Ayo Davis

Lynn Stalmaster Award for Career Achievement

Ayo Davis is president of Disney Branded Television, the unit of Disney Entertainment Television that creates premium original content for kids and families for Disney+, Disney Jr. and Disney Channel. In this role, Davis oversees the group’s expansive slate of live-action, unscripted, animated and short-form entertainment.

Since being named to the position in 2021, Davis has led one of the industry’s most successful and award-winning slates for kids, including the top three streaming series for preschoolers in the U.S. in the first half of 2025 – Bluey, the No. 1 streaming series of 2024, Marvel’s Spidey and his Amazing Friends and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse – as well as popular series for kids like Big City Greens, Phineas and Ferb and Wizards Beyond Waverly Place, which became the most-watched Disney Channel series premiere on Disney+ when it debuted in October 2024. As a result, Disney Branded Television content helped keep Disney Jr. the No. 1 preschool network for the 12th straight year, and Disney Channel the No. 1 cable network for Girls 6-11 for 19 consecutive years, and drove the Disney Jr. YouTube to new heights, reaching more than 23 million subscribers and 23 billion views in 2025.

Davis’ team is also behind some of Disney+’s most successful kids and family titles, including Percy Jackson and the Olympians and the ZOMBIES and Descendants franchises, with 2024’s Descendants: The Rise of Red becoming Disney Branded Television’s most-watched original movie premiere ever on Disney+. She also has oversight of documentary films and specials designed to be enjoyed by the entire family, like the Academy Award®-nominated Elton John: Never Too Late and the Emmy® Award-winning Jim Henson Idea Man.

Under Davis’ leadership, Disney Branded Television earned an industry-leading 69 nominations and 18 wins at the 2025 Children’s and Family Emmys Awards, eight nominations and five wins at the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards, a 2024 Academy Award nomination for the documentary short Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó and a 2025 Academy Award® nomination for Elton John: Never Too Late.

Known for her strong creative relationships, Davis has attracted some of the industry’s top creative talent to overalls with Disney Branded Television, including Raven-Symoné (Raven’s Home), Tim Federle (Vampirina: Teenage Vampire, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series), Bruce W. Smith and Ralph Farquhar (The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder), Chris and Shane Houghton (Big City Greens), and Dan Povenmire (Phineas and Ferb, Hamster & Gretel).

A 20-plus-year veteran of The Walt Disney Company, Davis’ prior roles included executive vice president, Creative Development and Strategy at Disney Branded Television, from 2020-2021; and before that, she was executive vice president, Talent and Casting at ABC Entertainment and Disney+. There, she played an integral role in acclaimed series including American Crime, black-ish, Desperate Housewives, The Good Doctor and How to Get Away with Murder, and championed the careers of notable actors such as Viola Davis, Eva Longoria, Gina Rodriguez and Jesse Williams. Davis also launched ABC Discovers, a collection of casting initiatives aimed at discovering and nurturing up-and-coming talent from around the world. Alumni of the program include Lupita Nyong’o, Pedro Pascal and Gina Rodriguez.

Davis is a member of the board of trustees of Dillard University and served on the board of directors for the T. Howard Foundation. She is a member of Jack and Jill of America Inc. and served as a member of the host committee board of Girls Inc. She has been featured on Variety’s Family Entertainment Impact list, The Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment Power 100 list, 75 Most Powerful People in Kids’ Entertainment list, Hollywood’s Top Forces for Change list, and EBONY’s Power 100 list, received the African American Film Critics Association’s 2025 Salute to Excellence Award, and named as a Multichannel News Wonder Woman.

Davis received a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications from Dillard University.