Orin Smith: Guidelines call for indepedant chairman unless it’s in the best interest to do otherwise. This decision was made for that reason. In 2011 it was clear Disney had an exceptional CEO. The term of his contract ended in Jan 2013 so the board was preemptive in extending that contract as long as possible. They offered Iger the role of Chairman and CEO because they thought Iger would make an outstanding Chairman because of relationship with directors and openess with which he dealt with the board. They made the proposal to Iger to extend him as CEO to March of 2015 and by including the Chairman ship, they were able to extend to mid-2016 the time they could have his services. Also provices an orderly transition to next CEO. They believe that was an exceptional circumstance. In the process, they also strengthened the role of Lead Director.
