Disney announced Anand will take on a newly created role that places him in charge of enterprise technology, infrastructure, data and AI platforms, product and engineering.
Anand’s career began at Microsoft, where he spent 15 years in senior product and engineering roles, helping build the Azure platform that now powers millions of cloud services.
He later moved to Meta, holding several leadership positions, most recently vice president of Ads & Business Products, before becoming president and chief product officer at fintech Brex.
At Character.AI, he served as CEO, steering the AI platform to rapid consumer growth and a sizable user base.
Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro welcomed him, saying, "Karandeep brings a rare mix of experience across infrastructure, consumer technology and AI, and will be a vital addition to our senior leadership team."
The appointment signals Disney’s renewed focus on technology, with several Character.AI engineers expected to join the company as it modernises its infrastructure and deepens AI integration across its streaming and theme‑park offerings.