In 1981, Whitman moved to San Francisco when her husband, a neurosurgeon, bagan a residency at the University of California.Whitman then found work as a consultant for Bain&Company where she stayed for the next eight year.Moving to the Walt Disney Company in 1989 as a senior vice president of marketing Whitman opened Disney's frist stores in Japan.After her husband took a new position in Boston She accepted a job as president of Stride Rite shoes, putting back in the public eye In 1995