Just over four months after inking a two-year contract extension, Kristina Schake is exiting as Disney‘s Chief Communications Officer as a new CEO takes over.

Following her four-year stint as the House of Mouse top mouthpiece, the former Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton senior aide will “depart the company after March 18, 2026, coinciding with the end of Bob Iger’s tenure as Chief Executive Officer,” Disney said today after a memo from the current 75-year-old CEO went out to staff. Parks chief Josh D’Amaro is set to be formally installed as CEO on March 18.

No replacement for Schake has been unveiled yet. Even though Schake got a raise and was on board until June 30, 2027 under her October 2025 signed contract extension, a number of contenders for her role, including longtime Disney Communications EVP Paul Roeder, have been floated over the past several months.

Right now, it was all wine and roses over at Disney HQ.

“Kristina is an accomplished and respected communications leader, and Disney has been fortunate to have her expertise and insight during a dynamic period that has demanded strategic clarity and judgment,” Iger said Tuesday in a praise packed statement. In the note sent out to “fellow employees and cast members,” Iger noted: “I am personally grateful for Kristina’s partnership and friendship, and for the lasting impact she has made at Disney.”

Schake’s shift out of Burbank is one of the clearest indication that D’Amaro is intent on putting his own team in pivotal positions in the company.

Schake joined Disney as chief spokesperson in 2022 during the short and disastrous communication regime of the GOP friendly Geoff Morrell. A leader of Joe Biden’s Covid-19 response and vaccine promotions, she was upped to the top PR job by then CEO Bob Chapek upon Morrell’s well compensated pink slipping with the goal of steadying the rocky ship. For the most, through palace coups, strikes and shifting markets and White House occupants, Schake did just that. She also survived Chapek’s November 2022 ouster and went on to serve Iger for the rest of his second term.

“I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to serve The Walt Disney Company during such a pivotal chapter in its history,” Schake herself stated today on the news of her Disney departure. . “The company I joined in 2022 was in a vastly different place from where it is today, both reputationally and from a business perspective, and I am proud of the work our worldwide communications team has done to support Bob as he has put Disney on a steady course for growth for the next generation of leaders.”

 “I leave with tremendous respect for this institution and great confidence in Disney’s future under Josh D’Amaro and Dana Walden,” ex-Instagram comms boss Schake concluded, putting the soon-to-be Disney CEO and (the newly created) president side-by-side.

Disney’s board of directors voted unanimously on the D’Amaro and Walden jobs which were announced on February 3. With Iger relinquishing the CEO badge but remaining as a senior advisor in theory until the end of his current contract on December 31, new CEO D’Amaro and president Walden will get the keys to their new gigs and offices at the company’s annual meeting on March 18. D’Amaro will also be added to the James Gorman-led Disney board on the same day.

Perhaps Schake will steer the press release on that changing of the Mikey guard before walking out herself.