Biography

Jim Kapenstein is the Chief Legal and Strategy Officer for STARZ.

As an accomplished media executive and business strategist with more than 35 years of legal and business experience, Kapenstein is responsible for developing and leading the strategic direction of business and legal affairs for STARZ, including distribution, content acquisition, production, litigation, employment matters and legal and regulatory compliance.

With extensive public company experience, Kapenstein also plays a central role in leading strategic corporate transactions, including M&A, while he oversees the company’s governance and broader public company responsibilities.

Kapenstein spent nearly three decades at The Walt Disney Company, most recently as Deputy General Counsel, managing and supervising Disney’s corporate team. His broad oversight included complex mergers, acquisitions and divestures, joint ventures, antitrust, corporate finance, social responsibility, strategic transactions and alliances, consumer payments, corporate structuring and governance and beyond. He led Disney’s highest profile business transactions including transformational acquisitions of 21st Century Fox, ESPN’s equity investment with the NFL, BAMTech, Hulu, Fubo, Lucas Films, Marvel and Pixar, among many others.

Prior to Disney, Kapenstein was a senior associate at Alston & Bird where he also worked on mergers, acquisitions and divestures, joint ventures, strategic licensing transactions, corporate governance and complex corporate transactions. Kapenstein began his career at Arent & Fox in Washington, D.C.

Kapenstein graduated from University of Michigan where he double majored in political science and economics. He received his JD from Moritz College of Law at The Ohio State University.