The former Character.AI chief executive takes up the newly created role on 2 October.
The Walt Disney Company announced on 18 September 2026 that Karandeep Anand will join the company as Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer. The role is newly created, takes effect on 2 October, and reports directly to Disney Chief Executive Officer Josh D'Amaro.
In his new position, Anand will oversee Disney's enterprise technology, infrastructure, data and AI platforms, product, and engineering across all segment technology teams. A number of technical team members from Character.AI are also expected to join Disney alongside his appointment as D'Amaro positions technology to drive growth across entertainment, sports, and experiences.
Anand most recently served as CEO of consumer-AI startup Character.AI. Before that, he was President and Chief Product Officer at fintech firm Brex, served as Vice President of Ads & Business Products at Meta's Facebook, and spent 15 years at Microsoft, where he worked on the Azure cloud platform.
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