Adobe Names Anil Chakravarthy As President And CEO

Adobe has named Anil Chakravarthy as its new president and chief executive officer (CEO), succeeding Shantanu Narayen, who led the company for more than 18 years.

In an announcement on Thursday, the American multinational software company said Chakravarthy will assume the new role on December 1 and Narayen will transition to the role of executive chair.

An alumnus of Banaras Hindu University, Chakravarthy is the president of Adobe’s Customer Experience Orchestration business and worldwide field operations.

“I could not be more confident that Anil is the right person to lead Adobe's growth in an AI-driven era, and I look forward to working closely with him in my new role as executive chair,” Narayen said in a statement.

David Wadhwani, the president of Adobe’s Creativity and Productivity Business and a contender for the top post, announced his departure from the company after a five-year stint.

“As much as Adobe means to me, I've decided this is the right moment for me to start a new chapter, and it's a great moment for Adobe to do the same as Anil steps into the CEO role,” Wadhwani said in a LinkedIn post.

Chakravarthy joined Adobe in January 2020 as executive vice president and general manager leading the company's Digital Experience business.

In September 2020, he took on the additional responsibility of leading the company’s worldwide field operations, serving enterprise customers across Adobe’s full portfolio of products, including creativity and productivity.

In December 2021, he was promoted to president of Digital Experience and worldwide field operations.

Before his current role, Chakravarthy served as CEO for four years at Informatica, a global leader in enterprise cloud data management. He originally joined Informatica in 2013 as executive vice president.

Before joining Informatica, Chakravarthy acquired broad experience in the technology industry through executive roles at Symantec, VeriSign and McKinsey & Company.

Chakravarthy received a Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science and Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (Banaras Hindu University), Varanasi, and a Master of Science and Ph.D from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“Honoured and incredibly excited for what's ahead at Adobe. Our customers, employees (best in the world!) and AI innovation are top of mind, as always. Deep gratitude to our Chair & CEO, Shantanu Narayen, and the Adobe Board of Directors for their trust in me. Adobe’s best days are ahead,” Chakravarthy said in a post on LinkedIn.