Honorary Degree Recipient 2025

Bob Iger, the chief executive officer of the Walt Disney Company, will be recognized by Ithaca College with an honorary Doctor of Letters degree at the college’s 130th Commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 18. A longtime supporter of the college, Iger earned his degree in television-radio from IC in 1973.

The Ithaca College Board of Trustees grants honorary degrees upon recommendation of the faculty, recognizing leaders who represent the ideals embraced by the Ithaca College community and who serve as a mirror of the college’s values, mission, and character.

Widely recognized as one of the world’s most consequential business leaders, Iger got his start at ABC. During the ensuing years he obtained hands-on experience in every aspect of the television business from news, sports, and entertainment to program acquisition, rights negotiations, and business affairs.

Iger officially joined the Disney senior management team in 1996 as chairman of the Disney-owned ABC Group. He served as Disney’s president and chief operating officer from 2000-2005, was named chief executive officer in 2005, and was elected to the additional role of chairman in 2012. In 2020 he became executive chairman prior to retiring in 2021. He returned to Disney as CEO in November of 2022 and has led a significant, enterprise-wide transformation to restore creativity to the center of the company and position Disney’s streaming business for sustained growth and profitability.

Among his numerous honors, Iger was inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame in 2015 and the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 2020. In 2022, he was recognized as an Honorary Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for his services to U.K./U.S. relations. Iger was also awarded the Chevalier de Legion d’Honneur by the French Republic in 2024 for his outstanding commitments and merits displayed through his professional accomplishments and public service. He was TIME’s “Businessperson of the Year” in 2019 and has been named as one of Forbes magazine’s “World’s Most Powerful People,” Fortune magazine’s “25 Most Powerful People in Business,” and Institutional Investor magazine’s “Best CEOs.”

Throughout his career, Iger has remained a passionate and involved member of the Ithaca College community. He established the Reginald Simmons ’75 Memorial Award in honor of his lifelong friend that funds two students each year to participate in the cross-cultural exchange program Operation Crossroads Africa. In 2019, he and his wife, Willow Bay, generously committed to a $1 million gift to establish the Iger-Bay Endowed Scholarship, funded through proceeds from sales of Iger’s New York Times best-selling book, The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of The Walt Disney Company .

Iger served as IC’s 1993 Commencement speaker, helped launch the college’s Making a World of Difference fund-raising campaign in 2006, and regularly participates in the S'Park! Igniting Your Future in Communications course taught in the Roy H. Park School of Communications. He was elected to the Ithaca College Board of Trustees in 1989 and became an honorary trustee in 1990. In 2008, the IC Alumni Association recognized him with the Distinguished Alumni Award.