George Kalogridis

George Kalogridis became Walt Disney World’s first gay president on Friday, February 1.  George, age 59, started out bussing tables at Disney World (Florida) in 1971, the year the theme park opened more than 41 years ago. He is now in charge of the entire operation – a 40-square-mile spread of four theme parks, two water parks, 24,000 hotel rooms, 3,000 time-share suites, a 120-acre retail complex and a 230-acre sports campus. Disney World generates more than $6 billion in annual revenue and employs nearly 67,000 people.

Prior to Friday’s appointment George most recently served as president of Disneyland Resort (California). He has also been CEO of Disney Resort Paris.

Kalogridis was born in Winter Haven, FL, just a few miles from Lake Buena Vista, the site of Disney World. A sociology graduate from the University of Central Florida, George works for the same company as his partner of 12 years, Andy Hardy, who is a finance manager with Walt Disney Parks & Resorts global entertainment. Friends report that Kalogridis “lives and breathes Disney.” The couple plans to build a home in Golden Oak, a Disney World luxury housing project located on a corner of the resort’s vast property.

In 2011, Kalogridis filmed an "It Gets Better" video segment in which he addressed "anyone who has ever been bullied, teased, or harassed for being different.” This moving video message is delivered by Disney employees.

Andy Cohen

Cohen, the rare media executive who pulls double-duty as on-air talent, is also a blogger of note, posting daily on "Andy's Blog" at BravoTV.com, where he covers pop culture, television, media and his daily life. He is about to be a published author. Cohen is currently writing a memoir, to be published this coming summer, and says he is writing every word of it himself. Publisher Henry Holt has released a synopsis of the Bravo Executive VP’s forthcoming book:

"Growing up in the suburbs of St. Louis, Mo., Cohen knew two things about himself: that he loved popular culture and that, around the age of 12, he was gay. He suppressed the latter and fed the former. His media diet was a steady stream of 70s shows like 'The Brady Bunch,' 'Laverne & Shirley,' and 'Donny & Marie.' He had a passion too for the medium's stars like Farrah Fawcett, Mary Tyler Moore and Susan Lucci, many of whom he would later meet. By his twenties, he was out of the closet and out of St. Louis.  In 1989, his life changed forever when he landed an internship at CBS News in New York. With his irrepressible personality and sky's-the-limit attitude, over time he went from intern to producer, absorbing everything he could about the industry and the guest stars on the network’s morning show. His book will include many hilarious moments of mishaps on the set and while on assignment, and tell of his coming-of-age social life filled with antics and mayhem."

Andy Cohen is the Bravo TV Network's Executive Vice President of Development and Talent and executive producer on the Top Chef and The Real Housewives franchises. In addition, Cohen is the host and executive producer of Watch What Happens: Live, Bravo's late-night, interactive talk show. The sixth season of the show, which started off as a blog that spawned a Web series before migrating to TV as a weekly series, now airs every Sunday through Thursday. It is the only nightly late-night TV show to air live.

Cohen, who started at Bravo in 2005 as Senior Vice President of Original Programming & Development, was previously Vice President of Original Programming for TRIO (pop, culture, TV). Cohen received an Emmy in 2010 for season six of Top Chef in the Outstanding Reality Competition Program category.

Last year Cohen was featured in OUT magazine's "Out 100" issue. He has appeared on the cover of The Advocate and was profiled in New York magazine, Vanity Fair, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and Entertainment Weekly. 

Cohen is a graduate of Boston University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in broadcast journalism.  Cohen, who resides in New York City, is currently on the board of directors for the charity Friends In Deed.

Tim Cook, New CEO of Gay-Friendly Apple

50-year-old Tim Cook, the head of the $355 billion Apple company, is a gay man, although he does not publicly acknowledge his sexual orientation. He is destined, however, to become an icon for gay advancement. Cook has gone from being the most powerful gay man in Silicon Valley to the most powerful gay man in the world, if not one of the richest. His compensation in 2010, before being named CEO, was $58 million (unless my math is wrong, that's over $1 million a week). If he stays with Apple another ten years, he will receive a $389 million bonus in the form of restricted stock (if he stays five, he gets only half that amount). Wow. Talk about incentive.

Cook joined Apple in 1998 overseeing computer manufacturing and was later promoted to chief of worldwide sales and head of the Macintosh division. Cook made his mark early on by fixing Apple's storied manufacturing inefficiencies. He also kept the company on track as Apple's interim leader during Steve Jobs' 2004 two-month medical leave and during his six-month leave in 2009. His steady hand kept iPhone 4 and iPad development on track, grew Macintosh sales and strongly rallied the stock value. As Apple’s CEO, Cook has been running day to day operations since Jobs's most recent medical leave began in January, deferring strategic decisions and other CEO prerogatives to Jobs. Apple's growth and stellar financial performance have continued unabated under his watch.

Cook is known to be a "fitness nut," in the gym by 5 am, often on the hiking trail and even more often on his bike. After Cook was profiled as a "lifelong bachelor" and "intensely private," many wondered if he might be gay. That is indeed the case, and Cook's sexual orientation has been the topic of at least some discussion within the company. One tech executive who has spoken to multiple Apple management veterans about Cook was told executives would support Cook if he publicly acknowledged his orientation, and even would encourage him to do so as he steps up his leadership role. If that happens, Cook would be by far the most powerful openly gay executive in the tech industry.

The media has danced around this subject. Felix Salmon wrote: "Keeping Cook’s sexual orientation a secret is no longer an option, so the press shouldn’t treat it as though it’s something to be avoided at all costs. There’s no ethical dilemma when it comes to reporting on Cook’s sexuality; rather, the ethical dilemma comes in not reporting it, thereby perpetuating the idea that there’s some kind of stigma associated with being gay. While stigma does still exist in much of society, it’s not the job of the press to perpetuate it. Quite the opposite."

Apple has been rated among the top gay-friendly tech companies among brands, and is widely considered to offer a workplace and culture that is open to people regardless of their background and preferences. Randy Ubillos, one of Apple's most well known engineers as the creator of Final Cut, the man who redesigned iMovie for Mac, and who was introduced last year by Jobs to demonstrate his new iMovie app for iPhone, is openly gay. Randy Ubillos (left, holding cup) is the life partner of Rick Fath, shown here on their honeymoon in the British Virgin Islands in 2000. Their commitment ceremony took place in San Francisco aboard a yacht. They were married in San Francisco’s City Hall on June 20, 2008.

In this video, Randy is introduced by Steve Jobs and goes on to introduce video editing using the new iMovie 11 software. He demonstrates step-by-step video editing to create a movie trailer.

Apple has also recognized the achievements of its third party developers who happened to be gay, including Steve Demeter, who left his job at Wells Fargo to work for himself, becoming independently wealthy after creating the early iPhone game Trism. “I’m totally out in my private life, but I’m not sure about wanting to be out professionally. I’m not worried about a backlash or anything like that, I’m just not sure that my being gay has anything to do with my business and the kinds of games we’re creating. It’s not like we’re making ‘gay’ games. I’m proud of the fact that I’m gay and that some of the guys who work with me are gay, but at the end of the day all that matters is that we put stuff out there that’s high-quality and that makes people happy.”

Here’s a video of Steve talking about his creation TRISM.