Adobe names Indian-origin executive Anil Chakravarthy as next CEO, succeeding Shantanu Narayen

HIGHLIGHTS

Adobe has announced a major leadership change.

Anil Chakravarthy will become the company’s next president and chief executive officer effective December 1, 2026.

Current CEO Shantanu Narayen will move to the role of executive chair.

Adobe has announced a major leadership change. Anil Chakravarthy, who currently leads Adobe’s Customer Experience Orchestration business and worldwide field operations, will become the company’s president and chief executive officer effective December 1, 2026. He will also join Adobe’s Board of Directors. Current CEO Shantanu Narayen will move to the role of executive chair. He will continue to work with Chakravarthy during the transition and support the company’s future plans. 

Chakravarthy joined Adobe in January 2020 as executive vice president and general manager leading Digital Experience business. In September 2020, he took charge of Adobe’s worldwide field operations, which serves enterprise customers.

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He became president of Digital Experience and worldwide field operations in December 2021. During his time at Adobe, Chakravarthy has played a key role in expanding its Customer Experience Orchestration business.

Chakravarthy led the development of market-leading products such as Adobe CX Enterprise, GenStudio and Brand Visibility. He also helped expand Adobe Experience Platform and supported the launch of new products, including CX Enterprise Coworker. He also played a role in Adobe’s acquisitions and integration of Workfront and Semrush.

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Speaking about the appointment, Narayen said, “Anil is an experienced transformational leader who leads with values, integrity and a deep knowledge of our business. He has a proven record of building and delivering category-defining products that serve our broad range of customers.” He added, “I could not be more confident that Anil is the right person to lead Adobe’s growth in an AI-driven era and look forward to working closely with him in my new role as executive chair.”

Chakravarthy said he is “deeply honored” to take on the role at what he called a pivotal moment for Adobe. He said he was excited to help drive the company’s leadership in “the next era of agentic software for creativity, productivity and customer experience.”

Before joining Adobe, Chakravarthy spent four years as CEO of Informatica, an enterprise cloud data management company. He had earlier held senior roles at Informatica, Symantec and VeriSign and McKinsey & Company.

Chakravarthy holds a Bachelor of Technology degree in Computer Science and Engineering from the Institute of Technology, Varanasi. He also received a Masters of Science and Ph.D from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Ayushi Jain

Ayushi works as Chief Copy Editor at Digit, covering everything from breaking tech news to in-depth smartphone reviews. Prior to Digit, she was part of the editorial team at IANS.

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