Disney has hired its first-ever companywide tech chief as its leadership shuffle under CEO Josh D’Amaro continues.
Karandeep Anand is joining Disney as chief technology officer and a senior EVP, D’Amaro told employees on Friday.
“Karandeep brings a rare mix of experience across infrastructure, consumer technology, and AI,” D’Amaro said in a memo, which was obtained by Business Insider.
The hire comes a day after Disney promoted Adam Smith to the head of its streaming business and moved Joe Earley, who’d shared the direct-to-consumer co-president title with Smith, to the president of franchise and content strategy for Disney’s Entertainment TV arm.
As tech chief, Anand will oversee the enterprise tech, infrastructure, data and AI platforms, product, and engineering teams, D’Amaro said. This aligns with the “One Disney” initiative designed to unify the company, which D’Amaro has made a priority. Friday marks D’Amaro’s six-month anniversary at the helm of the Mouse House.
Anand has been the CEO of Character.AI, an AI startup to which Disney sent a cease-and-desist letter last September. Disney had told Character.AI not to use its copyrighted characters in AI-generated videos without permission; Character.AI complied with the request.
Before joining Character.AI, Anand spent six and a half years at Facebook, following more than 15 years at Microsoft. He will report to D’Amaro.
Anand “is an expert builder and strategist, technical and product-minded, with sharp instincts for what people actually want,” D’Amaro told Disney staffers.
Read D’Amaro’s full memo to Disney employees here:
Read the original article on Business Insider
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