The Walt Disney Company has appointed Karandeep Anand as senior executive vice president and chief technology officer, a newly created role, the entertainment and media group announced on 18 September 2026. Anand becomes the company's first chief technology officer and will take up the position on 2 October 2026, reporting to chief executive Josh D'Amaro.
The appointment places a dedicated technology leader on Disney's most senior team for the first time. In the new post, Anand will oversee the company's technology agenda across its Entertainment, Sports and Experiences segments, as Disney positions what its leadership calls technology in the service of creativity at the centre of its strategy.
Anand joins from Character.AI, where he served as chief executive. Before that he was president and chief product officer at Brex and vice president of ads and business products at Meta, the parent of Facebook. Earlier in his career he spent about 15 years at Microsoft in senior product and engineering roles, including work on the Azure cloud platform. He holds a computer science degree from the International Institute of Information Technology in Hyderabad.
"Karandeep brings a rare mix of experience across infrastructure, consumer technology and AI, and will be a vital addition to Disney's senior leadership team as we further our three priorities: great storytelling as our North Star, technology in service of creativity, and operating as One Disney," said Josh D'Amaro, chief executive of The Walt Disney Company.
Anand pointed to the company's blend of storytelling and technology. "I've admired Disney my entire life for how it blends unforgettable storytelling with the latest technology to constantly push the boundaries of what entertainment can be," he said.
The Walt Disney Company describes itself as a leading diversified international entertainment and media enterprise, operating across its Entertainment, Sports and Experiences divisions. The decision to create a chief technology officer role signals the weight the group is placing on infrastructure, data and artificial intelligence in support of its creative output and its direct-to-consumer and experiences businesses.
The arrival comes as large media companies invest heavily in streaming technology, personalisation and applied artificial intelligence, and compete for engineering talent with the biggest technology firms. Anand's career across enterprise infrastructure at Microsoft, advertising and business products at Meta, financial technology at Brex and applied AI at Character.AI spans several of the areas Disney has identified as priorities for its next chapter. The new office consolidates responsibility for the company’s technology direction under a single senior executive for the first time in its history.
