The Walt Disney Company has appointed Karandeep Anand as its first-ever company-wide Chief Technology Officer, creating a new senior leadership position as the entertainment company places greater focus on technology, data and artificial intelligence.
Anand, who most recently served as CEO of Character.AI, will join Disney as Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer on October 2, 2026. He will report directly to Disney Chief Executive Officer Josh D’Amaro. The position is newly created and gives Anand responsibility for technology functions across the company.
Disney has previously had chief technology officers within individual business units, but the company has not had a corporate-wide CTO. Anand’s appointment brings several technology functions under a single executive at the company level.
In his new role, Anand will oversee enterprise technology, infrastructure, data and AI platforms, product and engineering. He will also work with technology teams across Disney’s different business segments as the company seeks to modernise how it develops and delivers technology across the organisation.
Along with Anand’s appointment, a number of members of Character.AI’s technical team are expected to join Disney. The move comes as Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro places greater emphasis on technology and its role across the company.
“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,” D’Amaro said.
“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,” he added.
Anand joins Disney after serving as CEO of Character.AI, an online chatbot platform that allows users to interact with artificially created characters. During his tenure, he led the company through a period of rapid growth while also making user trust and safety a priority as the platform expanded.
Before Character.AI, Anand served as President and Chief Product Officer at financial technology company Brex. He also held several leadership positions at Meta’s Facebook, with his most recent role there being Vice President of Ads & Business Products.
Earlier in his career, Anand spent 15 years at Microsoft, where he held senior product and engineering leadership positions. He was part of the team that built the Azure platform.
Anand holds a degree in Computer Science from the International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad.
Speaking about his new role, Anand said, “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.”
“I’m honored 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,” he added.
The appointment comes as Disney continues to focus on strengthening its direct relationship with audiences. Under D’Amaro, the company has emphasised creating a more connected Disney experience, with Disney+ serving as a central digital platform.
Anand’s appointment places enterprise technology, infrastructure, data, AI platforms, product and engineering under a newly created company-wide technology leadership role. He will begin his tenure at Disney on October 2 and report directly to D’Amaro.
