Naomi Bulochnikov-Paul exits Disney after 8 remarkable years
Naomi Bulochnikov-Paul, head of communications for Disney Entertainment Television, is leaving the company after eight years, she told staff in a memo Wednesday, Sept. 30. She is departing “to pursue a new opportunity,” Variety reported. Deadline first reported the news.
Naomi Bulochnikov-Paul’s farewell memo
Bulochnikov-Paul, most recently executive vice president of communications for Disney Entertainment Television, thanked her team and Disney leadership in the note.
“Disney is where I was raised professionally, and I will be forever grateful to the many colleagues who helped shape me along the way, and have become not only trusted collaborators, but also close friends,” she wrote, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Looking back on her tenure, Naomi Bulochnikov-Paul wrote that the team had “navigated defining moments for our company” and “weathered our share of challenges.” She closed by telling staff, “I will always be in your corner.”
Disney Entertainment Television Chairman Debra OConnell praised her in a separate note. “Naomi has been a wonderful partner for me, Paul and Dana as well as so many others across the company over the years, and she’s a thoughtful leader who has cultivated an awesome comms team that we’ve come to rely on and trust,” OConnell wrote. She added that Bulochnikov-Paul’s expertise “has been vital to us as we’ve navigated so much together over the past few years.” OConnell also wrote that she is “excited for what’s ahead” for Bulochnikov-Paul and expects her to bring “the same combination of talent, integrity and heart to whatever comes next.”
What Naomi Bulochnikov-Paul oversaw at Disney
Her portfolio covered communications for ABC Entertainment, ABC News, Disney Kids & Family, Disney Television Studios, FX, Hulu Originals and National Geographic Content, along with platform distribution and Disney Global Advertising, Variety reported. She also handled executive communications for Dana Walden while Walden was co-chairman of Disney Entertainment.
She reported to Paul Roeder, who became Disney’s chief communications officer earlier this year, and to OConnell, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Disney has not named a successor to Naomi Bulochnikov-Paul, and she has not said where she is headed.
Her path at Disney
Bulochnikov-Paul joined Disney in 2017 as vice president of communications at Freeform. She later moved to ABC as senior vice president of publicity, and in 2023 she was promoted to executive vice president of communications for Disney General Entertainment, the division later renamed Disney Entertainment Television, THR reported.
She started her career at MTV Networks and held communications jobs at Netflix, Sony Pictures Television and Current TV before Disney, according to Variety. In June, she received the Medal of Hope at the Race to Erase MS gala in Los Angeles.
Part of a busy month at Disney TV
Her exit is the latest change in Disney’s TV leadership. Earlier in September, Eric Schrier moved from head of international originals to a production deal, Adam Smith took full control of direct-to-consumer operations, and Joe Earley moved into a newly created role as president of Disney Entertainment Television franchise and content strategy, Variety reported. OConnell, the division’s new chairman, is said to be weighing more structural changes.
Insiders told Variety that Naomi Bulochnikov-Paul is leaving on her own and that her exit is unrelated to that restructuring. THR reported it is also unrelated to layoffs this week that mainly hit Disney’s technology and human resources departments.
Disney’s TV business has had plenty to promote this fall, from ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” ratings jump to the Disney+ Vidio bundle, and rivals are reshuffling too, as with David Fincher’s Netflix exit. For more industry news, follow our TV and streaming coverage.