Lee Cockerell

Early years

Lee Cockerell was born in Bartlesville, Oklahoma in 1944 and attended Ardmore High School until graduation in Spring of 1962. After, he attended Oklahoma State University for two years. After his two years at Oklahoma State university, Lee enlisted in the US Army.

Pre-Disney

Upon his discharge from the US Army in 1965, Lee Cockerell took a job as a banquet waiter for Hilton at the Washington Hilton. Shortly after taking a job in the Food and Beverage Control Office, Lee took his first management position as a management trainee at the Washington Hilton. After being promoted to management Lee was transferred to the Chicago Hilton as Food and Beverage Controller, then the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in NYC and then the Tarrytown Hilton in Tarrytown, NY as Executive Assistant Manager and then to the Los Angeles Hilton as Director of Food and Beverage Operations Lee resigned from Hilton in 1973. After leaving Hilton, Lee was offered a position Director of Restaurants for the Philadelphia Marriott Hotel Marriott Hotels. He spent 17 years with the company in positions of Director of Food and Beverage at the Philadelphia Marriott and the Chicago Marriott. He held positions of Regional Director and Area Vice President of Food and Beverage and VP of Food and Beverage Planning and General Manager of Marriott's Springfield location in Massachusetts. In 1990 he joined Disney Parks and Resorts as Director of Food and Beverage and Quality Assurance for the Disneyland Paris resorts. In 1992 he was promoted to VP of Resort Operations.

Disney

Upon entry to the company, Lee worked in Disneyland Paris as the Director of Food and Beverage and Quality Assurance and as Vice President of Resorts. After the successful opening of Disneyland Paris, he left Disneyland Paris in 1993 to assume the position of Senior Vice President, Resort Operations at Disney's Orlando location, Walt Disney World. After 4 years with the company in Orlando, Lee was promoted to Executive Vice President of Operations for Walt Disney World, responsible for 40,000 cast members. After a 41-year career in hospitality, including 16 years with Disney, Lee announced his retirement on July 28, 2006. While at Disney, Lee began work on the leadership strategies he had learned throughout his career, giving them the namesake "Disney Great Leader Strategies", which would be used as a primary training tool for Disney's future leadership teams.

Retirement

During his time at Disney stretching well through retirement, Lee wrote two leadership strategies novels full of lessons learned at a life at Disney. His first, Creating Magic, was published in 12 different languages and is used for leadership training throughout the world, by businesses, governments, and Fortune 500 companies. His second, The Customer Rules, has seen much of the same success. Coupled with his books, Lee has continued a career in leadership by giving speeches,and seminars on the subject to companies around the world, including the prestigious Disney Institute. Also, Lee has been on several boards, including the Governor's Commission on Volunteerism and Public Service, Chairman of the Board of Heart of Florida United Way, the Board of Trustees for The Culinary Institute of America, the Production and Operations Management Society, and Reptilia. Lee also founded his own company Lee Cockerell LLC, under which he runs his public speaking and seminar business.

Awards

Lee has received company awards for excellence in leadership from Disney including a dedicated window on Main Street USA. Other awards include: