Disney Imagineering Chief Quits

Walt Disney Co. said Peter Rummell, who spearheaded hotel expansion at Walt Disney World and Disneyland Paris, has resigned and will be replaced by Disney executive Kenneth Wong.

Rummell, 51, was chairman of Disney’s Walt Disney Imagineering real estate and development unit. He left to become chairman and chief executive of St. Joe Corp., a Jacksonville, Fla.-based real estate concern. He was a Disney executive for 11 years.

Wong, 40, president of Walt Disney Imagineering, will become the unit’s new chairman. In five years at Disney, he centralized the company’s real estate activities, oversaw its studio expansion plans and is supervising development of the second entrance gate at Disneyland. He also led a task force developing Disney’s business plans in the Asia-Pacific region.

A Disney spokesman said Wong takes over as Imagineering chairman immediately.