NRI PULSE STAFF REPORT
San Jose, CA, September 5, 2026: Adobe has named India-born technology executive Anil Chakravarthy as its next president and chief executive officer, succeeding Shantanu Narayen and bringing an end to the Hyderabad-born executive’s more than 18-year run at the helm of the software giant.
Chakravarthy, currently president of Adobe’s Customer Experience Orchestration business and worldwide field operations, will take over as president and CEO and join the company’s board of directors on December 1, Adobe announced September 3. Narayen will transition to executive chair and work with Chakravarthy during the leadership change.
The succession marks a notable transition at one of Silicon Valley’s most prominent technology companies, with one India-born executive taking over from another at a time when Adobe is navigating the rapid rise of artificial intelligence and growing competition in the creative software industry.
Chakravarthy joined Adobe in January 2020 after serving as CEO of cloud data-management company Informatica. At Adobe, he has overseen its Customer Experience Orchestration business as well as worldwide field operations, including enterprise sales, professional services and customer success.
A graduate of the Institute of Technology, Varanasi — now IIT (BHU) — Chakravarthy earned a Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science and Engineering in India before going on to receive a master’s degree and Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Before joining Adobe, Chakravarthy served as CEO of Informatica from 2015 to 2020, where he led the company’s transition toward cloud and subscription services. Earlier in his career, he held senior leadership positions at Symantec and VeriSign and began his career at McKinsey & Company, where he rose to become co-leader of the e-business practice in its Silicon Valley Business Technology Office.
Adobe said its board unanimously selected Chakravarthy following a search process that began after the company announced in March that Narayen would step down once a successor was found.
Chakravarthy takes over at a consequential time for Adobe. The company behind Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat and Premiere Pro is seeking to position itself for an AI-driven future while facing competition from newer design platforms and generative AI tools.
Adobe shares have fallen about 18 percent this year after declining more than 21 percent in 2025, amid investor concerns about how advances in artificial intelligence could disrupt the company’s traditional businesses. Adobe has responded by expanding its own AI offerings and in June raised its annual profit forecast, citing demand for AI-powered products and tools.
For Narayen, the transition caps one of the longest tenures among major technology CEOs.
Narayen joined Adobe in 1998, became president and chief operating officer in 2005 and was named CEO in December 2007. He became chairman of the board in 2017.
During his tenure, Adobe underwent a sweeping transformation, moving flagship products away from traditional packaged software licenses and toward the cloud-based subscription model that became the foundation of Creative Cloud. The company also expanded beyond creative software into digital documents, marketing and customer-experience technology.
Like his successor, Narayen was educated in both India and the United States. He earned a bachelor’s degree in electronics engineering from Osmania University, a master’s degree in computer science from Bowling Green State University and an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.
Narayen will remain closely involved with Adobe as executive chair, with the company saying he will support Chakravarthy and Adobe’s continuing transformation.
The leadership change also puts Chakravarthy at the center of Adobe’s effort to prove that the company that successfully navigated the shift from packaged software to cloud subscriptions can adapt once again — this time to an industry being rapidly reshaped by artificial intelligence.
Cover photo courtesy: Adobe.
