NRI PULSE STAFF REPORT
BURBANK, Calif., September 20, 2026: The Walt Disney Company has named Indian-origin technology executive Karandeep Anand as its first companywide chief technology officer, creating a new senior leadership position as the entertainment giant increases its focus on technology and artificial intelligence.
Anand, most recently CEO of artificial intelligence startup Character.AI, will join Disney as senior executive vice president and chief technology officer effective October 2. He will report directly to Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro.
In the newly created role, Anand will oversee enterprise technology, infrastructure, data and AI platforms, product and engineering across Disney. He will work with technology teams across the company’s businesses to modernize how Disney develops and delivers technology. Several members of Character.AI’s technical team are also expected to join Disney.
The appointment comes as Disney seeks to use technology to build more direct connections with consumers across its entertainment, sports and experiences businesses. The company has said it wants Disney+ to serve as a digital centerpiece of a more connected Disney ecosystem.
“Karandeep brings a rare mix of experience across infrastructure, consumer technology and AI,” D’Amaro said in announcing the appointment, adding that Anand would become a key member of Disney’s senior leadership team.
Anand brings more than two decades of experience at some of the technology industry’s biggest companies.
Before joining Character.AI, he served as president and chief product officer at financial technology company Brex. Earlier, he held several leadership positions at Facebook parent Meta, most recently serving as vice president of Ads & Business Products.
Anand previously spent 15 years at Microsoft in senior product and engineering roles and was part of the team that built the company’s Azure cloud-computing platform.
Anand earned a computer science degree from the International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad, commonly known as IIIT Hyderabad.
His most recent role at Character.AI placed him at the center of the rapidly expanding generative AI industry. Character.AI allows users to create and interact with AI-generated virtual characters.
The move also comes with an unusual connection between Anand’s former and new employers. In 2025, Disney sent Character.AI a cease-and-desist letter accusing the company of infringing its copyrights by hosting AI characters based on Disney properties. Character.AI subsequently removed the characters cited by Disney.
Anand said he had admired Disney throughout his life for combining storytelling and technology.
“I’m honored to join a team with such extraordinary creative talent,” he said, adding that he looked forward to building on Disney’s technology capabilities and finding new ways to connect audiences with its stories and characters.
Anand’s appointment marks the first time Disney has established a chief technology officer position overseeing technology across the entire company. Disney previously had senior technology executives within individual business units, including Disney Entertainment and ESPN.
The move comes as artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies are reshaping the global media and entertainment industry. Reuters reported that Anand’s appointment reflects Disney’s efforts to respond to those changes while strengthening its technology strategy under D’Amaro.
