Disney appoints Anand as Chief Technology Officer

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Disney appoints Anand as Chief Technology Officer
September 21, 2026



The Walt Disney Company has announced that Karandeep Anand will join the company as Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, a newly created position, effective October 2nd. Anand, who most recently has served as CEO of chatbot platform Character.AI, will report directly to Disney Chief Executive Officer Josh D’Amaro.

“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,” commented D’Amaro. “He is an expert builder and strategist, technical and product-minded, with sharp instincts for what fans actually want. He also has real enthusiasm and respect for Disney, a clear sense of where technology and creativity meet, and shares our belief that technology creates the most value when it helps people do their best work.”


As Chief Technology Officer, Anand will oversee enterprise technology, infrastructure, data and AI platforms, product, and engineering, working across the company’s segment technology teams to further modernise how Disney builds and delivers technology company-wide. Along with Anand’s appointment, a number of Character.AI’s technical team are expected to join Disney.

“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,” Anand said. “I’m honoured to join a team with such extraordinary creative talent, and I look forward to building on the company’s impressive technology capabilities to help Disney connect fans worldwide with its beloved stories and characters in new and innovative ways.”

Before Character.AI, Anand was President and Chief Product Officer of the financial technology company Brex. He also served in several leadership roles at Meta’s Facebook, most recently as Vice President of Ads & Business Products. Earlier in his career, Anand held senior product and engineering leadership roles at Microsoft, where he worked for 15 years and was part of the team that built the Azure platform.

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Disney appoints Character.AI chief as first CTO
September 21, 2026 11.27 Europe/London By Julian Clover


The Walt Disney Company has appointed Character.AI CEO Karandeep Anand to the newly created position of Chief Technology Officer, as the group puts greater emphasis on artificial intelligence and technology across its businesses.

Anand will become Senior Executive Vice President and CTO on October 2, reporting directly to Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro.

He will oversee enterprise technology, infrastructure, data and AI platforms, product and engineering, working across Disney’s existing technology teams. A number of members of Character.AI’s technical team are also expected to move to Disney.

Anand has previously held senior technology positions at Meta and Microsoft before becoming CEO of Character.AI.

“Karandeep brings a rare mix of experience across infrastructure, consumer technology and AI,” said D’Amaro. “He is an expert builder and strategist, technical and product-minded, with sharp instincts for what fans actually want.”

The appointment follows D’Amaro’s increased focus on using technology to create a more integrated relationship with Disney audiences, with Disney+ positioned as the company’s principal digital hub.

The creation of a group-wide CTO position also gives Disney central technology leadership spanning areas including streaming, data and AI, rather than leaving development solely within its individual business segments.