Adobe has named Anil Chakravarthy as its next President and CEO, effective December 1, 2026, as longtime chief Shantanu Narayen transitions to Executive Chair and the technology company enters its next phase of AI-led transformation.
A major leadership transition is taking shape at Adobe. After more than 18 years under CEO Shantanu Narayen, the technology company is preparing to hand its top executive role to a leader who has spent recent years at the centre of its enterprise, customer experience and AI strategy.
Anil Chakravarthy will become Adobe’s President and Chief Executive Officer on December 1, 2026, and will also join the company’s Board of Directors. Narayen will move into the role of Executive Chair, working closely with Chakravarthy through the transition and supporting Adobe’s ongoing transformation.
The Board unanimously selected Chakravarthy following a formal selection process overseen by a special committee led by Adobe Lead Independent Director Frank Calderoni.
From Enterprise Leadership to the CEO Role
Chakravarthy’s elevation builds on more than six years at Adobe.
He joined the company in January 2020 as Executive Vice President and General Manager of its Digital Experience business. Later that year, he also assumed responsibility for worldwide field operations, before being promoted to President of Digital Experience and worldwide field operations in December 2021.
Most recently, he has served as President of Adobe’s Customer Experience Orchestration business and worldwide field operations.
His responsibilities have placed him close to some of the company’s expanding AI and enterprise initiatives. Adobe credits Chakravarthy with helping develop products including Adobe CX Enterprise, GenStudio and Brand Visibility, scaling Adobe Experience Platform and supporting the acquisitions and integration of Workfront and Semrush.
That background takes on particular relevance as Adobe looks toward what Chakravarthy describes as the next era of agentic software across creativity, productivity and customer experience.
A Technology Career Spanning More Than Adobe
Before joining Adobe, Chakravarthy spent four years as CEO of enterprise cloud data management company Informatica, where he had originally joined as Executive Vice President in 2013.
His earlier career included executive roles at Symantec and VeriSign, as well as experience with McKinsey & Company. He holds a Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science and Engineering from the Institute of Technology, Varanasi, along with a master’s degree and PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
That mix of technology, enterprise software and executive leadership experience will now underpin his mandate at Adobe.
Narayen Moves to Executive Chair
The transition also marks a new chapter for Shantanu Narayen, whose tenure has been closely associated with Adobe’s evolution over nearly two decades.
Rather than leaving the company, Narayen will remain involved as Executive Chair and work with Chakravarthy as the leadership transition progresses. In announcing his successor, Narayen pointed to Chakravarthy’s knowledge of Adobe, transformational leadership experience and track record in building products and businesses.
For Adobe, continuity at board level comes as its strategy increasingly incorporates generative and agentic AI across creativity, productivity and enterprise customer experiences. Earlier this year, for example, Adobe introduced CX Enterprise as an end-to-end agentic AI system designed around the customer lifecycle.
Chakravarthy has already played a direct role in that direction, making his appointment an internal succession as well as a signal of where Adobe sees its next phase of leadership.
When he takes the CEO role on December 1, the challenge will be to translate that experience across Adobe’s broader portfolio while guiding one of the world’s most established software businesses through another significant technology transition.
For Chakravarthy, it is the culmination of a journey from enterprise technology leadership to Adobe’s top job. For Narayen, the move to Executive Chair ensures that the leadership transition retains continuity as the company moves further into the AI era.
Sources: Adobe; Adobe Newsroom; Reuters.
