Disney Names Karandeep Anand As Its First Chief Technology Officer

The Walt Disney Company announced September 18, 2026, that Karandeep Anand, previously CEOO of Character.AI and technology leader at Meta and Microsoft, will join the company as Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer. The newly created position will become effective October 2. Anand 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,” said 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.”

Anand will oversee enterprise technology, infrastructure, data and AI platforms, product, and engineering. He will be working across the company’s segment technology teams to further modernize 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, the Company revealed.