repositioning towards millennial viewers, helping them become the #1 television channel with F12-34. He also worked on multidivisional projects such as Disney Channel’s on-air synergy support for studio priorities and ABC News’ re-launch of Good Morning America and World News Tonight, and on multinational projects such as Disney Channel’s global re-branding.

From 1993-2000, he worked at Warner Bros. Consumer Products, negotiating promotional licensing deals with national advertisers using WB properties. He has also worked in advertising for Leo Burnett Chicago on the McDonald’s sports marketing and Miller Brewing accounts, and in promotions for Equity Marketing L.A. on the Burger King account.

Rood earned his bachelor's degree in speech communication from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1987. He also earned his MBA from The McCombs School at The University of Texas-Austin. He is an active lecturer at his alma maters, at the UCLA Extension program and at several other universities nationwide. Additionally, he serves on the board of directors for Promax, the global association for the entertainment marketing industry, as well as The McCombs School Marketing Advisory Board at Texas.

He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Cindee, and two sons. They are proud supporters of Cindee’s charity formidablejoy.org, which drills water wells in Malawi.

Marketing Advisory Board

Tom Barber

John Brasch

Rich Claussen

Debbie Johnson

Brent Korte

Blake Lawrence

Rebecca Pearson

Jeffrey Phipps, Sr.

Andy Romjue

John Rood

Morgan Shaw Parker

Lindsey Spehn

Suresh Subramanian