Adam Smith has been named the Chief Product & Technology Officer for Disney Entertainment and also for ESPN. The news was made by Disney Entertainment Co-Chairmen Alan Bergman and Dana Walden along with ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro.
This role will see Smith overseeing a global Product and Technology group that covers Disney’s entertainment and sports media businesses. His responsibilities will include driving technology strategy, development, deployment, and continued innovation across the company’s streaming platforms and networks, portfolio of consumer digital touchpoints, proprietary advertising technology, emerging technologies and more.
Smith will jointly report to Bergman, Walden, and Pitaro and will begin this role at Disney on September 3. The role will have him leading a global team that includes technologists, including engineers, product managers and designers, data scientists, and technical operations teams.
In a joint statement, Bergman, Walden, and Pitaro said, “We could not be more thrilled to have Adam join the Disney team in this pivotal role. We’ve been aggressive in advancing our technological capabilities to better support our world-class media, streaming, and advertising businesses, and Adam brings a bold, consumer-focused vision for the future and a proven ability to effectively lead global teams in implementing ambitious, scalable, and flexible products and technology that will continue to elevate storytelling as the center of the Disney experience.”
Smith is joining The Walt Disney Company from YouTube. He recently served there as the Vice President, Product Management, leading Music and Premium as well as Subscriptions and Commerce. This was a role he held since 2016. Smith worked at both Google and YouTube for over 20 years. During this time he held multiple executive roles in numerous divisions. This was during the growth trajectories of both companies. At YouTube, Smith played an important role in helping it build its biggest consumer-facing products, driving its Music and Premium offerings to over 100 million subscribers. He also had stints leading Global Content and Product across kids, sports, news, and eduction from 2013 to 2014. From 2011 to 2013, he served as the head of Asia-Pacific. At Google he led development and strategy for a series of key products and groups. This included Google Fiber from 2014-2016, and Google APAC from 2009-2011. He also had a portfolio that included Google Books, Google News, Google Finance and Google Scholar between 2003-2009.
“Disney has built and nurtured an unparalleled portfolio of brands bringing joy and delight to fans of all ages, thanks to a culture of creativity that embraces innovation,” said Smith. “I believe Disney is uniquely positioned to thrive in the next evolution of media and has made significant progress in a very short time while keeping storytelling front and center. I look forward to working closely with Alan, Dana and Jimmy and their top-notch teams and am excited to bring my expertise in utilizing technology to build compelling consumer experiences that will drive engagement and discovery among fans, families and friends.”
Before Google and YouTube, Smith worked at Random House/Bertelsmann. He has served on the board of REDF since 2009. Smith has a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of California, Berkeley. He also has an MBA from Stanford University.
