Disney Appoints First-Ever Tech Chief Amid Leadership Shuffle
Disney has appointed its first-ever company-wide tech chief as part of its leadership shuffle under CEO Josh D'Amaro. Karandeep Anand, a seasoned executive with experience in infrastructure, consumer technology, and AI, will take on the role of Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Senior EVP. D'Amaro highlighted Anand's unique blend of skills in his memo to employees, saying he 'brings a rare mix of experience across infrastructure, consumer technology, and AI.'
Anand has held senior leadership roles at Meta and Microsoft, and was part of the team that created Azure. He previously led Character.AI as CEO, taking the company through a period of explosive growth while prioritizing user trust and safety. In his new role, Anand will oversee enterprise technology, infrastructure, data and AI platforms, product, and engineering teams, working across Disney's segment technology teams to further modernize its tech capabilities.
The hire comes as part of D'Amaro's 'One Disney' initiative to unify the company, which includes promoting Adam Smith to head of its streaming business and Joe Earley to president of franchise and content strategy for Disney's Entertainment TV arm. Anand will report directly to D'Amaro and begin his new role on October 2.