Region native a Hollywood player

Bob Chapek has a few words of advice for any budding business executive climbing the ladder from Northwest Indiana.

"Anyone can accomplish anything," said Chapek, a 1977 graduate of Clark High School in Hammond. "In other words, go after your dreams and pursue them. And don't give up until you reach them."

As president of Walt Disney's Buena Vista Worldwide Home Entertainment, Chapek, 47, is responsible for the worldwide marketing, sales and distribution of the studio's Disney, Touchstone, Miramax and ABC properties in the DVD and video marketplace.

As of mid-2006, the company held 14 percent of the market, or $1.43 billion of $10.2 billion in sales, according to Danny Duran, a publicist for the company.

Chapek, who earned a bachelor's degree from Indiana University and an MBA from Michigan State University, first worked for Amoco Oil in Chicago.

"Coming from Hammond, the first thing you consider when thinking about a career is not necessarily working for Disney in Hollywood," he said. "On the other hand, somebody has to do that job and why not you?"

Believe it or not, Chapek said he planted the seeds for the Disney job while eventually working for J. Walter Thompson in Chicago, HJ Heinz in Long Beach, Calif., and U.S. Shoe Corp. in Cincinnati.

He acknowledges working in the "entertainment business" for 14 years, but emphasizes he is still selling packaged goods.

"My experience at J. Walter Thompson, Heinz and U.S. Shoe was all dealing with packaged goods," Chapek said. "(The DVD) really is a consumer product. Who knew it would turn into a 14-year evolution, that it was my stepping stone into Hollywood?"

Chapek, who oversees marketing and retail strategy as well as new technology, said his job provides a dynamic environment but requires discipline.

He says one of the keys to his success was a "good Midwestern upbringing."

"A lot of folks from the region, as we call it, are hard-working folks that are very practical and expect nothing to be given to them without having to work for it," Chapek said. "That kind of attitude in any business will get somebody very far."

Chapek says he never imagined hobnobbing with Cindy Crawford or Jennifer Aniston.

"I was never star-struck or smitten with Hollywood," he said. "It's just that over time that kind of comes with the territory. In business, you always deal with your product. In our case, the product is film. And what makes that product possible? The stars."